Heide Museum of Modern Art will present Bruce Munro: From Sunrise Road, the first museum exhibition in Australia of the work of internationally celebrated English/Australian artist Bruce Munro, best known for his interactive, large-scale light installations inspired largely by his interest in shared human experience.

Presented from 25 June to 16 October, the exhibition combines spectacular indoor and outdoor experiential artworks with intimate story-pieces, revealing the depth of the artist’s practice and the breadth of his sources, from the personal and philosophical to the literary and spiritual.

Situated across Heide’s main galleries and sculpture park, the exhibition will present more than twenty key indoor works and an immersive outdoor light installation designed specifically for the site that will activate Heide’s iconic parklands at night.

Bonhams Australia will present one hundred significant and deeply personal works from Gene and Brian Sherman’s contemporary art collection in the forthcoming auction SHERMAN | 100. Taking place on Wednesday 11 May 2022, the auction is a veritable roll call of national and international contemporary artists from the last thirty years.

Gene Sherman is one of Australia’s most respected philanthropists and art collectors, who, together with her beloved husband Brian, has passionately and astutely collected some 900 pieces from significant Australian, Asian and international artists.

The SHERMAN | 100 sale is a carefully curated selection of mostly intimate works that cluster around the often-monumental pieces remaining in the Family Foundation and, via past and ongoing donations, held in significant public collections.

Image: Ah Xian, China China (Bust 13), 1999, porcelain with copper-red glaze

A major new public artwork inspired by the natural movement of water has been unveiled in Sydney’s CBD by one of Australia’s most celebrated contemporary artists. Ripples and Droplets, a mural by Maria Fernanda Cardoso, spans the length of one wall of a 36-storey residential tower in the centre of Sydney. Standing 11 storeys high and covering 335 square metres, the mural is believed to be the largest public artwork by an Australian artist in the Sydney CBD.

The artist was commissioned by United Development Sydney for the newly completed Castle Residences development at 116 Bathurst Street. The project was designed by Candalepas Associates and realised by Hutchinson Builders.  Maria Fernanda Cardoso worked closely with the architect, Angelo Candalepas, since the inception of the project in 2014, and developed the work with public art curator Amanda Sharrad.

Maria Fernanda Cardosos’s design—concentric circles and spirals like ripples on a pond, also the silky thread of a spider web—reflects the broad direction of her creative career. The artist is fascinated by the natural geometry of the world, and this work has allowed her to magnify the sort of details that remain hidden from sight.

Image: Ripples and Droplets, by Maria Fernanda Cardoso, at Castlereagh Residencies, 116 Bathurst Street Sydney. Photo: Jillian Nalty

The Powerhouse has today unveiled a new large-scale public installation as part of the Powerhouse Architecture Commission series. Now in its third year, the Commission provides emerging Australian architects with an opportunity to design and build innovative projects responding to the museum site and community. The 2022 commission, Cadeau is a moveable, modular installation designed by Newcastle-based studio Curious Practice, founded by University of Newcastle graduates Warren Haasnoot and Greg Lee. Cadeau was created in collaboration with design and engineering firm Arup and Australian Sustainable Hardwoods (ASH).

“Cadeau takes domestic architectural elements and plays with their scale; exaggerating and fusing components to create a new, shared narrative between site, installation and those who visit it. This process of distortion produces an ensemble of habitable, ready-made ‘furniture’ used to define the central courtyard gathering and meeting place. The collection of individual pieces creates a verandah space that visitors are encouraged to explore and engage with. The installation also has the ability to adapt and change for specific events or future site conditions” – Curious Practice founders Warren Haasnoot and Greg Lee.

Image: Cadeau by Curious Practice. Photo by Zan Wimberley

Powerhouse has today launched 100 Climate Conversations. 100 conversations with 100 of the nation’s leading climate innovators delivered over 100 weeks will connect audiences with the innovation and action that is being taken in Australia to address the climate crisis. Upon its completion, the project will become part of the museum’s collection, providing an important archive of this pivotal moment in history. New episodes of a 100 Climate Conversations podcast, produced in collaboration with audio partner Spotify, will be released weekly.

What if we told you that there is hope buried beneath the never-ending news cycle of the climate-change catastrophe? From regional farmers sequestering soil carbon, Traditional Owners managing Country through cultural burning, architects building carbon-neutral homes to entrepreneurs leading the world’s most ambitious renewable energy projects, each conversation presents an inspired narrative of invention, community and resilience. Recorded in a former coal-burner, 100 Climate Conversations looks away from an architectural artefact towards the innovations of the present and to the people committed to preserving the world as we know it.

Live conversations, hosted by some of Australia’s most respected journalists, will be recorded in a custom-built recording studio within the Powerhouse at 10am each Friday until December 2023, with free registration open to the public. The exhibition, which will be the museum’s first to be certified carbon-neutral, was designed by Elizabeth Gadsby and Hugh O’Connor, with AV Content Creative Direction by Mike Daly. Curated by Catherine Polcz, the program takes inspiration from real world climate solutions and connects audiences with leading climate innovators. Recordings of all 100 conversations will be incorporated into the exhibition as it continuously evolves over two years.

Image: Zan Wimberley

Bundanon’s new world-class Art Museum and Bridge for Creative Learning will officially be opened on Saturday 19 March, following a soft launch on in January 2022. Since opening to the public, Bundanon has welcomed over 4,500 visitors through the new Art Museum.

The build has been supported by a $22.5 million investment from the Australian Government, $10.3 million from the NSW Government and philanthropic support. The $34 million project will drive visitation and cultural tourism to the Shoalhaven region.

The Biennale of Sydney and Fondation Cartier pour l’art contemporain will present a site-specific version of The Great Animal Orchestra will be projected on the sails of the Sydney Opera House over three nights from 9 – 11 March, marking the countdown to the 23rd Biennale of Sydney, titled rīvus, opening to the public on 12 March 2022.

The Great Animal Orchestra is a mesmerising audio-visual experience of animal sounds recorded in natural habitats around the world – many of which are now extinct – by American pioneer soundscape ecologist Bernie Krause, in collaboration with London-based collective United Visual Artists. Created at the initiative of the Fondation Cartier pour l’art contemporain, the environmentally focused immersive installation will make its Australian premiere at the 23rd Biennale of Sydney, presented at the Stargazer Lawn, Barangaroo for the duration of the three-month exhibition from 12 March to 13 June 2022.