Written by Cameron Atfield Thursday, 17 February 2011 22:09

The Queensland Art Gallery & The Gallery of Modern Art Reopen After The Devastating Floods Of January 2011

Brisbane, Australia (Brisbane Times). - Just a shade over a month since the Brisbane River swept through the buildings, the Queensland Art Gallery and the Gallery of Modern Art doors will finally reopen tomorrow morning. The galleries have been out of action since the January 13th flood as workers repaired and cleaned the buildings. Queensland Art Gallery Director Tony Ellwood said the major exhibition, “21st Century: Art in the First Decade” at the Gallery of Modern Art, had attracted more than 139,000 visitors before GoMA's forced closure. Following the gallery’s reopening, the exhibition will continue until April 26.The Cultural Centre on Brisbane’s South Bank, comprising the Queensland Art Gallery and Gallery of Modern Art (GoMA), Queensland Museum, Queensland Performing Arts Centre (QPAC) and State Library of Queensland, sustained flood damage to many of its lower-lying facilities on 13^th January 2011 when the Brisbane river broke its banks.

Flood waters entered the lowest levels of GoMA, which includes the Children’s Art Centre, River Cafe and workshops, the basement of QPAC, the lower level of the State Library and the basement and Playasaurus Place of Queensland Museum. All of the Centre’s undercover car parks were inundated with water. Immediate measures were implemented to protect the sites and their collections, and clean-up work and repairs have been underway since the flooding happened.

Mr Ellwood said the lower level of the Children's Art Centre remained closed for repair, but the Queensland Art Gallery and Gallery of Modern Art's upper levels would be open. "The Gallery is still the perfect place for kids and families to escape the heat," he said.

The Queensland Art Gallery is Queensland's premier visual arts institution and a leading art museum nationally. The Gallery was established in 1895 as the Queensland National Art Gallery. Throughout its early history the Gallery was housed in a series of temporary premises, and did not have a permanent home until the opening of its current architecturally acclaimed building on Brisbane's south bank in 1982. Since opening, the Gallery's Collection, exhibitions, audiences and programs have grown in size, complexity and diversity. To cater for the community's future needs, during the 1990s the Gallery embarked on extensive research and wide consultation, resulting in the concept of a second building.

The Gallery of Modern Art, which opened in December 2006, complements the Queensland Art Gallery building. Situated at Kurilpa Point only 150 metres from the Queensland Art Gallery building, the Gallery of Modern Art focuses on the art of the twentieth and twenty-first centuries. The Gallery's flagship project is the Asia-Pacific Triennial of Contemporary Art series of exhibitions, now a major event on the national and international arts calendar. The expertise developed from staging the Triennial for over a decade has led to the establishment of the Australian Centre of Asia-Pacific Art (ACAPA), to foster alliances, scholarship and publishing, and the formation of an internationally significant collection of art from the Asia-Pacific region. Similarly, the Gallery is committed to profiling Indigenous Australian art and strengthening relationships with Queensland's Indigenous communities. Visit the Queensland Art Gallery website … http://qag.qld.gov.au/