Museum of Contemporary Art Australia

Art museum in Sydney, Australia

The Museum of Contemporary Art Australia (MCA), formerly the Museum of Contemporary Art, Sydney, is located on George Street in The Rocks neighbourhood of Sydney. The museum is housed in the Stripped Classical/Art Deco styled former Maritime Services Board (MSB) building on the western side of Circular Quay. A modern wing was added in 2012. While the museum as an institution was established in 1991, its roots go back a half century earlier. Expatriate Australian artist JW Power provided for a museum of contemporary art to be established in Sydney in his 1943 will, bequeathing both money and works from his collection to the University of Sydney, his alma mater. The works, along with others acquired with the money, were exhibited mainly as a travelling collection in the decades afterward, stored in two different university buildings. This collection was known as the Power Gallery of Contemporary Art. When the MSB building became available the Museum of Contemporary Art, Sydney was established in 1991. It rapidly outgrew its space and ran into financial difficulties that were alleviated in the early 21st century under new director Elizabeth Ann Macgregor, who eliminated regular admission fees and diversified the museum's funding sources. After two proposed expansions failed, a design by local architect Sam Marshall met with sufficient approval to raise money for its construction. From 2010 the building underwent a major expansion and re development, reopening in 2012 as the Museum of Contemporary Art Australia. Power's original intent was for the museum to exhibit contemporary art from all over the world, with work by Australian artists shown only if it was relevant to the other works, but its focus has since changed primarily to Australian contemporary art. The museum's collection contains over 4,000 works by Australian artists acquired since 1989. They span all art forms with strong holdings in painting, photography, sculpture, works on paper, and moving images, as well as significant representation of works by Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander artists. The museum runs programs to engage the interest of youth and disabled communities in appreciating and making art.

The museum building has two wings: the main section housed in the former Maritime Services Board (MSB) building, and the newer Mordant Wing on the museum's northern end. It is located on the waterfront in Sydney's The Rocks neighbourhood. George Street is to the west, and First Fleet Park to the south, Circular Quay on the north and east (pedestrians only on that side, abutting the water). Immediately beyond it, the Cahill Expressway separates the park and The Rocks from Sydney's central business district (CBD). Two of the city's landmarks are nearby—the Sydney Opera House is visible a short distance across the harbour and the Cahill turns onto the Sydney Harbour Bridge to the north. Just beyond the expressway to the south are some of Sydney's skyscrapers such as 1 Macquarie Place and the Salesforce Tower

A broad lawn separates the museum from the quay to its east. To the west and northwest, the Rocks is urban and densely developed up to the bridge's southern approach, with attached two and three storey mixed use buildings from the 19th and early 20th centuries. Nearby, cruise ships moor at the quay, and ferries serving the Sydney area arrive and depart from slips.

The former MSB building is a six storey, 17 bay light orange brown stone structure in the Stripped Classicism style with Art Deco ornamentation. A slightly projecting central clock tower is complemented by three bay pavilions projecting two bays at the ends of both elevations. Atop the roof is a modern penthouse with glass facing and a flat roof with wide eaves. Two modern roofs, supported by circular metallic pillars, shelter the concrete deck in front of the ground floor windows between the entrance and the pavilions. The one on the south side has tables and chairs serving the museum's restaurant. On the west (rear) elevation, the space between the pavilions is filled in with a block of modern shop spaces in an irregularly alternating black and white pattern on the upper storeys similar to that on the museum's newer Mordant Wing. On the exterior, the foundation level is one course of rusticated polished pink Rob Roy granite which also forms the surround of the main entrance on the east elevation and the auxiliary entrance on the south. The rest of the facade is smooth dressed orange sandstone,

