Readers keep drawing my attention to fascinating things I might otherwise miss. For instance, not being engaged in organising any weddings lately, I hadn’t thought to check out the Art Gallery of NSW’s website to see what deals they were offering in this area. It might never have occurred to me that the AGNSW was heavily into the wedding business, but boy, was I in for a revelation!
“Thank you for considering the Art Gallery of New South Wales for your special day, and congratulations on your engagement!” trills the downloadable brochure. To the left of this greeting we see photos of two men gazing lovingly into each others’ eyes, showing that the AGNSW is reaching out to the same-sex demographic. Later on, there’s a photo of a wedding party featuring people of Asian appearance – another carefully chosen demographic.
By the pictures alone one can see how much thought has gone into this marketing exercise. But it’s the words that deserve our closest attention. Choose the AGNSW for your wedding and you can enjoy “enchanting views of parklands and the harbour”, not to mention “magnificent architecture and artworks”. This will create “memories to last a lifetime.” It will be “a day you will treasure forever.”
You get the general idea. It’s the kind of prose that makes me long for a curatorial catalogue essay which drones on for pages about the artist’s “practice”.
I know it’s a bad habit to dwell on the past, but I don’t recall the AGNSW under Edmund’s Capon’s leadership ever issuing a weddings brochure, or even allowing weddings to be held in the gallery. You can see how things have progressed since those dark days.
It’s also sobering to think back to Paul Keating’s claim that Sydney Modern was destined to be a function centre rather than a gallery. What an exaggeration! Visitors can clearly see that, along with the many reception areas, there are several rooms in which art is displayed. In fact, the art is used to skilfully enhance the wedding party experience. There’s even an artwork reproduced on the brochure: a swirling abstract painting by Gemma Smith, although I’m not quite sure what message of matrimonial bliss is being projected here. Perhaps it represents a whirlwind romance.
Each part of the old and new galleries is described, and its capacities mapped out for your convenience. The only thing I couldn’t find is a price list. For that you’ll have to ring and enquire, but don’t expect such an exquisite venue to come cheap.
As the AGNSW has only three exhibitions listed until June next year, there should be plenty of room for weddings, and nothing to distract the staff. If you’re not getting married, I’m sure the gallery would be open to discussions about holding a 21st birthday or bar mitzvah party, or why not a Police Boys club blue light disco? For younger art lovers, a bouncy castle might be hired. If you need clowns, the Art Gallery should be able to supply them. The possibilities are endless once one gets away from that boring, old narrow-minded idea that art galleries are simply places to show art.
Now that the AGNSW has blazed a trail, I expect it won’t be long until all the galleries and museums of Australia are feverishly competing for the weddings and party market. How proud we should be in Sydney that our state gallery has stolen a march on the rest, with a new building seemingly designed for this very purpose.
That’s enough shameless advertisement of the local product. I’d expected the art column would be about the inaugural edition of Art SG, the big new art fair in Singapore. Instead, the Herald has surprised me – not for the first time – and run a piece on the Air exhibition at GOMA, in Brisbane. While I’m pleased to see this article finally get a run, I would’ve preferred a different arrangement of dates. As it is, Air is the story for this week.
The movie column looks at two of the big films of January. The first, Todd Field’s Tár, is a very impressive piece of cinema that should bag a few Oscars in this year’s Academy Awards. The second, Babylon, is a faux pas of catastrophic proportions for acclaimed director, Damien Chazelle. I don’t quite know how it happened, but it did, which proves that even the best filmmakers can get it wrong. I’m sure Damien could still do a roaring trade filming weddings.