When it came to museums across the region commissioning monumental projects, on October 25, Canberra’s National Gallery of Australia (NGA) unveiled its most expensive to date in the museum’s revamped Sculpture Garden: Lindy Lee’s 13-ton, four-meter-high, AUD 14 million (USD 9.4 million) stainless-steel sculpture Ouroboros (2024), based on the ancient symbol of a serpent swallowing its own tail. After five years of ruling over New Zealand’s capital with an iron fist, artist Ronnie van Hout’s giant hand-face sculpture, Quasi (2016), was removed from the roof of City Gallery Wellington Te Whare Toi.