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MCA, Qantas and Tate Announce First Series of Australian Artwork Acquisitions

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MCA, Qantas and Tate announce first series of Australian artwork acquisitions [Sydney, 13 May 2016] The Museum of Contemporary Art Australia (MCA), Qantas and Left: Vernon Ah Kee, Tate have today revealed the first five artworks in their International Joint Acquisition tall man 2010 four-channel video Program for contemporary Australian art. The Program promotes Australian art globally, installation, sound, Tate helping Australian artists reach new audiences. and the Museum of Contemporary Art Australia, purchased jointly These joint acquisitions by MCA and Tate include two large video installations, one by with funds provided by the Susan Norrie (Transit 2011) and another by Vernon Ah Kee (tall man 2010), two paintings Qantas Foundation, 2016, image courtesy Museum of by Gordon Bennett (Possession Island (Abstraction)) 1991 and Number Nine 2008) and an Contemporary Art Australia artist book by Judy Watson consisting of sixteen etchings with chine collé (a and Milani Gallery, Brisbane © the artist, photograph: preponderance of aboriginal blood 2005). Carl Warner Right: Gordon Bennett Three of these artworks will be on display in the MCA Collection Galleries starting this Gordon Bennett, Possession month, and two more will be included in the new MCA Collection exhibition opening in Island (Abstraction), 1991, oil and acrylic on canvas, September. The artworks will then head to Tate to be displayed in the UK in the near Tate and the Museum of future. Contemporary Art Australia, purchased jointly with funds provided by the Made possible through a $2.75 million corporate gift from the Qantas Foundation, this Qantas Foundation, 2016, ground-breaking collaboration is enabling an ambitious five-year joint program through image courtesy Museum of Contemporary Art Australia which a range of major artworks by contemporary Australian artists will be acquired for and Milani Gallery, Brisbane the collections of MCA and Tate, owned and displayed by both institutions. © The Estate of Gordon Bennett, 2016, photograph: Carl Warner Museum of Contemporary Art Director, Elizabeth Ann Macgregor OBE, said: “We are thrilled to unveil this diverse range of joint acquisitions with Tate. This initiative is a true t game-changer for contemporary Australian artists: it places their artworks in one of the Susan Norrie Transit 2011 world’s great public collections, where they will be seen alongside those of their single-channel video, international peers. It also enables us to acquire more ambitiously and strategically – high definition, sound, Tate and the Museum of transforming the opportunities for international audiences to connect with contemporary Contemporary Art Australian art.” Australia, purchased jointly with funds provided by the Qantas “Working closely with the Tate curatorial team has been an enriching experience; there’s Foundation 2016, image courtesy the artist and been a real synchronicity in our approaches,” Ms Macgregor continued. Museum of Contemporary Art Alan Joyce, Chief Executive Officer of Qantas, said: “In working with the MCA and the Tate Australia © the artist we wanted to develop a program that would have a long term impact – something that could be transformative, that would promote Australian art globally and that would give Right: Judy Watson a preponderance of Australian artists a stronger voice by helping them reach new audiences.” aboriginal blood 2005, artist book consisting of sixteen etchings with “The five artworks that the MCA and Tate have chosen meet these objectives. They’re chine collé, published by powerful, they’re unique and they tell important stories. This acquisition program grahame galleries + editions, Brisbane provides an opportunity to grow awareness and deepen the understanding of those Tate and the Museum of stories, not just in Australia but also around the world,” added Mr Joyce. Contemporary Art Australia, purchased jointly with funds Frances Morris, Director, Tate Modern said: “I am delighted that today we are able to provided by the Qantas announce our first joint acquisitions with the MCA. Since the turn of the millennium Tate Foundation 2016, image courtesy Museum of has been proactively transforming its collection, bringing in a greater variety of voices, Contemporary Art approaches and ideas from around the world.” Australia and grahame galleries + editions, Brisbane © the artist, “Thanks to the generous support of Qantas, this new partnership will make a real photograph: Carl difference to the representation of Australian contemporary art at home and abroad, and Warner it will allow us to present an even more international view of art for generations to come,” Ms Morris concluded. About Vernon Ah Kee and tall