The Rise of The Private Art Foundation - John Kaldor Art Projects 1969-2012

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Author/s:
COATES, REBECCA
Title:
The rise of the private art foundation: John Kaldor Art Projects 1969-2012
Date:
2013
Citation:
Coates, R. (2013). The rise of the private art foundation: John Kaldor Art Projects 19692012. PhD thesis, School of Culture and Communication, The University of Melbourne.
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The rise of the private art foundation: John Kaldor Art Projects 1969-2012
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The rise of the private art foundation:

John Kaldor Art Projects 1969-2012
Rebecca Coates
M.A. (Leicester), B.Litt. (Hons), B.A. (Melb)
A thesis submitted in total fulfillment of the requirements of the degree

of Doctor of Philosophy.
April 2013
School of Culture and Communication
The University of Melbourne
Produced on archival quality paper.
Image removed due to copyright
Martin Boyce, We are shipwrecked and landlocked (2008)

Left: Martin Boyce, right: John Kaldor
Installation view, Old Melbourne Gaol, RMIT University, Melbourne
Photo: Adam Free
Forbat (ed), 40 Years, Kaldor Public Art Projects, 2009, p. 252.
iii
Declaration
This is to certify that
(1)
the thesis comprises only my original work towards the PhD,
(2)
due acknowledgement has been made in the text to all other material used,
(3)
the thesis is less than 100,000 words in length, exclusive of tables, maps, bibliographies
and appendices.
Rebecca Coates
April 2013
iv
Abstract
What role do private foundations play in a global contemporary art world? Not-for-profit art
foundations presenting site-specific temporary art installations have become established
institutions in their own right. This thesis traces the development of these foundations from
the 1970s, placing their role within the context of the evolution of contemporary art
institutions. My research focuses on Kaldor Public Art Projects as one of the earliest
exponents of this form of patronage and support for contemporary art. The thesis examines
the history and impact of Kaldor Public Art Projects, from Christo and Jeanne-Claudes
Wrapped Coast (1969), to Thomas Demands The Dailies (2012). It explains the motivations
behind collector John Kaldors early invitations to leading international contemporary artists
to travel to Australia to present temporary art projects. The thesis traces the subsequent
evolution of the Projects. The thesis argues that consistent with trends in a globalising
contemporary art world, Kaldor Public Art Projects became increasingly professionalised,
formed embedded relationships with public art museums and was part of the rise of
international contemporary art events such as biennales.
Acknowledgements
A thesis is never a solitary act, though much of it is long and lonely. This thesis benefited
greatly from the invaluable assistance of numerous individuals and institutions.
The thesis began with my own experience attending biennales and exhibitions from the early
1990s, which played a key role in the development of my ideas. Vernissages, and professional
previews, were an opportunity to talk with colleagues and artists, as a participant/observer,
and insider of the field. Work as a curator and writer within and beyond a number of
institutions in Australia and in Europe and the U.K., including the Australian Centre for
Contemporary Art, National Gallery of Victoria, and Museum of Modern Art, Oxford,
provided the opportunity to work first hand with many artists, curators, institutions and
collections and gallerists. Discussions and close working relationships with those involved in
what has become a global art world during the course of my professional life were invaluable.
My roots in Melbourne, Australia not a recognized centre of the global art world
convinced me of the value of framing my research within the development of a local art
history and context, as well as within the context of broader global developments.
Teaching positions in the School of Culture and Communication, the University of
Melbourne, provided invaluable support for this research. Sessional co-ordinating and
lecturing positions at the University of Melbourne, teaching subjects in Art Curatorship and
Contemporary Art, were particularly rewarding, both for insights on familiar material, and the
opportunity to explore these further with students and fellow lecturers and tutors. During the
course of my thesis, I received a number of grants and scholarships, for which I am most
grateful. An Australian Postgraduate Award enabled me to undertake the PhD. In 2009, I
was awarded the Gandioli Fumigalli Milan Internship, which enabled me to undertake
research with Fondazione Nicola Trussardi in Milan. I also travelled to London, Vienna and
Iceland to visit other Foundations and art projects. In 2011, I was awarded the Macgeorge
Travelling Scholarship, and travelled to Japan to undertake research at the Art Site Naoshima,
and the Benesse Foundation. I also received support funding from the School of Culture and
Communication, and the University of Melbourne, which contributed to research trips to the
Venice Biennale, Istanbul Biennale, Berlin, and conferences including One Day Sculpture.
A number of people were particularly helpful in offering time and access to material for my
research. I would like to thank John Kaldor, Kaldor Public Art Projects, and Naomi Milgrom;
Massimiliano Gioni and Roberta Tenconi, Fondazione Nicola Trussardi; Yuji Akimoto,
Director, 21st Century Museum of Contemporary Art, Knazawa, and chief curator and
Director of the Art Site Naoshima (1992-2007); Mr Takafumi Shimooka, General Manager,
vi
Art Coordination Dept. Naoshima Fukkutake Art Museum Foundation; Johnny Walker, The
A.R.T. Collection, Tokyo; Erico Osaka, Director, Yokohama Museum of Art; James
Lingwood, Co-Director, and Rob Bowman, Head of Programmes and Production Artangel;
Daniela Zyman, Chief Curator, Thyssen Bornimisza Art Contemporary, Vienna; Lisa Darms,
Senior Archivist, The Fales Library & Special Collections, New York University; Nicholas
Baume, Public Art Fund, New York; Xan Price, Sonnabend Gallery; Clare Bell, Roy
Lichtenstein Foundation; Donna Brett and Nicole Kluk, Archive and Library, Art Gallery of
New South Wales; Margaret Gor, Librarian, Museum of Contemporary Art; and Kelly
Gellatly, National Gallery of Victoria.
The thesis would not have been possible without the support and expertise of my university
supervisors. I thank Associate Professor Alison Inglis for her ongoing friendship and support
both before and during my PhD. Co-convening the 2010 inaugural conference for the
Initiative to Establish the Australian Institute of Art History, Interrogating Art Curatorship in
Australia (2010), with Alison was rewarding and fun, and offered me the opportunity to
integrate my academic and professional roles. Professor Charles Green was an outstanding
and inspirational colleague, supervisor, and mentor, to whom I owe enormous thanks. His
demand for intellectual rigor, precise and thoughtful comments on every word I sent him, and
understanding of the intricacies of moving between curatorial and academic research were
invaluable. Dr Lyndell Brown followed the project keenly, and her insights and experience
were always timely. Friends and fellow PhD colleagues, Patrick Pound and Helen Hughes,
gave generously of their time and constructive advice, much of it over coffee at a range of
venues. The Modern and Contemporary Art Reading Group, (MaCA), afforded thoughtprovoking discussions, and the early editorial advice from e-maj committee member, Amelia
Douglas, was valuable, resulting in 'The Curator/Patron: Foundations and Contemporary Art',
EMAJ online journal, issue 3, December 2008. Colleagues and friends were crucial supports,
and no doubt (like me) wondered when it would ever end. I thank Max Delany, Linda
Michael, Anthony Gardiner, Charlotte Day, Geraldine Barlow, Juliana Engberg, Hannah
Mathews, Alexi Glass, Mikala Dwyer, Mike Nelson, Rosslynd Piggott, Tacita Dean, Susan
Jacobs, Laresa Kosloff, Susan Norrie and Susan Jones, for their insights and our shared
discussions about art and exhibitions in many parts of the globe.
Finally, I would like to thank my family, who remained unswervingly supportive during many
years of professional life and research. Clara and Vita Daley rose above a mother often
thinking about something else, and dont seem to be lastingly scarred. And to John Daley, my
enduring thanks. His advice, editing skills, incisive mind, and constant support have never
wavered, and he still almost believes that bellinis in Venice are just part of the job.
vii
TABLE OF CONTENTS
INTRODUCTION
Survey of globalization and contemporary art
The rise of installation art
Survey of foundations and patronage
Survey of Writing on Kaldor Public Art Projects
1
1
11
24
33
CHAPTER ONE: GLOBAL DEVELOPMENTS

Foundations and contemporary art
Biennales
Biennales and art foundations
Art foundations and destination art
Conclusion
43
43
77
83
88
93
CHAPTER TWO: THE ORIGINS OF JOHN KALDOR ART PROJECTS

Kaldors education and training
Kaldors early relationships and mentors
Kaldors early collecting
The Alcorso Sekers Sculpture Prize
International parallels
Conclusion
95
95
98
104
114
118
119
CHAPTER THREE: CHRISTO KALDORS FIRST PROJECT (1969)

Meeting Christo
Australian context
Wrapped Coast impact
Wool Works
Impact of JKAP and Kaldor
Conclusion
121
121
125
133
141
145
148
CHAPTER FOUR: KALDORS EARLY PROJECTS (1971-1977)

Harald Szeemann
Gilbert & George
Antoni Miralda
Charlotte Moorman and Nam June Paik
Sol LeWitt and Richard Long
Changing cultural context
150
151
160
168
170
173
183
CHAPTER FIVE: KALDORS QUIET YEARS (1978-1994)

An Australian Accent
Christo and Jeanne-Claude retrospective
Reasons for quiet
189
189
195
199
CHAPTER SIX: KALDORS REVIVAL YEARS (1995-2004)

viii
205
Jeff Koons
Sol LeWitt - again
Vanessa Beecroft
Ugo Rondinone
The Kaldor collection and Kaldor Art projects
205
212
214
216
222
CHAPTER SEVEN: KALDOR & NEW INSTITUTIONALISM (2004-2012)

Organisational changes
International trends to site-specificity
Barry McGee
Urs Fischer
Gregor Schneider
Organisational visibility
Organisational professionalisation
Gift of the John Kaldor Family Collection
Bill Viola
Martin Boyce, Tatzu Nishi and Stephen Vitiello
Santiago Sierra
John Baldessari and Michael Landy
Thomas Demand
225
225
228
229
233
236
241
242
250
258
261
270
274
283
CHAPTER EIGHT: CONCLUSIONS

Evolving focus of KPAP and other foundations
Professionalization
Institutional positioning of the Art Projects
Collecting and KPAP
Historicising KPAP
Long term impact
Conclusion: Exhibition histories
291
291
293
294
298
302
303
306
BIBLIOGRAPHY
313
ix
10
LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS
Vanessa Beecroft, VB40 (1999)
3
42
Christo and Jeanne-Claude, Wrapped Coast One Million Square Feet, Little Bay, Sydney,
Australia (1968-69)
120
Christo, Wrapped Tree (1969)
142
Harald Szeemann, I want to leave a nice well-done child here (1971)
150
Gilbert & George, The Singing Sculpture (1973)
162
Miralda, Coloured bread (1973)
169
Charlotte Moorman and Nam June Paik, Concerto for TV cello and videotapes (1971)
171
Sol LeWitt, All two part combinations of arcs (1972-77)
175
Sol LeWitt, Lines to points on a grid. (1975-77)
175
Richard Long, Brushwood circle (1977)
180
Richard Long, Stone line (1977)
180
An Australian Accent (1984)
188
Christo and Jeanne-Claude, Wrapped Vestibule (1990)
196
Christo (1990)
198
Jeff Koons, Puppy (1995)
204
Sol LeWitt (1998)
213
215
Ugo Rondinone, Our magic hour (2003)
218
218
Ugo Rondinone, Clockwork for oracle (2003)
220
Barry McGee, The stars were aligned (2004)
224
Barry McGee, Water wall mural (2004)
231
Urs Fischer, Cockatoo Island installation (2007)
234
Gregor Schneider, 21 beach cells (2007)
237
John Kaldor Family Collection, AGNSW (2011)
251
Bill Viola, Fire Woman (2005)
259
262
Tatzu Nishi, War and peace and in between (2009)
265
Stephen Vitiello, The Sound of Red Earth (2010)
268
Santiago Sierra, 7 forms measuring 600 x 60 x 60 cm (2010)
271
John Baldessari, Your name in lights (2011)
275
Michael Landy, Acts of Kindness (2011)
280
Thomas Demand, The Dailies (2012)
285
285
Introduction
INTRODUCTION
This thesis examines the role of the private foundation presenting temporary art projects by
contemporary international artists. What role did private foundations play in the development of
a form of artwork that became central to the very notion of contemporary art from the 1990s
onwards: installation? The thesis focuses on one of the oldest of these foundations, Kaldor
Public Art Projects (KPAP)1 in order to address this question. An Australian not-for-profit art
foundation, it was created in 1969 through the presentation of Christo and Jeanne-Claudes
Wrapped Coast One Million Square Feet, Little Bay, Sydney, Australia (1969).2 This thesis presents
the first critical history of this foundation focusing on the projects it presented between 19692012, placing it within a global context, and assessing its role and impact locally and
internationally.
This topic is important as it sits at the intersection of three key issues in recent research: the
emergence of global or international contemporary art; the rise of installation art; and the
changing role of patronage and foundations.
SURVEY OF GLOBALIZATION AND CONTEMPORARY ART

In 1989, French curator Jean-Hubert Martin organized the exhibition Magiciens de la Terre,
presented at the Centre Pompidou in Paris.3 Including contemporary works by artists from
Africa, Asia, North America, and Europe, Martin displayed art by artists from the West
alongside the same number of artists from the non-West in an exhibition that aimed to exhibit
and install art and artifacts in a new, non-hierarchical, aesthetically driven way. The landmark
exhibition was amongst the most controversial of its time.4 Heralded as the first truly
1 Between 1969-2012, Kaldor Public Art Projects changed its name. It began as John Kaldor Art Projects (JKAP), changed to
Kaldor Art Projects (KAP), and finally became known as Kaldor Public Art Projects (KPAP). The shift in title and acronym
throughout this thesis (JKAP, KAP and KPAP) charts the titular evolution of the foundation at the time of each Art Project.
2 The work will henceforth be referred to as Wrapped Coast (1969).

