DAVID HOCKNEY: BIGGER & CLOSER to Make Australian Premiere at Carriageworks

​Direct from London and in an Australian first, Carriageworks will present David Hockney: Bigger & Closer (not smaller & further away) - a monumental, immersive production from Lightroom London by one of the most celebrated artists of our time, presented from Thursday 22 October 2026.

David Hockney, who recently passed away at the age of 88, is one of the most influential artists of the modern era, reshaping the boundaries of art across a remarkable seven-decade career. Rising to prominence in the 1960s, Hockney became renowned for his fascination with perception, perspective and the act of looking. Across painting, photography, stage design and digital media, he continually embraced new forms and technologies and expanded the possibilities of artistic practice.

A rare opportunity to spend time in the presence of David Hockney, a pioneering contemporary artist whose influence spans the 20th and 21st centuries, David Hockney: Bigger & Closer (not smaller & further away) will transform the iconic industrial architecture of Carriageworks' Bay 17 into a four-sided, large-scale digital environment. Originally conceived for London's Lightroom exhibition space in close collaboration with Hockney, the Sydney presentation marks the production's Australian debut. Since opening in London in February 2023, the exhibition has captivated audiences in Manchester, Shanghai and Seoul, welcoming over 650,000 visitors around the world.

Bringing together painting, photography, drawing and digital media, the show is a multi-sensory experience that unfolds across image, sound and space. In a cycle of six themed chapters, with a specially composed score by Nico Muhly and narrated by Hockney himself, Hockney reveals his process.

His voice guides the viewer as they observe his early experiments with perspective, using photography as a way of 'drawing with a camera', capturing the passing of time in his composite Polaroids and photographic collages and the joy of spring on his iPad, and showing us why only paint can properly convey the hugeness of the Grand Canyon. Audiences join him on his audio-visual Wagner Drive, roaring up into the San Gabriel Mountains, and into the opera house by means of animated re-creations of his stage designs.