man, 2010: Vernon Ah Kee was born in 1967 in Innisfail, Queensland and lives and works in Brisbane. Ah Kee is a member of the Kuku Yalandji, Waanji, Yidinji and Gugu Yimithirr peoples and a founding member of the Aboriginal artist collective Proppa Now. His work ranges from large-scale drawings of his family members and ancestors to text- based works and installations incorporating moving image. It fuses the history and language of colonisation with contemporary issues in an ongoing investigation of race and politics. Vernon Ah Kee has earned a considerable international reputation. He represented Australia at the Venice Biennale in 2009 in the group exhibition Once Removed and has participated in several international biennales. His work is held in numerous public collections within Australia and overseas including the Sprengel Museum Hanover, Germany; National Gallery of Canada, Ottawa; National Gallery of Australia, Canberra and Museum of Contemporary Art Australia, Sydney. tall man 2010 is a four channel video installation with sound, originally exhibited at Milani Gallery, Brisbane as part of the artist’s exhibition tall man in 2010. The work, which is eleven minutes and eleven seconds long, is characteristic of Ah Kee’s artistic approach in its investigation into race relations in Australia and is concerned with the Palm Island riots of 2004. Palm Island is an Aboriginal community located on the tropical Great Palm Island, near northern Queensland, Australia. In November 2004 a young Aboriginal man, Mulrunji Doomadgee, died in in custody one hour after being detained by police. A week later, at the public reading of the results of his autopsy, a riot ensued in which the police station, local courthouse and police barracks were burnt down and police officers and staff were forced to barricade themselves into the local hospital. It was later found, in 2006, that Doomadgee had died as a result of punches to the stomach; however, the Senior Sergeant was found not guilty of manslaughter in 2007. In 2008, two-time local Palm Island Councillor Lex Wotton was convicted and tried of inciting the riots. He served twenty months of a seven-year sentence. There continues to be widespread opposition to his sentence and the recent ‘gag order’ issued by the High Court of Australia. Ah Kee’s exhibition and the video installation tall man are an homage to Lex Wotton, specifically to the ongoing repercussions and events that unfolded on 26 November 2004. With footage sourced from mobile phones, handheld cameras and television news reels, the work shows the events that took place on that day. About Susan Norrie and Transit, 2011: Susan Norrie lives and works in Sydney, using different artistic media, including painting, film, photography and installation. After studies at the National Art School and the Victorian College of Arts in Sydney in the 1970s, she established her name as a painter. Since the 1990s she has used a greater variety of media, including photography and moving imagery, often combined in installations. Most of her work is concerned with the ambiguity of environmental, geological or socio-political issues, particularly in the Asia-Pacific region. Norrie has represented Australia at the Venice Biennale in 2007 and also participated in several international biennales. Her work is held by numerous public collections, including the Art Gallery of New South Wales, Sydney, the Museum of Contemporary Art Australia, Sydney and Solomon R. Guggenheim Museum, New York. She has been awarded a number of Australian awards and prizes. Transit 2011 is a single channel high-definition video, originally exhibited at the 2011 Yokohama Triennale. The work is 14 minutes and 35 seconds long and represents the artist’s particular concern with the relation of humans and nature, focussing on the Asia-Pacific region. It features activities of the Japanese Aerospace Exploration Agency (JAXA) in Tanegashima, an anti-nuclear demonstration after the catastrophe of Fukushima Daiichi Nuclear Power Plant in March 2011, and on the Southern island of Kyushu in Japan, and an eruption of Sakurajima volcano in 2010. The project is the outcome of a long research period during which the artist collaborated with Japanese scientists, technicians, journalists and camera operators. Transit is an attempt to capture the tension between humans and nature, the challenges associated with technological advancement, and the possibility of future changes for the environment and humanity due to natural or self-inflicted disasters. The work typifies Norrie’s particular film language: through long film shots, slow camera movements and harmonious compositions with black and white contrasts, the artist creates metaphoric scenes exuding a calm, almost fantastical atmosphere. About Judy Watson and a preponderance of aboriginal blood,
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