Kim Mahood, Trapped Horse, Sculpture in storage at Umbrella ahead of the touring exhibition Outlying and Far-reaching, 1991. PUNQ 2026 Commission. Photographer: Unknown
Gurambilbarra / Townsville
Umbrella Studio Contemporary Arts: 408 Flinders St, Townsville City QLD 4810.
View the interactive PUNQ Art Trail Map for directions.
Venue AccessibilityUmbrella's gallery and shop are located on street level with a doorway entrance and one low step up into the space. Visitors with alternative accessibility needs may enter via the side entrance door and ramp a couple metres to the left of the front doors.
Occasionally Umbrella holds exhibitions in the downstairs Vault space, which is an old concrete vault with a step up to the entry doorway. The Studio is also located downstairs. Both downstairs spaces can be accessed via one staircase at the rear of the gallery or via a rear door on Ogden St if booked with Umbrella staff. Please call 07 4772 7109 or contact us via the 'Contact Us' form prior to your visit if you would like to discuss your options and arrange a time to enter via the rear door. Unfortunately the Vault space is not accessible to those who require wheelchairs. We apologise for any inconvenience and thank you for your patience and understanding.
PricingThis is a free event.
A Radical Art History: Artists, Ideas, and Cultural Exchange Across Forty Years Unknown
Umbrella Studio Contemporary Arts
Through artists, ideas and cultural exchange, A Radical Art History explores forty years of contemporary arts practice in North Queensland and beyond.
Rather than presenting a conventional institutional history, an interactive digital archive and an in-person exhibition trace the networks of people, projects and conversations that have defined Umbrella Studio Contemporary Arts since 1986. Drawing on photographs, publications, artworks, correspondence, oral histories and ephemera, the archives reveal how an artist-led initiative evolved into an internationally connected platform for experimentation, critical dialogue and regional leadership.
Organised through four interconnected themes: Lines of Inquiry, Sovereign Presence, The Constellation and No Fixed Centre, visitors are invited to navigate exhibitions, performances, commissions, publications and partnerships across time, uncovering unexpected connections between people, places and ideas. Together, these thematic pathways reveal a story of artistic experimentation, leadership, collaboration, advocacy and the movement of ideas across communities, geographies and generations.
The exhibition outcome will feature objects from the physical archive, including photographic slides and conference papers, alongside a re-staged ephemeral artwork from Umbrella’s early exhibition program.
More than a historical record, the archives are a living resource that reflects the complexity of regional practice and the enduring influence of artists in shaping cultural life. It invites audiences to revisit familiar histories, discover overlooked stories and explore the relationships that continue to inform contemporary practice today.
The exhibition and digital archive will both launch at 6pm Wednesday 23 September 2026. The digital archive link will appear here.
Produced by Umbrella Studio Contemporary Arts in partnership with James Cook University, this project was made possible through the Beyond the Studio: 40 Years of Umbrella fundraising campaign, supported by Bamford Community Care, Mitsubishi Electric through Capricorn Air Conditioning, the Creative Australia Plus1 Program, and the generosity of individual donors who helped begin digitising one of regional Australia's most significant contemporary art archives.
Umbrella gratefully acknowledges Johanna Wiggers, Lead Researcher, whose scholarship and dedication made this archive possible, and Townsville Citylibraries for their support.
About The ArtistUmbrella Studio Contemporary Arts is a leading independent platform for contemporary and experimental arts practice operating on Wulgurukaba Country (Gurambilbarra / Townsville, North Queensland).
With a four-decade legacy of bringing art and audiences together, Umbrella amplifies critical and creative voices, supports communities, incubates creativity and collaboration, and advocates for new models and investment in the arts.
Umbrella believes in the power of commune, bringing together diverse voices and perspectives of North Queensland and beyond. In dialogue, through creative arts practices, Umbrella challenges traditional place-based hierarchies of centre and periphery and nourishes curiosity, exploration, and more profound experiences with the region and all its peoples. Acknowledging the beauty of the in-between spaces, Umbrella invites partnership and collaboration to create encounters and meaning in a complex world.
Umbrella runs an annual program of onsite and touring exhibitions, public programs, arts residencies, studio access, professional development programs, special events and a contemporary art festival, Pop Up North Queensland (PUNQ). Umbrella is integral to North Queensland's thriving culture and creative economy.
Gurambilbarra / Townsville
Umbrella Studio Contemporary Arts: 408 Flinders St, Townsville City QLD 4810.
View the interactive PUNQ Art Trail Map for directions.
Venue AccessibilityUmbrella's gallery and shop are located on street level with a doorway entrance and one low step up into the space. Visitors with alternative accessibility needs may enter via the side entrance door and ramp a couple metres to the left of the front doors.
Occasionally Umbrella holds exhibitions in the downstairs Vault space, which is an old concrete vault with a step up to the entry doorway. The Studio is also located downstairs. Both downstairs spaces can be accessed via one staircase at the rear of the gallery or via a rear door on Ogden St if booked with Umbrella staff. Please call 07 4772 7109 or contact us via the 'Contact Us' form prior to your visit if you would like to discuss your options and arrange a time to enter via the rear door. Unfortunately the Vault space is not accessible to those who require wheelchairs. We apologise for any inconvenience and thank you for your patience and understanding.
PricingThis is a free event.
Back to HomePUNQ respectfully acknowledges the Wulgurukaba of Gurambilbarra and Yunbenun and the surrounding groups of our region; Bindal, Gugu Badhun, Nywaigi, Warrgamay, Bandjin and Gudjal as the Traditional Custodians of the land on which we gather, share and celebrate local creative practice. We pay our respects to Elders past, present and emerging. We acknowledge Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islanders as the first people of Australia. They have never ceded sovereignty and remain strong in their enduring connection to land and Culture.