“Ron Mueck is one of Australia’s most successful and internationally renowned contemporary artists, acclaimed for his astonishingly crafted realist figures and profound observation of human experiences and emotions,” AGNSW director Michael Brand says.

The MCA’s ticketed winter blockbuster will present the first solo Australian show by Welsh-born conceptual artist Cerith Wyn Evans.

The sculptor and experimental filmmaker has collaborated with indie bands The Smiths and The Fall and has created works inspired by Yoko Ono. But Wyn Evans is best known for his monumental three-dimensional drawings in neon light. These suspended works comprise clusters of abstract white neon knots that appear to be part calligraphic scroll, part chandelier.

The AGNSW’s winter offering is Yolŋu power: the art of Yirrkala, showcasing the work of celebrated Indigenous artists from Yirrkala, a small Indigenous community in Arnhem Land.

This group of artists has dominated Australia’s long-running and prestigious Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Art Awards, and built a strong international reputation and collector base.

Other major highlights of 2025 include:

Neil Balnaves Tallawoladah Lawn Commission (MCA)

A large sculptural work by Thomas J Price will be installed on the lawn of the MCA in September as part of the new sculpture commission series supported by The Balnaves Foundation. The subject is under wraps, but Price is known for his large-scale works that “reframe the ordinary as extraordinary”.

MCA director Suzanne Cotter says only that the sculpture will be large enough to be visible from the Cahill Expressway. “It’s a work we believe is going to really engage the four-plus million people that walk past the MCA every year,” she says. “It’s going to be a lovely Instagrammable moment, and we see it as something that will speak to many people.”

The Key’s Under the Mat (AGNSW)

Playground designer and artist Mike Hewson is moving into the subterranean Tank space in October to make an “anarchic and generous sculptural neighbourhood” for visitors to meet, play, perform and explore in. Hewson has built “risky” new children’s playgrounds in Melbourne, Sydney and Wollongong. For Southbank’s $2.5 million Rocks on Wheels he wedged large bluestone climbable boulders, monkey bars and a metal slide on platforms with bolted-down wheels. The Tank commission will be constructed from thousands of salvaged objects and materials.

Data Dreams (MCA)

Fifteen artists or collectives have been invited to explore what artificial intelligence means to them in this Sydney International Art Series exhibition. “Most of the work will be interactive in dialogue, with the technologies driving the works,” says Cotter of the November show. “It’s going to be visually and spatially stellar because of the subject. There are bright and dark sides to AI, and we’ll be exploring both.”

Dangerously Modern (AGNSW)

This exhibition of more than 200 works by 50 trailblazing Australian women will reveal their global role and legacy in the story of modernism. Margaret Preston, Nora Heysen and Grace Cossington Smith will be celebrated alongside under-recognised names such as Eleanor Harrison, Justine Kong Sing and Stella Marks. The October exhibition has been developed with the Art Gallery of South Australia.

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