6 Reasons to visit the MCA Sydney

Sydney has many interesting museums and art galleries. On that I particularly like is the Museum of Contemporary Art Australia (MCA). Here is why.

6 Reasons to visit the MCA in Sydney

1. The art collection. The MCA focusses on contemporary art (duh!) in all it’s visual forms. Be it painting, photography, sculpture, paper or moving images. This also includes Aboriginal art from as early as 1950.
   

   By Gordon Bennett. Abstraction (City Dweller) and Abstraction (Native). Both from 2013. Inspired by the art of Basquiat.

2. It’s location. The MCA is housed in a pretty building, facing Sydney’s Harbour on one side and historic The Rocks on the other. It has entries/exits on both sides of the building.
   This means that visiting this museum combines perfectly with a visit to Sydney Harbour as well as the Rocks. This can even be done in one and the same day!
   

   The MCA’s harbourside entrance.

3. The rooftop cafe. The MCA has a charming cafe, overlooking the harbour and the Opera House. It’s a great place for a latte or a lunch, while enjoying the view. The name Sculpture Terrace made me laugh, since it contains only one sculpture. Hahaha….
   

   My latte and the view from the cafe.

   

   The sculpture terrace aka this one sculpture;-).

4. The museum shop. As often in museums, the MCA has a lovely museumshop with all sorts of items. Great for gifts.
5. Not only do you learn something about art, it also teaches you a thing or two about yourself:
   

   I thought about it for a second and decided to take this not personally.

   Hahaha…. I leave it up to you how personally YOU take this quote;-).

6. And last but certainly not least: it’s FREE. Yes, you read that right; it’s totally free. How unique and cool is that?! They welcome donations very much (and I would encourage you to donate! Please, pretty please?), but it’s entirely up to you.

What’s on now?

When I was there, the ongoing exhibition was Luminous. It was curated from MCA’s own collection and consists of light-based art. (Only a short time left; it ends on june 8th)

Here are some of the works on display:

It’s a very spacious museum and it was not busy at all when I visited.

Neon art.

Plastic household containers turned into light objects. Nice!

One of my favorites of this exhibition. It is a work by Nicholas Folland, titled “The door was open…”. It’s a chandelier, a freezer unit and a ceiling rose. The work investigates the relationship between domestic appliances and environmental conditions.

Conceptual art - “But what does it mean?”

In case you’re wondering about this art (what is it? Is it a plane? Is it a spaceship? No, it’s ART!), as I wrote before: conceptual art is not always as understandable. And the explanations given are sometimes even more cryptic than the artwork itself. But other times the written context actually enlightens and makes it able for us to see the art in a different light (pun intended) and appreciate it more.

If I cannot make sense of the art work, I can still enjoy it on an aesthetic base or on how it makes me feel.

In the case of the Luminous exhibit, aesthetically I was covered, since I’m a sucker for light(s) and color. For the rest, the level of my enthusiasm depended on the work in question.

What’s on - part two

Then there was an exhibition of another selection of works from the permanent collection. The works varied from interesting to weird to scary and everything in between. Eclecticism rocks, as far as I’m concerned, so I was entertained for sure.

This work by Stephen Birch (Untitled-2005) freaked me out.
It is already weird in itself, but when I was standing next to the Spiderman, for a second I thought he moved! Was it a living statue or what??? After reading the sign next to it, revealing the used materials, I was reassured: no, it was a sculpture. Phjew…

Interesting techniques are used here by Lindy Lee. The work is titled: “The tenderness of rain” and dates from 2011/12.
The artist calls this paper-art ‘weather-painting’. She pierces the paper, burns holes in it and exposes it to rain. This is the result.

A work by Ah Xian, titled ‘China China’ and dating from 2004.

Also on now is the exhibition Light Show (until july 5th).

The museum gives all sorts of tours on a regular basis, so be sure to keep track of those.

I don’t know what these woven baskets are about, but I like the shapes.

Have you visited the Museum of Contemporary Art Australia in Sydney? Do you like it? What is your favorite museum in Sydney and why? Are you a regular in visiting museums and galleries?