Neil Balnaves Tallawoladah's first turf commission will open to the public in September 2025 for a six-month period. The second will follow in 2026 and the third and last international commission will be organized in 2027.
An artist summary has been prepared and a list of prominent international and Australian artists has been compiled. The selected artwork will be installed for six months and will be timed to avoid being crushed by the Vivid winter lights festival crowd.
Koons was an established artist when he brought his Petal Dog to Sydney. This time, the museum is looking for early-stage artists “still in their trajectory of opening up to the world,” Cotter said. “This commission could serve as a powerful moment within his career in the future.”
Neil's daughter Victoria said the commission would be a fitting legacy for her father, who dedicated his wealth to The Balnaves Foundation, which he founded in 2006 to support the arts, education and research medical in Australia.
In 2010, Balnaves was appointed an Officer of the Order of Australia (AO) for services to business and philanthropy.
“We wanted to do something special and on a scale that embodied the man,” he said.
loading
As a young, newly engaged couple, his father and mother Diane took to the water in 1968 to see Christo and Jean Claude's Little Bay wrap, which as puppy he had been supported by his fellow philanthropist, John Kaldor. “It opened her eyes to the impact of public art,” Victoria said.
Son Hamish, chief executive of the foundation, said: “Dad's personality was big, bold and dynamic. He loved the arts and loved access programs like Generation Next for teenagers here at the MCA, and he liked to release works of art into the public sphere.”
The last major sculptural commission to grace the MCA lawn was that of Anish Kapoor Mirror of the sky in 2012-13, a concave mirror in polished steel that inverted the skyline.
Other activations that have inspired the project are the Fourth Plinth in Trafalgar Square and the roof of the Museum of Modern Art in New York. Commissions like these are rotated in these places, with the London art project still going strong after 25 years.
Cotter revealed in November that the gallery was considering paid public admission for the first time in more than two decades as it struggled with rising operating costs and a decade of chronic government underfunding.
Cotter said the museum was doing a lot of work to turn curiosity seekers into an engaged art audience and bring more visitors to Circular Quay to the galleries.
“We're still in discussions at the state and federal level to review our operating funding, which is at an all-time low. We're still looking at ticket sales, we're keeping all those options open.”
MCA and the Balnaves Foundation announce the series of commissions in the same month as what would have been Neil Balnaves' 80th birthday.
Find out about upcoming TV series, movies and films to add to your must-sees. Get the watchlist delivered every Thursday.