3
Martin was director of the Muse National dart modern, Paris.
4 See Thomas McEvilley, Marginalia: Thomas McEvilley on the global issue [examination of the critical reaction to two recent
shows Primitivism in 20th century art: Museum of Modern Art, New York; Magiciens de la terre: Centre Pompidou, Paris],
Artforum International, Vol. 28. March 1990, pp. 19-21; and participant artist and British-Pakistani editor of the journal Third Text
Rasheed Araeen, Our Bauhaus, others mudhouse, Third Text. Third World perspectives on contemporary art and culture, London, No. 6,
Spring 1989, pp. 3-14. More recently, Anthony Gardner referred to the questionable curatorial premise of the exhibition in
Gardner, Whither the Postcolonial?, in Hans Belting, Andrea Buddensieg, Jacob Birken and Peter Weibel (eds.), Global Studies:
international exhibition of world-wide contemporary art, the exhibition has been noted as the
first global art event.5 It was seen as a sign of the increasing globalization of contemporary art,
particularly within the trend to analyse contemporary art history by considering the history of
exhibitions themselves.6
Over the following twenty years, dramatic changes occurred in the creation, circulation and
consumption of contemporary art. It mirrored wider developments in the globalized economy
with the emergence of increasingly international trade and supply chains and information
networks.7 A globalized contemporary art world was similarly promoted by developments in
technology and communications such as the world-wide-web, which fostered global reach and
connectedness.8 Artists, curators, art professionals, collectors and a wider public could follow
and be a part of international developments and exhibitions that, in the past, were inaccessible
due to distance or lack of contacts across the globe. Cheaper travel and increased mobility also
encouraged transnational, cosmopolitan career paths. From the 1990s, the discussion of a global
art world became widespread through journals, critical writing, and international exhibition
reviews. While some found the term problematic, its popular adoption reflected the impact of
globalization on the entire art system, and its significance for the discipline of art history.9
Mapping Contemporary Art and Culture, 2011, p. 156; while the importance of the exhibition as a precedent was noted in MONA,
Theatre of the World, (ex. cat), Museum of Old and New Art, Hobart, Tasmania, 2012.
5 See Hans Belting, Andrea Buddensieg (eds.), The Global Art World: Audiences, Markets, and Museums, Hatje Cantz, Ostfildern, 2009;
Charlotte Bydler, The Global Art World inc., On the globaliszation of contemporary art, Uppsala University, 2004, pp. 56-60. For a
discussion of the ongoing impact of the exhibition and Martins curatorial legacy in an Australian context, see Lisa Slade,
Wunderkammering Down under, Art Monthly Australia, Issue 253, September 2012, pp. 10-13; and Coates, Worlds without end:
MONAs theatre of the world, Art Monthly Australia, Issue 256, Summer 2012/13, pp. 83-5.
6 See for example Bruce Altshuler, Demeterialization: The Voice of the Sixties, The Avant-Garde in Exhibition: New art in the 20th
Century, New York, Abrams, 1994, p. 236; Daniel J. Sherman and Irit Rogoff, Museum Culture: history, exhibitions, spectacles, University
of Minnesota Press, Minneapolis, 1994; Tate Papers, Issue 12, Autumn 2009, that focused on exhibition histories and coincided
with the Landmark Exhibitions conference, accessed online, http://www.tate.org.uk/research/publications/tate-papers/issue-12,
October 17, 2012; and the Afterall series of Exhibition histories, including Christian Rattemeyer and other authors, Exhibiting the
New Art, Op Losse Schroeven and When Attitudes Become Form 1969, Exhibition Histories, Afterall, London, 2010; Rachel Weiss and
other authors, Making Art Global (Part 1), The Third Havana Biennial 1989, Afterall, London, in association with the Academy of
Fine Arts Vienna and Van Abbemuseum, Eindhoven, 2011; Cornelia Butler and others, From Conceptualism to Feminism, Lucy
Lippards Numbers Shows 1969-74, Afterall, 2012. Art journals such as Flash Art have also published a series of articles focussed on
significant exhibitions. See Barry Barker, When attitudes become form, Flash Art, No 275, November-December 2010.
7 Thomas Friedmans The World is Flat: A Brief History of the Twenty-First Century, Farrar, Strauss and Giroux, 2005, defines ten
flatteners that leveled the global playing field: the collapse of the Berlin Wall (11 September 1989); Netscape; Workflow
software; Uploading; Outsourcing; Offshoring; Supply-Chaining; Informing (Google and other search engines are prime
examples); the Steroids (wireless, voice over internet and file sharing); and personal digital devices.
8
See Nicholas Negroponte, Being digital, Hodder & Stoughton, Coronet Books, 1995.
9 See Anne Ring Petersen, Identity Politics, Institutional Multiculturalism, and the Global Artworld, Third Text, Vol. 26, Issue 2,
March 2012, pp. 195-204.
Introduction
Charlotte Bydlers PhD thesis and subsequent book, The Global Art World inc, mapped the
transformations of the institutional, economic and social structures of an internationalized,
urban, art world.10 Hans Belting and Paul Weibels publications under the Global Art and the
Museum (GAM) series included essays by arts professionals, curators, artists and critics from
around the globe that critically examined the effects of globalization, mass media, and new
technologies on contemporary visual art.11 Belting and Buddensiegs 2009 The Global Art World
focused on how the challenges of globalization affected art institutions, analyzing the museum as
a site of contest.12 Global Studies: Mapping Contemporary Art and Culture, 2011, the third book in the
GAM series, provided a further set of case studies of globalized art museums, biennials, and art
markets, and their complex political, economic and social frame.13
Global versus local is a subject that has long engaged Australian artists, art historians and
academics. In the 1970s, essays by Terry Smith and Ian Burn, members of Art and Language,
showed their concern about the power of New York, about Australias dependency, and about
the problems of translating cultures.14 Terry Smiths Artforum essay of 1974 The Provincialism
Problem positioned the argument within a political rather than aesthetic context.15
Commissioned by a New York magazine, though written by an Australian critic and academic,
Smith argued that the problem applied both to American artistic communities beyond the artistic
centre of New York as well as to artists living in more remote parts of the world, like Australia.
The international phenomenon of Postmodernity also played a role in promoting global
perspectives. The cross-cultural, international image scavenging adopted by artists identified with
this style enabled the simultaneous breaking up (and down) of the idea of boundaries.16 Within
10
Bydler, The Global Art World, 2004.
11 Global Art and the Museum (GAM), as a project of SKM, Center for Art and Media in Karlsruhe, directed by artist, curator
and theorist Peter Weibel, and curated by art historian Hans Belting.
12
Belting and Buddensieg, The Global Art World, 2009.
Belting, Buddensieg, Birken and Weibel, Global Studies, 2011. See also Peter Weibel and Andrea Buddensieg (eds.), Contemporary
Art and the Museum: A Global Perspective, Hatje Cantz, Ostildern, 2007; Kitty Zijlmans and Wilfried van Damme (eds.), World Art
Studies: Exploring Concepts and Approaches, Valiz, Amsterdam, 2008.
13
14 Essays by Art and Language members included Ian Burn, Provincialism, Art Dialogue, no. 1, October 1973, pp. 3-11; Ian Burn,
Art Market, Affluence and Degradation, 1975, reprinted in Amy Baker Sandback (ed.), Looking Critically: 21 Years of Artforum, Ann
Arbor, U.M.I., 1984, pp. 173-177. For a discussion of these essays see Stephen, On Looking at Looking, 2006, pp. 153 155 and
Barker and Green, The Provincialism Problem, Journal of Art Historiography, 2010, p. 5.
Terry Smith, The provincialism problem, Artforum, Vol. 1, No. 1, Sept 1974, pp 5459; See also Stephen, On Looking at
Looking, 2006.
15
16
For a discussion of Imants Tillers use of appropriation, see below p. 189.
Postmodernist critique, Postcolonial theory and cultural identity were key themes within critical
writing on contemporary art from the 1980s. In Australia, art magazines including Art & Text,
Tension, Pataphysics and later World Art discussed these local developments within a broader,
international frame.17 In the 1990s, as the label global art gained currency, the term
international art acquired connotations that encompassed the concerns of post-colonial theory.18
Documenta, in Kassel, Germany, the most important international exhibition of its kind, reflected
these shifts, as part of the globalization of the contemporary art world.19 More recently,
Australian-born, Oxford-based academic Anthony Gardners essay, Whither the Postcolonial in
Global Studies (2011), reasserted postcolonial analysis, while acknowledging that the term
encompassed a range of responses to specific local conditions and histories. 20 Gardner adopted
the term transcultural to reflect how ideas of origin and location took on a different meaning, as
artists born in one country lived in another and worked in others again through residency
programs and participation in international biennales. As Nikos Papastergiadis noted, although
globalization was increasingly identified as a threat, the desire by artists to stage open
conversations between the local and the global emerged as a core aim.21 The local took on new
currency in this global frame. Postcolonial, or cosmopolitanist discourse offered one approach
to the discussion of these wider trends in contemporary art. Terry Smiths What is Contemporary
Art? (2009) and Contemporary Art: World Currents (2011) offered a new art historical approach to
17 For a discussion of Art & Text, see below, p. 190. For an introduction to the Melbourne-based visual art, design and music
magazine, Tension, see the interview between creators Terence Hogan and Ashley Crawford, Tension, Meanjin, Vol. 69, Issue 4,
Summer 2010, p. 43-44, though detailed research on the role and significance of Tension, World Art and Pataphysics is yet to be
undertaken. For a local audience, their significance was reflected by their inclusion in the inclusion of Max Delanys inaugural
collection show as recently appointed senior curator, NGV, Mix Tape 1980s: Appropriation, Subculture, Critical Style, Ian Potter
Centre: NGV A, National Gallery of Victoria, April 2013.
18
See Anne Ring Petersen, Identity Politics, Third Text, 2012.
19 For a discussion of documenta, see Lotte Philipsen, The Globalization of Contemporary Art: The Art Worlds New Internationalism,
University of Aarhus, Aarhus, 2008, pp. 120-123.
20 Anthony Gardner, Whither the Postcolonial?, in Belting, Buddensieg, Birken and Weibel, Global Studies, 2011, pp. 142-157.
Gardner acknowledged the work in this area done by Australian art historians Rex Butler and Ian McLean. See for example Rex
Butler (ed.), Radical Revisionism: An Anthology of Writings on Australian Art, Institute of Modern Art Publishing, Fortitude Valley,
Queensland, 2006; and Ian McLean (ed.), How Aborigines invented the idea of contemporary art, Writings on Aboriginal contemporary art,
Institute of Modern Art and Power Publications, Brisbane, 2011. Writing about the 2011 Venice Biennale, Claire Bishop noted,
One senses a fatigue with the global and a nostalgia for the pleasure of known entities, which are necessarily more local. She
echoed a widespread return to local concerns, in contrast to the increasingly sweeping globalized biennale themes of the last
twenty years. See Claire Bishop, Venice 11, Safety in numbers, Artforum, Vol. 50, Issue 1, 2011, pp. 276-281.
21
Nikos Papastergiadis, Cosmopolitanism and Culture, Polity Press, Cambridge, 2012, p. 9.
Introduction
notions of the contemporary and contemporaneity.22 The biennale exhibition format played a
significant role in Smiths analysis as he drew on extensive travel and first-hand experience
engaging with the production and dissemination of contemporary art.23
The rise of the biennale exhibition model became a significant marker of the globalization of
contemporary art. Extensive writings on the growth of the biennale viewed that phenomenon as
one of the major developments in contemporary art since the late 1980s.24 The globalized
biennale circuit affected exhibition formats, the art world economy and the roles of the artist and
curator. These large-scale international exhibitions, sometimes referred to as mega-exhibitions
or biennales (though not all took place every two years), differed from typical group shows in
art museums, art centres or kunsthalle through their temporality and spectacularity, and in their
dispersion over multiple public spaces and institutional sites. In 2000, sociologist and cultural
theorist Nikos Papastergiadis noted that artists on this circuit were not only among the most
mobile members of society, they are often the outriders of the transformations between the local
Smith argued that contemporary art as a historic movement could be divided into three sub-categories: Retro-sensationalism,
Remodernism, and Spectacularism. See Terry Smith, What is Contemporary Art?, The University of Chicago Press, Chicago, 2009;
Terry Smith, Contemporary Art: World Currents, Laurence King Publishing, London, 2011.
22
23 The number of artists, writers, curators, art historians and critic addressing notions of the contemporary and contemporaneity
is vast. See for example Smith, What is Contemporary Art?, 2009; What is Contemporary Art?, e-flux journal and Sternberg Press,
2010, with texts by Zdenka Badovinac, Hu Fang, Hal Foster, Boris Groys, Jrg Heiser, Carol Yinghua Lu, Cuauhtmoc Medina,
Hans Ulrich Obrist, Raqs Media Collective, Dieter Roelstraete, Martha Rosler, and Jan Verwoert.
24 The writing on the growth of the biennale as one of the major developments in contemporary curatorial practice since the late
1980s has been prolific. See Tim Griffin, Global Tendencies: Globalism and the Large-Scale Exhibition, Artforum, Vol. 42, Issue
3, November 2003, pp. 152-163, 206, 212; Bydler, The Global Art World, 2004; John Byrne, Contemporary Art and Globalisation,
Biennales and the emergence of the De-Centred Artist, International Journal of the Humanities, Vol. 3, No. 1, 2005/2006; Paul
ONeill, The Curatorial Turn, in Rugg and Sedgwick, Issues in Curating Contemporary Art, 2007, pp. 16-21; Daniel Birnbaum, The
Archaeology of Things to Come, in Obrist, Hans Ulrich, A Brief History of Curating, 2008, pp.237-239, particularly Suzanne Pages
comments on the decline of the biennale as an exhibition form; Elena Filipovic, Marieke van Hal, Solveig Ovstebo (eds.), The
Biennial Reader, Bergen Kunsthall, Norway, and Hatje Cantz Verlag, Germany, 2010; Charles Esche, Making Art Global: A Good
Place or a No Place?, in Rachel Weiss, Making Art Global (Part 1), The Third Havana Biennial 1989, 2011, pp. 8-13; Anthony
Gardner and Charles Green, Mega-Exhibitions: Biennales, Triennales, and Documentas, Wiley-Blackwell, New York City, (forthcoming,
2013).
For a discussion of the role of the artist and curator and the biennale format, see Paul ONeill, I am a Curator, Art Monthly, No.
275, April 2004, pp. 7-10. Terry Smith, Biennials and Infrastructural Shift Part 1, Art Asia Pacific, Issue 79, July/Aug 2012,
http://artasiapacific.com/Magazine/79/BiennialsAndInfrastructuralShiftPartI, accessed July 10, 2012. The article is drawn from
a chapter of Terry Smiths Thinking Contemporary Curating, Independent Curators International (ICI), New York, 2012; John Byrne,
Contemporary Art and Globalisation, Biennales and the emergence of the De-Centred Artist, International Journal of the Humanities,
Vol. 3, No. 1, 2005/2006; Paul ONeill, The Curatorial Turn, in Rugg and Sedgwick, Issues in Curating Contemporary Art, 2007, pp.
16-21; Daniel Birnbaum, The Archaeology of Things to Come, in Obrist, Hans Ulrich, A Brief History of Curating, 2008, pp.237239, particularly Suzanne Pages comments on the decline of the biennale as an exhibition form; Charles Esche, Making Art
Global: A Good Place or a No Place?, in Rachel Weiss, Making Art Global (Part 1), The Third Havana Biennial 1989, 2011, pp. 8-13.
and the global.25 They offered the possibility of links between local art communities and a global
contemporary art world, though many did not fulfill this brief.
Many of the early, and most notable examples of biennales, had their origins in contexts of
profound political and cultural change, as Elena Filipovic noted in 2005.26 Documenta emerged at
a time of German postwar reconstruction (1955); the Gwangju Biennial with the democratization
of South Korea (1995); the short-lived Johannesburg Biennale at the end of South African
apartheid (1995); and Manifesta, the European Biennial of Contemporary Art, with the fall of the
Berlin Wall (1996). Filipovic reflected that many had used the particularity of their historic,
cultural, and geographic situation to define an institutional focus, attempting to represent a local
region, host city, or nation, within the context of an international panorama of contemporary
art.27 Nigerian-born Okwui Enwezors documenta 11 of 2002 marked a significant shift in the role
and potential of the biennale format. It was widely understood to be one of the defining global
art exhibitions of its time, grappling with its very own contradictions as a globalist enterprise.28
The roles of institutional and independent curators evolved alongside the globalization of
contemporary art. The increasingly nomadic curators based in international cultural capitals
travelled the world to a network of international biennale exhibitions as an established aspect of a
global art world. The professionalization of the role of the curator, through university courses
and the development of a critical discourse around the redefined term, also responded to the
globalization of contemporary art.29 By the early 2000s, New institutionalism had become a
25 Nikos Papastergiadis, The Turbulence of Migration: Globalization, Deterritorialization and Hybridity, Polity Press, Cambridge, 2000, p.
11.
Elena Filipovic, The Global White Cube, first published in Filipovic and Barbara Vanderlinden (eds.), The Manifesta Decade:
Debates on Contemporary Art Exhibitions and Biennales in Post-Wall Europe, The MIT Press, Roomade, Brussels and Cambridge, MA,
2005, pp. 63-84; see also Filipovic, The Biennial Reader, 2010, p. 326.
26
27
Elena Filipovic, The Global White Cube, The Biennial Reader, 2010, p. 326.
Documenta 11 extended beyond the exhibitions traditional one-hundred-day format. It comprised five platforms realised on
four continents between March 2001 and September 2002. The first four were symposiums held in Vienna and Berlin, New
Delhi, St Lucia (West Indies) and Lagos. They engaged distinct communities around themes designed to explore the
contemporary in art, politics and society. The exhibition in Kassel was the final platform for these ideas, in which Enwezor took
up topics that included democracy, truth and reconciliation, creolisation, and the fate of four African cities. See Rex Butlers
interview with Okwui Enwezor: Rex Butler, Curating the World, Australian and New Zealand Journal of Art, Vol 9, No ,
2008/2008, pp. 14-21.
28
29 There is extensive material on the shift in the curatorial role in relation to contemporary art. See Reesa Grenberg, Bruce W.
Ferguson and Sandy Nairne, Thinking About Exhibitions, Routledge, Oxon, U.K., 1996, particularly Part IV, for a series of early
essays on the shifting role of the curator, predominantly in institutions; Mika Hannula (ed.), Stopping the Process?, Contemporary views
on art and exhibitions, Nordic Institute for Contemporary Art, Gummerus Kirjapaino Oy, Jyvskyl, 1998; Jan Verwoert, This is
Not an exhibition, on the Practical Ties and Symbolic Differences between the Agency of the Art Institution and the Work of
Introduction
well-established term.30 In part driven by a desire to eschew market commodification, the new
institution and its curatorial exponents placed equal emphasis on the exhibition alongside other
related activities that all formed part of the artistic and curatorial frame, such as journals, blogs,
and symposia. Curators also often presented exhibitions and projects outside of the traditional
art museum modernist white cube.31 However, even these curatorial positions institutionalised.
Alex Farquharson, writing in Frieze in 2006, noted that the concept of new institutionalism
subsequently shifted as a generation of independent curators who had developed an exhibition
history outside institutions became directors of centres of contemporary art.32
The role of the curator became an increasingly prominent position. As early as 1998, Michael
Brenson noted in an article in Art Journal that the curators moment had arrived. 33 Often no
longer employed by the museum, the new breed of independent curator at large, or meta-artist
Those on its Outside, in Nina Mntmann, Art and Its Institutions, 2006, pp. 132-133; Kate Fowle, Who cares? Understanding the
Role of the Curator Today, in Rand, Steven and Kouris, Heather (eds.) Cautionary Tales: Critical Curating, apexart, New York, NY,
2007, pp. 26 35; Boris Groys, On the Curatorship, in Art Power, MIT Press, Cambridge, MA, 2008, pp. 43-52; Joasia Krysa
(ed.), Curating Immateriality: the work of the curator in the age of Network Systems, DATA browser 03, Autonomedia, Brooklyn, NY, 2006;
Maria Lind, Active cultures: Maria Lind on the curatorial, Artforum International, Vol. 48, No. 2, 2009, p. 103; Hans Ulrich Obrist,
A Brief History of Curating, JRP, Ringier Kunstverlag AG, 2008; Paul ONeill (ed.), Curating Subjects, Open Editions, London, UK,
2007; ONeill, The Curatorial Turn: From Practice to Discourse, in Rugg, Judith and Sedgwick, Michele (eds.), Issues in Curating
Contemporary Art and Performance, Intellect, Bristol UK, 2007, pp. 13-28; Steven Rand and Heather Kouris (eds.), Cautionary Tales:
Critical Curating, apexart, New York, NY, 2007, pp. 15 25; Judith Rugg and Michele Sedgwick (eds.), Issues in Curating
Contemporary Art and Performance, Intellect, Bristol UK, 2007; Misiano, Viktor and Zabel, Igor, MJ-Manifesta Journal, journal of
contemporary curatorship, No. 1, Spring/Summer 2003: The Revenge of the White Cube?; No. 2, Winter 2003/Spring 2004:
Biennales; No. 3, Spring/Summer 2004, Exhibition as a Dream, Silvana Editoriale, Milan, 2008; Carolee Thea (ed.), with Thomas
Miccelli, On Curating: Interview with Ten International Curators, D.A.P., New York, NY, 2009; Terry Smith, Thinking Contemporary
Curating, Independent Curators International, N.Y., 2012; and Texte Zur Kunst, Curators, 2012, featuring an image of Massimiliano
Gioni on its cover.
Online resources include ONCURATING.org, an independent international web-based journal focussing on questions around
curatorial practice and theory supported by the Postgraduate Program in Curating, Institute for Cultural Studies in the Arts (ICS),
Zurich University of the Arts, URL: http://www.on-curating.org/; the online and published journal ART LIES: a Contemporary
Art Journal, issue 59, Fall 2008 which was subtitled Death of the Curator and focused on curatorial issues. It included essays by
Jens Hoffmann on the role of the artist as curator/curator as artist; the legacy of curators Harald Szeemann and Walter Hopps;
and Nato Thompsons Curator as Producer, http://www.artlies.org/article.php?id=1659&issue=59&s=1, accessed May 28,
2012. In February 2012, Gertrude Contemporary also hosted Kate Fowle, Executive Director, Independent Curators
International as part of their international residency program. See Kate Fowle, New Strategies for mobile institutions and the
paracuratorial, Lecture, Ian Potter Museum of Art, University of Melbourne, Tuesday 21 February 2012; and Fowle, Reflexive
Curating: Generative Practices Today, Artspace, Sydney, 23 February 2012, in which she looked at the move from the
international biennale that boomed as an exhibition form in the 1990s, and has now been superseded by new models for curators,
artist and institutions to collaborate. See Artspace website,
http://www.artspace.org.au/content/public/lectures/23/pdf/Artspace_2012_Intl_Curator_Series.pdf, accessed June 12, 3012.
30
See below p. 20.
See Brian ODoherty, Inside the White Cube, The Ideology of the Gallery Space, first published Artforum, 1976, expanded edition First
University of California Press, 1999. See also Filipovic, The Global White Cube, republished in The Biennial Reader, 2010, for a
discussion of the white cube and the biennale exhibition.
31
See Alex Farquharson, Bureaux de Change, frieze, Issue 101, September 2006, accessed online,
http://www.frieze.com/issue/article/bureaux_de_change/, September 27, 2012.
32
33 Michael Brenson, The Curators Moment: Trends in the Field of International Contemporary Art Exhibitions, Art Journal,
Winter 1998, pp. 16-27.
(the term John Miller coined to reflect the shifting role in 1992), was generated in large part by
the rise of the biennale as the dominant format of a global exhibition business. 34 Key curators of
the 1990s included Charles Esche, Maria Lind, Nicolas Bourriaud and Jrme Sans. As Jens
Hoffmann noted, their exhibitions offered an alternative to the thematised exhibitions that had
first been developed by Harald Szeemann (1933-2005), and later by his protg, Hans-Ulrich
Obrist. 35 Instead, the late 1990s supported the idea of curatorial authorship, in which curators
became makers or auteurs.36 The role of curator had moved way beyond traditional meanings
of the term as a person who undertook research and cared for a collection of objects in their
keeping. It had also superseded the role later developed by Harald Szeemann in the early 1970s,37
the curator increasingly acting as an initiator and author of project-based presentations at various
institutions, or beyond. 38 Curating began to be discussed as a form of practice, and Art
Curation Masters courses proliferated alongside the graduate practice-based Masters and PhD
courses offered to artists by art schools.39 Locally, the University of Melbournes Masters in Art
Curatorship course was established in 1990 and was one of the first in the field, as Kate Fowle,
Executive Director Independent Curators International (ICI), New York, noted in 2012.40
John Miller, 1992, reproduced as The Show you Love to Hate. A Psychology of the Mega-Exhibition, in Greenberg, Ferguson
and Nairne, Thinking About Exhibitions, 1996. For a discussion of the role of the curator as meta-artist, specifically discussing the
role and approach taken by Hans Ulrich Obrist, whose influence on the shifting role of the curator has been arguably as
significant as Szeemann forty years earlier, see Heinz Bude, The Curator as Meta-Artist. The Case of HUO, The Curators, Texte
Zur Kunst, Issue No. 86, June 2012.
34
35 Jens Hoffmann, The Curatorialization of the Institutional Critique, and Christiane Paul, New Media Art and Institutional
Critique: Networks vs Institutions, in Welchman, Institutional Critique, 2006, pp. 323-335; and pp. 191-211. See also Claire
Doherty, The institution is dead!, engage, Art of Encounter, 2004; Charles Esche, Curating and Collaborating: A Scottish Account,
and Maria Lind, Stopping My Process: A Statement, in Mika Hannula (ed.), Stopping the Process?, Contemporary views on art and
exhibitions, Nordic Institute for Contemporary Art, Gummerus Kirjapaino Oy, Jyvskyl, 1998.
36 See Catherine Thomass introduction to the publication that followed the Banff International Curatorial Institutes conference,
The Edge of Everything: Reflections on Curatorial Practice (1999). Catherine Thomas (ed.), The Edge of Everything, Reflections on Curatorial
Practice, Banff Centre Press, Alberta, 2002. See also Jens Hoffmann and Julieta Aranda, Art as Curating = (doesnt equal sign)
Curating as Art, ART LIES: A Contemporary Art Journal, Issue 59, Fall 2008,
http://www.artlies.org/article.php?id=1654&issue=59&s=1, accessed May 28, 2012.
37 For a discussion of Szeemanns curatorial approach, and his desire to move away from all traditional museological attempts to
classify and order cultural material as in the past, see Szeemann section below, p. 151.
38 See below p. 151. Alex Coles suggested that this model had its antecedents in the role that curator Lawrence Alloway played in
the UKs the Independent Group, a group of artists, critics, architects and designers who used the Institute of Contemporary Art
(ICA) as their base in the 1950s. See Alex Coles, Curating: Then and Now, Art Monthly, No. 275, April 2004, pp. 1-4.
39 See for example Irit Rogoff, Turning, e-flux journal # 0, November 2008; Dieter Lesage, The Academy is Back: On Education,
the Bologna Process, and the Doctorate in the Arts, e-flux journal #4, March 2009.
40 Kate Fowle, New Strategies for mobile institutions, Melbourne, 2012. Conversation with Kate Fowle, Melbourne, March 5,
2012.
Introduction
Literature on the subject to date has largely focused on courses in the northern hemisphere.41 As
Nicola Trezzi noted in an article in Flash Art in 2010, if the 2000s were to be remembered for the
rise of the art fair, the preceding decade of the 1990s should be remembered as the decade of the
biennale, and as such, the decade of curating.42 Curating had become an art in its own right, as
curators acted as artists, and shows functioned like complex works. In response, artists
increasingly adopted (and subverted) this increasingly powerful role.43
As part of a globalized contemporary art world, an international group of high-profile collectors
of contemporary art also became increasingly visible. While they had similar motivations for
collecting as in the past,44 they forged much closer working relationships with art institutions
from the public art museum, to the international biennale. High profile contemporary collectors
and their collections became part of a global network of artists, curators, writers, art museum
directors, and other collectors with similar interests. Their increasingly visible role was reflected
in their prominence in the equivalent of newspaper society pages, such as the reviews and
updates from global art world events featured in Artforums Scene & Herd. The private
collectors acquisition of key installation works of art museum quality and scale by signature
artists within the globalized world denoted a collectors expertise, insider knowledge and
See Niru Ratnam, Hang it all, The Observer, Sunday 9 March, 2003; Andrea Bellini, Curatorial Schools, Between Hope and
Illusion, Flash Art, No. 250, October 2006.
41
Nicola Trezzi, The art of curating. A constellation of Artist-curated exhibitions, Flash Art International, No 271, March April,
2010, http://www.flashartonline.com/interno.php?pagina=articolo_det&id_art=542&det=ok&title=THE-ART-OFCURATING, accessed online September 22, 2012.
42
Maurizio Cattelan responded to the proliferation of biennales and foundations through a number of key projects. In 1992
Cattelan established the Oblomov Foundation, inviting patrons to donate money to endow a fellowship for a young artist, on the
condition that they did not show work for one year. The donors names were engraved on a glass plaque that Cattelan affixed
(without permission) to the faade of Milans LAccademia di belle arti di Brera. No-one accepted the fellowship, and in 1993
Cattelan used the money to finance his move to New York. In the same year, he sublet his space in the Venice Biennale to an
advertising agency, who erected a billboard advertising perfume. In 2000 Cattelan created the fictitious 6th Caribbean Biennial
(2000), inviting artists to travel to the exotic location, document and publicise the event, though no exhibition took place. See
Nancy Spector, Maurizio Cattelan: All, (ex. cat.), Solomon R. Guggenheim Museum, New York, 2011.
43
In 2003, Francesco Bonami invited the participation of seven co-curators, including Hans Ulrich Obrist, Catherine David, Igor
Zabel, Hou Hanru, and Massimiliano Gioni as part of the curatorial model for the 50th Venice Biennale. The Biennale exhibition
also included Utopia Station (2003) in the Arsenale, curated by Molly Nesbit, Hans Ulrich-Obrist and Rirkrit Tiravanija, an
exhibition within an exhibition that presented works by more than sixty individual artists, architects and artists groups. Cattelan,
Gioni and Ali Subotnics 4th Berlin Biennale, Of Mice and Men, was also notable as it extended the idea of the biennale format and
questioned the role of the nomadic uber curator, presenting artists projects in in a range of institution and non-gallery spaces
along one street in Berlin Mitte. See Jacob Dahl Jrgensen, 50th Venice Biennale, Frieze, Issue 77, September 2003, frieze online,
http://www.frieze.com/issue/review/jacob_dahl_juergensen/, accessed May 19, 2011; Maurizio Cattelan, Massimiliano Gioni
and Ali Subotnick, Of Mice and Men, 4th berlin biennale for contemporary art, (ex. cat.), Hatje Cantz, Ostfildern, Germany, 2008.
44
See discussion below p. 25.
10
networks. Private funds, unfettered by art museum bureaucracy, and an ability to make a
decision fast gave private collectors an edge. Private foundations became a vehicle for acquiring
and presenting these forms of contemporary art.
Some drew links between the rise of neoliberalism as a political philosophy, and the heightened
role of private collectors and foundations relative to public institutions in the funding and
exhibition of contemporary art. The key elements of neoliberal philosophy were free
international trade (facilitated by reduced tariffs and restrictions on direct foreign investment),
deregulated markets (particularly financial markets) and the privatization of government activities
such as banking, transport and utilities.45 The explosion of private foundations was part of this
trend.46 With its roots in the reformulation of classical economic liberalism after the Great
Depression and Second World War, neoliberalism acquired negative overtones when used to
describe the economic shifts in the contemporary art world.47 Neoliberalism was widely adopted
as a term by artists, curators, art historians and critics in reference to developments in the
contemporary art world from the 1990s.48 The growth of private foundations carrying out roles
that elsewhere may have been part of the province of public art institutions could be seen as
consistent with the neoliberal trend towards privatization of previously public functions; while
the international reach of these foundations also merited comparison with the neoliberal push to
deregulate multi-national corporations operating across national borders. Julian Stallabrass went
so far as to argue that contemporary art acquired a core function as a propagandist of neo-liberal
values, as corporate and state power used the institutions and conventions of contemporary art
to calibrate arts social functions to the needs of the new world order.49
45 For a discussion of neoliberalism, see David Harvey, A Brief History of Neoliberalism, Oxford University Press, Oxford, New
York, 2005.
46
See discussion below p. 27.
47 Brian Holmes, The Interscale. Art after Neoliberalism, in Jorinde Seijdel and Liesbeth Melis, Open # 16, Cahiers on Art and the
Public Domain, 2009, SKOR, URL: http://classic.skor.nl/4112/en/brian-holmes-the-interscale-art-after, accessed May 22, 2012.
See for example Julian Stallabrass, Art Incorporated: The Story of Contemproary Art, Oxford University Press, Oxford, 2004; while
the online journal e-flux presented numerous essays and editions relating to this theme, including Hito Steyerl, Politics of Art:
Contemporary Art and the Transition to Post-Democracy, e-flux journal #21, December 2010; Martha Rosler, Culture Class: Art,
Creativity, Urbanism, Part II, e-flux journal # 23, March, 2011. URL: http://www.e-flux.com/journal/culture-class-art-creativityurbanism-part-ii/, accessed January 23, 2012.
48
49
Julian Stallabrass, Art Incorporated, 2004, p. 72.
10
Introduction
Political philosophy let alone political proselythising was probably not an explicit
consideration for many contemporary art collectors or foundations. In the 1980s and 1990s,
foundations supporting new forms of contemporary art that might otherwise have been
publically funded (assuming that there was public funding for these kinds of projects, and
institutional spaces in which to show them) had some factors in common with the privatization
of other government functions. In contrast with the archetypal neoliberal privitasation of
previously public activity, however, foundations sometimes funded activities that were new at the
time though they may subsequently have become part of the core activities of public institutions.
Foundations were able to support and fund projects that, without such support, might not have
taken place in that form. Private foundations had the potential to increase leverage, and
contribute valuable funds and/or support. The initiative of private foundations offered a means
to circumvent obstacles such as the bureaucratic, and non-guaranteed processes of government
support.
THE RISE OF INSTALLATION ART

