The National Gallery of Australia announces major exhibition

As we approach the end of the year, a string of inspiring exhibitions has begun to fill the calendar. The National Gallery of Australia has bolstered this lineup with the announcement of its major Summer exhibition, Full Throttle. The automobile is a tool and object we can’t help but love and depend on. It encapsulates everyday life whilst being a witness to the full range of human emotion. Full Throttle, set to open on 5 December, discards everything we thought we knew about cars, instead using them as a tool to reflect on contemporary life. Featuring new acquisitions and work from not only the Gallery collection but loans from significant national and international collections, this exhibition is on track to be a highlight of the Summer period.

The quintessential Australian film, Mad Max, is a source of inspiration for Full Throttle as it transcends using the car as a prop and instead makes it an integral character within the story. A special sequence by the film’s director, George Miller, will be included in the exhibition. Curators Nick Mitzevich, National Gallery Director and Beatrice Thompson, Asian & Pacific Art Associate Curator, have included artists who dare to defy common tropes of our reality, ultimately bending perceptions. Collectively, the artists have built upon multi-media installations, sculpture and painting to create new definitions of the car.

Beatrice Thompson said, ‘Full Throttle presents a diverse range of artistic responses to the automobile, revealing it as a connector and divider, a saviour and destroyer, a practical object and a powerful cultural metaphor. From suburban realism to post-apocalyptic fantasy, the works invite visitors to reconsider the profound influence of cars on contemporary life.”

The exhibition includes international artists such as Jordan Wolfson and Catherine Opie as well as notable Australian talent. In true Patricia Piccinini fashion, an uncanny animalistic sculpture in the shape of a moving vehicle will be on display. One of Australia’s most highly regarded photographers, Trent Parke, captures a single fleeting moment in photographs from his Bathurst series.

The joyful wit of Anangu artist Kaylene Whiskey adorns an old Mad Max: Beyond the Thunderdome poster. Overflowing with her signature bold colours, cultural connection and humour, the world of Whiskey is not lost within her new painting. In a similar vein, Reko Rennie will share his vivid, dynamic artworks.

Amongst the diverse array of talented artists, the exhibition will also be accompanied by an extensive publication, a podcast, a four-part film series, public programs and an interactive engagement space designed by exhibiting artists Isabel and Alfredo Aquilizan.

This exhibition will be on display at the National Gallery of Australia, Kamberri/Canberra from 5 December 2026 – 11 April 2027. Entry is free.

Image: Trent Parke, Untitled #4, 1998, from the series ‘Mount Pandemonium, Bathurst, NSW’, National Gallery of Australia, Kamberri/Canberra, purchased 2025. Courtesy of the artist, Hugo Michell Gallery, and Michael Reid Galleries.