2004: Australian culture now
The city of Melbourne has not previously hosted any major survey event of the scale and recognition of Brisbane's Asia-Pacific Triennial or the Sydney Biennale. At a time when the Federal Government 2002 Report of the Contemporary Visual Arts and Craft Inquiry has emphasized the public benefit of major visual art events, we are even more alert to the importance of largescale contemporary art projects. ('Foreword', 2004: Australian Culture Now)
Let me say at the beginning that it is a good thing to have a survey show of contemporary Australian art. Since 1999 and the demise of 'Perspecta' there has been a void in the institutional commitment to this model of exhibiting current practice, one that has not been filled by the plethora of shows devoted to the emerging artist scene. To say that Perspecta was invariably a target of focused and frequently vituperative criticism is not to detract from its function as a vehicle for the curatorial investigation and exhibition of contemporary practice and its discourse. As a model for survey shows it allowed specific thematics to be elaborated, and although holding few expectations for anything definitive, it did allow for the development of a practice of viewing and importantly for the development of critical responses that went beyond the wow factor.
'2004: Australian Culture Now' was an extravaganza that occupied the spaces of The Ian Potter Centre: NGV Australia (NGVA) and the Australian Centre for the Moving Image (ACMI) from 8 June to 12 September this year. A survey of Australian art 2002- 2004 (the gestation period or the 'fieldwork' as it is described in the catalogue), it is also a collection of curatorial ideas and... The rest of this article is available to subscribers of Eyeline