This globalization of contemporary art mirrored economic globalization. It was embraced or
actively rejected by critical theory. It was manifested in the rise of biennales and the emergence
of groups of international artists with a global currency, nomadic curators, and collectors of
contemporary art. Installation works, often large in scale, often ephemeral, often constructed for
a specific site beyond the conventional art gallery white cube, were both prominent and
widespread in contemporary art by the early 1990s.50 Claire Bishop has traced the emergence of
such works from early 20th century antecedents such as Kurt Schwitters Merzbau (c. 1932);
through the happenings and environments of the late 1950s and 1960s, and the installation
works of artists such Allan Kaprow and Claes Oldenburg; to their proliferation in the 1990s.51
By the 1990s, such artists projects were widespread as part of biennales: both within institutional
programs and exhibitions, and as site-specific, stand-alone projects, often in out of the way and
unexpected locations. They were frequently ambitious, large-scale, cinematic and spectacular.
They were often socially engaged, participatory, and experiential. They were regularly site-
50 For a discussion of installation art, see Julie Reiss, From Margin to Centre: the Spaces of Installation Art, 1999; Claire Bishop,
Installation Art. A Critical History, Tate Publishing, London, 2005.
51 Claire Bishop, As if I was lost and someone suddenly came to give me news about myself, in Van Noord, Gerrie (ed.), Off
Limits, 40 Artangel Projects, Merrell Publishers Limited, London, 2002, pp. 22-29.
11
12
specific. As temporary works, their enduring impact depended on becoming part of a wider
cultural memory.
Bishops 2005 primer, Installation Art, published by Tate Publishing, signaled the widespread
acceptance of these forms of art into the canon of contemporary art.52 Three years later, Boris
Groys could argue that installation was the leading art form of contemporary art53 even if, as
Groys suggested, installation was frequently denied the status of a specific art form because it
incorporated a range of media, in which the space itself became a material part of the work.54
The rise of installation art was a timely development. Institutions were often engaging
contemporary art audiences that were larger and more diverse than ever before. The ambitious
and spectacular nature of many installations, both within and outside the institutional frame,
offered a new form of engagement with an artform that sat equally well within and beyond an
institutional context. Audience participation naturally became a key element of these immersive
installations. The temporal aspect of these works, their relationship to site, and their demand of
a physical participation by the audience that implicitly required the viewer to reconsider artistic
production and presentation of contemporary art has been widely discussed.55 The art of
installation, Groys suggested, was presented with the intention of reordering memories,
proposing new criteria for telling stories, and differentiating between past and future. 56 This
form of contemporary art was able to privatize the public space of the exhibition. The critical
writing of Groys and Bishop offered new approaches to understanding installation art, and by
definition, more current meanings of public art.57
52
Claire Bishop, Installation Art, Tate Publishing, London, 2005.
53 Boris Groys, The Topology of Contemporary Art, in Terry Smith, Okwui Enwezor and Nancy Condee (eds.), Antinomies of Art
and Culture, Modernity, Postmodernity and Contemporaneity, Duke University Press, Durham & London, 2008, pp. 71-82.
54
Boris Groys, Politics of Installation, e-flux journal #2, January 2009, p. 3.
The writing on notions of the contemporary, and contemporaneity is vast. For a range of diverse positions on
contemporaneity, see for example Terry Smith, What is Contemporary Art?, Chicago, University of Chicago Press, 2009; Boris
Groys, Art Power, The MIT Press, Cambridge, Massachusetts, and London, England, 2008; Okwui Enwezor, The Postcolonial
Constellation; Contemporary art in a State of Permanent Transition in Smith, Enwezor and Condee, Antinomies of Art and Culture,
2008; and Nikos Papastergiadis, Spatial Aesthetics: Art, Place and the Everyday, Rivers Oram Press, 2006.
55
56 Groys suggested that the enclosed space of the installation can transform into a platform for public discussion, democratic
practice, communication, networking, education, and more. Groys, Politics of Installation, e-flux journal, 2009, p. 4.
57 Tom Eccles, in his essay in Plop, Recent Projects of the Public Art Fund, Merrell Publishers, London and New York, 2004, and Mel
Gooding, in his introductory essay for Public Art Space, a decade of Public Art Commissions Agency, 1987-1997, both reflected on the
problematic nature of the term public art. Gooding suggested that it probably arose because public art was seen as object art,
and so commissioners and artists alike (unconsciously) regarded public spaces as an extension of museum space, seeking
12
Introduction
Social engagement
The participatory aspect of these immersive installations gained by first-hand experience was
a pivotal element of audience engagement. Irit Rogoff defined participation as a form of
complicit encounter between artist and audience.58 She described the complicity as working on
a number of different levels: the collusion with artist and institution, creating the context or
situation to enable a work; the collusion with tropes and narrative structure, and modes of
representation and language; and the collusion with the site and location.59
French art critic and curator Nicolas Bourriaud discussed this engagement with audiences and
publics, coining the term relational aesthetics in his catalogue essay accompanying his 1996
exhibition Traffic, presented at the CAPC Musee dart contemporain de Bordeaux. He further
developed his theme in his influential book, Esthtique relationnelle (Relational Aesthetics), a series of
essays first published in French in 1998 and translated into English in 2002.60 Bourriaud used the
term to describe collaborative and socially engaged art of the 1990s that aimed to reveal the
perceived and hidden structures of power.61 Art that encouraged social interaction among its
participants and viewers offered a tangible aesthetic alternative to some of the effects of
globalization, such as increased social fragmentation, isolation, and increasing dependence on
new technology. It offered a form of art that did not appear to be market led. Artists including
Vanessa Beecroft, Philippe Parreno, Rikrit Tiravanija, Pierre Huyghe, Liam Gillick, Carsten
Holler and Dominique Gonzales-Foerster were all prominently included in Bourriauds list.62
These artists and others developed a process-based and socially engaged art that offered a form
of counter-spectacle, a solution to the atomization of communities as Claire Bishop noted in a
sympathetic settings for work that was primarily within the established discourses of modernism and postmodernism. See
Gooding, Public Art Space, Merrell Holberton, London, 1998.
58 In Conversation: Catherine David and Irit Rogoff, in Claire Doherty (ed.), Contemporary Art, from studio to situation, Black Dog
Publishing, London, 2004, pp. 82-89.
59
Doherty, In Conversation: Catherine David and Irit Rogoff, from Studio to Situation, 2004, p. 86.
60 Nicolas Bourriaud, Esthetique relationnelle, Le Presses du Reel, Paris, 1998 (published in English 2002); Nicolas Bourriaud,
Postproduction: Culture as Screen: How art reprograms the world, Lukas & Sternberg, 2002.
61
Bourriaud, Esthtique relationnelle (Relational Aesthetics) (1998), 2002.
62
Tiravanija, Parreno, Gillick, Holler, Gonzalez-Foerster and Huyghe were all included in Bourriauds exhibition Traffic (1996).
13
14
2007.63 Relationality became a common factor, as the work of these artists increasingly featured
in large-scale temporary exhibitions and international biennales.
For Bourriaud, the role of the curator, and the institution, had also changed. Bourriaud argued
that processes of engagement and intervention needed interlocutors, thus the role of the curator
or commissioner as mediator became vital, as was the role of the institution to initiate these
debates. In his role as co-Director of the Palais de Tokyo in Paris, Bourriaud proposed that the
institution was to be a sort of interdisciplinary kunstverein more laboratory than museum,
presenting art that was both exploratory and participatory.64 Aspects of many of the projects also
took place beyond the gallery walls. Claire Bishop agreed, noting that this new approach to the
institution recontextualised the white cube model for displaying contemporary art, instead
offering a studio or experimental laboratory site.65 For the Palais de Tokyo and the Baltic
Centre for Contemporary Art, Gateshead, laboratory-forms of exhibition-making became a
signature curatorial style. Its most notable curatorial exponents included Bourriaud, Maria Lind,
Hans Ulrich-Obrist, and Hou Hanru. However, Bishop argued, that project-based works in
progress and artists-in-residence began to dovetail with an experience economy, replacing
commodifiable goods with scripted and staged personal experiences and events.66 The
laboratory style exhibition became equally marketable as spaces of leisure and entertainment.
Many of the same artists discussed by Bourriaud also fell within Bishops critical writings on
installation art.
Hal Fosters 1996 essay The Artist as Ethnographer also became a canonical text for discussing
social engagement. In it, he proposed that artists could be self-reflexive ethnographers whose
work highlighted cultural and representational practices, and explored the very problems involved
in raising such issues.67 He added a note of caution in relation to the evolving nature of the
museum, reflecting that the institution may overshadow the work that it otherwise highlights: it
63 Claire Bishop co-organised with Mark Godfrey, Rethinking Spectacle, One Day Conference, Tate Modern, March 2007, Podcast
and webcast: URL: http://www.tate.org.uk/context-comment/video/rethinking-spectacle-part-1, and
http://www.tate.org.uk/context-comment/audio/rethinking-spectacle , accessed October 11, 2011.
64
Bennett Simpson, Public Relations: Bennett Simpson talks with Nicolas Bourriaud, Artforum, April 2011, p. 48.
65
Bishop, Antagonism and Relational Aesthetics, October, 2004, p. 52.
66
Bishop, Antagonism and Relational Aesthetics, October, 2004, p. 52.
67
Hal Foster, The Artist as Ethnographer, in The Return of the Real, Massachusetts Institute of Technology, 1996, pp. 171-203.
14
Introduction
becomes the spectacle, it collects the cultural capital, and the director-curator becomes the star.68
Further developing Fosters ideas, Anthony Downey questioned what was meant by social or
collaborative artworks, who the publics were, and what were the ethical implications of engaging
others in works of art of this kind.69 Artists themselves often preferred the term critically
engaged.70
From 2004, Claire Bishop, Liam Gillick, Grant Kester and others continued to argue the
parameters of the term.71 Bishops essay Antagonism and Relational Aesthetics, October (2004),
and Liam Gillicks responses reflected the heated nature that the debate could elicit between artist
and academic/critic.72 In 2004, Grant Kester offered another perspective in his book Conversation
Pieces. Community and Communication in Modern art.73 Eschewing the art of artists he described as
biennale-circuit stalwarts he focused on more overtly activist, but less visible groups.74 Kester
suggested that different forms of engagement were defined by their ability to break down
conventional distinctions between artist, artwork and audience, while engagement required the
viewer to speak back to the artist in certain ways, and in turn, the reply became part of the work
itself. Participation (2006), a book edited by Bishop, and part of a series of publications by the
Whitechapel Gallery and MIT Press, offered a canonical compendium of socially-engaged
68
Foster, The Artist as Ethnographer, in The Return of the Real, 1996, p. 198.
Anthony Downey, An Ethics of Engagement, Collaborative Art Practices and the Return of the Ethnographer, Third Text,
Vol. 23, Issue 5, September 2009, pp. 593-603.
69
70 Artist Patrick Pound, Board member of West Space, noted the shift in terminology depended on institution: art institutions and
biennales tended to refer to socially engaged art; whereas the dominant rhetoric of Artist Run Spaces (ARIs) was critically
engaged. If social engagement implied widescale participation by many publics through projects that are externally focused,
apparently political and relevant beyond the art world, critical engagement implied a small, highly engaged, possibly selfreferential audience of experts and makers. Conversation with Patrick Pound, Melbourne, December 4, 2012.
See for example Bishop, Antagonism and Relational Aesthetics, October, 2004; Bishop, The Social Turn, Artforum, 2006; Liam
Gillick, Contingent Factors: A Response to Claire Bishops Antagonism and Relational Aesthetics, October, No. 115, Winter
2006, pp. 95-107; Grant Kester, Response to Claire Bishop Another Turn, Artforum, May 2006; Stewart Martin, Critique of
Relational Aesthetics, Third Text, Vol. 21, Issue 4, July 2007, pp. 369 386; Stallabrass, Art Incorporated, 2004 -republished in a
modified form as Contemporary Art: A Very Short Introduction, Oxford University Press, 2006; Maria Lind, Active cultures: Maria
Lind on the curatorial, Artforum International, Vol. 48, No. 2, 2009, p. 103; Grant Kester, The One and the Many, Contemporary
Collaborative art in a Global Context, Duke University Press, Durham and London, 2011. This debate played out over the works of
Santiago Sierra: see below p. 270.
71
Bishop, Antagonism and Relational Aesthetics, October, 2004; Bishop, The Social Turn, Artforum, 2006; Gillick, Contingent
Factors, October, 2006; Kester, Response to Claire Bishop, Artforum, 2006.
72
73
Grant Kester, Conversation Pieces. Community and Communication in Modern art, University of California Press, 2004.
In his Response to Claire Bishop Artforum, 2006, Kester used the term biennial-circuit stalwarts in relation to Rirkrit
Tiravanija, Thomas Hirschhorn and Santiago Sierra, in contrast to groups such as Ala Plastica, Park Fiction and Platform. See
Bishop, The Social Turn, Artforum, 2006, snd Kester, Response to Claire Bishop Another Turn, Artforum, May 2006.
74
15
16
theoretical texts, artists writings, and critical and curatorial reflections on the theme.75 The
debate, however, continued. Grant Kesters book The One and the Many, Contemporary Collaborative
art in a Global Context (2011) and Bishops Artificial Hells, Participatory Art and the Politics of
Spectatorship (2012), ensured that these topics remained central to wider discussions of
contemporary art.76 In One and the Many: Contemporary Collaborative Art in a Global Context (2011),
Kester argued that the quality and depth of local engagement should be paramount, criticizing
the EU art often presented by art foundations or biennales as lacking true engagement.77
Bishop, in contrast, argued that aesthetic considerations remain vital even to the political success
of such art.78 Whatever viewpoint was adopted, social engagement had clearly become a
mainstream doctrine inside and beyond the white cube.
Site-specificity
Social engagement was often embodied in works presented outside gallery walls, which in turn
were often responding specifically to a particular site. Artists working in this way were also able
to reveal local buildings and sites in locations that were easy to overlook or to bypass. Sitespecificity implied a degree of engagement with context, environment and local history that often
differed from the history of modernist public art that preceded it. The term suggested empathy
with locale, and a desire to uncover or reveal a range of social and cultural relations that might
otherwise not have been apparent.79
Miwon Kwons scholarly research, first published in 1997, mapped out the expanding notions of
site-specificity in art practices over the last forty years: both within and beyond the institution.80
Her subsequent book, One place after another: site-specific art and locational identity (2002), became the
75 See Claire Bishop (ed.), Participation, Whitechapel, London and The MIT Press, Cambridge, Massachusetts, 2006. Included are a
selection of historic theoretical frameworks through which to consider participation; artists writings, reflecting a range of
approaches to the documentation and analysis of projects that are often elusive and ephemeral; and a selection of recent curatorial
and critical writings from the 1990s and beyond.
76 Kester, The One and the Many, 2011; Claire Bishop, Artificial Hells, Participatory Art and the Politics of Spectatorship, Verso, London,
2012. See also Eleanor Heartney, Can Art Change Lives?, Art in America, June/July 2012, pp. 67-79.
77
Kester, The One and the Many, 2011.
78
Bishop, Artificial Hells, 2012.
79
Rogoff in Doherty, In conversation: I.R. and C.D., from Studio to Situation, 2004, p. 86. See also below p. 48.
80
Miwon Kwon, One Place After Another: Notes on Site Specificity. October, Vol. 80, Spring 1997, pp. 85-110.
16
Introduction
definitive text on the subject.81 Tracing the genealogy of site-specificity through the 1970s and
1980s, Kwon suggested that as artists and curators became increasingly informed by a broader
range of disciplines which included anthropology, sociology, literary criticism, psychology,
natural and cultural histories, architecture and urbanism, political theory and philosophy so our
understanding of site has shifted from a fixed, physical location to somewhere or something
constituted through social, economic, cultural and political processes.82 Kwon proposed that
institutional interest in this form of site-specific practice created demand for an increasing
number of artists who adopted a nomadic form of working, producing works in various cities
throughout the cosmopolitan art world.83 Jane Rendell built on Kwons work in this area,
developing a framework to discuss the inter-relationship of site, architecture and art, while others
approached it from the position of the artist and curator.84 It led, as Charlotte Bydler articulated
in 2004, to a highly visible and mobile group of international artists and curators, often working
from the cultural capitals of New York or Europe, who travelled the world and presented art and
exhibitions in a range of increasingly exotic locations around the globe.85 The biennale model
offered an ideal opportunity for this kind of work.
In 2005, artists Tacita Dean and Jeremy Millars Place, published by Thames & Hudson, offered a
virtually curated exhibition explaining the idea of site specificity, ironically presented in book
form. Works were divided into eight rooms, under the titles of Urban, Nature, Fantastic,
Myth/History, Politics/Control, Territories, Itinerancy, Heterotopias and Non-places, and
included projects such as Jeremy Dellers The Battle of Orgreave (2001), which had been
commissioned by the not-for-profit art organization Artangel.86 Reflecting on each of the themes
and chosen works, the publication was less a critical text than a curated exhibition in book form
conceived by two artists.87 There were notable omissions, including the immersive installations
81
Miwon Kwon, One place after another: site-specific art and locational identity, MIT Press, London and Cambridge, Mass., 2002.
82
Kwon, One Place After Another, 2002, pp. 3-4.
83
Kwon, One place after another, 2002, p. 46.
84 Jane Rendell, Art and Architecture, A Place Between, I.B. Tauris & Co., London, 2006; Foster on the The Siting of Contemporary
Art in The Artist as Ethnographer, 1996; Claire Doherty, Curating Wrong Places or where have all the penguins gone?, in
Paul ONeill (ed.), Curating Subjects, Open Editions, London, UK, 2007, pp. 100-108.
85
See Bydler, The Global Art World, 2004.
86
Tacita Dean and Jeremy Millar, Place, Thames & Hudson, London, 2006.
Tacita Dean has presented a number of curated projects and writings as part of her art. See Dean, An Aside, An exhibition
selected by Tacita Dean, (ex. cat.). A National Touring Exhibition organized by the Hayward Gallery in collaboration with
Camden Arts Centre, London, for Arts Council England, Hayward Gallery Publishing, London, 2005.
87
17
18
of Mike Nelson, but the book did not attempt to be comprehensive or encyclopedic. It
illustrated, instead, the diverse forms of installation art, and demonstrated how many works of
the previous decade had responded to place and location.
The emerging importance of site-specific art that was often socially engaged was reinforced by
the publication of Situation, edited by Claire Doherty in 2009, and published as part of the
Whitechapel and MIT Press series, Documents of Contemporary Art.88 This series of volumes
focused on specific subjects that reflected key trends in international contemporary art. As with
Bishops earlier Participation (2006) in the same series, Situation collected texts by artists, writers,
curators and critics offering a theoretical and artistic frame for the role and function of site and
location. It too underscored the dominant role that discussions around site-specificity had come
to play in contemporary art. Temporary installations remained a dominant form. Hal Foster
added a note of caution about site-specificity in his 2011 The Art-Architecture Complex,89 observing
that the indiscriminate use in questionable contexts, had made the term itself become arbitrary.
Cultural memory
In part, the success of temporary installation art depended on capturing viewers imaginations.
Often large-scale, and made for sites that were not gallery spaces, much installation art was
ephemeral. If a site-specific work was re-installed elsewhere, then by definition it provided a
significantly different experience. The site-specific and temporary nature of these works meant
that first-hand experience was increasingly important, and this was progressively reflected in art
historical and critical writing.
In her essay in the Off Limits: 40 Artangel Projects publication of 2002, surveying forty years of
installation art and including key works commissioned by Artangel, Bishop explored the
significance of first-hand experiences. She explained how they embedded themselves in wider
cultural memory.90 She wrote exclusively about works that she had personally experienced,
88 Claire Doherty (ed.), Situation Documents of Contemporary Art, co-published by the Whitechapel Gallery, London, and MIT
Press, 2009. Other titles in the series included The Archive (2006); Participation (2006); The Everyday, (2008); Utopias (2009);
and The Sublime (2010). See MIT Press website for further details,
http://mitpress.mit.edu/catalog/browse/browse.asp?serid=159&btype=6&pstart=0, accessed October 8, 2012.
89 In architecture no less than in art, the putative extrapolation of a scheme from its site has become a familiar operation; first
embraced as a way to avoid the arbitrary, it has become arbitrary in its own way. Foster, Art-Architecture, 2011, p. 82.
90
Bishop, As if I was lost, in Van Noord, Off Limits, 2002, p. 25.
18
Introduction
discussing them within a critical frame. These works not only invited a form of activated
spectatorship, but also decentred the viewer.91 Unfamiliar locations, truly site-specific works,
and destination art that required a form of pilgrimage to find the work in often difficult to
access locations, all acted to create a heightened sense of anticipation and experience. Bishop
called this experience quasi-cinematic, and noted that the carefully staged and premeditated
element of these installations ensured that they were perhaps best described as the experience of
experience.92 Thus, itinerant and nomadic artists were creating temporary and site-specific art
that often no longer existed in any physical form after the period of the exhibition, instead
becoming part of collective cultural myths and memories.
Ephemerality also encouraged the artists, curators and institutions to write their own histories.
In the absence of objects, art was mediated through professional voices. Often, their histories
became primary sources: as a series of documentary images, texts commissioned to support the
work, and extensive websites that further extended the reach of projects. Rarely was the
historical significance of a work not mediated in some way by its makers. Subsequent writers,
artists, historians, or cultural theorists had to rely on secondary texts: newspaper editorials,
journal and magazine articles, and interviews with those involved or who experienced the event
or artwork. While these were valuable historic documents, they could never replace the physical
experience of a work at first-hand. Often this physical absence did not lessen the perceived
impact of the original ephemeral art. An object or a person in absentia can take on added
magnitude, as we see with those who die young. For projects no longer present, their reputation
was mythologized, growing in size, stature, and significance. A projects very absence aided and
abetted its continued significance. The very ephemerality of installation art sometimes
contributed to its success in capturing viewers imaginations. In the increasingly vast array of offsite installations and temporary projects presented as part of the Venice Biennale, personally
experiencing certain must-see works denoted insider status in the contemporary art world.
For a discussion of notions of the decentered viewer, implying a lack of a unified subject founded in Lacan and Mouffes
Theory of Subjectivity, see Bishop, Antagonism and Relational Asethetics, October, 2004, p. 66.
91
92
Bishop, As if I was lost, in Van Noord, Off Limits, 2002, p. 26.
19
20
New Institutionalism
New institutionalism emerged from a desire to more actively collaborate with artists, and involve
the viewer through a range of activities and events that extended beyond the traditional notion of
the gallery space.93 The term had its antecedents in art produced by artists including Marcel
Broodthaers and Daniel Buren in Europe, and Michael Asher and Hans Haacke in the US in the
1960s, though it was not defined as such at the time. It grew out of Institutional Critique, first
coined as a term by artists including Andrea Fraser and Fred Wilson, and critics including
Benjamin Buchloh in the 1980s.94 John Welchmans Institutional Critique and after (2006) was a
largely essay-based collection on the subject by artists, curators, art historians and critics drawn
from the proceedings of a Southern California Consortium of Art Schools conference held in
May 2005 at the Los Angeles County Museum of Art.95 In his introduction, John Welchman
described the evolution of Institutional Critique from its origins encompassing art museums and
galleries, to the inclusion of organisations and activities beyond the gallery space, new curatorial
practices, and the art that emerged during the 1990s onwards. More recently, the term has been
used to address a wide range of issues such as site-specificity, globalization, and the relation of
visual culture to urban and metropolitan environments.96 The shift in terminology from
Institutional Critique to New Institutionalism in the early 2000s differentiated these new
contemporary art practices and locations from those of the past. The New Institutionalism
reflected a desire to create a new experimental and multi-functional approach to curating in
which the active institutional space evolved again.97
As Charles Esche noted in 2001, the art centre or public space became a space in society for
experimentation, questioning and discovery an active space that became part community-
93
See above p. 7.
94 Andrea Fraser used the term institutional critique in a 1985 article on Louise Lawler, In and out of Place, in Art in America,
June 1985, p. 124.
95
John C. Welchman (ed.), Institutional Critique and after, JPR/Ringier, Zurich, 2006.
96 Welchman, Institutional Critique, 2006, p. 11. See also Alexander Alberro and Blake Stimston, Institutional Critique, an anthology of
artists writings, The MIT Press, Cambridge, Massachusetts and London, England, 2009; and Hito Steyerl the institution of
critique, in Alberro and Stimson, Institutional Critique, 2009, pp. 486-492, for a discussion of the integration of institutional
critique.
See for example Andrea Fraser, From the Critique of Institutions to an Institution of Critique, Artforum, September 2005, p.
279; Alex Farquharson, Bureaux de change, Frieze, Issue 101, September 2006; Welchman, Institutional Critique, 2006, pp. 123-136;
Nina Mntmann, Art and Its Institutions: Current Conflicts, Critique, and Collaborations, Black Dog Publishing, London, 2006; and Nina
Mntmann, The Rise and Fall of New Institutionalism, eipcp, August, 2007, http://eipcp.net/transversal/0407/moentmann/en,
accessed September 22, 2012.
97
20
Introduction
centre, part-laboratory, and part-academy.98 Artists responded to these opportunities of scale,

