TROPIC ARCADIA

HOTA’s Children’s Gallery is presenting its new exhibition – TROPIC ARCADIA – a pop-up tropical island filled with interactivity for the whole family to explore.

TROPIC ARCADIA is a fun-filled realm of adventure depicted through the layered art of Tongan-Polynesian Artist Samuel Tupou. Samuel has created a curious, pop-up island described as part memory, part imagination and part arcade game, with his art aiming to create new narratives, portraying both personal and shared histories.

TROPIC ARCADIA encourages visitors to HOTA’s Children’s Gallery to collect a map and start their expedition through the multi-dimensional exhibition. Exploration is key, as children can colour and create their own adventure as they discover tropical island scenes throughout the exhibition. With activities such as Pattern Play, busy little hands can build 2D and 3D patterns using magnetic shapes; there is an interactive peg wall where you can create your own absurdcompositionincludingUFOs, pineapples, pigs and more; or look through the ViewFinder to see the concept of colours and patterns come to life.HOTA Gallery Director, Tracy Cooper-Lavery said: “We are delighted to work with Samuel on this exhibition presented exclusively at HOTA, not only to offer a platform to share Samuel’s practice but to invite the Gold Coast’s youngest art fans into his immersive, hyper-pop world. The exhibition is also an exciting pop art companion to our forthcoming world exclusive international exhibition Pop Masters: Art from the Mugrabi Collection, New York.”