About

In a first for the Queensland Cultural Centre, the artist-designed play sculpture in the form of an oversized 119 metre-long garden hose — outside the Gallery of Modern Art (GOMA) — joins Australia’s list of iconic ‘big’ things. The artwork alludes to Queensland’s domestic architecture, inhabiting GOMA’s 'front yard', evoking breezy verandahs and subtropical gardens.

The Big Hose 2022–25, a collaborative creation of contemporary Australian artists Tony Albert (Brisbane, Girramay/ Yidinyji/ Kuku Yalanji peoples) and Nell (Sydney), sits on the banks of the Brisbane River at Kurilpa Point, a traditional meeting and trading place for the region’s Turrbal and Yaggera peoples. This artistic collaboration reveals nuanced layers of meaning through local histories of First Peoples, migration and art.