presenting immersive installations that used the opportunities of site, scale and space created by
the rise of unconventional contemporary art spaces, which often put historic buildings to
radically new uses. In the 1980s and 1990s, exhibition spaces proliferated in buildings that had
once been factories, warehouses, or even part of 19th century transport systems. These spaces
lent themselves to the presentation of large-scale, immersive installations.
Among this new generation of art spaces, Glasgows Tramway, a venue for contemporary visual
and performing art that had been a 19th century tram shed, opened as a centre for contemporary
visual and performing art in the late 1980s. Its visual arts program came to prominence in the
following decade under the direction of Charles Esche (Visual Arts Director 1993-97).
Commissioning and presenting new works by Scottish and international artists, it became one of
the more dynamic contemporary visual and performing arts venues in Europe, presenting the
work of artists including Christine Borland and Douglas Gordon.99 Gordons 24 Hour Psycho
(1993) was commissioned by Tramway, for which he went on to win the Turner Prize in 1996.100
Berlins Hamburger Bahnhof reopened in November 1996 as "Museum fr Gegenwart"
(Museum for Contemporary Art), in a building that had been erected in the mid-19th century as
one of the first terminal stations of the railway system. Its impressive architecture, with neoclassical faade, grand industrial halls and vast interior spaces, was on a scale beyond most
conventional art galleries.101
In Great Britain, Londons Tate Modern opened in May 2000 in the former Bankside Power
Station. Tate Moderns Unilever Series commenced that year with a commission by Louise
Bourgeois, whose oversized spider and grand spiral staircase inhabited the massive Turbine
98 Quoted in Claire Doherty, The Institution is Dead! Long live the institution! Contemporary Art and New Institutionalism,
engage, Art of Encounter, Issue 15, Summer 2004, Situations website, http://www.situations.org.uk/media/files/Engage.pdf,
accessed August 17, 2009, engage, 2004.
99 See Mats Stjernstedt, Rooseum Director Charles Esche on the Art Center of the 21st Century, Artforum,
http://artforum.com/index.php?pn=interview&id=1331 accessed online, September 12, 2012.
100 For the significance of this work in Gordons subsequent career, see Laura Cumming, Its awfully light for an elephant ,
The Guardian, Sunday 19 November 2006, accessed online, http://www.guardian.co.uk/artanddesign/2006/nov/19/art, October
13, 2012.
101
See Hamburger Bahnhof, Berlin, http://www.hamburgerbahnhof.de/text.php?id=94&lang=en, accessed September 12, 2012.
21
22
Hall.102 In the north of England, Gatesheads Baltic Centre for Contemporary Art opened in a
disused flour-mill on the banks of the River Tyne. The appointment of the Swede Sune
Nordgren as its founding director signaled the international ambitions of a new organization in a
city that had not previously been on the global contemporary art map. It also marked the
transmigratory nature not only of biennale curators, but also of institutional directors.
The Palais de Tokyo, Paris, offered a dedicated space for contemporary art, and was opened at in
2002 under the co-directorship of Nicolas Bourriaud and Jrme Sans in a building originally
constructed for the International Exhibition of Art and Technology in 1937.103 New purposebuilt art spaces were also commissioned during this period, such as Kiasma, Helsinkis Museum
of Contemporary Art, which opened in 1998. It too, rapidly became known for an exhibition
program of cutting-edge contemporary art.
A parallel development was the creation of deliberately temporary venues alongside permanent
contemporary art museums and galleries. For example, in 2000 the Serpentine Gallery, London,
instigated a series of temporary pavilions, designed by leading international architects and artists.
Rather than create spaces in which to show art, these temporary spaces were used to hold a range
of other activities. More significantly, their status as part of a public institutional program acted
as an extension of the notion of contemporary art.104 Hal Foster, in The Art-Architecture Complex
(2011) noted the experience economy of art-architecture projects of this kind, and drew
attention to the economic cost of creating building-sized artworks, and artistically conceived
buildings.105
Louise Bourgeois: I Do, I Undo, I Redo, 12 May 26 November 2000. See Tate Modern website for details of commissions,
http://www.tate.org.uk/whats-on/tate-modern/exhibitionseries/unilever-series, accessed September 24, 2012.
102
For a discussion see Claire Bishop, Antagonism and Relational Aesthetics, October, 2004, pp. 51-79; Bennett Simpson, Public
Relations. An Interview with Nicholas Bourriaud, Artforum, Vol. 39, No. 8, April 2001, pp. 47-48.
103
104 The temporary pavilion program began in 2000 with a commission by Zaha Hadid. Other architects who designed pavilions
presented on the Serpentine Gallerys lawns in Kensington Gardens, in front of the historic tea house building turned gallery,
included Daniel Libeskind (2001), Oscar Niemeyer (2003), Rem Koolhaas with Cecil Balmond and Arup (2007), Olafur Eliasson,
Cecil Balmond and Kjetil Thorsen (2007), Frank Gehry (2008); and Ai Weiwei and Herzog & de Meuron (2012). In October
2012, Sylvia Lavin suggested pavilion programs originated with P.S.1s Rooms series of projects initiated by Alana Heiss in June
1976, now MoMAs Young Architects Program. She argued that the form had now reached a state of exhaustion, reflected by the
2012 Serpentine Pavilion conceived by Ai Weiwei and Herzog & de Meuron, in which they chose to entomb half of their
structure below ground, and excavate the foundations of all previous Serpentine pavilions. She also discussed Thomas Demands
The Dailies (2012), as a form of art pavilion, fusing art and architecture. For the first P.S.1 Rooms project, see cover and issue of
Artforum, October 1976; for a discussion of the contemporary pavilion, see Sylvia Lavin, Vanishing Point, the contemporary
pavilion, Artforum, Vol. 51, Issue 2, October 2012, pp. 212-219.
105
Foster, The Art-Architecture Complex, 2011.
22
Introduction
More strategically, these new spaces depended on a mix of large-scale, spectacular, immersive
installations that would attract visitors, even if they also needed corporate and philanthropic
support to stage them.106 Projects such as these often emerged from a partnership between
corporate industry partners, public funding, and private patronage.
Symbiotic evolution of commissioners and presenters

Large-scale, immersive installations were institutionally and financially attractive for these new
spaces, foundations and biennales. They offered an often impressive means of filling the new
large-scale gallery spaces. They avoided freight, the artist was usually on hand, and even if the
work became part of a collection after the exhibition, the transport and storage were usually the
artists concern. Local crews could construct the work. A rapport often developed between the
imported artist and workers, who were often local artists and students. The scale, the cost, and
the temporary nature of these large-scale installations created natural synergies. Usually lacking
permanent exhibition spaces themselves, biennales needed the impact of a certain number of
immersive installations to fill vast spaces and to differentiate one biennale from those of other
years. Within the context of biennales, installations were one form of a rapidly evolving
contemporary art landscape. Within art museums and kunsthalles, these immersive works
responded to the dramatically scaled venues now available.
Beyond the formal institutional space, some not-for profit art foundations presented temporary
installations and projects either within biennales as collateral events, or as stand-alone projects
beyond a gallery frame. Fondazione Nicola Trussardi and Thyssen Bornemisza Contemporary
(TB21) participated in or presented notable projects in this way.107 Other not-for-profit
organisations, such as Artangel, Public Art Fund and Creative Time, located themselves within
particular geographic locations and cities, refining their role, working methodology and artistic
focus over time. Certain works became highly visible, were regularly critically acclaimed and
106 In an essay discussing the corporatization of museums, Andrea Fraser noted that Bruce Fergusons keynote address at the
2000 Banff Curatorial Summit discussed the increasingly large-scale and spectacular forms favoured by museums, which
depended on huge investments from dealers, collectors, and even corporations, such as the Tates Unilever Series. See Andrea
Fraser, A museum is not a business. It is run in an businesslike fashion., in Nina Mntmann (ed.), Art and its Institutions, current
conflicts, critique and collaborations, Black Dog Publishing, London, 2006, p. 89; first published in Melanie Townsend (ed.), Beyond the
Box: Diverging Curatorial Practices, Banff Centre Press, Banff, 2003.
107 See below discussion of Thyssen Bornemisza Contemporary 21 commission of Janet Cardiff A Murder of Crows (2008), as part
of the Biennale of Sydney, 2008; and Trussardi Foundations participation in the Venice Biennale.
23
24
discussed, and even became touchstones for specific art historic moments. These included yBa
generation artists Rachel Whiteread and Michael Landy, whose projects House (1993) and Break
Down (2001) respectively were both commissioned by a new generation Artangel, UK. Claire
Doherty and Paul ONeill suggested that the significance of temporal projects such as these lay in
the durational approach adopted for curating public art, or art in the public space.108 For the
commissioning agency, the durational aspect of the cumulative series of projects in place across
time was more significant than the duration of any single project. However, despite the fact that
the value of the commissioned events and projects lies in their ability to cohere cumulatively, and
therefore demand some kind of recognition, their potency for gathering temporary constituencies
lies precisely in their ability to surprise and unsettle.109 Regardless of the cumulative nature of
curated series of projects, certain works would continue to play a more vital role. The durational,
or cumulative, role of such foundations and organisations in responding to, or leading,
developments in contemporary art has not previously been analysed. Nor has earlier scholarship
analysed their relationship to public institutions. The present study aims to fill that gap.
SURVEY OF FOUNDATIONS AND PATRONAGE

