‘squirrel’ by meret oppenheim, 1969 image © meret oppenheim courtesy national gallery of australia

‘soft sculpture’ exhibition currently on show at national gallery of australia looks at the ways artists use unconventional materials to challenge the nature of sculpture. visitors will see works made from cloth, rope, paper, hair, leather, rubber or vinyl. the objects may droop, ooze or splash. they are fluffy, squishy or bent. they surround, suffocate and astonish and, in many cases, make us laugh. it includes sculptures and installations by eva hesse, robert morris, claes oldenburg, robert rauschenberg, joseph beuys and annette messager, and works by australian artists such as mikala dwyer, david jensz and ricky swallow. the exhibition will run till 12 july 2009.

'soft sculpture' exhibition at national gallery of australia‘ice bag – scale b’ by claes oldenburg, 1971 image © claes oldenburg and coosje van bruggenimagecourtesy national gallery of austraila

'soft sculpture' exhibition at national gallery of australia‘sheep on a couch’ by les kossatz, 1972-73 image © les kossatzimage courtesy national gallery of austraila

'soft sculpture' exhibition at national gallery of australia‘contingent’ by eva hesse, 1969image courtesy the estate of eva hesse, galerie hauser & wirth, zürich

'soft sculpture' exhibition at national gallery of australia‘soft alphabet’ by claes oledenburg, 1978 image © claes oldenburg and coosje van bruggenimage courtesy national gallery of australia

'soft sculpture' exhibition at national gallery of australia‘bags’ by lauren berkowitz, 1994 image © lauren berkowitz photograph: john gollingsimage courtesy national gallery of austraila

'soft sculpture' exhibition at national gallery of australia

'soft sculpture' exhibition at national gallery of australia‘duck-rabbit problem’ by kathy temin, 1991 image courtesy kathy temin'soft sculpture' exhibition at national gallery of australia‘the perfect drip’ by nell, 1999 image courtesy of the artist and roslyn oxley9 gallery