Fenestration takes the form of triple paned double windows separated by a continuous stone muntin in a continuous vertical recessed strip. On the south end of the building, the windows on the first two storeys are also continuous. The recessed strips and muntins end in a broad plain frieze above the fifth storey separating similar but shorter windows on the sixth storey of the main block. Above the entrance, the clock tower treatment consists of three more widely separated but otherwise similar windows rising from the third storey to the sixth and topped with a decorative pink granite facade depicting a propeller, wheel, and anchor. A clock set against the sandstone is above. The tower is topped by a narrower stage, a square cupola and three flagpoles. The main entrance to the museum is at the southeast corner of the wing, where it abuts the MSB building at a glass faced stairwell. Sliding glass doors in a glass two storey entryway open onto a wide stair to the main foyer. Above it is an unsupported projecting three storey pavilion with strip windows. North of it, a large downward pointing arrow in the facade at ground level directs visitors to a poem carved in the concrete deck. On the west, the wing is similarly faced, with an alleyway leading to another service entrance between the wing and the MSB building. At street level is another, smaller entrance, with glass doors, accompanying the museum's gift shop to its south. The facade also overhangs this entrance, but to a lesser extent than its counterpart on the other facade. On the roof is a cafe, partially open, with views of the bridge, opera house, and harbour.

When used by the Maritime Services Board the interior made extensive use of scagliola and terrazzo to imitate marble flooring and walls, a common technique at the time. A war memorial and associated artwork were also included. Today, adapted for use as a museum, much of the interior is now gallery space with plain white walls, concrete floor, and high ceilings. The fourth story's offices have been retained for the museum administration.

The Museum of Contemporary Art Australia is located south of the landing spot of the First Fleet. The site originally housed two Commissariat Stores, built using convict labour. The state government assumed control of the Commissariat Stores in 1901 and leased them to commercial tenants. In 1937, the Circular Quay Planning Committee, which had originally recommended the buildings be demolished to provide parkland, changed its mind and called for them to be replaced with a new office for the Maritime Services Board (MSB), After site clearance construction was halted in late 1940 since restrictions resulting from the onset of World War II made continued work impossible.

The MCA's roots are in the 1943 will of Australian expatriate artist JW Power (1881–1943), the first Australian born painter to experiment with Cubism. Independently wealthy from his previous medical career, he specified that upon his wife's death, his personal fortune, mostly stock worth £A2 million (A$ today), was to go to his alma mater, the University of Sydney, with the express purpose of informing and educating Australians in the contemporary visual arts. It was to be used specifically for "museums and other places for the purpose of suitably housing the works purchased so as to bring the people of Australia in more direct touch with the latest art developments in other countries." When Powell's wife died in 1961, the bequest was made public; she also willed most of her husband's works to the university. At the time it was the largest monetary bequest ever made to any Australian university or arts organisation. Four years later the university's senate voted to create the Power Institute of Fine Arts as a beginning of fulfilling Power's wishes. It was opened in 1975 as just a performing arts venue. This collection of artworks took the form of the 'Power Gallery of Contemporary Art', a traveling collection without a permanent address. Between John Power's death and the eventual establishment of the museum, the collection was mainly housed in the University of Sydney's Fisher Library during the 1970s. It was exhibited in the Madsen Building on campus between 1980 and 1989. Funded by the University of Sydney and the Power Bequest, restoration, and refurbishment of the building commenced in 1990 under the direction of Andrew Anderson of Peddle Thorp/John Holland Interiors, and the following year the Museum of Contemporary Art, Sydney, officially opened. Those early years in the museum's own space were difficult. The university agreed to help fund the museum's initial costs but did not make any commitment to the long term, as it was expected that the museum would eventually become financially independent. To that end an admission fee was charged; it did not make up for the shortfall as the university began phasing out its support, and the local and national media began expressing concern for the museum's future. Newspaper stories called attention to the paucity of visitors and called the museum "a place for wankers". The building's former offices had been renovated into a more open space with movable walls to accommodate exhibition requirements, with some rooms left intact as archival spaces. The inadequacy of the renovated MSB building as a gallery space, including circulation and accessibility issues, prompted plans for further renovations. The Japanese architectural studio SANAA won, but its plans were abandoned after site investigations revealed the archaeological remains of a colonial dockyard beneath the museum's car park. having just enough money to make payroll for a few weeks,