Why do private foundations of this sort matter, and where do they sit within the broader frame
of a globalized contemporary art world? Is this form of private patronage part of a wider social
good, or, initiated and directed by private individuals, are they another manifestation of neoliberal
economic trends? Can they have a lasting impact on a developing local cultural landscape, and
how do their activities and ambitions affect the strategic direction of cultural policy of the visual
arts? How do these foundations activities engage with broader contemporary art trends? These
are some of the vital questions that this thesis addresses.
Doherty and ONeill define durational approaches to public art as involving a process of being together for a period of time
with some common objectives, to constitute a new mode of relationsal, conversational and participatory practice. While many of
the projects commissioned by not-for-profit foundations are not strictly durational in this sense, the idea that they have a
durational curatorial dimension is useful. See Claire Doherty and Paul O'Neill (eds.), Locating the Producers: Durational Approaches to
Public Art, Valiz, Amsterdam, 2011, pp. 10-11.
108
109
Doherty and O'Neill (eds.), Locating the Producers, 2011, p. 11.
24
Introduction
Collecting
Extensive literature exists on the historic role of patrons, patronage and collecting art since the
Renaissance and earlier.110 The motivations for patrons and collectors of contemporary art from
the late 1960s to the present day forms part of this long, and well documented tradition.111 Three
essential motivations can be identified: social status; furthering collateral business interests; and
pursuing aesthetic interests. Muensterberger has noted that collecting contributes to a collectors
sense of identity and functions as a source of self-definition.112 It can also be seen as a means of
ordering ones thoughts through things. Collecting can be perceived as increasing self-worth and
social advancement as the collection implies education, cultivation and refinement.113 The
collection of art can be seen as the quintessential positional good,114 where its value is a result of
the social position it confers. Baekeland has emphasized that collecting can be an extension of a
persons business, enabling them to connect to new networks of people, and to differentiate
themselves. In this case, collectors usually rely on experts to suggest artists, and identify potential
See for example Edward L. Goldberg, Patterns in Late Medici Art Patronage, Princeton University Press, Princeton, 1983; for
Goldbergs contribution to a highly researched field, see Marco Chiarini, Patterns in Late Medici Art Patronage, The Burlington
Magazine, Vol 127, No. 990, Sept., 1985, pp. 628-630. See also Tim Parks, Medici Money: banking, metaphysics and art in fifteenth-century
Florence, Profile, London, 2005.
110
For a discussion of motivations of collectors, see F. Baekeland, Psychological aspects of art, Psychiatry 44, Feb. 1981, pp. 4559; Jean Baudrillard, The art auction: sign exchange and sumptuary value, For a Critique of the Political Economy of the Sign, St Louis,
MO, Telos Press, 1981, pp. 112-22; R.W. Belk, Collectors and Collecting, Advances in Consumer Research, Association for
Consumer Research, Vol. 15, 1988, pp. 548-53; Muensterberger, Collecting, 1993; Susan Pearce (ed.), The Urge to Collect,
Museums, Objects and Collections: a cultural history, Leicester, Leicester University Press, 1992, pp. 48-50; John Elsner and Roger
Cardinal (eds.), Cultures of Collecting, Reaktion Books, London, 1994 (Second edition 1997); and Susan Pearce, On Collecting,
Routledge, London, 1995.
111
Contemporary collecting has also been explored in the context of art fairs and in relationship to art institutions. See Frieze Art
Fair Talks, Contemporary Collecting, Friday 17 October 2003, Podcast,
http://www.friezeartfair.com/podcasts/details/contemporary_collecting1/, accessed September 20, 2011; Frieze Art Fair Talks
The Psychology of Collecting, Sunday 17 October, 2004, Podcast,
http://friezefoundation.org/talks/detail/the_psychology_of_collecting/ accessed September 20, 2011; Chen, Yu, Possession
and Access: Consumer Desires and Value Perceptions Regarding Contemporary Art Collection and Exhibit Visits, Journal of
Consumer Research, 2008. Accessed online, http://ejcr.org/preprints/2009/april/chen.pdf, August, 3, 2012.
Muensterberger also noted that the collector is essentially making up for a sense of lack: every piece has its story, and each is
related to places, people, episodes and desires. Over time, these memories of the past become a well-told story in which certain
aspects, or objects, take on a greater significance as other, official histories, unfold. The roots of these collections,
Muensterberger noted, can almost always be traced back to their formative years. Walter Benjamin, perhaps a little more
generously, noted it was a form of renewal. See Werner Muensterberger, Collecting. An Unruly Passion, Princeton, 1993, p. 13;
Walter Benjamin, Unpacking my Library, in Illuminations: Essays and reflections, New York, 1969, p. 46.
112
113 Baekeland, Psychological aspects of art, in Susan Pearce (ed.), Interpreting Objects and Collections, Routledge, London, 1994, p.
206.
114
The Economist, n.a., Painting by numbers, A new breed of investor is buying art, The Economist, May 24, 2007.
25
26
works of art.115 Baekeland also perceived that collecting involves some form of creative impulse
that satisfies an aesthetic need that may not be able to be articulated in a business context.116
Whatever the potential motivation, a collection goes further to filling these aims if its items are
relatively rare and uncollected by others. Large-scale temporary installations and immersive art
a biennale form of art as it became known often differed from art made by the same artists and
sold through commercial gallery shows. Scale and cost ensured that this form of biennale art
remained limited in supply and conferred a unique status.
Art dealers care about the motives of collectors. In part, because the collectors may well affect
the future biography of the works they acquire. As Olav Velthuis noted, art dealers make the
distinction between collectors who buy for the right reasons, and those who buy for the
wrong.117 Those who buy for the right reasons, he suggested, are motivated by a love of art:
they think about art as an intellectual pursuit, discuss the work, want to meet the artist, follow the
gallery in its artistic choices, and have an ongoing interest in the artists career. Importantly, they
are willing to buy work that is difficult to commodify, such as installations, or performance. In
the United States, collectors who have acquired art for the right reasons often subsequently
donate part of their collection to museums, or though less common fund a museum of their
own. These gestures offer credibility, or legitimacy to the artists, the collector, the gallery, and
works of art. The museum also confers status. And from an economic perspective, the artwork
can never again unless deacessioned be considered as a commodity, although with ongoing
recognition of the donor, it could remain part of an economy of symbolic goods.118
Becoming a collector offers other social advantages. In 1988, American art critic and poet Carter
Ratcliff interviewed the noted American West Coast dealer Irving Blum for a feature article in
115
Baekeland, Psychological aspects of art, in Pearce (ed.), Interpreting Objects 1994, p. 206.
116
Baekeland, Psychological aspects of art, in Pearce (ed.), Interpreting Objects 1994, p. 207; 215.
Olav Velthuis, Talking Prices Symbolic Meanings of Prices on the Market for Contemporary Art, Princeton University Press, Princeton
and Oxford, 2007, p. 43.
117
118 French sociologist Pierre Bourdieu proposed a taxonomy of the economy of symbolic goods that consisted of two different
types of hierarchies: large-scale production directed at catering to the preexisting demands of a larger audience; and small-scale
production meant for an audience mainly consisting of fellow artists, experts, critics, and a limited number of insiders. He also
discussed the opposition between the commercial and non-commercial, traditional and avant-garde, or between bourgeois and
intellectual art. See Pierre Bourdieu, The Field of Cultural Production: Essays on Art and Literature, Polity Press, Cambridge, 1993.
26
Introduction
Art in America focusing on Art and Money.119 Blum pointed to the social advantages to be gained
from becoming a collector.120 A collector, Blum observed, became part of a network of lively
people from artists, curators, writers, and other collectors. One constantly receives requests
for visits from people interested in ones collection. When a collector travels, he plugs into the
art network, wherever he goes Its a fascinating and highly civilized kind of existence. Art can
become the reason for living ones life.121 The social advantages afforded by the collection of a
specific form of art were not only a social milieu shared with like-minded people, but the
immediate creation of a far-reaching network (including dealers, art museum directors and
curators, and fellow collectors), within which the collector had a clearly identified place.
Gift-giving foundations
Private collecting is often bound up with philanthropy. While there is extensive scholarly
literature surrounding gift-giving foundations in the United States, United Kingdom and
European contexts, little has been written about operational foundations, on which this thesis
focuses.122 Both gift-giving and operational foundations share similarities, and must be
considered within the context of wider twenty-first century philanthropic debate. In 2001, in
American Foundations: An Investigative History, Mark Dowie suggested that organized philanthropy
was on the verge of an evolutionary shift, which would transform Americas nearly 50,000
foundations from covert arbiters of knowledge and culture to overt mediators of pubic policy
and aggressive creators of a new orthodoxy. 123 Should we, he asked, place so much power at the
disposal of nondemocratic institutions? The rise of this new generation of philanthropic giving
was addressed by Helmut Anheier and Diana Leat, whose 2006 publication, Creative Philanthropy,
119 Carter Ratcliff, The marriage of art and money. A history of attitudes towards art in the marketplace, Art in America, Vol. 76,
July, 1988, p. 76.
120 See also a discussion between Irving Blum and Geoffrey Deitch in relation to West Coast collecting and collections. Art Basel
21 videos, http://www.artbasel.com/go/id/mdh/. Accessed January 16, 2012.
121
Ratcliff, The marriage of art and money, Art in America, 1988, p. 80.
122 See for example H.K. Anheier, & D. Leat, Creative Philanthropy, Routledge, London & New York, 2006; H.K, Anheier, & D.
Leat, From Charity to Creativity: Philanthropic Foundations in the 21st Century, Comedia in association with the Joseph Rowntree Reform
Trust, 2002; H.K. Anheier, and S. Daly, Foundations in Europe: Facts, Approaches and Policy Issues in European Foundations and
Grant-making NGOs. Europe Publications, 2004; Peter Frumkin, Strategic Giving. The Art and Science of Philanthropy, The University
of Chicago Press, Chicago and London, 2006; M. Bishop, The business of giving: a survey of wealth and philanthropy, The
Economist, 23 February 2006; R. Cook, Welcome to the new cultural revolution, Observer, 15 October 2006; Shuster, M., Neither
Public nor Private: The Hybridisation of Museums, Journal of Cultural Economics, Vol. 22, 1998.
123
Mark Dowie, American Foundations: An Investigative History, MIT Press, Cambridge, 2001.
27
28
noted that some of the most innovative funding was coming from trusts and foundations.124
They suggested that this was because foundations can work outside government agendas, can
engage with imaginative, knowledgeable and enthusiastic staff and trustees, and they can take
risks that governments avoid. However, Anheier and Leats work focused largely on grantmaking foundations rather than those that run their own programs, and those focusing on the
visual art were not extensively addressed.125
In March 2013, American academic Rob Reich expounded on the role of the modern charitable
foundation in a lead article in the Boston Review, What Are Foundations For?.126 Reich noted that
the last decade of the twentieth century witnessed the creation of an unprecedented number of
both large and small foundations. If Andrew Carnegie and John D. Rockerfeller were the
epitome of early twentieth century philanthropy in America, Bill Gates and Warren Buffett
became the best-known early twenty-first century global philanthropic brands. Reich posed a
familiar question that is yet to be widely debated: What is the role of private foundations in
society, and do they always work for the public good?
In exploring the role of charitable foundations, Reich argued they were well placed to fund public
goods that were under-produced, or not produced at all by either the marketplace or state.127
Unlike politicians elected under a democratic system, foundations were free to fund minority,
experimental, or controversial public goods that were not favoured by majorities. However,
Reich presented a counter view: like Judge Richard Posner, with whose observations he opened
the article, Reich noted that they were subject to a number of disquieting trends. They lacked
marketplace accountability and transparency; competed neither in capital markets nor in product
markets; resulted in a loss of funds that would otherwise be tax revenue; and were not subject to
political controls.128 While we applaud the initiatives of a wealthy few, we need to assess how
successfully they function, and if it is in the best interests of a wider public good. The
Not-for-profit, or charitable foundations are often given different titles or nomenclatures in different countries. For a
discussion of terms see Anheier, & Leat, Creative Philanthropy, 2006.
124
125
Anheier & Leat, Creative Philanthropy, 2006, p. 9.
126 Rob Reich, What are Foundations For?, Boston Review, March/April, 2013. URL:
http://www.bostonreview.net/BR38.2/ndf_rob_reich_foundations_philanthropy_democracy.php, accessed March 28, 2013.
Reich, What are Foundations For?, Boston Review, 2013. The article was drawn from academic research Reich has been leading
at the Center of Philanthropy and Civil Society, Stanford University.
127
128
Reich, What are Foundations For?, Boston Review, 2013.
28
Introduction
considerable private assets of the modern charitable foundation and its creator Reich
suggested, give it considerable public power.
What impact did the explosion of charitable foundations have on the visual arts? Even within
the literature on gift-giving foundations, references to the visual arts, and in particular to
contemporary art, are scant. Paul Glinkowskis Good Foundations (2007) offered a useful analysis
on the role of trusts and foundations in supporting the artist in the United Kingdom in the 21st
century. It included essays by Marjorie Allthorpe-Guyton, Arts Council of England (1993-2006),
and Timothy Llewellyn, Director, Henry Moore Foundation (1995-2007). Again, the publication
focused on gift-giving foundations.129
In Australia, writing about philanthropy for the visual arts in the 2000s was focused mainly on
gift-giving support and was published as reports. Rupert Myer wrote and spoke extensively from
a policy perspective in his role as chair of the 2002 Report of the Contemporary Visual Arts and Craft
Inquiry (The Myer Report), and as an advocate for philanthropy and the visual arts in his role with
the family-run Myer Foundation.130 Reflecting a keen understanding of the challenges faced by
the arts and cultural sector in Australia, one of the major findings of the Myer Inquiry was that as
a sector, contemporary visual arts was used to, but nonetheless increasingly frustrated by, doing
more with less.131 In 2005, in her foreword to the Commonwealth Report, Philanthropy,
Development and Fundraising in arts/culture and sport: scoping the international environment, Associate
Professor Jennifer Radbourne noted that:
Philanthropy has never played a great role in the development of the artist in Australia.
There has been a natural dependence on government because of two factors: strong role of
government in ongoing programs of support, and the lack of skill of many arts
organisations generally in how to seek and sustain donors.132
129 Paul Glinkowski, Good Foundations, Trusts & Foundations and the Arts in the United Kingdom, Volume I & II, with essays by Paul
Glinkowski, The Rootstein Hopkins Foundation, U.K., 2007.
Department of Communications, Information Technology and the Arts, Report of the Contemporary Visual Arts and Craft Inquiry
(The Myer Report), Independent Inquiry chaired by Rupert Myer, 2002; Rupert Myer, The Australian Art of Giving Having
Found the Way, Have we lost the Will?, in Terry Smith (ed.), Contemporary Art + Philanthropy, UNSW Press, Sydney in association
with Sherman Contemporary Art Foundation, Sydney, 2007, pp. 56-71.
130
131
Myer, The Australian Art of Giving, in Smith, Contemporary Art + Philanthropy, 2007, p. 13.
Australian Government, Department of Communications, Information Technology and the Arts, Philanthropy, development and
fundraising in arts/culture and sport: scoping the international environment, prepared by the Centre of Philanthropy and Nonprofit Studies,
Queensland University of Technology (QUT), 2005, p. 1.
132
29
30
As part of the Sherman Contemporary Art Foundations inaugural forum on philanthropy and
contemporary art in 2007, Myer drew on historical precedents of giving to the visual arts, and
discussed legal and taxation implications for developing this area. The subsequent publication
edited by Terry Smith titled Contemporary Art + Philanthropy (2007) included policy, curatorial and
museological, art historical, and institutional perspectives on foundations that focus on
contemporary art.133 The forum and publication were the initiative of a not-for-profit
foundation, reflecting its desire to better understand the potentially pivotal role that philanthropy
could play in the support and development of contemporary art.
Collecting foundations
More recently, foundations created by collectors to acquire and present contemporary art have
begun to attract popular and critical attention.134 As early as 1992, in an article in Art in America,
Eleanor Heartney noted the rise in private foundations in Los Angeles. Almost all were created
to acquire contemporary art, much of which was presented in permanent private galleries or
public art museums.135 As many of these West Coast American foundations were initiated in the
1980s, Heartney suggested that one explanation for their proliferation could be explained by the
political climate at that time. She proposed that they could variously be seen as a manifestation
of a conservative Reganite ideal (which was not exclusively publically spirited), or more
altruistically, as a reflection of the L.A. entrepreneurial spirit.136 All required vast financial
endowments, and were not for the average collector. In each case, the founding patron retained
Smith (ed.) Contemporary Art + Philanthropy, Sydney, 2007. See also Nicholas Jose (ed.), Contemporary art + Philanthropy, Private
Foundations: Asia-Pacific Focus, Power Publications, Power Institute Foundation for Art and Visual Culture, University of Sydney, in
association with Sherman Contemporary Art Foundation, 2009.
133
Eleanor Hartney, The New Private Patronage, Art in America, Vol. 80, No. 1, 1992, pp. 72-9, p. 129; Carol Kino, Welcome to
the museum of my stuff, The New York Times, 18 February 2007, p. 30; Jason Kaufman, Peter Brant and Stephanie Seymour put
their contemporary art collection on show, The Art Newspaper, Issue 201, April 2009. Los Angeles collector and philanthropist Eli
Broad was another, and highly visible, example of the private collector whose collecting foundation worked with a number of
notable West Coast public institutions. See Christopher Knight, Critics Notebook: Broad Collection may borrow prestige from
MOCA, Los Angeles Times, September 18 2012. In Europe, notable examples included the Berlin Sammlung Hoffmann, a form of
private house museum collection of contemporary art installed in Erika Hoffmanns living and working spaces, open one day a
week since 1997. See Sammlung Hofmann website, http://www.sammlung-hoffmann.de/index.php?/site/konzept/en/,
accessed September 28, 2012. For a comprehensive overview of over 173 art collections in 124 locations and 35 countries,
launched at Art Basel 2012, see Jana Hyner (ed.) BMW Art Guide by Independent Collectors, Hatje Cantz, Berlin, 2012.
134
135 Heartneys article features the Weisman Foundation; the Hammer Mseum; the Lannon Foundation; the Broad Foundation;
and the Peter Norton Family Collection. Heartney, The New Private Patronage, Art in America, 1992.
136
Heartney, The New Private Patronage, Art in America, 1992, p. 129.
30
Introduction
a high degree of control over the foundation and their gifts, until the foundation passed to the
second generation.
While private art institutions ranged from various forms of the contemporary house museum, to
destination art experiences, they were all ultimately variations on the bricks and mortar
philanthropy that is a well-established, researched and documented model of private collecting.137
In Australia, notable recent examples include the creation of the private Museum of Old and
New Art (MONA) by David Walsh in 2011; Lyon Housemuseum, Melbourne, developed by
Corbett and Yueji Lyon in the early 2000s, opening in September 2009; and The White Rabbit
Collection, founded by Kerr and Judith Neilson in the late 1990s and based in a permanent
factory space in a former Rolls-Royce showroom near Sydneys Central Station.138
Two recent examples of the not-for-profit foundation operating from a permanent gallery space
in Australia include the Sherman Contemporary Art Foundation (SCAF), in Sydney, and
Detached, in Hobart, Tasmania. SCAF was initiated by Dr Gene Sherman, previously Director
of Sherman Galleries, a Sydney commercial gallery. The Foundation became operational in 2008.
It focused on contemporary art from the Asia-Pacific region. SCAFs first project was a new
work by Ai Weiwei in the recently refurbished Sherman Galleries space in Paddington, coinciding
with an exhibition curated by Dr Charles Merewether, Ai Weiwei: Under Construction (2008), at the
Campbelltown Arts Centre.139 SCAF subsequently presented a series of temporary projects,
usually in its permanent gallery space at Five Ways in Paddington.
Detached was initiated by Penny Clive and also opened to the public in 2008.140 It was a privately
funded, not-for-profit organization that presented a series of changing exhibitions inside a
restored shell of an historic church within the arts precinct of Hobart. Detacheds first project
137 Arguably, the tradition extends back to 18th century cabinet of curiosity collections and examples such as the Sir John Soane
Museum, London. See John Elsner, A Collectors Model of Desire: The House and Museum of Sir John Soane, in Elsner and
Cardinal (eds.), The Culture of Collecting, 1994 (reprinted 1997).
For a discussion of MONA, see Museum of Old and New Art, Monaisms, Museum of Old and New Art, Hobart, Tasmania,
2010; Coates, Worlds without end, Art Monthly Australia, 2012/13, pp. 83-5; for the Lyon Housemuseum, see Victoria Hynes,
Corbett and Jueji Lyon: Hybrid Hopes, Australian Art Collector, Issue 54, October-December 2010,
http://www.artcollector.net.au/CorbettYuejiLyonHybridhopes, accessed September 12, 2012. See also Alana Kushnir, Curating or
the Curatorial? Contemporary art in New Institutions, TarraWarra Museum of Art and Sherman Contemporary Art Foundation, Unpublished
Honors Thesis, University of Melbourne, 2011.
138
See Charles Merewether, Ai Weiwei: Under Construction, University of New South Wales Press in association with Sherman
Contemporary Art Foundation and Campbelltown Arts Centre, Sydney, 2008.
139
140
Detached, http://www.detached.com.au/about.php, accessed September 23, 2012.
31
32
was an exhibition by Mike Parr, The Tilted Stage (2008), curated by Anthony Bond, Assistant
Director and Head Curator, International Art, Art Gallery of New South Wales (AGNSW).141 A
collaboration between the Detached Cultural Foundation and the Tasmanian Museum and Art
Gallery (TMAG), the exhibition presented performance, drawing, printmaking, film and
photography across both venues, and was accompanied by an exhibition catalogue. Since 2008,
Detached has presented eight new commissions and exhibitions by Australian and international
contemporary artists. The gallery does not open regularly.142 Its scale and infrequency of
programming, meant that it was not a key player in a developing field. While SCAF and
Detached offer useful contrasts in an Australian context, permanent gallery spaces resulted in a
different role and focus to that of Kaldor Public Art Projects.
Foundations and temporary art projects

There is a significant dearth of scholarly writing on operational not-for-profit foundations
presenting temporary contemporary art projects both in Australia and globally. The literature
documenting the history and projects of key not-for-profit foundations and organisations has
largely been commissioned by the not-for-profit foundations themselves. While these
publications visually document the unfolding history of each organization, they largely offer a
non-critical, partisan view. Since 2000, Artangel, Public Art Fund, Creative Time, Fondazione
Nicola Trussardi and Kaldor Public Art Projects have all self-published lavish catalogues
documenting their projects with essays and interviews with their creators.143 Thyssen-Bornemisza
Art Contemporary (T-BA 21), while offering publications on specific projects and a substantial
catalogue of its contemporary collection, has not yet produced a compendium of its Art Pavilions
and major immersive commissions.144 As with other art foundations, there is extensive existing
documentation of KPAPs projects. While scholars and critics have considered the specific
See Tony Bond, Mike Parr, Tilted Stage, (ex. cat), Detached, Hobart, Detached Cultural Organisation and Tasmanian Museum &
Art Gallery, 2008.
141
During the opening weekend of MONAs much anticipated exhibition Theatre of the World (2012) curated by international
curator Jean Hubert Martin, which was programmed to coincide with the opening of the Sydney Biennale in the hope of
attracting international visitors, Detached was not open.
142
143 Van Noord (ed.), Off Limits, 2002; Eccles, Plop, 2004; Ruth A. Peltason (ed), Creative Time: The Book, Princeton Architectural
press, New York, 2007; Sophie Forbat (ed.) 40 years: Kaldor Public Art Projects, Kaldor Public Art Projects, Sydney, 2009;
Massimiliano Gioni (ed.), What Good is the Moon? The exhibitions of the Trussardi Foundation, Fondazione Nicola Trussardi, Hatje
Cantz, Germany, 2010.
For a list of publications see Thyssen-Bornemisza Art Contemporary website, http://www.tba21.org/store, accessed
September 7, 2012.
144
32
Introduction
projects presented by not-for-profit foundations and organisations discretely, to date, no research

has focused on foundations presenting temporary site-specific projects in order to understand
their role within a broader contemporary art history.
As has been stated, this thesis aims to begin to fill this gap. It provides an international overview
of the history of foundations presenting temporary projects and site-specific installations. The
thesis then critically appraises in more detail the history and significance of the art projects
presented by Kaldor Public Art Projects within a rapidly changing global art world.
SURVEY OF WRITING ON KALDOR PUBLIC ART PROJECTS

