Australian Art Notes: March

These artnotes appear in edited form In Art Monthly Australia 

Above: Tim Silver Untitled installation 2012, featured in the Adelaide Biennial of Australian Art: Parallel Collisions, Art Gallery of South Australia. © Courtesy the artist. Photo courtesy © Jamie North.

Festival circuit

The Adelaide Festival visual arts program was well received, tribute to the prominence accorded the non-performing arts by outgoing artistic director Paul Grabowsky. With 3 major components, the Biennial of Australian Art, the Adelaide International (titled Restless), and Deadly at Tandanya, and three different curatorial teams, this is effectively a ‘whole-of-city’ affair across 6 venues. A substantial Artist’s Week program complemented the exhibitions – see the next issue of AMA for detailed reviews.

Grabowsky, a celebrated pianist and composer in his own right, surprised many by introducing the International to complement the long-running national Biennial, and his appointment of one curator (Victoria Lynn) to do two Internationals in a row was also a first – a scenario that curators dream of but seldom experience. This year marks the start of the Adelaide Festival as an annual event, however the Biennial is likely to remain so. Hopes are high that the incoming director, UK-born David Sefton, who also has strong music programming credentials, will continue to place significant emphasis on the visual arts program. If he does, Adelaide stands a fair chance of achieving parity with Australia’s two ‘international’ events – Brisbane’s APT and Sydney’s Biennale (see below). In Grabowsky’s words, to “get back to where it used to be, as the premier arts festival event in Australia”. Karen Bryant has been announced as the new Chief Executive of the Adelaide Festival, taking over from Kate Gould, who leaves the Festival after ten years.

As we go to press, Sydney’s answer to Adelaide’s March Madness is in full swing – i.e. Art Month Sydney (AMS), and again there is grumbling that as a city-wide ‘event’ it is underwhelming. Essentially AMS functions as an umbrella for the existing activities of commercial galleries, with a couple of institutional participants. Critics suggest that AMS’s current approach of ‘indiscriminately’ attracting large numbers of new visitors to galleries is not really what’s needed, inflates the wine bill for not much return, that more emphasis should be placed on cultivating potential ‘serious’ collectors. It is often said that a decent Sydney Art Fair would give the whole thing a proper focus. Given the sprawling and decentralised Sydney scene, and a duration of one month, AMS struggles to achieve critical mass in the public mind, despite an extensive program of talks and activities.

Museum of Contemporary Art… Australia!

Sydney’s MCA has long been a de facto national institution, punching well above its weight on far less money than the big institutions. With the addition of the word Australia to its title, that status is enhanced, and will also help distinguish it from the Chicago, Los Angeles, San Diego et al MCAs around the world. The MCAA opens its new wing on 29 March, years in the planning and fundraising, with a major exhibitions program, resplendent in the new spaces. The big drawcard is Christian Marclay’s groundbreaking 24 hour video work, The Clock, which comprises several thousand short extracts from cinema history, each suggesting a particular time of day or referencing a specific moment, often through the appearance of a watch or clock-face. Marclay has stitched these extracts together to form a continuous visual sequence synchronised with the real time of your visit.

Collection Volume 1, selected by MCA Curator Glenn Barkley, presents a narrative of contemporary Australian art over two floors. This new exhibition will reflect the changes and currents of Australian contemporary art and cultural life over the past 20 years Marking Time – an international exhibition selected by MCA Senior Curator Rachel Kent will present major works by eleven artists from Australia, Brazil, Ireland, Italy, Japan, and the United States in the Museum’s spacious new top floor galleries.

