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Farewell the blockbuster, but remember the rest of the arts

Peter Garrett

by Peter Garrett

30 Apr 11:51am

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Filed under: Arts, National Gallery Of Australia

47 comments

The nation’s capital was abuzz this summer as almost half a million people from across the country and from overseas flocked to Canberra for a once in a lifetime opportunity – to see some of the world’s great artistic masterpieces on display.

People line up for grand final tickets, oh, hang on…

With an extended season and even an overnight opening, names like Gauguin, Van Gogh and Monet helped inject almost $100 million into the ACT economy thanks to hotel stays, taxi rides and restaurant visits all associated with this blockbuster exhibition.

It was a stunning success, breaking all previous visitation records for the NGA and exceeding the expectations of just about everybody involved in getting the exhibition to Australia. At the same time it showed just how much Australian’s are engaging in the arts and how much excitement an exhibition of this calibre will generate. But the rub here is that it’s not just about blockbusters.

A recent survey by the Australia Council for the Arts found that more than ever Australians see the arts as central to their lives. Many of us are increasingly enjoying the huge range of cultural experiences on offer from our vibrant arts and culture sector.

The survey found that nine in 10 people attended an arts event of some kind within the last 12 months, with four in ten having participated in a creative capacity.

Importantly the survey also showed an increasing level of support for Indigenous arts, with 47 per cent of people saying their interest in Indigenous arts is growing with 17 per cent already have a strong interest in the sector.

I’m sure the day will come when an exhibition of the works of some of our Indigenous artists generates similar visitor numbers to the Master‘s exhibition. In fact last years Emily Kngwarreye showing at the Tokyo city gallery out drew a previous Andy Warhol retrospective with record crowds flocking to see her sublime paintings.

The arts clichés of the past no longer apply. The false dichotomy of being either an arts lover or a sports lover is dead. Our cultural life is not confined to occasional visits to the art gallery or the theatre. From street festivals to online digital happenings, from the print makers of the Tiwi Islands to the potters of Tasmania.

The arts in some form or another are embraced by nearly all of us unashamedly as part of who we are and what we do.

We can’t imagine Circular Quay without its buskers and street performers or Melbourne’s laneways devoid of the sound of up and coming bands fighting to be the next big thing, just was we can’t imagine Albury without the amazing work of the Flying Fruit Fly Circus (‘fruities’).

Nor can we imagine the AFL or NRL grand final without the pre-match or half time entertainment.  It simply can’t be done, because it is part of who we are.

It is why the Government has boosted support for the arts substantially since coming to office, investing an extra $60 million not just in the traditional institutions and art forms, but also to help artists get their practice off the ground, a program to put artists into our schools to share their skill and expertise with students and ensuring that arts education is considered in the national curriculum.

It’s also why we have ensured that for the first time ever our visual artists, in particular indigenous painters, will continue to benefit financially from the sale of their works through the establishment of a Resale Right.

And it’s why we are getting on with the development of a national cultural policy.  It is an ambitious exercise but one that I hope will be a lasting legacy of this government.

As the masters leave our shores bound for Japan and then home to the Musee d’Orsay in Paris, their legacy is an invigorated Australian audience hungry for the rich offerings that great art provides.

Now watch as that hunger is fed by the depth of artistic talent-established and emerging-we have in this country.

Most commented

47 comments

Show oldest | newest first

    • Eric says:

      12:43pm | 30/04/10

      How much of that ‘art’ is Art, and how much of it is narrow-minded left wing political propaganda?

      Reply

    • Julie Coker-Godson says:

      01:21pm | 30/04/10

      Eric, I attended that exhibition and I can assure you it was *all* art and *none* of it left wing political propoganda, not even remotely!  It was a fantastic exhibition and many of the paintings on show have not left the Musee d’Orsay before so we were honoured to be trusted to exhibit them.  My personal favourite was a self portrait of Vincent Van Gogh.  It is amazing how the colour of the paint has stood up to old Father Time I was really impressed at the brilliance of the colours.  A great exhibition.

    • Anti Major Mistake Man. says:

      01:23pm | 30/04/10

      @ Eric, spot on, but even if, any of it is art, or is even halfway entertaining, or nice to look at. Is it “bang for taxpayers buck” compared to an MRI machine, hospital bed, doctor, nurse, etc?

      Regards the former snag & swinging voter.

    • Eric says:

      01:51pm | 30/04/10

      I’m sure it’s very pretty, Julie, but as Anti Major Mistake Man points out - aren’t there better uses for taxpayers’ money?

      The funding for this exhibition could easily have gone to buying a humidicrib for premature babies, or a personnel carrier for defence.

      The krudd government is burying Australia in debt - for what?

