New Australian Art Spaces To Launch In Early 2021

Despite the ongoing global spread of Covid-19 and worries about the effects of mutated strands of the virus, Australia is set to welcome several new art institutions along with the reopening of other renovated spaces during the first quarter of this year.

The city of Gold Coast’s AUD 60.5 million (USD 47 million) Home of the Arts (HOTA) Gallery, the country’s largest public gallery outside of its capital cities, will open to the public on April 10. The six story, 5,500 square-meter space, covered on the exterior with 3D Voronoi, was designed by Melbourne-based architects ARM. The launch is accompanied by a group exhibition of Australian artists, “Solid Gold: Artists from Paradise,” including works by installation artist Hiromi Tango and multimedia artist Michael Candy, among others.

Meanwhile, University of Melbourne’s 3,500 square-meter new building for Science Gallery Melbourne (SGM), designed by Smart Design Studio with immersive exhibition and learning spaces, will open in early 2021, with dates yet to be announced.  The science and arts focused gallery organized three pop-up exhibitions in the city during 2017–19 in anticipation of its opening. Another new gallery, the Woollahra Gallery at Redleaf, will open in a refurbished hundred-year-old heritage house in Sydney in early 2021. Apart from providing exhibition and artist residence space, the gallery will also host the Woollahra Council's Woollahra Small Sculpture Prize.

Also in Melbourne, after a two-year-long, AUD 40 million (USD 31 million) redevelopment, the Australian Centre for the Moving Image (ACMI) is reopening on February 11 with reconfigured exhibition space including new technologies in its permanent exhibition and additional event and educational spaces. The museum will return with a presentation of “Love & Neon: The Cinema of Wong Kar Wai,” featuring films by the acclaimed Hong Kong director. An AUD 7.6 million (USD 5.9 million) rehaul is also taking place at the Grafton Regional Gallery for gallery expansion and renovation of its storage area. The government of New South Wales (NSW) funded project was originally set to be completed in December 2020, and will now open in mid-February. Meanwhile, Shepparton Art Museum (SAM) will reopen in its new Denton Corker Marshall designed, AUD 50 million (USD 39 million) building in early 2021. The five story, 5,300 square-meter space will host the museum in addition to Aboriginal art center Kaiela Arts.

In Australia, the growth of local cases of Covid-19 in NSW and Victoria, where Sydney and Melbourne are located, has gradually slowed in recent weeks, with less than 20 new local cases in both areas this week. 

Elizabeth Ho is an editorial intern at ArtAsiaPacific.

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