TarraWarra Museum of Art

(Redirected from TarraWarra Biennial)

TarraWarra Museum of Art is a public art museum in Healesville, Victoria, 45 kilometres northeast of Melbourne, on Wurundjeri Country. Welcoming audiences since 2003, TarraWarra is a leading not-for-profit art gallery that features inventive and stimulating exhibitions and programs about twentieth and twenty-first century art. The Museum has built a reputation for presenting a unique program of exhibitions curated to inspire curiosity and support emerging and established artists to make new work.

TarraWarra Museum of Art
TarraWarra Museum of Art is located in Australia
TarraWarra Museum of Art
Location within Australia
Established2002
LocationHealesville, Victoria, Australia
Coordinates37°39′34.7″S 145°28′9.1″E / 37.659639°S 145.469194°E / -37.659639; 145.469194
TypeArt museum
Websitewww.twma.com.au

TarraWarra Museum of Art Limited was registered in 2000.[1] The Museum was then formally launched by Prime Minister John Howard on 24 April 2002 in a temporary location in North Melbourne, awaiting completion of a purpose-built museum in the Yarra Valley.[2] The Museum building, designed by Alan Powell from architecture firm Powell & Glenn, was opened in 2003.[3] Founded by philanthropists and art collectors, the late Eva Besen AO and Marc Besen AC, it was the first museum of art in Australia supported by a significant private endowment.[4] They not only gifted the award-winning purpose-built Museum designed by the late Allan Powell, they also donated nearly 600 works of Australian art from their private collection

Collection

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Eva and Marc Besen began collecting art in the 1950s.[4] When exhibited in the 1970s, their collection was considered "One of the country's finest collections of Modern Australian art."[5] In addition to the initial gift from the Besen's collection, TarraWarra has continued to acquire works. Artworks from the Museum’s collection are occasionally featured in scheduled exhibitions.[4]

The collection includes works by notable Australian artists, such as Arthur Boyd, John Brack, Russell Drysdale, Rosalie Gascoigne, Dale Hickey, Susan Norrie, John Olsen, Patricia Piccinini, Clifton Pugh, Jeffrey Smart, Brett Whiteley and Fred Williams.[6]

TarraWarra Biennial

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The TarraWarra Biennial was established in 2006 "to identify new developments in contemporary art practice".[7] Vincent Namatjira's work, Endless circulation, which comprised a series of portraits of the seven Prime Ministers who had been in power in Australia during his lifetime until that point, was exhibited,[8] along with work by Vernon Ah Kee, Helen Johnson, Wukun Wanambi, Sarah crowEst and Agatha Gothe-Snape.[9]

The third Biennial, in 2012, Sonic Spheres, was curated by the museum's director Victoria Lynn. It brought together 21 pieces using music, sound and voice, and included leading Australian sound artists as well as artists more known for their work in other media. Two examples of the latter were Angela Mesti's Some Dance to Remember, Some Dance to Forget and Christian Thompson’s Dhagunyilangu – Brother, sung in the Bidjara language.[10]

Inaugurated in 2006, the TarraWarra Biennial has presented the works of over 200 artists over the course of eight exhibitions to date. Providing a significant platform for each of its seven guest curators to identify and respond to new trends in contemporary Australian art, each iteration has had a distinctive and independent curatorial lens.

TarraWarra Biennial 2006  Parallel Lives: Australian Painting Today  

4 August –12 November 2006   Curated by Victoria Lynn  

TarraWarra Biennial 2008   Lost & Found: An Archeology of the Present  

1 August – 9 November 2008  Curated by Charlotte Day

TarraWarra Biennial 2012   Sonic Spheres  

5 August – 9 December 2012   Curated by Victoria Lynn  

TarraWarra Biennial 2014   Whisper in My Mask  

16 August – 16 November 2014  Curated by Natalie King and Djon Mundine

TarraWarra Biennial 2016   Endless Circulation  

19 August – 6 November 2016   Curated by Helen Hughes and Victoria Lynn

TarraWarra Biennial 2018   From Will to Form  

3 August – 6 November 2018   Curated by Emily Cormack

TarraWarra Biennial 2021 Slow Moving Waters  

27 March – 11 July 2021   Curated by Nina Miall

TarraWarra Biennial 2023   ua usiusi faʻavaʻasavili  

1 April – 16 July 2023   Dr Léuli Eshrāghi

References

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  1. ^ "About Us". TarraWarra Museum of Art. 22 July 2014. Retrieved 18 May 2018.
  2. ^ "ParlInfo - Transcript of launch, north Melbourne: Tarrawarra Museum of Art". parlinfo.aph.gov.au. Retrieved 18 May 2018.
  3. ^ "Project Overview: TarraWarra Museum of Art by Powell & Glenn / TLP". The Local Project. 27 May 2017. Retrieved 18 May 2018.
  4. ^ a b c Thomas, Sarah (Spring 2006). "TarraWarra Museum of Art: A private vision made public". Art and Australia. 44: 14–16.
  5. ^ "LIFE STYLE TV-ARTS-ENTERTAINMENT Modern-art display". Canberra Times (ACT : 1926 - 1995). 4 March 1976. p. 18. Retrieved 18 May 2018.
  6. ^ "Collection". TarraWarra Museum of Art. 22 July 2014. Retrieved 18 May 2018.
  7. ^ "TarraWarra Biennial (Australia)". Biennial Foundation. 23 July 2014. Retrieved 7 April 2020.
  8. ^ "Vincent Namatjira". This Is No Fantasy. Retrieved 7 April 2020.
  9. ^ "Prime Ministers Series: TarraWarra Biennial 2016". This Is No Fantasy. Retrieved 7 April 2020.
  10. ^ "in the loop sept 5: quick picks & opportunities: tarrawarra biennial 2012: sonic spheres". RealTime. 4 September 2012. Retrieved 16 April 2020.
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