    • eddie says:

      02:00pm | 30/04/10

      Eric - you are joking, I have been reading your posts for about a year now and you have no right to accuse anyone or thing of being narrowminded.
      you must have a spartan existence Eric - no art, - its all produced by leftie hippies and women,  no abc - cos they are all lefties - no sex - you are consistently demonstrably mysogenistic, I think that your only form of entertainment and expression is depositing steaming lumps of right wing extremist troll on this site.
      Please keep up the good work however, it always makes me chuckle.

    • Julie Coker-Godson says:

      03:05pm | 30/04/10

      The political propoganda appears to be in this forum as opposed to the art exhibition itself.  Are we proles not allowed to have some culture in our lives without being made to feel guilty about it because we enjoyed it.  Each to his own I say.  BTW in case you wanted to know I am very much a liberal but I have loved art all my life and will continue to do so.  I do not believe it is wrong to have these exhibitions come to Australia and for Australia to contribute to the funding of same.  I consider your criticisms to be mean spirited.

    • Jam says:

      03:25pm | 30/04/10

      Cultural cringe is alive and well… an unprecedented exhibition of priceless art brings literally millions to the ACT economy and the first comment is from the Punch’s resident misogynist asking whether its left wing or not. Damn Aussies are pathetic.

    • Mavis says:

      05:52pm | 30/04/10

      So Eddie, why do you keep reading Eric’s posts?

    • iansand says:

      01:16pm | 30/04/10

      Have you even heard of Van Gogh?  Don McLean wrote a song about one of the paintings in the exhibition - is that more your speed?

      You really are an odd organism.

      Reply

    • Eric says:

      01:46pm | 30/04/10

      Don’t be so hard on Peter. He’s a singer and a politician - you can hardly expect him to know culture.

    • Peter Simmons says:

      01:56pm | 30/04/10

      Vindictive little comment.
      Van Gogh’s art was and is crap to most people.  Just because you like it does not mean you are allowed to demean other persons’ views.

      You,  sir,  are the amoeba.

      Don’s song was a lot more relevant to the majority than an artist who cut of his ear and suicided,  whom the cultural elite applaud.

    • Elphaba says:

      01:58pm | 30/04/10

      Like anything in life, you can’t please everyone, and how our tax dollars are spent is no exception.

      I saw the exhibition and loved it.  I saw the landscapes exhibition at the NGA in 2008 as well.  (I think it was 2008).  I’m thrilled that they can come to Australia, so that people who might not otherwise be able to go halfway across the world to see them, can enjoy them too.

      Hopefully more things like this will happen in the future.

      Reply

    • Alison says:

      01:59pm | 30/04/10

      “names like Gauguin, Van Gogh and Monet helped inject almost $100 million into the ACT economy thanks to hotel stays, taxi rides and restaurant visits all associated with this blockbuster exhibition.”

      Reply

    • Eric says:

      03:05pm | 30/04/10

      Sounds good.

      Let’s keep the classical art exhibitions then, and dump the wasteful spending on ideological wankery that constitutes government-subsidised Australian “art”.

    • Robert Smissen says:

      12:55am | 02/05/10

      So we are looking after the rich hotel owners with a $100,000,000 in bookings? ? What is the bet that bugger all filtered down to “working families”

    • nic says:

      02:47pm | 30/04/10

      “Now watch as that hunger is fed by the depth of artistic talent-established and emerging-we have in this country”

      Great. No need for ongoing subsidies then? As you said Peter, with supply and demand working in tandem, artists can now be self-sufficient..

      Reply

    • Julie Coker-Godson says:

      03:15pm | 30/04/10

      OMG what a self righteous bunch on the forum today!  God forbid we should enjoy anything that, to them at least, is a waste of money.  Artistic creation has as much right to a place in society as rugby league, union, AFL, soccer, et al…..No doubt you lot think those activities are more worthy of tax payers money, especially, the gropists, drunkards, would be rapists, those who urinate/brawl in public streets. cheats on the cap..need I go on! BTW the exhibition was extended for 2 weeks because of the numbers who attended so that puts paid to an earlier poster’s comments above that Van Gogh’s art is “crap”.  There are an exceptional number of art lovers in Australia - deal with it and move on!

    • AJ of WA says:

      06:24pm | 30/04/10

      Quite agree - Peter Garret seems to forget that in their day most of the artists in the exhibition either needed a wealthy Patron or were starving. I think that in fact might help the so called artists of today.

    • freeman says:

      10:25am | 01/05/10

      Julie Coker-Godson,
      So typical of an artist or art lover to passionately shout down any criticism of art spending. perhaps because its so hard to justify
      it’s a sore topic. NRL has a unsavoury culture, I’ll grant you that.
      but it gets by with hardly any public funding yet contributes 100’s of millions to NSW every year without fail. the other codes do much the
      same but without poor role models. exhibition art is largely a waste of money with the return being much less than the billions invested and little contribution to society. in funding artists who cannot get their craft
      to pay the bills we are just sponsoring them to live their dream.