In 1969, John Kaldor presented what was to be the first John Kaldor Art Project. Christo and
Jeanne-Claudes Wrapped Coast One Million Square Feet, Little Bay, Sydney, Australia (1968-1989)
was the first site-specific, temporary art project that can be located inside the emerging trajectory
of contemporary art presented in Australia by an individual.145 Indeed, Kaldor Public Art
Projects was one of the first operational foundations in the world to present temporary projects
by contemporary artists. While it has been canonized within the history of contemporary art
within Australia, a detailed scholarly analysis of KPAPs role and history is overdue. Its evolution
and longevity as part of a global art world makes it an important case study for understanding the
changing role of not-for profit operational foundations in supporting site-specific temporary
installations.
Existing literature
The existing literature offers useful descriptions of the projects, with extensive images of the
works alongside other related material.146 Exhibition brochures, artists books, or small
exhibition catalogues conceived by the artist present primary source material conceived by the
artist, such as Gilbert & Georges publications (1973), and Szeemanns exhibition catalogue, with
its hand-written notebook-style (1972). Published by KPAP, publications formed part of the Art
Projects, with the exception of projects by Miralda (1973) and by Charlotte Moorman and Nam
June Paik (1976). Individual projects presented by John Kaldor have been the focus of
145
The work will henceforth be referred to as Wrapped Coast (1969).
146
Nicholas Baume, (ed.) Christo, Art Gallery of New South Wales, Sydney, (ex. cat.), 1990; Forbat, (ed.) 40 years, 2009.
33
34
newspaper reviews and magazine articles since Christo and Jeanne-Claudes first John Kaldor Art
Project in 1969. Some, such as Christo and Jeanne-Claudes Wrapped Coast (1969), and Gilbert &
Georges Singing Sculpture (1973) have also been the subject of scholarly research.147 Projects and
images were collated and presented as part of an extensive website that further disseminated
information and documentary images of each of the projects since 1969. More extensive
exhibition catalogues accompanied exhibitions that contextualized the Art Projects, with works
drawn from John Kaldors personal collection presented at the Museum of Contemporary Art,
Sydney (1995) (MCA) and Art Gallery of South Australia (2003) (AGSA). In 2009, KPAP
published an extensive catalogue raisonn to accompany the Art Gallery of New South Wales
(AGNSW) exhibition marking forty years of projects.
Critic, curator and noted art historian, Daniel Thomas wrote extensively on the early projects,
covering these events in his capacity as critic for local newspapers and weekly magazines.148 As
curator at AGNSW from 1958-1977, Thomas wrote articles about Kaldor, his collection, and his
specific projects in Art & Australia.149 Thomas also edited the exhibition catalogue of JKAPs
1984 An Australian Accent. His essay for the publication was significant in locating the project
within an international frame, and addressing some of the wider debates with which
contemporary Australian artists were engaged.150 Thomass 2009 essay, part of the KPAP
publication, Forty Years: Kaldor Public Art Projects (2009), was tellingly titled Reminiscing. Its tone
was anecdotal rather than scholarly. Thomass role as a scholar, critic and curator enabled him to
offer an objective perspective on the significance of the Art Projects, and Kaldors role, in a
changing Australian cultural context. However, his active involvement in many of the early
projects, and advocacy at the time meant that these were not impartial records. Later, Tony
Bond, as Associate Director, Curatorial, AGNSW, also wrote extensively on Kaldors early role
For a discussion of Christo and Jeanne-Claude and Gilbert & George, see for example, Charles Green, The Third Hand:
collaborations in art from conceptualism to postmodernism, University of Minnesota Press, Minneapolis, 2001.
147
148
See Thomas in Bibliography.
149 Thomas was curator at AGNSW from 1958-1977. Daniel Thomas, The Art Collectors 10. John Kaldor, Art & Australia,
Vol. 8, Issue 4, March 1971, pp. 312 323; Thomas, Miralda, Art & Australia, Vol. 11, Apr-June 1974, p. 384; Thomas,
Reminiscing, in Forbat, 40 Years, 2009.
150
John Kaldor Art Projects, as it was then known.
34
Introduction
as a collector and initiator of projects.151 Bond was closely involved with the generous Kaldor
gift to the Gallery, and development of the John Kaldor Family Gallery at AGNSW.
Nicholas Baume also wrote extensively on the history of KPAP projects and John Kaldors
personal contemporary art collection to that point. Leading up to and coinciding with AGNSWs
exhibition Christo (1990) that Baume curated in his capacity as curator of John Kaldors
collection, Baume published articles in Art & Australia, Look (AGNSWs Gallery Society
magazine), and the Sydney Morning Herald.152 Baume edited the AGNSWs exhibition catalogue
Christo (1990) that accompanied the exhibition.153 AGNSW Senior Curator, Tony Bond, and
Daniel Thomas also wrote essays for the Christo catalogue.154 Tony Bond placed Christos
wrapped objects and projects within an art historical frame, while Daniel Thomas focused on
Christos first Australian project, Wrapped Coast (1969), which he had experienced at first hand.
Baumes exhibition, From Christo and Jeanne-Claude to Jeff Koons: John Kaldor Art Projects & Collection
at the MCA (1995), presented the history of the Art Projects in relation to Kaldors personal
collection. Baume was curator at the MCA. His essay, titled John Kaldor: Public Patron/Private
Collector, offered the first contextualization of the Art Projects in relation to the Kaldors
growing interest in and acquisition of conceptual, Minimal and post-sculptural art from Europe
and America, though it marked the two activities as separate. Baumes essay offered a scholarly,
and informed at first-hand, art historical approach to a subject with which he had been personally
engaged. He discussed the development of a personal collection, the Art Projects as a form of
sporadic patronage, and located these activities within a broader local and international art
historical and social frame.155 Photographs of key artworks and Art Projects, ephemera and other
related material also made the catalogue a valuable source. The exhibition coincided with Jeff
151 Tony Bond, A nice well-done child: forty years of Kaldor Public Art Projects, Art & Australia, Vol. 47, No. 1, Spring 2009, p.
100; Bond, An Australian odyssey: connecting to international contemporary art, in Forbat (ed.), 40 Years, 2009, pp. 25 32;
Bond, And now, the horse in the bedroom. Four decades of Kaldor Public Art Projects, Look, Art Gallery Society of New
South Wales Magazine, September 2009, pp. 25-27.
152 Nicholas Baume, Christo, Art & Australia, Vol. 27, No. 1, Spring (September), 1989; Baume, Wrapped in art: a conversation
with Christo, Look, AGNSW Magazine, Sept 1990, pp. 20-21; Baume, Memories of Little Bay: how an artists dream became
reality, Sydney Morning Herald, 11 September, 1990, pp. 3a-4a.
153
Baume (ed.) Christo, AGNSW, 1990.
Bond, The Real and the Revealed, in Baume (ed.), Christo, AGNSW, 1990, pp. 19-23; Thomas, Australia, Bulgaria, Christo,
Baume, Christo, 1990, p. 25.
154
Nicholas Baume, From Christo and Jeanne-Claude to Jeff Koons: John Kaldor art Projects & Collection, (ex. cat.), Museum of
Contemporary Art, Sydney, 1995, p. 9.
155
35
36
Koons Puppy (1995), an Art Project, presented on the forecourt of the MCA. Three years later, a
much smaller exhibition catalogue edited by Baume accompanied the MCA Sol LeWitt exhibition
and Art Project, Sol LeWitt: wall pieces (1998).156 It included an essay by Baume that located
LeWitts MCA show within the trajectory of Minimal and Conceptual art, and placed the Art
project within the context of his earlier Australian Art Project presented by John Kaldor in
1977.157 However, it did not offer new insights such as those contained in his 1995 essay.
Much of Baumes writing on KPAP focused on the significance of Christo and Jeanne-Claudes
Wrapped Coast (1969), and subsequent projects were discussed in the light of this first
groundbreaking project. Baumes interview with Kaldor as part of the 2009 40 Years publication
was titled The Artist as Model. 158 Baume provided an account of some of the key projects,
presenting them alongside Kaldors developing collection of contemporary art, and reflected on
the possible influences of KPAP on the changing art world. Most significantly, the interviews
title suggested that the role of the artist had always been Kaldors inspiration and example,
reflected by the close relationships Kaldor had developed with key artists, such as Christo and
Jeanne-Claude, and Jeff Koons. In an informal, personal manner, Baumes interview covered
many of the points about which Kaldor often spoke.
An earlier 2003 exhibition catalogue had already emphasized the relationship between Kaldors
public Art Projects and his personal collection. It also indicated the relationship between public
art institutions and the Art Projects. Adam Frees essay Collection as Biography, in the
exhibition catalogue Journey To Now, John Kaldor Art Projects and Collection (2003) that accompanied
the self-titled exhibition at the Art Gallery of South Australia (Adelaide) reaffirmed the strong
link between Kaldors collecting activities and the Art Projects. Again, however, this was not an
impartial view, nor did it attempt to critically evaluate the impact of the projects, or their
relationship to wider developments in contemporary art either in Australia or overseas.
Sophie Forbats 2009 publication for KPAP, 40 Years Kaldor Public Art Projects, offered a catalogue
raisonn of projects between 1969-2009, with extensive documentary images and a selection of
156
Nicholas Baume (ed.), Sol LeWitt: wall pieces, (ex. cat.), Museum of Contemporary Art (MCA), Sydney, 1998.
157
Baume, Sol LeWitt Wall Pieces, in Baume, Sol LeWitt, MCA, 1998, pp. 7-11.
Nicholas Baume, The Artist as Model. John Kaldor in conversation with Nicholas Baume, in Forbat (ed.), 40 years, 2009, pp.
43-48.
158
36
Introduction
other primary material.159 Alongside Thomas and Baumes essay and interview, it also included
essays by AGNSW Assistant Director (curatorial), Anthony Bond, and international curator and
artistic director of Documenta 13 (2012), Carolyn Christov-Bakargiev. In 2011, AGNSWs
publication produced to accompany the opening of the John Kaldor Family Collection at the Art
Gallery of New South Wales lavishly documented the collection with both artists profiles and
catalogue essays, including essays by celebrated novelist David Malouf, London-based art
historian David Jaffe, MoMA curator Klaus Biesenbach, Anthony Bond, and an interview
between John Kaldor and AGNSW curator Wayne Tunnicliffe.160
While useful curatorial research and writing has been undertaken, there has been much
mythologising about the significance of KPAP Art Projects within a developing Australian
cultural landscape. There remains no scholarly history of the development of KPAP locating it
within a broader frame of international philanthropy, contemporary collecting, and the evolving
nature of contemporary art.
Contribution of this thesis to the literature

My research offers a very different perspective on the cultural, artistic and institutional history of
Kaldor Public Art Projects. For the first time, I analyse KPAP within a wider cultural context,
both at a local and international level. KPAP played a significant role in presenting some pivotal
international works. Thus I have chosen to draw on the experience of the artworks themselves,
images of the projects, and other primary material relating to exhibitions and projects that may
exist, locating this within an art historical, critical and theoretical, and social and political frame.
My research draws on primary material in the form of exhibitions, art projects, writings, and
other published documents. I was fortunate to be able to work extensively on the Kaldor
Archive in 2007, consult archives for Artangel in London, Public Art Fund and Creative Time in
New York, and the Fondazione Nicola Trussardi in Milan. The research was informed by
numerous informal discussions, interviews and conversations with artists, curators, academics
159 See for example Gilbert & George, screenprint for Underneath the arches, 1971; NGV opening invitation and newspaper
advertisement; the leaflet A guide to singing sculpture by George & Gilbert the human sculptors, Art for All, London 1973, Forbat (ed.), 40
Years, 2009, p. 90.
160 Wayne Tunnicliffe (ed.), John Kaldor Family Collection, Art Gallery of New South Wales, Sydney, Art Gallery of New South Wales,
2011.
37
38
and critics and collectors of contemporary art who have been directly involved in, or influenced
by the areas of my research. Early discussions with John Kaldor about the projects and their
impact were useful. However, interviews were not the primary mode of research. Kaldor has
given numerous public interviews and lectures about the history of the Art Projects and these are
readily available online. Many of those who were involved with Kaldor Public Art Projects over
the years have also written and spoken extensively on the subject, as shown in the literature
review above. These first-person accounts repeat stories and anecdotes and perpetuate cultural
myths. Further interviews were unlikely to add new insights to the existing record. Instead, my
approach aims to provide a more distanced view of the artistic and cultural importance of the Art
Projects by analyzing the influence of the local and international context on the projects and the
influence of the projects on both local and international contemporary art.
My research on Kaldor Public Art Projects is framed within a broader question: what role do
private art foundations play within a local and global contemporary art world? It locates
Kaldors background, professional training and mentors, determining their influence on Kaldors
Art Projects. Although there is a research literature on the history of emigr Australians, this has
largely focused on the role of artists and architects rather than philanthropists.161 This thesis
locates Kaldor within that history, assessing the influential role that emigrs played as
philanthropists and business people within a developing cultural landscape. I then discuss the
evolution of JKAP, presenting a critical analysis of its twenty-five projects that were presented
over a forty-three year period until 2012. I examine how the evolution of Australian institutions
and Australian culture was affected by globalization and thus how the development of
international philanthropic models, institutions, and the development of contemporary art,
influenced JKAPs activities. This explains why certain projects were selected, and the extent of
their artistic and cultural impact.
This thesis also explains the relationship between Kaldor and a number of major Australian
public art institutions, including the AGNSW and the NGV. It explains how and why JKAP
For a discussion of the term and its use in an Australian context, see Roger Butler, The Europeans migr artists in Australia
1930-1960, (ex. cat.), National Gallery of Australia, Canberra, 1997; and Art & Australia migr issue, Vol. 30, Number 4,
Winter 1993. For a discussion of the role of migr gallerists in Melbourne and Sydney, see Terry Ingram, Cinzano, Seagrass
matting and the Art of the Deal, in The Europeans migr artists in Australia 1930-1960, National Gallery of Australia, Canberra, pp.
221-235.
161
38
Introduction
evolved as an organization and developed into a professionalised institution, paralleling, in sheer

clout, state art museums.
The thesis argues that, as Australian institutions matured and commerce and contemporary art
became more global (and similar international foundations proliferated), KPAP was forced to
alter the nature of its projects and its institutional structure to maintain its relevance. A full
understanding of artistic developments, in addition to an analysis of the artwork, requires
historical, psychological, political and institutional context. This is provided in the following
chapters.
Chapter Outline
Chapter One describes the global development of institutions that supported many of the most
important site-specific temporary art works since the late 1960s. It summarises the history of key
not-for-profit foundations involved, the growing involvement of biennales in installation art, and
how increasingly major works resulted from their cooperation as foundations presented
installation works within a biennale or curated program.
Chapter Two describes and assesses Kaldors motivations for creating a private foundation
through which he invited leading international contemporary artists to Australia to present sitespecific temporary art projects. It investigates what led him to do so: his upbringing, his
mentors, the influences on his collecting interests, the Alcorso-Sekers Travelling Scholarship, and
parallel developments internationally.
Chapter Three describes the first John Kaldor Art Project (JKAP) Art Project with Christo and
Jeanne-Claude in 1969. It investigates its evolution, its impact both in Australia and
internationally, and its influence on the future shape of JKAP.
Chapter Four looks at the early projects from 1971 to 1977. It examines how JKAP evolved
through these early projects. It argues that their declining influence can be attributed to the
development of other Australian arts institutions, such as public art galleries and the Sydney
Biennale. It also chronicles how changes in the international contemporary art landscape
affected KPAP.
Chapter Five relates the hiatus in JKAPs history between 1978 and 1994, during which only two
projects were presented. It investigates the relative paucity of projects, and why the curatorial
models used were not subsequently repeated.
39
40
Chapter Six analyses the revival of JKAP between 1995 to 2003. It explains what drove renewed
interest in the Art Projects. It investigates how Kaldors private collection became publicly
paired with the Art Projects.
Chapter Seven addresses the institutionalization of Kaldor Art Projects (KAP) between 2004 to
2012, with the appointment of a management board, international Curatorial Advisory Group,
and professional staff. It contends that as the projects became more frequent, certain projects
became more conscious of responsiveness to site, and reflected a greater influence of the
activities of similar international not-for-profit foundations.
Chapter Eight analyses the overarching trajectory of Kaldor Public Art Projects (KPAP). It
summarises the influences on Kaldors choice of projects, their impact locally and internationally,
and how these changed over time. It argues that the projects have consistently been involved
with public institutions in Australia, and that these have played a part in the mythologizing of
Kaldors role within the official narrative of Australian contemporary art.
This detailed analysis of KPAP within a local and global context forms the basis for future
exploration of the role of foundations in contemporary international art, particularly their role in
the development of site-specific installation art.
40
Introduction
41
42

Museum of Contemporary Art, Sydney
Photo: Giasco Bertoli
Forbat (ed), 40 Years, 2009, p. 190.
42
Global Developments
CHAPTER ONE:
GLOBAL DEVELOPMENTS
The activities of Kaldor Public Art Projects should be understood in a global context. Not-forprofit organisations and private foundations became more prominent in the contemporary art
world, both at an institutional level, and within the wider frame of biennale and temporary art
projects. This chapter outlines how, from the 1970s onwards, a number of foundations around
the Western world became progressively involved in commissioning and facilitating site-specific
temporary installations and projects. Biennales and other art events also promoted such work.
From the 1990s, the two trends came together as foundations were increasingly involved in
commissioning large-scale site-specific art works as part of biennales and other major art
exhibitions. Whether the relationship between artform and organization was causal, responsive
or symbiotic, will be explored in this analysis.
FOUNDATIONS AND CONTEMPORARY ART

