Ocula Report Havana Biennial 2019: Constructing the Possible 17 Apr 2019 : Federica Bueti for Ocula I first visited Havana in November 2016, a few days after Fidel Castro died, and just under a year before Hurricane Irma hit Cuba in September 2017. Since then, much has changed, including the hand-painted signs that punctuate the journey from the airport to the city centre, which today do not celebrate the revolution so much as the 'Unidad y...
Ocula Conversation Andrew Stahl and Guo Xiaohui The exhibition Beyond Boundaries at Somerset House in London (12 March–2 April 2019) marked the historic contributions of the Central Academy of Fine Arts, Beijing (CAFA) and the Slade School of Fine Art, University College London, on the occasion of their 100th and 150th anniversaries, respectively. Spread across several rooms of Somerset House's...
Ocula Report The National 2019: New Australian Art 13 Apr 2019 : Elyse Goldfinch for Ocula The National 2019: New Australian Art features work by 70 contemporary Australia-based artists split across three venues: the Art Gallery of New South Wales (AGNSW), Carriageworks, and the Museum of Contemporary Art Australia (MCA) (29 March–21 July 2019), as curated by Isobel Parker Philip, curator of photographs at AGNSW; Daniel Mudie Cunningham,...
Located on one of the world’s most spectacular sites on the edge of Sydney Harbour, the Museum of Contemporary Art opened its doors to the public in November 1991. Established through a bequest by Australian expatriate artist John Power (1881-1943), who left his personal fortune to the University of Sydney to inform and educate Australians about international contemporary visual art, the MCA is dedicated to exhibiting, collecting and interpreting contemporary art.
The vision of the founding Director Leon Paroissien and Chief Curator Bernice Murphy was manifest from its earliest years – a commitment to innovative programming with ground-breaking exhibitions of contemporary art from Australia, the Asia Pacific region and around the world.
In 1998, the first phase of expansion began when the Museum had access to the whole building and created galleries for solo exhibitions by Australian artists.
A strong emphasis on making the MCA a museum that engages artists with audiences led to a program of significant solo shows by Australian and international artists as well as thematic and group exhibitions. The MCA is a major partner of the Biennale of Sydney. Attendances increased to over 580,000 in 2010, leading to the need for further expansion.
In March 2012, following extensive redevelopment a significantly expanded museum was unveiled to the public. Architect Sam Marshall in conjunction with the Governments Architect's Office has created a striking building that responds to its unique location bringing together the old and new and creating a context for engaging artists with audiences for the 21st century. The new museum houses an entire floor dedicated to the MCA Collection, a National Centre for Creative Learning and a series of site specific artists' commissions.
Ocula Report The National 2019: New Australian Art 13 Apr 2019 : Elyse Goldfinch for Ocula The National 2019: New Australian Art features work by 70 contemporary Australia-based artists split across three venues: the Art Gallery of New South Wales (AGNSW), Carriageworks, and the Museum of Contemporary Art Australia (MCA) (29 March–21 July 2019), as curated by Isobel Parker Philip, curator of photographs at AGNSW; Daniel Mudie Cunningham,...
Ocula Conversation Sun Xun Artist Born in 1980 in Fuxin, China, to a factory-worker and military family, Sun Xun's father advised him to avoid politics. He was encouraged by his family to move to Hangzhou at the age of 16 to pursue his studies as an artist at a high school affiliated with the China Academy of Fine Arts. It was at CAFA that the artist honed his aesthetic and...
Ocula Report Biennale of Sydney: Equilibrium & Engagement 25 May 2018 : Tess Maunder for Ocula SUPERPOSITION: Equilibrium & Engagement marks the twenty-first edition of the Biennale of Sydney (16 March–11 June 2018). Curated by Mami Kataoka, it brings together over 70 artists and artist collectives from 35 different countries exhibiting at 7 venues, including the Sydney Opera House, and marks the first time an Asian-born curator has been...
Ocula Conversation Pipilotti Rist Artist, Switzerland Pipilotti Rist configures sensory and colour-saturated universes that transport the viewer into hyper-visual sequences of moving image, film, and objects. Between 1 November 2017 and 18 February 2018, the Museum of Contemporary Art Australia in Sydney presents Rist's major new exhibition Sip My Ocean (1 November 2017–18 February 2018), expertly...
Related Press Sydney Biennale review – Ai Weiwei anchors rewarding show that comes of age in its 21st year The Guardian : 16 March 2018 There is a simple and quiet work by the Belgian artist Michaël Borremans called The Bread (2012) in this year's Biennale of Sydney. It recalls the work of Flemish 15th century portraits, close and intimate, but it's a modern picture too. It's of a girl's upper body, dressed in a blue top, her hands in front, her gaze downwards. I was fairly certain...
Related Press Mami Kataoka's highlights for the 21st Biennale of Sydney ArtsHub : 1 March 2018 When a biennale or a triennial hits the headlines the first statistic to be published is the roll call of artists: '...70 artists and artists collectives from 35 countries presented across 7 exhibition venues'. It is a mantra that celebrates the broadest inclusion, but Mami Kataoka, Artistic Director of the 21st Biennale of Sydney, is more...
Related Press Jenny Watson: The Fabric of Fantasy Art Almanac : 29 June 2017 Jenny Watson is a leading Australian artist, whose oeuvre spans 40 years. Historically, Watson is perhaps most well known as being the first female artist to represent Australia in a solo presentation at the Venice Biennale in 1993, Rosalie Gascoigne and Peter Booth made a debut together in 1982. Today, she not only maintains a practice with...
Related Press Tatsuo Miyajima: connect with everything | time, light, japan: japanese art 1990s to now Artlink : 30 January 2017 It's something of a cliché in Western art history that canons shake when revolutions sound. Social change precipitates stylistic reinvention and the same can be said in reverse. Although they might gesture back, time and style share an aggressively forward momentum. Over a career spanning more than three decades, Japanese artist Tatsuo Miyajima has...
