Panel Discussion and Special Performance

We invite you to join us for a series of public forums addressing the contributions the Institute for Modern Art has made to Queensland’s art ecology, reconnecting the institution with previous generations, and generating speculative visions for our future.

Our second session prods at recent history. What did the turn of the millennium and the 21st century mean for the IMA? In a world of Web 2.0, identity politics, social media, and globalisation, how do the threads of the IMA's history weave together the story of our contemporary life?

Sally Butler leads a conversation with Josh Milani, Andrew McNamara, Lawrence English, Judy Watson, and Amelia Barikin as they weigh in our last twenty-five years.

Iconic performances of Jeremy Hynes will be reprised by Queensland College of Art students, led by Justene Williams.

This is a free, seated event. All welcome. Please RSVP to confirm your attendance.

2025 marks fifty years since the Institute for Modern Art first opened its doors in Brisbane. For five decades, we’ve presented the latest contemporary art; connecting the local, national, and international, the established and the emergent; offering a hub for the art life in Brisbane. We have navigated the chops, changes, and paradigm shifts that have marked the art of our times. To celebrate our fiftieth anniversary, we are presenting three public forums. The first two excavate our past; the third imagines our future. Each will be followed by a performance.