focus on contemporary australian art
Curators: Rachel Kent, Russell Starer and Vivienne Webb
In an exhibition as eclectic in the art practices it presents as 'Meridian', it is difficult to provide an analysis which accounts for all of the work on show. The main unifying link in the exhibition was the fact that most of the artists are designated as 'mid-career' Australian artists. This collectivity addresses an issue for which, on occasion, the Museum of Contemporary Art (MCA) has been called to account-the tendency to focus on themed shows, international artists and the newer ranks of Australian artists. This approach has left a whole generation (or two) of Australian artists out of the loop, despite the fact that they are working within the parameters of contemporary, conceptual art practices. Meanwhile, the curatorial claim which is developed in the catalogue essays, that the uniting thesis of this exhibition is the focus of all these artists on 'ideas and concerns which have shaped the world in which we live, and perceptions of our place within it', can also provide a point of access to this work.
Perhaps because of its diversity, Meridian was quite a visual and conceptual pleasure to experience. On show at the same time as Ron Muecke's incredible craft-those uncannily real-life figures-this exhibition had a subtlety which could not compete at a populist level. However, an audience interested in reflecting on such things as history, time and place, materiality and the diversity of Australian art practices, echoed by a diversity of place-rather than spectacle-could find much to engage with.
The work of the eighteen artists was generously curated into the first three levels of the MCA, so that each artist could exhibit a representative sample of their work. Michael Riley's huge banner