AI mural at Brisbane’s Bulimba Library draws calls for local art
The council says the children’s-area illustration is temporary, but critics question why a local artist was not used from the start.
Ledger: DisputedNo outcome yet
Brisbane City Council has faced criticism over an AI-generated illustration installed in the children’s area of the renovated Bulimba Library, with artists and the local Labor opposition arguing that the space should have featured commissioned local work instead.
The image forms a series of window-like panels in a nautical-themed reading nook marked “All Aboard: Brisbane River Reading Ferry”. Local artist Sophie Beer called it “AI slop” and said hundreds, if not thousands, of Brisbane residents could have produced something better, according to The Sydney Morning Herald.
Social-media users pointed to apparent AI errors including a three-winged cockatoo, a seagull with a cockatoo’s beak, illegible writing on a CityCat and distorted depictions of the Story Bridge and ferris wheel. The mural also placed major Brisbane landmarks in incorrect locations.
The council confirmed that the image was made using AI, but said it was a temporary illustration while plans for permanent artwork were finalised. It said it was looking forward to engaging a local artist for a work that families could enjoy for years.
Lucy Collier, the Labor councillor for Morningside, questioned that explanation, calling the design “garbage” and saying the LNP had already commissioned an artist to make a customised external mural that was ready for the library’s reopening. She said she believed the council had been “caught out in a lie”, while adding that she supported the wider library renovation.
The upgrade had been scheduled to reopen on Nov. 7, after the temporary Bulimba Bowls Club library was due to close on Nov. 4. Brisbane City Council had promoted the reopening as a family-focused community celebration.
The dispute has arisen at a site with a long cultural history. At a Nov. 3 council meeting, customer services committee chair Sarah Hutton highlighted a courtyard mural by Ryan Barwick inspired by Bulimba’s past. The library occupies the former site of the Bulimba School of Arts, built in 1887, later taken over by the council, demolished in 1982 and replaced by the current library building, which reopened in 1985.
Council opposition leader Jared Cassidy has separately criticised the allowance of AI in the council’s Brisbane Portrait Prize. The council has not announced a date for commissioning or installing the permanent Bulimba Library artwork.
- Medium Art and design