    • Jeff says:

      02:50pm | 30/04/10

      I tried to read this and give Peter a fair go. I must admit I struggled considering all that has gone on with the insulation debacle.

      Reply

    • Julie Coker-Godson says:

      03:25pm | 30/04/10

      Why have you struggled, Jeff?  This art exhibition is not an extension of the insulation debacle and that *was* an unmitigated disaster.  But this exhibition was not and it grates on my nerves to no end to read some of the sour comments on this forum today with respect to it.  Whatever happened to giving credit where credit is due?  Or is that *old hat* now?

    • Jeff says:

      07:10pm | 30/04/10

      Credit where credit is due yes (the arts have there place), the same needs to go for responsibility though. I’m afraid Mr Garrett doesn’t have much credibility left in my book.

    • Peter Simmons says:

      03:50pm | 30/04/10

      In ordinary enterprise, if you cannot sell your wares,  get another job.
      The wastage of money on rubbish “art” by State and Federal Governments could have solved the Health Crisis.

      Proud Philistine

      Reply

    • Julie Coker-Godson says:

      08:04pm | 30/04/10

      I am a NSW resident and I can assure you it will take more to fix our health system which has been allowed to degenerate for 16 odd years! Money from the GST allocated for health was spent elsewhere and the fault for that lies within the NSW State Government.  The money for the art exhibition came from allocated federal funds applied appropriately - unlike GST monies allocated for health going elsewhere.  What is and what isn’t “rubbish art” is a purely subjective view.  However, thankfully, there are enough people in Australia to appreciate the old masters and who are happy to see these exhibitions come here. All scrooges should take a “happy pill”!

    • marley says:

      10:20am | 01/05/10

      I trust you are equally critical of government subsidizing a Formula 1 Grand Prix or the Olympic water polo team.  Surely the same rules should apply to organized sport and elite athletes as they do to museums and artists.

    • stephen says:

      11:45am | 01/05/10

      Ordinary enterprize ? You mean buying something for $10 and selling it for $40 ?
      Is that your idea of the ‘methods of production’?

      Art, or what you gooses call it, is part of our new maufacturing sector.
      Artist starts with nothing, and finishes with a sellable painting, which is taxed. It’s manufactured.
      (I imagine simmo, stickin’ a 65mm shell into its hole in Artillery, you had a lot of time to ponder over Degas ?)

    • S.L says:

      03:50pm | 30/04/10

      Good for them if the art exhibition of the old masters generated even only half the claimed income.
      In saying that I think 90% of the arts community are oxygen thiefs but they have to kick a goal sometimes so in saying that I’m with Eric on this one!.

      Reply

    • Moggy says:

      04:52pm | 30/04/10

      Just because he was famous doesn’t make him talented

    • Fleeced says:

      05:12pm | 30/04/10

      Well, if the arts are popular enough to draw a decent crowd, then they don’t need to be subsidised.  Same with sport, since you bring that up.  When it comes to leisure and recreation, let’s have a “user pays” approach.  We shouldn’t even have a Minister for the Arts - it’s insane.

      Reply

    • stephen says:

      05:06pm | 02/05/10

      Banks subsidize business.
      Government subsidizes Art.

      Government subsidizes banks.
      Banks should subsidize Art.

    • Ben says:

      07:33pm | 30/04/10

      “And it’s why we are getting on with the development of a national cultural policy.  It is an ambitious exercise but one that I hope will be a lasting legacy of this government.”

      Peter, I am sure there will be many startling legacies of your government, however, a nation cultural policy is unlikely to gloss over the ineptitude, waste, blatant mismanagement and failure in greatest moral challenges you have managed to accomplish (or not) in under three years of government.

      Reply

    • Emem says:

      03:33am | 01/05/10

      Let the stirrers have their fun.
      The exhibition was as enjoyable as when when I saw it 30 years ago.
      So much so that I went back the next day to see it again.
      It was mid March and on both days there were no waiting lines of people so I was lucky.

      Reply

    • Ziggy says:

      04:59am | 01/05/10

      We went twice - it was tremendous. But what a cock up with lack of parking. Hundreds of cars circling for a spot. It made the point of too many civil servants! Met several other visitors - some from OS - who whinged as well. But great idea and look forward to many such exhibitions.
      Symbolic of our administration - no idea on how to implement anything with common sense.