Macgregor had previously held the same post at the Ikon Gallery, a major contemporary art museum also housed in a repurposed heritage listed building in Birmingham. Shortly after taking over, to encourage more visitation, she eliminated the $12 of the building's total $53 million cost. It was constructed in a Cubist architectural style, appearing as a series of overlapping white, black, and brown boxes that contrasts with the main building. A portion of the new wing opened with an exhibit of work by Rafael Lozano Hemmer in December 2011; The wing added in floor space,). The renovations additionally supplied the new National Centre for Creative Learning with multimedia and digital studios, as well as a 117 seat lecture theatre. in a March 2012 Sydney Morning Herald opinion piece, called that connection "undeniably the new building's triumphant spatial moment." Artist Profile, much more enthusiastic about the addition, which it said "successfully fuses the old with the new by forging innovative ways through which audiences can interact with and understand the work on offer", used similar language. But both they and Farrelly thought that entrance might have been better located at the MSB building's centre rather than the junction between the new and old wings. told Marshall at a debate that the MCA building should have been demolished, as the SANAA plan had proposed, so the museum could start afresh: "There was a one in 500 year opportunity to do a great building at Circular Quay." Marshall allowed that if he could have demolished the MCA building, he would have. and just as the fires were finally being extinguished the COVID 19 pandemic began. The Australian government limited all non essential indoor gatherings to a hundred people, including staff; the MCA complied with the order by severely limiting attendance. By May all galleries and museums in the country were closed indefinitely. In the absence of foot traffic, McGregor estimated, 40 per cent of the museum's funding was lost instantly, which she said made "our much lauded funding mix" problematic, as the MCA relies on government support for only a quarter of its budget, unlike other institutions for which it constitutes the majority of funding. The museum relied at first on its donor base, which McGregor said was very willing to let it use the money they had contributed with other purposes in mind for the more basic purpose of keeping the museum running. Because of that reliance on private funding, later the MCA was able to tap the government JobKeeper program to keep staff on the payroll, which helped it avoid some "truly horrible" scenarios such as the voluntary administration that Carriageworks, elsewhere in Sydney, had been forced into by then as the pandemic dried up its revenue stream, When Macgregor learned that many of the children at schools in West Sydney the museum had been doing outreach to did not have Internet access at home, she reached out to The Daily Telegraph, and the museum staff wound up producing the creative activities section for the paper's Hibernate supplement for the duration of the lockdowns. During this break, the museum's leadership changed. In July 2020, Lorraine Tarabay, another investment banker and contemporary art collector, took over the chair of the board from Mordant, who remains involved with the museum as its international ambassador. Artist Danie Mellor also joined the 11 member board, which already includes Qantas head Alan Joyce, Carnival Australia head Ann Sherry and other prominent individuals from the art and business worlds. and in October the entire museum was able to reopen, albeit with strict health protocols required by the state in place, not only the previous capacity restrictions but mask requirements throughout the building and proof of vaccination required for all visitors over 16. Exhibitions by Richard Bell and Doug Aitken greeted those museumgoers who returned. Within her first year as chair, Tarabay oversaw the hiring process for a new director when McGregor stepped down in March 2021 after 22 years at MCA to return to Scotland and spend more time with her family. Melbourne native Suzanne Cotter, was hired to replace McGregor in July 2021. Cotter had previously been director of the MUDAM in Luxembourg and the Serralves Foundation Museum of Contemporary Art in Portugal. McGregor stayed in the position through October; Cotter formally assumed responsibilities in January 2022.

Macgregor made up for the loss of revenue from the abolition of the regular entrance fee at the beginning of her tenure with increased monetization of the museum's book and gift shops. "As one of my colleagues says, you charge them to get out", she told The Art Newspaper in 2019. The donation boxes at the entrances also captured additional funding from patrons, and after the 2010 renovations the cafés and rent from the spaces inside the museum ($4 million, according to Macgregor. main offices of the Australian Olympic Committee, further supplemented the museum's self generated income. and will need to find $800,000 in new funding every year "just to stand still". Director Suzanne Cotter, who took over from MacGregor in 2022, oversees a staff of 10 directors who have responsibility for all areas of the museum's administration, from curation to digital production.