Early US foundations
The development of not-for-profit foundations and organisations from the 1990s had its
antecedents in the establishment of early foundations founded to support contemporary art. A
number of non-commercial models evolved in the 1960s to support artists making art then
described as post-sculptural or Land and Environmental Art.1 Dwan Gallery, a commercial
gallery with spaces in Los Angeles, California and later New York, had been actively involved in
showing work that encompassed Abstract Expressionism, Nouveaux Ralisme, Minimalism and
Land art between 1959 1971 in both New York and Los Angeles. 2 This art was often
unsalable, and required the presence and active involvement of the artist for each realization.
American critic and curator Barbara Rose wrote of the non-commercial support for
contemporary art and artists of this kind in an article published in Art in America in 1967.3 Rose
noted that, at other American institutions, new models for the participation of artists were being
See Rosalind Krauss, Sculpture in the Expanded Field, October, Vol. 8, Spring, 1979, MIT Press, pp. 30-44. See also Jeffrey
Kastner (ed.), Land and Environmental Art, Phaidon, London, (first published 1998) abridged, revised and updated 2010, which
features an image of Christo and Jeanne-Claudes Wrapped Coast (1969) on its cover.
1
2 Dwan Gallery, Westwood Village, Los Angeles, California opened 1959. Virginia Dwan moved to New York City in 1965 and
founded an east coast branch of the Dwan Gallery. The Dwan Gallery Los Angeles closed in mid-1967, whilst the New York
branch remained open until 1971. See Suzaan Boettger, Earthworks: Art and the landscape of the sixties, Berkeley, University of
California Press, 2002.
3
Barbara Rose, Shall we have a Renaissance?, Art in America, New York, March April, 1967, p. 35.
43
44
formed, such as the UCS initiative at Long Beach, California, in 1966. Eight sculptors were paid
a stipend, and given materials and technical assistance in return for the works made during this
time.4 The economic boom years of the 1960s in the US saw art being purchased at record rates.
It bred a new generation of collectors, with new forms of patronage emerging to support the
developing forms of art.5 As art and culture attracted a wider audience, other forms of
sponsorship and support for contemporary art were actively considered.6 More experimental
artforms were attractive to corporate patrons, representing the innovation these companies
hoped to reflect.7 In Europe, the sponsorship of Szeemanns When Attitudes Become Form (1969)
by US tobacco corporation Philip Morris indicated a progressive turn to arts patronage.8 More
recently, art historian Anna Chave has re-assessed the influence of private patrons on the
development of Minimal and post-Minimal American art, contending that they exercised a
decisive sway over the course of that art.9
The best known of these foundations was the Dia Art Foundation, which at various times
occupied sites in Chelsea, Manhattan, and Dia: Beacon, in upstate New York. Dia championed a
generation of American Minimalist artists from the movements inception. In 1974, Heiner
Friedrich and his wife, Philippa Pellizzi (ne de Menil), with Helen Winkler, founded the Dia Art
Foundation in New York. 10 Heiress to the Schlumberger oil fortune, Philippa de Menil11 had
Rose, Shall we have a Renaissance?, Art in America, 1967, p. 35.
See also Alexander Alberro, Conceptual art and the politics of publicity, The MIT Press, Cambridge, Massachusetts, London, England,
2003, particularly Chapter 1, for a discussion of contemporary art and new types of patronage, and the role of Seth Siegelaub and
his New York galleries in the late 1960s.
5
6 See Paul DiMaggio and Michael Unseem, Cultural Democracy in a Period of Cultural Expansion; The Social Composition of
Arts Audiences in the United States, Social Problems, Vol. 26, No. 2, December 1978, pp. 179-197, for a discussion of the
expansion of the middle classes as consumers of culture.
7
See also Alexander Alberro, Conceptual art, 2003, p. 13.
8 See Daniel Birnbaum, When attitude becomes form: Daniel Birnbaum on Harald Szeemann, Artforum International, Summer
(June), 2005, pp. 53-54. Claudia Di Lecce described Philip Morris sponsorship of the exhibition as an early example of art-based
marketing. See Claudia Di Lecce, Avant-garde Marketing: When Attitudes Become Form and Philip Morriss Sponsorship, in
Christian Rattemeyer and other authors, Exhibiting the New Art, Op Losse Schroeven and When Attitudes Become Form 1969,
Exhibition Histories, Afterall, London, 2010, pp. 220-229. See also Paul DiMaggio and Michael Useem, Social Class and Arts
Consumption: The Origins and Consequences of Class Difference in Exposure to the Arts in America, Theory and Society, vol. 5,
no. 2, March 1978; OConnor, Notes on Patronage, Artforum, 1972, pp. 52-56; and Alexander Alberro, Conceptual Art, 2003, pp.
6-26.
9 For a discussion of the spiritualised view of Minimalism and the influence of Count Giuseppe Panza di Biumo and the founders
of the Dia Art Foundation, Heiner Friedrich and Philippa Pellizzi (nee de Menil), see Anna Chave, Revaluing Minimalism:
Patronage, Aura, and Place, Art Bulletin 90, No. 3, September 2008, pp. 466-86.
10 Helen Winkler had worked for the Menils and Kimmelman noted that she became Dias link with many artists. Winkler and
her husband oversaw the construction of De Marias Lightning Field (1977), New Mexico. For a discussion of the development of
key East coast Minimalist works, see Chave, Revaluing Minimalism, Art Bulletin, 2008.
44
Global Developments
been profoundly influenced by the example of her parents, Dominique and John de Menil. They
were collectors, philanthropists, and well-known for commissioning the Rothko Chapel designed
by Philip Johnson,12 and founders of the Menil Collection in Houston. Philippas parents offered
a philanthropic model, first that of bricks and mortar, through the creation of their private
museum, and second the support of scholarship through collecting and the endowment of
university positions.13 Heiner Friedrich had previously run commercial galleries in Munich and
Cologne before opening a branch in a second floor-loft space in Soho, New York City in 1973.
It was a large, open space that was well suited to the presentation of work by Donald Judd,
Walter de Maria, Andy Warhol, and Blinky Palermo, many of whom he had shown in his
German galleries.14 His business partner until 1966, Franz Dahelm, noted that He saw himself
as their patron. He thought artists were the pinnacle of society and art was a system to build a
new world.15
Heiner Friedrich and Philippa de Menil wanted to find a way to actively support a contemporary
generation of American artists, many of whom were exploring site-specific works beyond the
traditional gallery space. Dias first annual report of 1995 noted that the foundations aim was to
plan, realize and maintain public projects which cannot be easily produced, financed or owned
by individual collectors because of their cost and magnitude.16 Philippa de Menil noted in 1996,
Heiner had such a different approach. It wasnt collecting.17
At the height of the early 1980s, Bob Colacello noted:
Dia was supporting almost a dozen Minimal and conceptual artists, including such
towering figures as Donald Judd, Dan Flavin, and John Chamberlain, with stipends,
11
Philipa de Menil was known as Fariha from 1978 after embracing Sufism and Islam.
The same Philip Johnson was also a supporter of the Pop Art supported by the daughter, Philippa de Menil, see below p. 107,
fn. 73.
12
13 For details of the development of the Menil Collection, and other related philanthropic activities, see Kristina Van Dyke, The
Menil Collection, Houston, Texas, African Arts, Vol. 40, Issue 3, Autumn 2007, pp. 36-49; and Colacello, Vanity Fair, 1996.
14 Heinrich Friedrich first opened a gallery in Munich in 1963, and a second in Cologne, representing artists including Joseph
Beuys, Sigmar Polke, Gerhard Richter, Donald Judd, Cy Twombly, Walter de Maria and Andy Warhol. In 1971, he opened a
space at 141 Wooster Street, SOHO, New York City. For biographical details see Michael Kimmelman, The Dia Generation,
The New York Times Magazine, April 6, 2003. Also noted in Chave, Revaluing Minimalism, Art Bulletin, 2008, p. 467-468.
15 Bob Colacello, Remains of the Dia, Vanity Fair, September 1996. Vanity Fair,
http://www.vanityfair.com/magazine/archive/1996/09/colacello199609, accessed online March 13, 2012.
16
Quoted in Chave, Revaluing Minimalism, Art Bulletin, 2008, p. 466.
17
Colacello, Remains of the Dia, Vanity Fair, 1996.
45
46
studios, assistants, and archivists for the individual museums it planned to build for each of
them.18
The resulting site-specific artworks include Walter de Marias The Lightning Field (1977), a milewide long-term installation in Western New Mexico; Walter de Marias The New York Earth Room
(1977), in Wooster Street, New York City,19 and works associated with Judds museum at Marfa,
Texas.20 All were part of Dia Art Foundations collection, and this was later supplemented by
long-term installations and exhibitions presented at Dia: Beacon.21 The approach of the Dia Art
Foundation reflected a broader desire to find new philanthropic ways to support contemporary
art both in America and overseas. It was focused on the artist, and on the new Minimal art
emerging in America at that time. Talking about the beginning of their foundation, Friedrich
noted We wanted to focus it all on the artists. And not on the institution.22
Dia Art Foundations support of such projects, within Bishops definition of installation art, was
mirrored by the evolution of organisations such as Artangel in London, and Creative Time and
Public Art Fund in New York City. They, too, were responding to the changing nature and
needs of contemporary art.
Artangel
Artangel was a privately funded charitable trust founded by Roger Took in 1985 and based in
London.23 Known as the Artangel Trust, part of its role was to support artists working outside
the confines of conventional art practice.24 The Artangel projects undertaken between 1985-1991
18
Bob Colacello, Remains of the Dia, Vanity Fair, 1996.
Robert Smithsons Spiral Jetty (1970), on the Great Salt Lake, Utah, was acquired by the Dia Art Foundation as a gift from the
Estate of the artist in 1999.
19
20
See below p.89.
21 Dia: Chelsea is located on West 22nd Street, in the heart of New Yorks gallery district, and now hosts temporary installations,
artist lectures and readings. Dia: Beacon presents the Dia Art Foundations collection from the 1960s to the present day, as well
as special exhibitions, new commissions, and public and education programs. A new gallery space on west 22nd Street is due to
open in 2016.
22
Bob Colacello, Remains of the Dia, Vanity Fair, 1996.
See Anne Carlisle and John Carson, Artangel Between God and Rambo, Circa, No. 38, Jan-Feb, 1988, pp. 18-24,
URL: http://www.jstor.org/stable/25557276, accessed March 19, 2012.
23
24
Carlisle and Carson, Artangel, Circa, 1988.
46
Global Developments
were described by Lingwood as first generation Artangel projects.25 Emerging during the
broader social and political context of the Thatcher years, artists often responded to political
issues, from gender politics to Conservativist Party rule. Billboards, posters, ephemeral sculpture,
projections and publications were all part of the projects presented during this period.26 Projects
appeared in various locations ranging from officially sanctioned, to commercial, and guerilla
sites.27 They included Krzysztof Wodiczkos City Projections (1985), a series of projections onto
buildings and iconic monuments such as Nelsons Column, Trafalgar Square, in Central London;
Andy Goldsworthys On Hampstead Heath (1986), a series of sculptural works made from materials
he found in the environment of the Heath; Lawrence Weiners Paradigms for Daily Use (1986), in
which he produced two special works that were bill-postered throughout Central London,
examples of which read We are ships at sea not ducks on ponds; Barbara Krugers billboard We
dont need another hero (1987); and Jenny Holzers Messages (1988-98), a series of terse one-liners and
aphorisms presented on the Spectacacolor Board in Piccadilly Circus.28 Each was public art
seeking a strong social and political engagement. Artists often worked closely with the
community groups to whom the works spoke. New Yorks Public Art Fund showed many of the
same artists during this period, reflecting parallel ambitions.
In 1991, James Lingwood and Michael Morris became Co-Directors and Artangel became
professionalized, their co-directorship marking a radical shift in focus and ambition. Lingwood
and Morris both came from professional arts backgrounds: they had worked together at
Londons Institute of Contemporary Art (ICI), Lingwood as a curator, and Morris running the
performing arts program.29 Lingwood had also previously curated projects that questioned
notions of public art. TSWA 3D presented nine simultaneous temporary commissions of new
work at public sites in Britain, as well as two gallery-based projects. 30 The initiative was co-
25
Van Noord, Off Limits, 2002, p. 13.
Artangel projects prior to Morris and Lingwood taking over were described in an article in Vogue as having tended to focus on
billboard and fly-poster projects that gave a visual expression to urban social themes. See Rachel Campbell-Johnston, Art Angel
Delight, Vogue, December 2002, p. 109.
26
27
See Carlisle and Carson, Artangel, Circa, 1988, for a discussion of certain early projects.
28
For details of projects see Van Noord, Off Limits, 2002, pp. 220-229.
29
30 Womens Audio Archive, WAA.033, Art Beyond Gallery: James Lingwood, Jan Hoet, Kasper, Knig, ICA, London, February
20, 1988. Accessed Womens Audio Archive, http://www.marysialewandowska.com/waa/detail.php?id=34, accessed October
20, 2012.
47
48
organised by Johnathan Harvey, Arts Consultant for Television South West; Tony Foster, Visual
Arts Officer for South West Arts at the time of inception; and Lingwood.31 Centrally organised,
and supported by funding from public and private sources, works were presented in a range of
urban and rural sites. Speaking about the TSWA 3D project in 1988, when curator at the ICA,
Lingwood noted that their intention for the project was to subvert the perception of public art as
an apologetic and anemic practice; to question site-specificity and the relationship of the work
of art to its context; and to challenge notions of audience for art beyond the gallery space, given
that there was more than one public and each was actively engaged with creating the works
meaning. The significance of the project for shifting the perceptions of what public art could be
was reflected in articles and reviews of the project in British and international journals, including
Londons Arts Review, Domus, Flash Art International, and Art in America.32 John Carlisle, Curator
of Artangel in 1988, commented that Lingwoods TSWA 3D project had set a precedent for
public art.33 While not politically contentious, the projects questioned conventional ideas of art
practice and presentation.
By 1991, Morris and Lingwood also felt that not only had art institutions lost sight of the fact
that their purpose was to engage with artists for the benefit of audiences, but also that the Codirectors could create a place that was really driven by artists.34 Reflecting the shifts in
contemporary art occurring at that time, their temporary projects became increasingly ambitious,
often large-scale and immersive. They were sites for engagement and experience, spectatorship
and the spectacular. Artangels renewed vision was reflected by a shift in organizational status,
from the privately funded charitable trust to a not-for-profit organization. The trust began to
work much more closely with artists to define and realize projects, creating significantly more
complex installations in sites that most suited the work of art. Artangel emphasised the
opportunity they offered to artists, as a means of realizing their often unarticulated dream work;
See James Lingwood, Recollection, Observation, TSWA 3D, AND Journal of Art & Art Education, No. 13/14, 1987, pp. 10-11;
and Andrew Graham-Dixon, Doing it in Public Places, The Independent, May 11, 1987.
31
32 Graham Hughes, TSWA 3D, 12 British artists to stage a public art event on nine sites, Arts Review (London, England), Vol. 39,
February 27 1987, pp. 102-3; John Furse, TSWA 3D, Arts Review (London, England), Vol. 39, June 5, 1987, pp. 387-366; Mel
Gooding, TSWA 3D, installations at various cities throughout England and Scotland, Flash Art International, Issue 136, October
1987, pp. 111-112; Iain Boyd Whyte, TSWA 3D, Domus, Issue 688, November 1987, p. 11-12; and Richard Cork, TSWA 3D:
sculpture in scattered settings with historical or cultural associations, Art in America, Vol. 75, September 1987, pp. 14-151.
33
See Carlisle, Artangel Between God and Rambo, Circa, 1988, p. 20.
34
Van Noord, Off Limits, 2002, p. 10. Artangel was described as a not-for-profit organisation from 1991.
48
Global Developments
the resources they generated to achieve often difficult and ambitious projects, and the
participatory experience that the art offered to a widening audience. This extended well beyond
the art world, and it differentiated the 1990s Artangel vision from its first phase of art projects
and exhibitions.
Two years later in 1993, Artangel presented Rachel Whitereads House (1993), a concrete cast of
the interior spaces of an East London row house. Intended as a temporary intervention, it
generated such an intense response both positive and negative that the work became the
focus of a national media debate.35 As a sculpture, it attracted interest both for its detail and as a
whole. It was impossible to view the work as independent of its physical and cultural context.36
The project became synonymous with Artangel, and epitomized a method of risk-taking,
collaboration with artists, and determined advocacy in the face of controversy. More
importantly, the work was critically and artistically acclaimed for having extended notions of
public, traditionally seen not only as a discreet object, but bearing little relation to its location or
site. This approach was continued in Artangels next projects, which included Ilya & Emilia
Kabakovs The Palace of Projects (1998), a large immersive built structure first presented at The
Roundhouse, Chalk Farm, London; Janet Cardiffs The Missing Voice (Case Study B) (1999), a fortyminute audio walk through Spitalfields and Whitechapel in Londons East End; Michael Landys
Break Down (2001); Jeremy Dellers The Battle of Orgreave (2001), a partial re-enactment for film of
the miners strike of 1984-85 in a field near Orgreave, South Yorkshire; and many other visible
and less visible projects. Artists not normally associated with public art commissions or projects
became keen to present work in such contexts. Public art or site-responsive art as it became
known by the early 1990s was now a well-established force in contemporary art.
Artangels next suite of projects reflected the directors understanding that the organisations
ambitions needed to continue to evolve, in keeping with those of its chosen artists. In 2007,
Artangel presented its first international artwork, Roni Horns Library of Water, or Vatnasafn, as
it is known in Icelandic. It was located in the remote sleepy fishing village of Stykkishlmur on
35
See James Lingwood (ed.), Rachel Whiteread: House, London, Phaidon Press, 1995.
36 Lingwood reflected on this contextual reading of House in his essay The Limits of Consensus, in Pavel Bchler and Nikos
Papastergiadis (eds.) Random Access 2: Ambient Fears, London, Rivers Oram Press, 1996, pp. 65-9.
49
50
the west coast of Iceland, several hours drive from the capital, Reykjavik.37 The project
continued to develop themes that Horn had long explored: language and material, water and
weather, reflections and illumination, and the ever-changing nature of identity.38 It was located in
a country with which Horn had long-term associations: she had first visited Iceland as an art
student in the 1970s and had been returning to Iceland from New York ever since to spend part
of the year making art in a region that she described as an open-air studio of unlimited scale and
newness.39
Horns library sits on a rocky crag, perched above the towns harbor. Twenty-four glass columns
were placed irregularly within the glass-fronted circular room overlooking the town. Each
contained water from glaciers gathered around Iceland, which refracted and reflected the
changing weather and the surrounding town on a lichen-green rubber floor embedded with
words used to describe weather and atmospheric conditions. Chess sets were set up permanently
in the gallery space. The Library of Water was also used for community gatherings, as a studio for
writers, and as a library for the oral archive of weather reports gathered from people who live
around the town.40
If the project reflected the newest form of art-led cultural tourism then, for most people, its
geographic location meant that it would only ever be experienced online or through publications
made by Horn and Artangel.41 When the library opened in 2007, Lingwood noted, Theres a lot
of number-chasing going on in the art world now. Visitor numbers are used as the measure of
success. But I think value lies elsewhere.42 The library was also presented through a strong web
presence, as arresting images attempted to capture the work. Clever web-design placed the
artwork at the centre of the world: New York is only 4197 km away, while Artangel in London is
See James Lingwood and Gerrie van Noord (eds.), Vatnasafn / Library of Water, Artangel and Steidl, London and Gttingen,
Germany, 2009; Roni Horn, Weather Reports You, Artangel and Steidl, London and Gttingen, Germany, 2007.
37
38
See for example Roni Horn, Dictionary of Water, Steidl, 2001; Her, Her, Her & Her, Steidl, 2004.
See Brian Scholls, Bottled Water, Artforum, Scene & Herd, May 14, 2007, http://artforum.com/diary/id=15317, accessed
February 13, 2008; and noted in James Lingwood, Journey to the LIBRARY OF WATER, in Lingwood and Van Noord (eds.)
Vatnasafn / Library of Water, 2009, p. 15.
39
40
Noted both in the website and publications on the subject.
41
Horn, Weather Reports You, 2007; Lingwood and van Noord, Vatnasafn / Library of Water, 2009.
42 See Alastair Sooke, A chip off the old block, The Telegraph, May 19, 2007. The Telegraph,
http://www.telegraph.co.uk/culture/art/3665236/A-chip-off-the-old-block.html, accessed online, March 18, 2008.
50
Global Developments
a mere 1948 km.43 For a project far removed from metropolitan centres of the art world, firsthand experience became only one of the ways to engage with a site-specific work of this kind.
For Artangel, the project in Iceland offered the not-for-profit organization the chance to present
a work beyond the geographic confines of London, England. Their desire for global reach
reflected the ambitions of a number of other not-for-profit organisations and private
foundations, as they became increasingly visible in the contemporary art world, both at an
institutional level, and within the wider frame of biennale and temporary art projects. Indeed, the
artworks that the foundations fostered became central to understandings of contemporary art.
As with later foundations, Artangel was active in promoting its own history. This emphasized
the impact of its own activities on both contemporary art and philanthropy. Arguably, the
visibility of these publications, and Artangels growing profile had shifted its role by 2000 from
that of organizational and philanthropic supporter of commissioned works to a new form of
institution, albeit without gallery walls.44 Artangel was working within the contemporary art
world, rather than in parallel. Artangel published widely, with many of its more notable projects
captured in monographic catalogues and books published after the event. Contextual essays
presented alongside images documented the temporary works.45 Artangel published an overview
of its projects, Off Limits, 40 Artangel Projects in 2002, which included an essay by author Marina
Warner, a conversation between the co-Directors and artist Michael Craig-Martin, and an essay
by critic and academic Claire Bishop. In an attempt to curate Artangels projects into an overall
set of themes, projects were grouped around the themes of Motion, Past, Navigation, Pulse, and
Time. A chronology outlined projects from Artangels inception in 1985. However, the focus
was on projects from 1991 to 2002. The publication located Artangel firmly within a broader
contemporary art debate. In it, Lingwood suggested that the British model of patronage was in
part responsible for the development of an entrepreneurial culture, with Artangel a prime
example. He defined UK patterns of patronage as stuck between two different models: the
American model of private patronage funded by tax breaks and a particular tradition of
43
See Library of Water website, http://www.libraryofwater.is/, accessed September 29, 2012.
See Alex Farquharson, Bureaux de Change, frieze, 2006; Nina Mntmann (ed.), Art and Its Institutions: Current Conflicts, Critique,
and Collaborations, Black Dog Publishing, London, 2006; and Jens Hoffmann, A Plea for Exhibitions, Mousse magazine, Issue 24,
June 2010, accessed online, http://moussemagazine.it/articolo.mm?id=569, October 5, 2012.
44
See for example Lingwood, House, 1995; Matthew Barney, Cremaster 4 (1995), Artangel in association with Barbara Gladstone
Gallery, New York, and Fondation Cartier, Paris; Gabriel Orozco, Empty Club (1998), Artangel; Michael Landy, Break Down (2001),
Artangel; Jeremy Deller, The English Civil War Part II, with CD (2002), Artangel.
45
51
52
philanthropy; and a continental-European model of consistent patronage sourced from a

