Art Wrap: 10 Exhibitions To See in (and Around) Sydney This Summer

Time to take a break from the beach? There’s a raft of alluring exhibitions spread throughout the city (and the regions of NSW) this summer, spanning large-scale video installations interrogating the climate crisis, a survey of a leading contemporary Chinese artist, a major exhibition of one of Europe’s leading 20th-century surrealists, and more.

Cao Fei: My City Is Yours, AGNSW

Over more than two decades, Chinese artist Cao Fei has chronicled the meteoric urbanisation and growth of China through photography, film and large-scale installations. Her first major Australian solo exhibition, which taps into the two central themes of her work – the city and technology – takes the form of a cityscape split into zones: a central plaza, a theatre, a restaurant, a factory and a haven for spiritual contemplation. Sprinkled throughout are Fei’s major works, including Cosplayers, a video installation centred on young members of the Chinese cosplay community, and Nova, a feature-length film about a computer scientist trying to digitise humans. Three Sydney-specific works – including an installation inspired by longstanding, now-closed Chinatown restaurant Marigold – bring a local element to the retrospective. Through these energetic, esoteric pieces, Fei tells the story of modern China’s unprecedented social, political and cultural transformations, as well as the ties that bind the Chinese diaspora.
Until April 13, 2025. Ticketed.

Isaac Julien, Once Again... (Statues Never Die), MCA

British artist Sir Isaac Julien reflects on the relationship between an art collector and philosopher-slash-cultural leader in a poetic black-and-white film shown on five large screens at the MCA. He cast André Holland (Moonlight) and Danny Huston (Succession) in a story that explores Black modernism, social constructs and cultural heritage. It’s a reflection on African objects held by Western art museums, and a timely statement on the origins of all objects owned by institutions worldwide.
Until February 16, 2025. Free,

Julie Mehretu: A Transcore of the Radical Imaginatory, MCA

Acclaimed Ethiopian American artist Julie Mehretu uses millennia of international artistic practices – from rock art to Chinese ink painting, manga, music and literature – to make contemporary paintings reflecting on the movements and intersections of cultures, people and history. Her first major Australian survey features more than 80 works, including the drawings and etchings that underpin her practice. Pieces from a recent experimental phase of her practice populate the exhibition, including a series of painting cycles from 2023 and 2024; the dynamism of their marks and the sense of movement embedded in the abstractions of Mehretu’s work speak to the obstacles of negotiating the complex moment we’re living in.
Until April 27, 2025. Ticketed.

Magritte, AGNSW

Belgian artist René Magritte made groundbreaking contributions to surrealism from the 1920s to the ’60s. His most famous works – such as The Listening Room (1952) and The Lovers (1928) – are currently on display in a major survey of more than 100 of his paintings, sculptures and sketches. It’s organised chronologically, and you can see the artist’s subversive sense of humour and recurring motifs, such as the bowler-hatted man, evolve over decades.
Until February 9, 2025. Ticketed.

Tamara Henderson, Slug in the Mug, Artspace

The humble earthworm is the star of Canadian-born artist Tamara Henderson’s Slug in the Mug. It’s the artist’s first solo exhibition in an Australian public institution. Henderson decentres the human experience by turning her attention to the industrious earthworm in glass and ceramic sculptures, a sound installation, paintings, textile works and a 16-millimetre film.
Until January 5, 2025. Free.

Consuelo Cavaniglia, seeing through you, Chau Chak Wing Museum

Consuelo Cavaniglia takes over the Chau Chak Wing Museum with tonal perspex and glass in a way that invites viewers to see the world differently. Through altering colour, light and perception, Cavaniglia reframes the architecture of the museum and highlights two women artists from the collection, Lily Greenham and Martha Boto.
Until March 23, 2025. Free.

Archibald Prize, Ngununggula

If you missed out on seeing this year’s Archibald finalists at the AGNSW, you can still catch it at Ngununggula gallery in Bowral. Alongside Laura Jones’s winning oil on linen portrait of author and conservationist Tim Winton, visitors can soak up Angus McDonald’s depiction of author and academic Marcia Langton, Mia Boe’s portrayal of TV presenter Tony Armstrong and Shaun Gladwell’s symbol-loaded portrait of activist and journalist Julian Assange. The exhibition offers a glimpse into contemporary Australia and the people who help define it.
Until January 27, 2025. Ticketed.

Angelica Mesiti: The Rites of When, AGNSW

Head into the depths of the AGNSW’s Tank gallery for a moving exhibition by one of Australia’s leading contemporary artists, Angelica Mesiti. Here, Mesiti turns her attention to the climate crisis and how it is upending rituals traditionally connected to the seasons, such as the festivals that mark the summer and winter solstices. Seven large-scale screens installed between the columns of the subterranean gallery reimagine these rituals and celebrations via a 34-minute film immersing visitors in carefully composed footage of landscapes, harvest festivals and choreographed music. It is all set to a soundscape synthesising vocal choruses, instrumentation and collective sound making. The result is a multisensory experience that takes full advantage of the singular gallery for which the exhibition was specifically commissioned.
Until May 11, 2025. Free.

Bagan bariwariganyan: echoes of country, Bundanon

Three significant First Nations artists have collaborated for this celebration of the South Coast from an Aboriginal vantage point. Walbunja/Ngarigo artist Aunty Cheryl Davison, Gweagal/Wandiwandian artist Aunty Julie Freeman and Wiradyuri/Kamilaroi artist Jonathan Jones are all steeped in the culture and history of south-eastern Australia, and these roots are evoked in a series of works that includes separate exhibitions by Davison and Freeman in adjoining galleries. At the centre of the exhibition is a collaboration between the three artists: a large-scale gunyah (Aboriginal shelter or hut) constructed from more than 80 turpentine trees harvested from the Bundanon site; suspended from its canopy is a series of screen-painted skyscapes by Davison, depicting local creation stories. Another key work is a 75-metre mural by Freeman, and her daughter Markeeta Freeman, of the South Coast’s key bays, beaches, rivers and mountains. Placed throughout the mural are works by Mickey of Ulladulla, a 19th-century artist who offered rare insight into the colonisation of the South Coast from an Aboriginal perspective.
Until February 9, 2025. Ticketed.

3rd Bankstown Biennale: Same Same/Different, Bankstown Arts Centre

Seventeen First Nations and culturally and linguistically diverse artists will share new and recent works at the third edition of the Bankstown Biennale. This year’s theme is an inquiry into the concept of “same same, but different”: the idea of a shared understanding between diverse communities without erasing individual cultural identities. It embraces a First Nations understanding of interconnectedness that strays away from rigid worldviews. There’ll be works from artists including interdisciplinary practitioner Claudia Nicholson, Larrakia artist Gary Lee, Wiradjuri poet and artist Jazz Money, prominent Wiradjuri artist Karla Dickens and Aboriginal Chinese artist Jason Wing.
Until February 1, 2025. Free.