Sunday, June 13, 2010

Contemporary Indigenous Art Centre, Newtown


Narrative

My art gallery serves as the back-room for the MCA, a back-room meaning a space where items which aren't displayed may be viewed and purchased. It is however curated and co-owned by Keith Munro, MCA curator for Indigenous and Torres Strait Projects. The gallery consequently has a focus on Contemporary Indigenous Art.




Content
The art to be displayed celebrates contemporary Australian art. From my own, previous experience with setting up an art workshop for Indigenous children in Redfern, I know that there is a struggle for young artists to define their art as a separate from the stereotypes of traditional dot painting and didgeridoo painting. These young, emerging artists would thrive from a local artistic centre in trendy Newtown, a centre which promoted different ideals of Indigenous art. I have included spaces for permanent and temporary exhibitions. The most prominent permanent exhibition is the Larrakitj Installation, currently held in the MCA. These painted columns reference traditional art in their form, yet through painting, expresses contemporary experiences - the beach, the streetscape. Other artworks include paintings by Paddy Bedford, Richard Woldenrop and Robert Boynes (seen below) - artists which also bridge the gap between contemporary art and traditional Indigenous art.


Design.
My design is a type of 'modern landscape,' contemporary abstractions of landscape which houses art of a similar content. The boomerang-shaped mezzanine level creates movement and direction from the facade, the sharp angle encouraging pedestrians to enter, then when inside, to follow the curve to the stairs. The setback creates a semi-private space, also an inviting gesture, whilst the series of shallow stairs serve as a continuation of the interior cafe. The cafe on the street-front is a further attraction of the facade. The two-storey timber columns introduce the motif of trees and also introduce a rhythm which references nature. The entrance space houses the Larrakitj installation, direct correlations between the structural columns and these sculptural columns can be made. A strip of water connects the interior to exterior spaces, leading the eye across the entire space.

This landscape is comprised of a series of descending steps, which break up the open-plan gallery to suggest 'rooms.' These descending steps also allow visitors to see right through the space, as well as creating a fluctuating space, reference to my ideas of landscape. The precinct on the back, right corner consists of toilets, kitchenette and backroom. This is in essense, a backroom of the backroom of the MCA, the office situated in front of the doors where people may purchase art. I intended for this area to be quite separate from the gallery space, as is the back screening room - a quieter, more intimate space to view video art or films.

I intended the artist residence on the second level to provide a sanctuary for the artists. I included a bedroom courtyard, as well as two layers of vegetation - a plant box, then trees behind, to create privacy and block the adjoining property. Loggias from the studio and kitchen areas and the double height created by the mezzanine studio ensures a bright and open living space.

Final Model Images


































































































Final Drawings







Final Poche



Poche of the entrance room, with the Larrkitj permanent installation.

Final Perspectives Vignettes





Perspectives of cafe, studio, apartment, courtyard, bedroom and gallery entrance

Proposal 2

Maintaining the boomerang shape from my previous proposal, I tried to incorporate many similar elements but within a much simpler frame - changing to site 2 made it a lot easier to handle. I am still having trouble with the apartment/office part however. Feedback made me realise how different the back part was to the front part. I need to try and integrate this design more, so it speaks in the same 'language.'








Proposal 1

I wanted to create a pavillion-like space which burs the boundaries between inside and outside. I felt that a good way to do this would be to create just one space which housed all functions. I included a promenade, with descending stairs on either side, which links all the different spaces together. Perhaps this could also be made into a colonnade. A glass 'tower' in the centre houses the main staircase to the mezzanine floor. I was quite influenced in Queensland stick architecture, and Glenn Murcutt's facades and designs of houses in the bush.




Gallery Visit

I visited Carriage Works, White Rabbit, Wentworth Galleries, Wentworth Galleries on Pitt and the MCA.

These are images from my work book.

Prescedents

National Portrait Gallery - Canberra

I really love the use of materials in this building, as well as the interesting partis that are used - similiar to Glenn Murcutt's style, a series of long 'corridor' type structures which create rows of circulation.


Mies Van Der Rohe - Berlin National Gallery

I was drawn to the effectiveness yet simplicity of Mies' design, the way he can suggest movement, not through angles or curves, but through simple cubes of mass in compression. I was particularly interested in his concept of hanging walls, as in all his designs - walls act as screens, openings in their configurations act as doors. They serve no structural purpose.







Research and First Sketches and Ideas