Skywhales Across Australia

Patricia Piccinini’s sculptures, designed in the form of hot-air balloons, touring from the National Gallery of Australia, will float across the dawn skies at the UniSC. Pack a picnic, bring the family, and enjoy the magical moment as the Skywhale family floats above the coast.

Skywhales Across Australia will see Patricia Piccinini’s beloved Skywhale 2013 and Skywhalepapa 2019–2020 take their family on another tour of Australia.

In the form of two monumental hot air balloons, the skywhale family represents nature, family, evolution, care and wonder — it is a simple story, but a beautiful and uplifting one.

This touring exhibition presents a rare opportunity for regional Australians to experience the magic of the skywhales within their own community.

As the skywhales float across the dawn skies, Piccinini calls on communities to engage with them creatively. Make a morning of it, prepare a picnic, watch in awe, and sing along in wonder as the skywhale family takes flight.

The day prior, Saturday 16, Join us at 2pm for a rare opportunity to hear from one of Australia’s most celebrated contemporary artists, Patricia Piccinini as she gives an in-person talk at USC

'Skywhales Across Australia is a project that talks about nature, family, evolution, care and wonder. The skywhales float into our lives to make us smile and think.'

— Patricia Piccinini

Location	Event	Date and time	Cost	Registration
Lecture Theatre 7, Building C, UniSC Sunshine Coast.	Artist Talk	Saturday 16 August, 2.00-3.00pm	Free - Registration is essential	Register
UniSC Athletics Track, 32 Olympic Way, Sippy Downs	Exhibition	Sunrise, Sunday 17 August, 4.45-6.30am	Free - Registration is essential	Register

Skywhales Across Australia is part of the Horizon festival program.

Creative Team

Patricia Piccinini

About the Artist

For over 25 years Patricia Piccinini has interrogated the complex relationship between our natural and artificial worlds, beginning each creative project with the posing of a speculative question, a wondrous ‘What if…?’ Known internationally for her astonishing hyperrealism, Piccinini’s practice comprises drawing, photography, video, mixed-media painted compositions, large-scale installation, and includes the now iconic hot-air balloon sculpture Skywhale.

Piccinini was born in Freetown, Sierra Leone in 1965 and arrived in Kamberri/Canberra, Australia in 1972. After graduating with a degree in economic history from the Australian National University in 1988 she pursued painting at the Victorian College of the Arts, graduating in 1991. With a group of fellow artists, including her husband Peter Hennessy, Piccinini established the Basement Project Gallery in Naarm/Melbourne in 1994. She and Hennessy have worked as a collaborative team ever since, operating out of Drome, their joint studio in Collingwood. Drome comprises a team of studio assistants, artisans, technologists and fabricators who bring a wealth of specialist knowledge to the expanding scale and complexity of Piccinini’s practice.

Piccinini began exploring the implications of biotechnology and genome sequencing in The Mutant Genome Project 1994–95, a series of digital photographs and installations. Her probing of the boundaries of nature and artifice, shared DNA, mutations and hybridity were further demonstrated in We are family, which was shown in the Australian Pavilion at the Venice Biennale in 2003. Skywhale, an enormous hot-air balloon sculpture of an imagined flying mammal, was commissioned in 2013 and has since flown throughout the world. Recently, Skywhale’s companion piece, Skywhalepapa—Piccinini’s most ambitious project to date—was commissioned by the National Gallery of Australia with the support of The Balnaves Foundation. After launching in Kamberri/Canberra in 2021, the Skywhale family has taken to the skies of Australia, touring nationally as part of the National Gallery of Australia’s commitment to bringing art to all Australians.

Acknowledgements

Skywhales Sunshine Coast is presented by Horizon in partnership with Caloundra Regional Gallery.

Skywhales Across Australia is a National Gallery Touring Event, supported by the Australian Government through Visions of Australia and the National Collecting Institutions Touring Outreach Program. 

Skywhales is the third instalment of The Balnaves Contemporary Series and is a Know My Name project.

Venue Sponsor is University Sunshine Coast (UniSC).