MCA staff, VIPs guests and artists celebrated the opening Sydney’s 20th Primavera exhibition of contemporary on Thursday 8 September. For the first time in history the exhibition curated by MCA’s Anna Davis was held entirely outside of the museums confines, with sculpture, photography, installation and video presented in a series of locations around the historic precinct.
The launch event was celebrated with a ‘meet the artists’ party welcoming guests including installation artist Rebecca Baumann, Dinosaur Designs founder Liane Rossler and Sydney based print-maker Karl Khoe. The MCA will re-open its doors in March 2012 after undergoing a 15 million dollar makeover that aims to expand gallery’s exhibition spaces and add a brand new National Centre for Creative Learning to its complex.
This year the brief to Primavera 2011 artists was to create a site-specific, participatory and installation works in locations throughout The Rocks. Emerging Australian Artists featured in the show include; Rebecca Baumann (Western Australia), Eric Bridgeman (Queensland), Brown Council – Kelly Doley, Frances Barrett, Diana Smith, Kate Blackmore (New South Wales), Tom O’Hern (Tasmania), Jess Olivieri and Hayley Forward with the Parachutes for Ladies (New South Wales), Keg de Souza (New South Wales), Hiromi Tango (Queensland), and Tessa Zettel & Karl Khoe (New South Wales).