Local Positioning Systems is a program of live art in many different guises and in several locations in this season of performance, participatory and site-specific art, curated by Performance Space and presented in partnership with the MCA.

www.mca.com.au

Biennial / Triennial-land

At the NGA Canberra, the second National Indigenous Art Triennial (NIAT), unDisclosed, runs from 11 May – 22 July. Curated by Carly Lane, the exhibition includes Tony Albert, Vernon Ah Kee, Bob Burruwal, Michael Cook, Lorraine Connelly-Northey, Nici Cumpston, Fiona Foley, Mirdidingkingathi Juwarnda Sally Gabori, Gunybi Ganambarr, Julie Gough, Lindsay Harris, Jonathan Jones, Danie Mellor, Naata Nungurrayi, Maria Josette Orsto, Daniel Walbidi, Christian Bumbarra Thompson, Alick Tipoti, Lena Yarinkura and Nyapanyapa Yunupingu. The second NIAT was postponed last year for budgetary reasons. More than 260,000 visitors saw the first NIAT (Culture Warriors, 2007) which toured widely, finally closing in Washington DC in early 2010.

Back in Sydney, the line-up for the 18^th Biennale has been announced, and co-directors Gerald MacMaster and Catherine de Zegher have assembled a 100-stong range of participants under the banner of All Our Relations. It’s good to see a large number of women artists, and diverse geographical representation, featuring many names that, whilst well-known in their own regions, are not household names or ‘art stars’. Once again Cockatoo Island, the MCA and AGNSW are the main venues.

In Brisbane, the 7^th Asia Pacific Triennial (APT7) will run from 8 December – 7 April 2013. Participants are being progressively announced, and will feature more than 140 artists from 25 countries across the region. A key element of APT7 will be The Premier of Queensland’s Sculpture Commission, The World Turns by Michael Parekowhai, marking the fifth anniversary of the opening of GOMA in December 2011 and twenty years of APT. Late last year the commission was the subject of controversy when Aboriginal artist Fiona Foley criticised GOMA for “spending $1 million… commissioning Maori artist Michael Parekowhai to reference Aboriginal culture". GOMA responded that the intention for the sculpture commission was always to secure an international artist, and Arts Minister Rachel Nolan said the commission was unanimously chosen by a committee of experts, which included representatives from the Indigenous community.

qag.qld.gov.au/collection/sculpture_commission

Salary caps (headhunting redux)

Well, it’s official - Tony Ellwood will be the next director of the NGV, starting in August, after the July launch of his QAG swansong Portrait of Spain: Masterpieces from the Prado. There also seems to be a new national benchmark for major gallery directors – $445k to be precise – established during the recent bidding war to secure Michael Brand for AGNSW (see National Artnotes March). The NGV's current director Gerard Vaughan is on about $320k. The next question is: who will get the vacated position in Brisbane? Ellwood had only recently renewed his contract, and is considered a hard act to follow. AGSA director Nick Mitzevich is being tipped as a hot contender, however (outgoing) Queensland Premier Anna Bligh said that an international search would begin. No doubt they’ll have to offer more than Ellwood’s current $385k, more like… do I hear $450k?

Support Report

The much-anticipated report of the Review of Private Sector Support for the Arts, chaired by Harold Mitchell AC, has been released. The report's key recommendations include transferring the Cultural Gift Program and Register of Cultural Organisation programs to the Australian Taxation Office;

amalgamating the Australian Business Arts Foundation (AbaF) and Artsupport into a new organisation; introducing a matched (by government) funding program; introducing a taxation incentive for testamentary gifts to arts organisations; and a program of recognition for significant donors through letters from the Prime Minister and the Minister. Initial response to the report across arts industries has been positive, with some worries expressed that small and medium-sized arts organisations may not reap the benefits.

www.arts.gov.au


Russel Drysdale Centenary

In addition to the AWM’s Russell Drysdale at war exhibition (until early 2013), The National Trust’s S.H. Ervin Gallery in Sydney has assembled an impressive touring show, Russell Drysdale: The Drawings, curated by Lou Klepac, with over 60 drawings from across the artist’s life, which will travel to Carrick Hill, Adelaide and Mornington Peninsula Regional Gallery during 2012. Albury Art Gallery (NSW) also features Drawing on Drysdale (until 13 May). Although Drysdale was born in England (7 February 1912), he had strong links with the Albury region, famously expressed in his paintings of soldiers at the Albury Train Station during World War II. A move is now afoot to create ‘Drysdale Plaza’ in front of the station, and NSW Transport Minister Gladys Berejiklian says she is happy to hear from supporters.