I don’t get contemporary art. Show me a urinal turned on its side – such as Marcel Duchamp’s famous work, Fountain – and I will most certainly look around for a plumber to rectify the situation. To me, four minutes and thirty-three seconds of a silent orchestra – please see John Cage’s curiously prolific musical composition 4’33” – is a waste of my time. I just don’t get it. But, apparently, that’s okay and it only took me a visit to the Museum of Contemporary Art to realise this.
In case you’ve missed it, the Museum is located on the western shore of Circular Quay in Sydney, occupying a prominent sandstone building which brings to mind images of an art-deco lunch box. Through the use of both performance and installation pieces, the MCA has been using this facility to perpetually bewilder its visitors since 1991.
Modern art carries with it an unfortunate reputation of pretentious metaphors put forth by shock-minded artists as eager to make headlines as artistic statements. When performance artists such as Chris Burden photograph themselves being shot in the arm with a rifle or when Christoph Büchel has a group of octogenarians rehearsing the Sex Pistols' “God Save the Queen,” the audience is not moved to appreciation as much as it is moved to ask, “What the hell?”
But this is the whole purpose of the Museum of Contemporary Art: fostering discussion.
The MCA, it turns out, is the only institution in Australia that both displays and collects some of the most controversial modern art in the world – a fact its staff is rightly proud of. Anyone who attended the MCA-hosted portion of the 2008 Biennale this winter just past can attest to this fact. The Biennale at the MCA contained works ranging in complexity from a dead horse hanging from the ceiling to a framed post card from Vienna. It takes only a few minutes to realise that the exhibits at the MCA are nothing if not conversation catalysts.
UPCOMING EXHIBITS AT THE MCA:
Video Logic :: Until 2 November 2008
Yinka Shonibare MBE :: 24 September 2008 until 1 February 2009
Yinka Sonibare MBE is a prolific contemporary artist who works in a multitude of media to explore African identity and the ongoing legacy of European colonialism. After the MCA, this exhibition will tour to the Brooklyn Museum of Art in New York City and the National Museum of African Art at the Smithsonian Institution in Washington DC.
Primavera 2008 :: 19 September until 30 November 2008 MCA Collection: Work’s by Primavera Artists – 19 August 2008 until 22 February 2009
With 17 years of showcasing and unearthing up-and-coming artistic talent in Australia, the Primavera has become a prominent fixture of Australian art. This year 13 young artists from all over Australia will showcase their work. Along with this year’s contestants, the MCA will showcase works from former Primavera artists over the years.
Catching the director of the MCA, Elizabeth Ann Macgregor, for a conversation about the museum is not easy. After a brief game of phone tag, she is able to take some time out at the end of a busy day at the MCA and give me some Modern Art 101 over the phone.
Macgregor approaches the museum as a challenge and it keeps her hands full. When she arrived at the Quay in September 1999, the museum was bankrupt and in danger of losing its artistic direction. By 2001, she was able to secure long-term funding from the New South Wales state government which not only allowed the museum to stay open but also remain completely free of charge to its visitors.
Remaining free and open to the general public is a central pillar of the MCA’s philosophy. By keeping its doors open to any person fortunate enough to wander off the Quay looking for air-conditioning, the MCA can widen the discourse surrounding contemporary art.
“Most art works on two levels,” says Macgregor. “There is some sort of visual impact, then there is the concept behind the work.”
Beyond these two levels, it is left to the viewer to make up his or her own mind about the meaning and relevance of the art.
Macgregor admits that there are works of art in the MCA that even she doesn’t get at first. But this doesn’t stop her from enjoying it. To her, the joy of modern art is in the discussion.
“Relish the unknown,” says Macgregor. “Embrace it. Don’t be bothered if you don’t get it.”
So, it’s okay if people don’t understand the art at first. In fact, sometimes viewers are not supposed to understand the piece of art. For example in July, while making my perplexed way through the 2008 Biennale, I came across a collection of items which seem to have been taken directly from a garage and arranged on two tables in the gallery. Among the items were unopened batteries, a milk carton, empty cardboard boxes, lengths of hosepipe, a dirty flashlight, and sections of plastic piping. None of this meant anything to me at first. However, after reading the label, I discovered that the artist, Ibon Aranberri, was inspired by the way police display “evidence” of terrorism after raiding the houses of suspect bomb makers. In another context, these objects – which invoked no initial response at all – would stand as evidence of terrorism. Brilliant.
This is when it suddenly occurred to me.
Here I was, wandering through the sparse, white plaster galleries of the Museum of Contemporary Art, one of the most innovative modern art museums in the world. I was challenging my outlook on life, stopping to consult with total strangers huddled around exhibit labels, discussing what we saw – and it didn’t cost me a thing. What more could you ask for from a museum? I can’t think of anything – and I don’t even know that much about art.
