Presented in collaboration with Kaldor Public Art Projects, the exhibition has been designed and curated by Demand and takes as its subject the John Kaldor Family Collection, a gift of more than 200 artworks to the Art Gallery of New South Wales by John Kaldor AO, announced in 2008.
The German artist, renowned for his large-scale photographic and film works, which are held in the collections of major museums around the world, is deeply interested in architecture and exhibition design. He has previously collaborated with the Pritzker Prize-winning architecture firm SANAA and in 2013 and 2014, made several visits to their Tokyo studio, which resulted in a body of work depicting the firm’s architectural models.
Demand often designs the interiors of his own exhibitions, using striking juxtapositions of artworks with specially designed wallpapers and surprising spatial interventions to create dynamic installations that extend his artistic vision into the exhibition space.
For Kaldor Public Art Project 38, the artist turns his attention to the artworks in the John Kaldor Family Collection and to the Art Gallery’s Naala Badu building. Informed by his research, he has transformed the Isaac Wakil Gallery into a unique setting for almost 60 artworks selected by the artist from the John Kaldor Family Collection. Dating from the late 1960s to the present, the exhibition includes works by artists Francis Alÿs, Christo, Aleks Danko, Gilbert & George, Andreas Gursky, Sol LeWitt, Nam June Paik, Richard Prince, Robert Rauschenberg, Ugo Rondinone, Saskia Olde Wolbers, and many more.
The entrance to the exhibition features a little-known drawing by Sol LeWitt, The location of twenty-one lines with lines from midpoints mostly 1974, that provides a blueprint for the physical shape of the exhibition In LeWitt’s web of intersecting lines, Demand saw a diagram describing potential locations for partitions within the enormous, open expanse of the gallery. The resulting arrangement of suspended, coloured planes creates a dynamic, kaleidoscopic labyrinth, allowing for unexpected and generative encounters with art, colour and architecture.
Thomas Demand: The Object Lesson builds on the Art Gallery’s five-decade relationship with John Kaldor AO and marks Demand’s second collaboration with Kaldor Public Art Projects, following Project 25 in 2012, The Dailies, where he occupied the entire fourth floor of the Harry Seidler-designed Commercial Travellers’ Association in Sydney’s Martin Place.
Art Gallery of New South Wales director said: ‘The groundbreaking Kaldor donation is the most significant gift of international art ever made to the Art Gallery of New South Wales. It transformed our art collection, adding pivotal and thought-provoking works that have enriched and enlarged the stories we tell in our exhibitions and displays. We are delighted to once again collaborate with John Kaldor and Kaldor Public Art Projects and to be working with the celebrated artist Thomas Demand to showcase this incredible collection in a dynamic new way.’
A dedicated collector, patron and supporter of contemporary art, John Kaldor AO has collected and commissioned art since the early 1960s, and since 1969 has shared his love of art with the Australian audiences through his remarkable and ambitious public art projects. He has donated artworks by some of the most important figures of the 20th and 21st centuries to the Art Gallery’s collection, marking one of the most significant gifts to an Australian public gallery.
John Kaldor AO said: ‘The Object Lesson brings together my two passions – collecting art and creating groundbreaking projects with leading contemporary artists. It is a pleasure to work once again with Thomas Demand and witness his creative process.
‘Our longstanding relationship with the Art Gallery of New South Wales has produced many memorable projects. I’m immensely grateful to the Art Gallery for their collaboration on this exhibition, which marks our twelfth project together since 1973. I especially want to thank Maud Page, director, and the Art Gallery of New South Wales team, along with my own colleagues at Kaldor Public Art Projects, for bringing this latest project to life.’
Thomas Demand said: ‘It was a great pleasure to accept John’s invitation to engage with his collection. The result, I hope, is as distinctive as any of his other projects—capable of sparking curiosity and offering a memorable experience for the audience. To me, the objects of this lesson represent certain ideas, and those ideas are meant to enter into a conversation—with myself as their conductor.’
A public program will be presented alongside the exhibition to enrich visitors’ immersion with the works on display. To mark the opening on 30 August, John Kaldor AO joins , director and chief curator at the Public Art Fund, New York to reflect on the evolution of the John Kaldor Family Collection, and the people and stories behind The Object Lesson, followed by an in-conversation between Demand and Art Gallery director Maud Page on Demand’s curatorial process and architectural approach to the creation of the immersive exhibition space.
Across September and November, a free Wednesday evening talk series titled Object lessons will invite leading curators, artists, historians, and commentators to explore works of their choice from the exhibition, sharing fresh perspectives. Speakers include Donna West Brett, Luke Johnson, Michael Dagostino, Tracey Moffatt, Neil Armfield, Penelope Seilder, Nadia Odium and Tom Polo.
On Wednesday 3 September, a panel discussion titled On collecting brings together collector Kym Elphinstone and artist Lottie Consalvo with the Art Gallery’s assistant curator of international art, Tai Spruyt, for an intimate look at what drives art collecting, how collections evolve, and the personal narratives behind each acquisition.
In the spring school holidays Sydney-based artist Nadia Odlum leads a series of free, bookable ‘loose parts’ play workshops for children and families, running from 29 September to 2 October. Inspired by the creative play behind the John Kaldor Family Collection, the workshops encourage participants to construct, experiment and imagine in the Art Gallery.
Music will also play a role in the interpretation of The Object Lesson. Following discussions with Demand, Sydney and Berlin-based musician has composed a specially commissioned work that offers a sonic response to the exhibition, to be performed live on 7, 10 and 11 January 2026 to close out the exhibition. In the lead up to Reidy’s performances, local musicians and sound artists will reinterpret Reidy’s score, with performances by Megan Alice Clune on 3 September, Alexandra Spence on 1 October and Mary Rapp on 5 November.
The 38th Kaldor Public Art Project, Thomas Demand: The Object Lesson, is on display at the Art Gallery of New South Wales, in the Isaac Wakil Gallery in Naala Badu until 11 January 2026. Entry is free.