What is now the museum's main collection emerged from the Power Collection in the original founding of the museum. The museum's initial acquisitions policy, based on the will of John Power, sought to acquire mainly international contemporary art whilst only "very occasionally" purchasing Australian art as complementary to its foreign collection. From 2002, the museum has shifted to increase its emphasis on Australian artists and as of 2020 held over 4,500 works. as of 2012 it was the only contemporary art museum in Australia with a permanent collection. as of 2023 the collection contains 257 items, consisting of bark paintings, woven objects, sculpture, and cultural objects such as spears and tools. Mundine had created the collection between 1981 and 1984, when he was an arts adviser

In 1996, the Ramingining Collection was displayed at the MCA. The Native Born: Objects and Representations from Ramingining, Arnhem Land., its first exhibition, was curated by Djon Mundine. the Maningrida Collection contains 560 works from the Maningrida community in Arnhem Land, Northern Territory. Ownership of the pieces belongs to the Maningrida people, with the collection subject to a unique cultural agreement between the museum and the community. The cultural agreement between both parties is renegotiated regularly to ensure a positive relationship. In 2018, the MCA in association with Maningrida Arts and Culture held the John Mawurndjul: I am the old and new exhibition of works by John Mawurndjul. Two works by John Mawurndjul, Nawarramulmul (Shooting Star Spirit, 1988) and Ngalyod (Female Rainbow Serpent, 1988), were the first artworks acquired for the dedicated MCA collection in 1989. The collection featured in Djon Mundine's 2008 exhibition They are meditating: bark paintings from the MCA's Arnott's Collection.

The Smorgon Collection was donated to the MCA in 1995 by philanthropists Loti and Victor Smorgon. In 2012, a donation by Loti went to build a sculpture terrace on the museum's fourth level, subsequently named for her.

Primavera: The Belinda Jackson Exhibit, Australia's longest running exhibition, has been staged annually since 1992 in honour of Edward and Cynthia Jackson's daughter Belinda, a jewellery maker. It exhibits the work of Australian artists aged 35 or younger for several summer months. Primavera provides the opportunity for artists not yet established to have their work displayed in a large institution. The exhibition often utilises guest curators, although curatorial staff from the Museum of Contemporary Art have also worked on past Primaveras. Each yearly exhibit is designed with a unique theme. In 2011, as a result of the museum renovations, the Primavera exhibit was held off site. Artworks from the exhibition were displayed in various places around the museum and throughout The Rocks area of Sydney. It is aimed at increasing the reputation of Australian art internationally. Funded by a $2.75 million donation from the Qantas Foundation, the galleries have acquired 23 pieces by 16 major Australian artists, many of which have been displayed at both institutions.

The National is a series of biennial survey exhibitions featuring contemporary artists, run as a partnership between the Art Gallery of New South Wales, Carriageworks and the MCA and held across the three venues. The National: New Australian Art exhibition was launched in 2017, designed to "reflect the diversity of cultural, political and social perspectives that preoccupy [Australian] artists". The National was designed in three iterations, with the later ones in 2019 and 2021, exhibiting the work of 150 Australian artists.

The Museum of Contemporary Art holds a number of public programs over its calendar year, including an Indigenous learning program and an 'Art + Dementia' research program.

The Bella program was established in 1993 by patrons Edward and Cynthia Jackson and the Jackson family. The program season previously coincided with the Primavera exhibition, however the addition of the National Centre for Creative Learning and funding from private benefactors in 2012 allowed for the Bella program to be run year round. Tailored for young people the program focuses on issues of access to contemporary art for people with disabilities, and socially and financially disadvantaged individuals. The program offers sessions in the galleries and hands on workshops. It is held four times annually and included over 16,000 participants over the course of its first ten years of operation. In collaboration with the Art Gallery of New South Wales, the Museum of Contemporary Art takes part in the Sydney Festival and the Biennale of Sydney, an event held partially online in 2020 due to the pandemic.

The annual MCA Zine Fair, first held in 2008, is organised in conjunction with the Sydney Writers' Festival. Held on the front lawn of the MCA, it features over 50 stalls of new and established zine artists.

In 2016, The Artful: Art and Dementia program was launched as a three year research collaboration between the MCA, the Brain and Mind Centre, the University of Sydney and Dementia Australia with the goal of establishing a link between art and enhanced neuroplasticity. The program continues annually. The six week program includes a tour of selected works throughout the museum, weekly two hour creative art making sessions with trained artist educators, and an 'Artful at home' package containing materials for art making at home. The final week of the program is an exhibition session, in which participants' friends and family are invited to view their art.