      Reply

    • freeman says:

      10:06am | 01/05/10

      I’m sick of hearing all the lefties and artists exagerate the influence art has in society. (Art and progressive ideology go hand in hand, no point disputing that) I fail to see how art contributes to society or pays for itself beyond the music scene with perhaps the exception of drama / acting which in my opinion is also over rated. Sure, perhaps an art exhibition might bring in some income but that doesn’t warrant the billions states spend on art. I am not against art just because I don’t appreciate it in all its forms, I just think that art that is not mainstream art should not be publicly funded. Art should be no more than a hobbie for any artist who cannot get their craft to pay their own bills.

      Reply

    • marley says:

      03:11pm | 01/05/10

      I feel exactly the same way about the funding of elite athletes.  Let the ones who can make a living by swimming fast, jumping high or hitting a cricket ball do so and the rest can play on weekends at the local oval.

    • Julie Coker-Godson says:

      04:56pm | 01/05/10

      @Freeman:  1) take a couple of Mylanta for your upset stomach; 2) stop making sweeping generalisations about the kind of people interested in art (in all its forms) - I am liberal and cannot paint to save my life - but I do love those who did and can. 3) Get used to the idea that people enjoy it and it won’t upset you so much.

    • freeman says:

      05:10pm | 02/05/10

      @ jukie coker godson.
      1)get used to the idea of lousy trendy art falling back into obscurity.
      2) I’ll stop making generalisations about artists when they stop reinforcing stereo-types, art so often has a progressive message in it.
      3)My tummy feels better now smile

    • john says:

      09:49am | 14/05/10

      Mr Freeman
      Artists come in all shapes and sizes; I am a lower case liberal conservative.
      Talk about ‘art’ is nearly always conducted in a fog of confusion. Art/artist can be just about anything human. Effectively there is no such ‘thing’ as art.
      Art = meta= ways of movement. Change and the unexpected are very hard to define.

    • john says:

      11:08am | 14/05/10

      Mr freeman. All human culture is a complex system of recursive isomorphism (representations of representations). The financial system ‘money’ is just a capable of misrepresentations,  blind acceptance of very sub-prime things as being really great and mob/market mindlessness as any other part of human culture, resulting in the ‘need’ for public support I would not be too smug I I was you.

    • Ellie says:

      11:05pm | 01/05/10

      There really are some incredibly bitter and boring people who read the Punch aren’t there? So I take it none of you watch movies and listen to music then? Well hate to break it to you, but that is art too. Art may not contribute financially to society, but it sure makes for good entertainment for some people. The government is obviously doing it to bring more culture to this country and create entertainment for us.  And some of it is probably propaganda, but what are you gonna do about it? You think the Liberal party doesn’t use propaganda too? AND the art Peter is talking about is mainstream art anyway, that’s what you want right? Not that pesky alternative latte drinking student art. Those damn students, always trying to enjoy their life! I’m probably rambling a bit far, but honestly, I think a lot of you need to stop being so serious.

      Reply

    • martinX says:

      11:12pm | 01/05/10

      Great. Canberra pulls another $100 million out of Australians’ pockets.

      Reply

    • marley says:

      03:48pm | 02/05/10

      Well, I seriously doubt it cost the taxpayers $100 million to finance this exhibit.

      That $100 million is money spent by visitors on hotels, restaurants, coffee, shopping and entertainment while in the city.  That $100 million kept small businesses afloat, and it kept jobs from being cut.  It’s tourism, dammit, one of Australia’s biggest industries and biggest employers.  And spending a few taxpayer dollars on an exhibit of this calibre is a whole lot more reputable than spending it on shonky insulation installations, a dubious internet filter, or a sending mega-delegations to Copenhagen.

    • Paul says:

      10:17am | 02/05/10

      @Anti Major Mistake Man
      From what I can gather the event put something like $100m into the ACT economy. Isn’t that enough ‘bang for taxpayer’s buck’ ? How many MRI’s or hospital beds etc does that buy?
      @ Eric Your comments show you understand nothing about art ... or life.

      Reply

    • Harquebus says:

      02:15pm | 03/05/10

      Less than half a million Aussies went to see this. Less than one in forty.
      Public money should not be wasted on useless things like art and sport. Let those who want pay.

      Reply

    • john says:

      08:37am | 14/05/10

      Gustave Courbet , a radical both as a artist and as a man, was the founding pathfinder of Modern art .
      These are his words on the role of Government in art: ” The one and only thing a government can do for a artist is to, leave him alone”.
      Funding for things like dental treatment for the poor and funding for the disabled are moral necessities , public funding for the ‘arts’ is not.
      If the arts is so popular that everybody is just doing ‘it’ —out of love for the shear sake of it—what is the need for public funding?

      Reply

    • john says:

      11:55am | 14/05/10

      Harquebus
      The exhibition returned a nice profit .

      Reply

    • bystolic says:

      09:48am | 27/02/12

      It are the women deficiency hear. the cheaper used suffer long the. Aside primary is for the most. If show to search which you stress.Free radicals of you.

      Reply
 
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