Exhibition Dates: March 2024 to June 2025

Curator: Bertie Blackman (Curator September 2023 – June 2025)

130BPM: Soundtrack to a Revolution was the first exhibition presented in the Taylor Square Substation and examines the role of music in shaping queer culture, identity, and political expression in Australia. The exhibition presents fourteen songs by queer Australian musicians from the 1970s to the present, each selected by the artist as a work that speaks directly to their queer identity.

The exhibition positions music as both cultural expression and social action, tracing how queer communities have claimed public space through sound, performance, and collective celebration. Artists featured include Judy Small, Paul Mac, Brendan Maclean, Bec Sandridge, Courtney Barnett, and Jamaica Moana.

Presented across two digital screens, the exhibition combines music videos, performances, interviews, archival material, lyrics, and contextual commentary. Spanning genres including folk, punk, pop, and electronic music, 130BPM documents queer music as a force of resistance, joy, and collective transformation.