Primavera 2011
This year's show has escaped the confines of gallery walls, halls and plinths — being loosed instead on the alternative art space of the Rocks' narrow squares and forgotten alleyways.
Overview
Spring. As the weather shifts from gloom to nudge at some summer heat, the MCA begins to get stuck into the theme of fertility and renewal. Primavera — 'spring' — is its annual exhibition of new art by up and coming under-35s. The now venerable museum is in the midst of its own rejuvenation as it renovates and adds to its exterior, moving entrances and shuddering the frame of its art deco building. So, this year's Primavera show has escaped the confines of gallery walls, halls and plinths — being loosed instead on the alternative art space of the Rocks' narrow squares and forgotten alleyways.
While other public art shows are usually hard to find but difficult to ignore, most of Primavera's installations are hidden in plain sight. Eric Bridgeman's art is plastered on posters around the MCA and Argyle Bond Stores competing with fantastically vivacious drawings by Tom O'Hern, full of junk, native animals and spaghetti-like hair. The gallery-like space of the roomy Cleland Bond houses the show's collection of wall-hung art, including Rebecca Baumann's TV-shaped Automated Monochrome, which turns over blues, purples and greens with satisfying clicks.
Tessa Zettel & Karl Khoe have been busy installing wooden bird-houses on top of telephone boxes, perching climbing animals at the back of Cleland Bond and forming their own secret society intermittently during the festival in the form of the Delirious Bakery's low teas at the Red Room Company's underground den. And on the hour, Parachutes for Ladies promises to re-choreograph the lives of the Museum's regular staff.
*You can grab a program with a map from outside the MCA's George Street entrance, or send your phone to the website for a similar digital experience.
Images by the Brown Council and Tom O'Hern
Information
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