In Canberra, a city with so much fine architecture from the
20th century, we had the opportunity to spend time in the National
Gallery of Australia. It’s a collection and building that I’ve known and
revisited over three decades.
While the collection itself has much of great interest –
there are over 150,000 works in it – the building is (and always has been)
problematical.
It was designed by Australian architect Colin Madigan in the
1960s, with advice from the previous director of the Guggenheim in New York, JJ
Sweeney. And that’s where the deepest problems seem to start. Madigan followed
the Guggenheim’s core concept, creating a spiral. But while this is immediately
self-evident in New York, it’s scarcely discernible in Canberra, seeming to be more
a jumble of interconnected spaces.
This wouldn’t matter quite so much if there was adequate
signage around the building. But there isn’t. So one walks from one space to
another, scarcely aware that the works are from any particular context, or location,
or style, or time.
Added to that, there is very limited information on view
about the works themselves – title, date and artist, yes ‒ but today’s visitors to
art museums expect and deserve so much more.
It all feels so unloved.
And unlovable.
What’s more, it’s still difficult to find the main entrance,
the way in. This has always been a problem area, one which preoccupied previous
directors, and was tackled, unsuccessfully, by the current incumbent, who is
shortly to retire.
There’s so much for his successor to tackle, but I’m not at
all clear how all these issues might be resolved short of starting over again.
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