National Gallery Of Australia

The National Gallery is one of those buildings people like to beat up on.

Since its open in 1967the building has been subject to hurtful and unfair sledges such as “pile of concrete poo” and “High Court off-cuts”.

Besides the fact the Colin Madigan building is one of the world’s best examples of brutalist architecture, it is also safely Australia’s coolest public building. In a city dotted with real piles of bureaucratic concrete the NGA is an oasis of unique design.

Continue reading "A look at our new and possibly improved NGA" »

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.

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.

Continue reading "Farewell the blockbuster, but remember the rest of the arts" »