Outer Space

2025 Artistic Program

We were deeply moved by the incredible outpouring of talent and thoughtfulness in response to our exhibition call-out last year. With over 120 submissions from artists across the country, the task of selecting just eight projects for the Main Gallery became a process of deep reflection and collaboration for the Outer Space programming committee. We are profoundly grateful to all who shared their visions, their stories, and their vulnerabilities with us.

The 2025 Outer Space artistic program is a vibrant tapestry woven from both open call submissions and specially invited projects. It offers a wide-ranging exploration of perspectives, mediums, and practices and will feature a series of cutting-edge exhibitions that challenge conventions, invite dialogue, and celebrate the richness of contemporary art across Australia.

Over the course of the year, visitors will encounter immersive installations, digital media, painting, sculpture, and interdisciplinary works from a carefully curated selection of emerging and mid-career artists. These exhibitions will explore themes such as identity, environmental sustainability, cultural heritage, and the evolving relationship between art and technology.

Outer Space are proud to announce the 2025 artists in the Main Exhibition Program include:

Amy Sargeant (Meanjin/Brisbane) and Arianna Nixon (Meanjin/Brisbane) present

Climate of Violence: Lamentum

7-Feb - 15-Mar 2025

The dust has barely settled. A sacred tether becomes strained and defiled. Screams become whispers in the fog of war & the breath of a coming storm runs down your neck.

The latest exploration in sound and vision by Amy and Arianna.

Sam Harrison (Kamilaroi and Wiradjuri)

Fair Dinkies

21-Mar - 19-Apr 2025

Snowy River Toy Inc. is pleased to present its newest line of toy collectables. Celebrate Australia’s rich cultural diversity! Fair Dinkies parodies the social and cultural functions that we refer to as ‘the great mixing pot’ of Australia. The collection explores the relationship and tensions between authentic expression of cultural identity and the strict Eurocentric cultural contract that individuals must conform to be considered a True-Blue Aussie.

Dean Ansell (Meanjin/Brisbane) presents

The Riḡorabana, The Balawaia

25-Apr - 24-May 2025

The Riḡorabana, The Balawaia is an immersive exhibition born from years of research into the artist’s Melanesian heritage. Weaving together familial storytelling, fieldwork, and cultural practices from Papua Niugini, the project interprets a local mythology surrounding caves deep within the sacred mountain, Lamana Golo, where sorcerers are initiated. Through soundscape, video projection, and embodied performance, a story of the Riḡorabana and Balawaian is told.

Celine Cheung (Wallumedegal /Sydney), Rainer Ciar (Dharug/Sydney), Kalanjay Dhir (Dharug/Sydney) & Fei Gao (Dharug/Sydney) present

Ghost in the Machine

30-May - 28-Jun 2025

Ghost in the Machine explores how fiction, anthropomorphisation, and avatars may reflect psychological realities. Interested in memories, spirits, and digital cultures while acknowledging the material impacts and weight they hold, the artists create characters and alternate personas through costume, fanwork paraphernalia and puppetry.

Arabella Walker (Wulli Wulli) presents

Auburn

4-Jul - 2-Aug 2025

The exhibition titled Auburn will offer an immersive exploration of landscapes, colours, and textures significant to Auburn Station, situated on Wulli Wulli Country. As a multidisciplinary presentation, Auburn will blend painting with projection on both opaque and translucent surfaces, creating a layered experience that honours the deep cultural connection my family has with Auburn Station. Auburn Station is central to the stories and heritage of my family, embodying a profound legacy that I aim to convey through this exhibition. My goal is to celebrate and share the beauty and significance of this unique pocket of Country, illustrating the power of connection to land and the memories it holds. Visitors will be immersed in a space that visually and emotionally transports them to Auburn Station. The exhibition will feature large-scale works, which include projections of Auburn Station and abstract representations, as well as smaller, intimate artworks allowing for close examination. By projecting onto all surfaces—including the ceiling and floor—the installation will create an overwhelming sense of immersion, mirroring the intense experience of stepping onto Country for the first time.

Allison Chhorn (Tarntanya/Adelaide) presents

Reflections in the Water

8-Aug - 6-Sep 2025

"Reflections in the Water" explores the intergenerational process of remembering through fragments of recreated archival material depicting the Cambodian countryside along the Mekong River. The immersive installation becomes a water sanctuary, highlighting the equally healing and destructive nature of this essential element in the tropical climate of Cambodia.

Ellamay Khongroj Fitzgerald (Yugambeh / Gold Coast)

A Seat At The โต๊ะ

12-Sep - 11-Oct 2025

A Seat At The โต๊ะ" explores food as a living archive, a vessel through which identity, heritage, and culture are continually shaped and redefined within the Asian diaspora. Central to this work are the stories of six Asian Australian participants, all of whom currently live or grew up in Southeast Queensland. These personal histories reveal how cultural and ancestral connections are actively nurtured and transformed through the simple act of sharing a meal.

Rae Haynes (Meanjin/Brisbane) presents

Subversive Threads

17-Oct - 22-Nov 2025

‘Subversive Threads’ is an exhibition of new works that examine genealogical, personal and political connections to the innovative British textile maker and educator Mary Linwood (1755-1845) through multiple modes of feminist investigation, drawing from archival research, auto-theoretical approaches to storytelling and participatory workshops in the gallery.

We extend our congratulations to the selected artists and are thrilled to collaborate with them in bringing their projects to life at Outer Space in the months ahead.

These programs are made possible through generous funding support from the Australian Government through Creative Australia, its principal arts investment and advisory body and Queensland Government through Arts Queensland.