ART, ARCHITECTURE + NATURE

Step into a world where art, architecture and nature reveal their subtlest secrets. Through mindful observation and contemplative practice, unlock a richer way of seeing and being. The Art of Deep Looking nurtures your natural curiosity and strengthens your capacity for sustained engagement.

As your perception deepens, prepare to be moved by unexpected moments of wonder – whether standing before a masterpiece, exploring a sacred space, or pausing in a sunlit garden.

Here, you'll learn frameworks that transform ordinary looking into extraordinary seeing. Our approach helps you:

  • Cultivate presence and discover new relationship with works of art and sublime spaces

  • Discover layers of meaning and nuance

  • Experience deepened moments of connection

  • Access deeper wells of joy, wonder, delight, tenderness and beauty!

The Art of Deep Looking can help you create a deeper connection to joy, delight, tenderness and beauty!

“I have a new love for art.”

“It opened a way to experience architecture like never before.”

“I was looking at the paintings as though with new eyes.”

“I will never see art in the same way again.”

“I wish I could go back to all the art galleries I have visited around the world, to have this deep looking experience with all my favourite works.”

A Decade of Discovery

For nearly a decade, the Art of Deep Looking (AoDL) has guided participants through transformative experiences with art, both in person and virtually. Our practice has flourished within Australia's premier cultural spaces, including:

  • Sydney Opera House

  • Museum of Contemporary Art, Sydney

  • Art Gallery of New South Wales

  • Royal Botanic Garden, Sydney

  • Brisbane Arts Festival

  • VIVID Ideas Festival

  • University of Technology Sydney

  • The School of Life, Sydney

Working with a diverse and beautiful range of artworks by leading artists from around the world including: Kandinsky, Vermeer, Artemisia; Morisot; Caravaggio; Beckett; Streeton; Olsen; Hokusai; van Gogh; Modigliani; Manet; Hilma af Klint; Kahlo; Mondrian; Malevich; Popova; Klimt; Carr & Cézanne.

The ILLUME App: Your Pocket Guide to Mindful Viewing

Journey through the world's most beloved galleries from wherever you are. The ILLUME App offers intimate, guided encounters with masterpieces from:

  • Rijksmuseum, Amsterdam

  • Museum of Modern Art, New York

  • Tate Modern, London

  • Villa Borghese, Rome

  • Uffizi Gallery, Florence

  • Hokusai Museum, Tokyo

  • Art Institute of Chicago

  • The Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York

  • Vatican Museums, Rome

Cultivating Deep Looking

In our rapidly moving world, we invite you to pause. Our mindful journeys reveal fresh ways of seeing, awakening wonder and creating space for discovery. Through practiced observation, familiar sights transform into sources of renewed awe and deeper understanding.

Research and Innovation

AoDL stands at the forefront of research into the art of observation. Working with global colleagues, we explore innovative approaches to deepening artistic connection. Our white paper distils insights gathered from hundreds of participant experiences, documenting the transformative power of sustained looking.

“Speed hides all subtlety, and reality is subtle.”

Meditation as Contemplative Inquiry, Arthur Zajonc

  • VIVID IDEAS 2024, Botanic Garden Sydney

    A beautiful refreshing session in a majestic, iconic location connecting with nature and other humans. I came away feeling heard, grateful and inspired.

  • ILLUME App, National Gallery of Australia, 2023

    I experienced the art in a completely different way. I noticed patterns, textures and found a completely new appreciation for my own view of it. I loved that I was given permission to interpret it in my own way.

  • VIVID IDEAS 2023 - Botanic Gardens Sydney

    I felt so childlike again, full of wonder, joy, curiosity and delight. Thank you.

  • VIVID IDEAS 2023 - Frank Gehry designed building at UTS

    The session provided me with a greater level of feeling for the architecture. Knowing about something and seeing or visiting, does not equal experiencing it.

  • Art in Mind 2018, Art Gallery of NSW, Sydney

    We all know Vermeer's painting of the girl reading a letter. But mindfulness helped me see it clearly for the first time; and now it will be with me for life.

  • Sydney Opera House, Art of Deep Looking 2019

    It was an enlightening session of unwinding and shifting our focus off the normal day-to-day routine. It helped introduce a sense of deep connection to the building and the immediate environment. It was a simple, yet creative way to engage with this “beloved” space.