Olafur Eliasson's Icelandic 'Riverbed' comes to life at the Gallery of Modern Art

Mon 8 Dec 2025

Taking up the Gallery of Modern Art's (GOMA) entire ground floor, ‘Olafur Eliasson: Presence’ includes important early works, new works made especially for Brisbane, and expansive site-specific installations including Gallery favourite Riverbed 2014 (illustrated).

Regular gallerygoers will recall Eliasson’s Riverbed, first installed at GOMA for the exhibition ‘Water’ in 2019. At this time Queensland was in an extended drought, Australia then experienced terrible bushfires. As an artwork and experience, it offered an incredible lens through which to consider how precious water is to us.

Olafur Eliasson in Brisbane for the opening of 'Presence', 2025

Riverbed is an expansive indoor installation of rock, sand, pebbles and water that evokes the wide, rocky rivers and formidable landscape of Iceland, yet might be many other places; or perhaps the bed of a once-mighty river now reduced to a small stream.

The artwork welcomes many interpretations, just as it asks us to choose our own path through the landscape, seeking the source of the stream as it tumbles toward us. The journey and choices we make are important to Eliasson: he is interested in how we approach the experience both as individuals and in a more social or collective sense.

Bringing it back now, we are able to share more of how Riverbed relates to Eliasson’s Icelandic heritage — for him this is also what is left as the ice melts and the glaciers retreat. Like Australia, Iceland is experiencing enormous climatic changes, the impacts of which are clear in the artist’s photographic series Glacier melt 1999/2019 2019 (illustrated) also in the exhibition.

The glacier melt series 1999/2019 (details) 2019

So, how do we move from seeing and feeling to doing? What can we do, how can we work together creativity, playfully and with a sense of hope?

QAGOMA is committed to sustainability in its exhibitions, programs and operations, and has worked with the artist and Studio Olafur Eliasson to minimise the carbon footprint for the exhibition through electricity management, prioritising sea freight, sustainable procurement practices and comprehensive waste stream diversions.

Riverbed circulates 4000 litres of water, with occasional top-ups for evaporation, through a pool filter and ioniser. Hydraulic consultants advised the Gallery on water filtration, refreshing and purification for audience safety. The rocks and gravel in Riverbed are supplied through commercial landscape suppliers. All medium and large rocks from the previous installation in 2019 were stored for reuse in this and future displays. New sand, smaller gravel and some replacement rocks have been sourced for this version. The concealed structure of the installation uses untreated plantation pine timber studs and plywood that will be reused in future exhibitions, donated to charity or recycled.

‘Presence’ is accompanied by an expansive publication produced in collaboration with Eliasson and his studio with contributions from celebrated writers Ceridwen Dovey and Robert Macfarlane, a curatorial essay and extended interview with the artist, as well as a range of exhibition merchandise.

The exhibition is complemented by QAGOMA’s interactive mobile companion, which includes an exhibition guide with curatorial insights, images, and behind-the-scenes videos, and a sense trail that invites visitors to experience selected artworks through gentle sensory prompts. When you buy your ticket to 'Presence', you’ll immediately get access to enhance your visit, so bring your headphones.

Olafur Eliasson: Presence
6 December 2025 – 12 July 2026
Gallery of Modern Art (GOMA)
Gallery 1.1 (The Fairfax Gallery), Gallery 1.2 & Gallery 1.3 (Eric and Marion Taylor Gallery)
Brisbane, Australia
Get tickets to 'Olafur Eliasson: Presence’