Go, See, Experience: MECCA’s Guide to What’s On in Autumn
April 24 | 3 minute read
Words by Catherine Garrett
Nadia Hernández Exhibition and Workshops
Art Gallery of NSW, Sydney, NSW
Free
Those who remember MECCA’s 2022 Holiday campaign may recall the striking artwork and poetry of Nadia Hernández. Don’t miss her exhibition, Para verte mejor, en todo tiempo (To see you better, at all times) at the Art Gallery of NSW – on until 21 June 2026 – that explores memory and its relationship to personal, historical and shared experience.
As part of the exhibition, Nadia is hosting two-hour workshops where you’ll contribute to a growing installation of banners inspired by lyrics or poems that resonate with you. Drop in at 6:00pm on Wednesday 3, 10 and 17 June 2026.
Image credit: Nadia Hernández in her exhibition 'Para verte mejor, en todo tiempo (To see you better, at all times)' at the Art Gallery of New South Wales, 21 March – 21 June 2026, artworks © Nadia Hernández, photo © Art Gallery of New South Wales, Jenni Carter
Jenny Holzer Exhibition, Auckland Art Gallery, Auckland, NZ, Free
American Artist Jenny Holzer changed the way we experience art by taking it out of galleries and placing it directly into the world on billboards, LED signs and public spaces, where her words interrupted the everyday – one of her most well-known works, ‘ABUSE OF POWER COMES AS NO SURPRISE’, was first shown in New York’s Times Square in 1982 but continues to resonate today.
Known for her sharp, provocative text works, she explores power, politics and the female experience in a way that feels both urgent and timeless. Her work doesn’t just ask you to look, it asks you to think, making STATEMENT – Truisms + a rare chance to engage with one of the most influential voices in contemporary art. See it in the foyer of Auckland Art Gallery until 1 June 2026. Don’t forget to look up!
If you won’t be in Auckland anytime soon, Holzer’s more recent work ‘WTF’ (2022) will be on show at the highly anticipated NGV Triennial in Melbourne from 13 December 2026. Save the date!
A velvet ant, a flower and a bird
Potter Museum of Modern Art, Melbourne, VIC
Free
Image credit: Rivane Neuensch wander and Cao Guimarães, Quarta-Feira de Cinzas, 2006.Courtesy the artists and Galeria Fortes Vilaça, São Paulo, Tanya Bonakdar Gallery, New York and Stephen Friedman Gallery London.
Paris Is Burning Screening, Sydney Opera House, Sydney, NSW, $30 ($26 Concession)
If you want to see the origins of drag ball culture, voguing before Madonna did it and the coining of ‘executive realness’ and ‘shade’, then you need to see documentary Paris Is Burning. Set in 1980s New York and directed by Jennie Livingston, the film was released in 1990 – yet the culture it documents continues to show its impact today. The film focuses on Black and Latinx LGBTQ+ communities who created a world of expression, resilience and chosen family in the face of marginalisation.
The documentary doesn’t just showcase the spectacle of drag balls – it reveals the deeper stories behind them, exploring identity, race, gender, class and the pursuit of belonging. Joyful and heartbreaking all at once. It's screening as part of the Vivid LIVE festival at the Sydney Opera House on 30 May 2026, or you can stream it free via MUBI.
THE ONLY TRUE PROTEST IS BEAUTY, Fondazione Dries Van Noten, Venice, Italy, From €20
One can dream, but if you’re lucky enough to be in Venice between 25 April and 4 October 2026, then it would be rude not to visit Fondazione Dries Van Noten. Housed within the historic Palazzo Pisani Moretta, overlooking the Grand Canal, Fondazione Dries Van Noten celebrates craftsmanship as a vital language of cultural identity. Their first exhibition, THE ONLY TRUE PROTEST IS BEAUTY – curated by the man himself, designer Dries Van Noten, alongside Geert Bruloot – is surely worth the plane ticket to Venice alone.
Hero image credit: John Pule, Hao, 2024.Courtesy the artist and Gow Langsford Gallery, Auckland.