centralized state.46
Public Art Fund

New Yorks Public Art Fund (PAF) became, in the 1990s, New Yorks leading presenter of
artists projects, new commissions, and exhibitions in public spaces. 47 PAF worked with
emerging and established artists to produce a range of contemporary projects located beyond
museums and galleries.
Created by Doris C. Freedman in 1977, PAF consolidated two organisations: City Walls, founded
in 1969, and the Public Arts Council, founded in 1971.48 The combined not-for-profit
organization aimed to bring artists ideas to the forefront while establishing contemporary art as
a vital component of New York Citys unique urban landscape.49 The focus on urban renewal
through culturally led programs coincided with other initiatives involving Doris C. Freedman,
such as New York Citys Percent for Art Program, which was introduced in 1982 after a decade
of lobbying.50 The organisations early activities ranged from artworks commissioned by PAF,
projects administered by PAF (which worked as an agency for others), and an active advocacy
role for public art through education and public program events.51 Early PAF activities shared
46
See Cher Krause Knight, Public Art: theory, practice and populism, Malden, MA, Blackwell, 2008, p. 138-140 for a discussion of the
role of PAF and Creative Time.
47
See Eccles, Plop, 2004; and Public Art Fund, Ten Years of Public Art: 1972-1982, with essays by Jenny Dixon, Jessica Cusick and
Nancy Rosen, (ex. cat.), Public Art Fund, New York, 1982.
48
49
Public Art Fund website, http://www.publicartfund.org.pafweb/about.about_paf.htm, accessed June 2, 2009.
50 Legislation required that one percent of the budget for eligible City-funded construction projects be spent on artwork for City
facilities. See Department of Cultural Affairs, New York Culture, City of New York website,
http://www.nyc.gov/html/dcla/html/panyc/panyc.shtml, accessed September 22, 2012. The scheme has now been widely
adopted within the USA and internationally, as reflected by the Netherlands publication marking the 60th anniversary of a Percent
for Art Program in government buildings in that country, which included an essay by Loyd W. Benjamin III, contextualizing the
program from an international perspective. See Winjnand Galema, Commissioned: sixty years of the percentage for art programme
commissioned by the Dutch Government Buildings Agency, AAJ (Art & Architecture Journal Press), SUN Publishers, 2011.
Such as the Cooper-Hewitt Sculpture Symposium, Community Sculpture, July 28, 1971, in which PAF participated. Public Art
Fund Archive, Series 1, Subseries A, Box 1, Folder 10, Fales Library and Special Collections; or a symposium held on Sat October
20, 1984, coinciding with the exhibition Land Marks held at the Edith C. Blum Art Institute, Bard College Center, SeptemberOctober 1984, co-sponsored by the Edith C. Blum Art Institute and PAF. Public Art Fund, Series III, Subseries C, Box 17,
Folder 12, Fales Library and Special Collections.
51
52
Global Developments
similarities with the first generation of Artangel projects: they tended to be more experimental
and socially and politically engaged, and often presented the work of the same artists.52
PAF commissions during the 1980s included Jenny Holzers Aphorisms (1982), and Barbara
Krugers Messages to the Public (1983), displayed on the electric Spectacolor signboard in Times
Square, presaging projects in London auspiced by Artangel including Kruger in 1987, and Holzer
in 1988-89.53 All offered new forms of public art. The role of public art, the significance of sitespecificity, and who ultimately had jurisdiction over permanent works was widely debated in New
York and America, following the removal of Richard Serras Tilted Arc (1981) from the public
plaza of the Jacob K. Javits Federal Building in Lower Manhattan.54 While issues of sitespecificity were pertinent to many PAF projects, because they were temporary they were not
debated in the same acrimonious way. PAF activities did not always appear on public streets.
Krugers Group Material Inserts (1988) offered another form of public art. Broadly questioning the
role of culture and its audience, the work was a printed supplement of artists works and images
inserted in The New York Times on Sunday May 22, 1988. In the same year, Krugers billboard
Untitled (We dont need another hero) (1988) was one of many billboard projects PAF presented
during this period.55
The 1990s was a decade characterized by a renewed focus on the artist, and the importance of
the experience of the work for PAF. Again, paralleling developments at Artangel from the early
1990s onwards, the New York-based not-for-profit organization worked more closely with artists
in conceiving and realizing each project. PAF became more of a producer than a manager, as the
organization developed a curatorial model that saw artists directly selected to make projects by
the Director, rather than chosen by a panel or open selection process. Tom Eccles, Director and
Curator of Public Art Fund from 1996-2005, noted in an essay in 2004 that the example of
52
See above p. 47.
53 See for example Grant Kester,Beyond the White Cube: Activist Art and the Legacy of the 1960s, Public Art Review,
Spring/Summer 2003, Vol. 14, Issue 2, pp. 4-11.
54 See Douglas Crimp, On the Museums Ruins, Cambridge, Massachusetts, The MIT Press, 1993, pp. 150-154; Harriet Senie, The
Tilted Arc Controversy: Dangerous Precedent?, Minneapolis, University of Minnesota Press, 2001.
55 For details of other notable PAF billboard projects, such as Felix Gonzales-Torres Untitled (billboard poster) (1989), a work
made in direct response to the Stonewall Riots of 1969, homosexuality, HIV and Aids, and police harassment, see PAF website,
http://www.publicartfund.org/view/exhibitions/5946_untitled_billboard_poster, accessed September 21, 2012.
53
54
Whitereads House commissioned and presented by Artangel in 1993 radically changed the way
the PAF conceived its relationship with artists.56
This refocused approach led to PAF inviting Whiteread to make a work in New York. Rather
than beginning with a site and a budget, the invitation allowed the artist an extended period of
investigation in which to develop a proposal.57 A partnership was created in which PAF as the
commissioning organization took an active role in the conception, fabrication, installation and
final presentation.58 The ultimate result was Rachel Whitereads Water Tower (1998), a clear resin
cast of a water tower, which offered a semi-translucent rendering of the original water towers
that still punctuated the SoHo skyline. It was presented five years after her London project.59
High on the city horizon, the cast was readily overlooked by an unknowing public, and even
those in search. Its location and materials ensured it remained an enigmatic work, though it
captured a disappearing historical element that made New Yorks skyline unique. For those who
chanced upon it, the lack of highly visible signage or specific art context meant that for viewers
its status as art was not necessarily obvious.
Other PAF projects commissioned during the 1990s reflected broader developments in
contemporary art, as illustrated by works featured in the 2004 publication PLOP, Recent Projects of
the Public Art Fund.60 Accompanying contextual essays by Eccles, Dan Cameron, curator of the
New Museum, and art historian Katy Siegel reinforced this shift. In contrast to the thematic
approach to projects presented in Artangels Off Limits (2002), Plop presented artists projects in
alphabetical order. Within the context of the commissioned essays, images of the projects
provided a compelling argument for the evolving notion of public art.
Like Artangel, the artistic evolution of PAF mirrored an organizational evolution beyond the
vision of its original instigator and advocate. It too evolved into a non-profit arts organization
that became in itself a form of alternative institution, supported by government funds and by
56
Eccles, Plop, Plop, 2004, p. 11.
57
Eccles, Plop, 2004, p. 11.
58 Artangel uses the term Producer in favour of the more recognisable art museum term of curator to denote this role.
Conversation with Rob Bowman, Head of Programmes and Production, Artangel, London, September 24, 2009. See also
Artangel website, http://www.artangel.org.uk/about_us/staff_profiles, accessed September 21, 2012. Eccles also noted this shift
from public art manager to producer. See Eccles, Plop, 2004, p. 14.
59
Eccles noted that the project took three years to develop. See Eccles, Plop, 2004, p. 14.
60
Tom Eccles, Plop, 2004.
54
Global Developments
contributions from individuals, foundations and corporations.61 The appointment of Nicholas

Baume as Director and Chief Curator of PAF in September 2009 marked the next stage in the
instituions evolution. Baume articulated a desire to present a range of variously scaled projects
within the unique context of New York.62 Working with emerging and established contemporary
artists on site-specific projects, Baume and his staff are continuing to explore ideas of public art
and contemporaneity, within history and artistic legacy of the PAF.
Creative Time
Creative Time was active in New York City from the early 1970s. 63 It was formed in 1973 by
Susan Henshaw, Anita Contini and Karin Bacon, at a time when Manhattan was verging on
bankruptcy, the urban landscape was deteriorating, and the city was suffering social and political
unrest.64 As Director since 1994, Anne Pasternak noted the three women believed that artists
could reanimate life in Lower New York, taking over vacant shop fronts in the financial Wall
Street area.65 Anita ONeill, Director of Creative Time in 1974 described early projects at the
time as a means of introducing the artist into the corporate work place, revealing the artistic
process, and giving workers something to do in their lunchtimes.66 There were a number of
other alternative arts spaces and organisations that developed at this time in New York, such as
The Kitchen, an artist-run space founded in 1971, that incorporated as a non-profit two years
later, with the aim of providing a place for the presentation of experimental video and
performance art and experimental music and film.67 As with other artist initiated projects,
Creative Time had a clear social and political agenda. It redefined notions of public art, taking an
61
See for example the list of donors, sponsors and government and non-supporters for any recent project.
62
Conversation with Nicholas Baume, New York, Monday January 17, 2011.
63
For a discussion of the role of PAF and Creative Time, see Knight, Public Art, 2008, p. 138-140.
64 See Kirby Gookin, History, in Ruth A. Peltason (ed.), Creative Time: The Book, Creative Time and Princeton Architectural Press,
2007. For a historic overview of art and social change from the 19th century to present day, see Will Bradley and Charles Esche,
Art and Social Change, a Critical Reader, Tate Publishing in association with Afterall, Central Saint Martins College of Art & Design,
London, 2007.
65
Marshall Heyman, This Woman is Changing the Way we see Art, Wall Street Journal (WSJ) Magazine, Friday January 27, 2012.
66
Ricki Fulman, Artists tie string around the midday blahs, Daily News, Monday March 4, 1974.
67 Artists included Vito Acconci, Kiki Smith, Charles Atlas, Lucinda Childs, and board members Laurie Anderson, Philip Glass
and Meredith Monk. For a history of alternative arts spaces and organisations in New York, see Julie Ault (ed.), Alternative Art
New York, 1965-1985, Minneapolis, MN, University of Minnesota Press, 2002.
55
56
early interest in relationships to site, context and audience participation, in what later came to be
known as socially engaged art.68
For Art on the Beach (1978-1985), Creative Time commissioned a series of large-scale,
experimental public sculptures and performances featuring over one hundred and eighty artists,
against the backdrop of the Hudson River and the skyline of Lower Manhattan.69 More recently,
Creative Time presented a series of solo artist projects alongside curated events. Mike Nelsons
A Psychic Vacuum (2007) transformed the disused interior of the Essex Street Market in NYCs
Lower East Side, into a type of parallel universe.70 Like many of Nelsons previous projects, the
immersive installation responded to the buildings history, the surrounding landscape and cultural
references, and was created with salvaged materials that the artist had gathered over an extended
installation period.71 For Nelson, the project built on an increasingly international history of sitespecific projects shown as part of international biennales, and immersive installations in gallery
spaces in the UK, Europe, and even Australia.72 For Creative Time, the project continued its
history of encouraging discussion about neighborhoods on the verge of change and the
production of site-specific work. Other recent projects included It is what it is: Conversations about
Iraq (2009), a mobile project by Jeremy Deller intended to stimulate unmediated dialogue about
the history, present circumstances and the future of Iraq, commissioned in collaboration with the
New Museum;73 and Stephen Vitiellos site-specific sound work, A Bell for Every Minute, Manhattan
(2010), presented in collaboration with friends of the High Line and the New York City
Department of Parks & Recreation.74
See Nato Thompson (ed.), Living as Form, Socially Engaged Art from 1991-2011, Creative Time and The MIT Press, Cambridge,
MA, 2012; also see above p. 13.
68
69
See Peltason, Creative Time, 2007, pp. 62-67.
70 Mike Nelson, A Psychic Vacuum, September 8 October 28, 2007. Co-organised by Nato Thompson, Curator & Producer at
Creative Time, and Peter Eleey, Walker Art Centre (previously Curator & Producer, Creative Time).
See Creative Time website for project details, http://creativetime.org/programs/archive/2007/nelson/, accessed September
22, 2011.
71
72 Nelson showed as part of the Venice Biennale 2001; the Biennale of Sydney 2002; 8th International Istanbul Biennal 2003; the
26th Bienal de So Paolo 2004; and as part of Frieze Foundations Projects at Frieze Art Fair 2006. Lonely Planet, Australian Centre
for Contemporary Art, 21 December 2006 27 February 2007 was curated by Rebecca Coates. See Matts Gallery for details,
http://www.mattsgallery.org/artists/nelson/exhibition-3.php. accessed October 12, 2012.
The project was curated by Nato Thompson and Laura Hoptman. It was first shown at the New Museum, where a variety of
people with first-hand experiences of Iraq engaged in conversation with visitors. In March 2009, the project took the road in a
specially outfitted road vehicle, conducting conversations in more than ten locations across the US. See Creative Time website
for details, http://creativetime.org/projects/it-is-what-it-is-conversations-about-iraq/, accessed October 7, 2012.
73
74
See p. 267.
56
Global Developments
Creative Times social and political engagement also took the form of Public Summits. On
September 23, 2011, Creative Time held its third Summit: Living as Form, in which over thirty
curators, artists and thinkers addressed a range of subjects that directly engaged with the pressing
issues affecting our world.75 The Summit was held in conjunction with the exhibition, Living as
Form, curated by Nato Thompson, Chief Curator, Creative Time. The exhibition featured over
one hundred artists and projects, twenty-five curators and nine new commissions presented at
the Historic Essex Street Market. It aimed to highlight twenty years of socially engaged art. The
exhibition and Summit coincided with the socially and politically motivated activism of the
Occupy Wall Street movement, and so summit participants decision to forego talk during one
session and actively join the movement reflected Creative Times political and socially engaged
history and Thompsons desire to be actively involved.76 Creative Times acknowledged role as a
commissioner of more experimental public art reaffirmed socially engaged art as a burgeoning
trend in the development of contemporary art.
Creative Times publication, Creative Time: The Book, published in 2007, documented each of the
projects presented over a thirty-three year history. The book was divided into sections entitled
New York City, People, Power, Experiment and Surprise. Each section featured a contextual
essay, such as Linda Yablonskys New York: A Personal Site Map, followed by projects around
each theme. The focus of the book reflected an institution that portrayed itself as firmly
embedded within the city and the people who supported it.
Like Artangel and Public Art Fund, Creative Time worked without a permanent gallery, though
many of their projects were organised in collaboration with other public organisations. They too
evolved from a small informal operation to a professionalised arts organization, with a clearly
defined role and position within the wider contemporary art world.
The Creative Time Summit, http://creativetime.org/programs/archive/2011/livingasform/summit.htm, accessed October 7,

2012.
75
76 See Nato Thompson, The Occupation of Wall Street across Time and Space, eipcp, European institute for progressive cultural
policies, October 2011, URL: http://eipcp.net/transversal/1011/thompson/en, accessed October 7, 2012. See Claire Tancons,
Occupy Wall Street: Carnival Against Capital? Carnivalesque as Protest Sensibility. e-flux online journal, No. 30, December 2011,
http://www.e-flux.com/journal/occupy-wall-street-carnival-against-capital-carnivalesque-as-protest-sensibility/, accessed August
11, 2012.
57
58
PEER
PEER began in 1997 as the not-for-profit Pier Trust. Its small project-space in Shoreditch Town
Hall in Londons East End became known as PEER in 1999.77 The Pier Trust was set up by
Alex Sainsbury, heir to one of the largest fortunes in Britain derived from the UK supermarket
giant, Sainsburys. His family had a tradition of patronage and support for the arts. Alexs father,
Timothy, famously funded the 50m Sainsbury Wing at the National Gallery.78 Alex Sainsbury
chose to pursue a more active form of patronage by championing contemporary art.
Between 1998-2001 PEER dynamically commissioned and supported the presentation of a range
of site-specific installations in and around the East End of London. Its focus on the presentation
of projects largely in this part of the city offered another form of cultural activity in a part of
London that was increasingly identified as an incubator for an exciting range of contemporary art
spaces encouraging emerging practice, artists studios, and artist-run-initiatives.79
For the Trusts first project, Political Homeopathy (1998), unattributed images by Drew Milne,
Gilian Breeze and Richard Wentworth appeared for three consecutive weeks in the pages of The
Spectator. The following month, they again appeared in another right-wing British newspaper, The
New Statesman.80 The project acknowledged a history of early Artangel and PAF projects of
socially and politically engaged art, and public projects that took different forms. In 1999, Martin
Creed produced four new works for PEER. His large neon text work, Work No. 203, Everything is
going to be alright (1999), was installed under the portico of a listed building, The Portico, in
Clapton, East London.81 Three of Creeds recorded songs commissioned by PEER were also
77
PEER website, http://www.peeruk.org/about-peer.html, accessed September 12, 2012.
78 Lena Corner, Close-up: Alex Sainsbury, The Independent, Sunday 19 April, 2009. The Independent online,
http://www.independent.co.uk/arts-entertainment/art/features/closeup-alex-sainsbury-1669068.html, accessed September 12,
2012.
79 It could be argued that the move was the inverse of Floridas Creative Cities, as cheap rents in an otherwise affluent and
wealthy international city in the 1980s and 1990s, and close geographic location, led to the proliferation of artists studios and
gallery spaces in this part of London. See Richard Florida, What Critics Get Wrong About Creative Cities, The Atlantic Cities,
May 30, 2012, http://www.theatlanticcities.com/jobs-and-economy/2012/05/what-critics-get-wrong-about-creativecities/2119/, accessed July 18, 2012.
October 1998, and November 1998. See PEER website, http://www.peeruk.org/projects/political-homeopathy/politicalhomeopathy.html, accessed October 11, 2012.
80
The same work was subsequently installed in Times Square by Public Art Fund in 2000; and in 2006 by the Fondazione Nicola
Trussardi, on the faade of the Palazzo dellArengario di Piazza del Duomo, as part of their project, I Like Things, May-June 2006.
It became the signature image of his exhibition in Milan: see p.63. See also Louisa Buck, 'Martin Creed', Artforum, New York,
Vol. XXXVIII, No. 6, February 2000, pp. 110-111.
81
58
Global Developments
published on CD: Work No 207, I like things (1999), Work no. 208, Nothing is something (1999), and
Work No. 209, I cant move (1999). Ceal Floyers exhibition for PEER, Massive Reduction (2001), a
playful form of pared-back minimalism or essential every-day aesthetics, was the last show to be
presented in the Shoreditch Town Hall space in April 2001. After 2001, PEER moved to
Hoxton Street, Shoreditch, also in the East End. 82
Trustees took an active role in the choice of artists and organization of projects: a number of the
projects were initiated by PEER trustees during this early period. Other projects, such as Martin
Creeds large neon installation, were presented through the collaboration of PEER members with
local councils, government agencies, and other private grant giving trusts and foundations.83 The
foundation was not only driving an artistic agenda, but the increasingly ambitious projects
required consortia of support from various sources.
PEERs most ambitious project was Mike Nelsons The Deliverance and The Patience at the 2001
Venice Biennale, discussed further below.84 Nelsons installation at the 2001 Venice Biennale was
the first and only project PEER presented outside the British capital. Quite possibly, the logistics
and costs of staging a project of this scale and ambition in Venice were experiences that they
chose not to repeat. Moreover, the increasing number of collateral events of this kind at the
Venice Biennale made their endeavour no longer distinctive.
Alex Sainsbury subsequently opened Raven Row Gallery, a not-for-profit art space on the edges
of the City of London, which, he said, differed from the more traditional commercial
contemporary art gallery. He described Raven Row as a charitable company funded by me, in
which he was totally engaged in running.85 By 2012, PEER had also professionalised, appointing
a director, general manager, and advisory boards, in line with the typical evolution of such
82
PEER, 97-99 Hoxton Street, Shoreditch, London N1 6QL.
83 Political Homeopathy, 1998 was initiated by Andrew Brighton, a trustee of Peer; while Creeds Work No. 203, Everything is going to be
alright, 1999 was initiated and curated by Ingrid Swenson in partnership with The Hackney Historic Buildings Trust, while the CD
was a commission of PEER. See Peer website, http://www.peeruk.org/projects/creed/martin-creed.html, accessed October 11,
2012.
84
See p. 83.
85 Oliver Basciano, Alex Sainsbury on Raven Row, ARTINFO, February 25, 2009,
http://www.artinfo.com/news/story/30483/alex-sainsbury-on-raven-row, accessed September 12, 2012.
59
60
foundations.86 PEER described itself in 2012 as an independent organization that commissions

imaginative and ambitious arts projects by local, national and international artists in the heart of
east London.87
By 2012, however, the local and wider global contemporary art landscape in which PEER was
presenting projects had radically changed. A number of other not-for-profit foundations had
also been launched, with a sustained international focus and strong biennale presence.
Fondazione Nicola Trussardi

One of these foundations was the Fondazione Nicola Trussardi, originally established by Nicola
Trussardi in 1997. Its first incarnation supported a permanent gallery space in the flagship
building of the Trussardi Groups fashion headquarters in Milan. Group exhibitions there
reflected the eclectic tastes of a keen collector and advocate of art, fashion and culture, with a
healthy dose of theatre, style and spectacle.88 Opera-singer Luciano Pavarotti described Nicola as
one of the best ambassadors of Made in Italy in the world.89 American director Robert
Altmans film Prt--Porter (1994) captured Trussardis vision, with the Italian fashion
entrepreneur making a cameo appearance, playing himself.
The Foundation shifted dramatically when Beatrice Trussardi, Nicolas daughter, became
president in 1999. Unlike her father, Beatrice Trussardi did not see herself as a collector of
modern and contemporary art, as many now understand the term.90 She did away with the
permanent gallery space, and appointed young Italian curator and New York editor of the Milan-
86 Ingrid Swenson was Director, and there was also a General Manager position, a Board of Trustees and an Advisory Group.
87
Early exhibitions included work by 20th century modernist, Pablo Picasso, entitled Picasso La Collezione Nascosta (the Hidden
Collection). In 1998, exhibitions included Dennis Hopper Italian Walls; Robert Mapplethorpe - Flowers & Portraits, Rudolf Nureyev Realt e Sortilegio (reality and sorcery); Eve Arnold in Retrospect; From Van Gough to Modernity; and Jasper Johns The Screenprints. In
1999, exhibitions included Capolavori dellArte del XX secolo (Great works of the 20th century), in collaboration with Christies; The
Ceramics of Gio Ponti; Music and Fetishism; and Smashing + Smashing, in collaboration with Saatchi and Saatchi. Trussardi Group,
URL: http://www.trussardi.com/chronology_sub_three.html, accessed April 18, 2011.
88
Francesca Fearon, Obituary: Nicola Trussardi, The Independent, Friday 16 April, 1999. Arts and entertainment.
http://www.independent.co.uk/arts-entertainment/obituary-nicola-trussardi-1087465.html, accessed April 13, 2011.
89
90 Trussardi emphasized this in an interview with Cecilia Alemani, curator and writer (and partner of Massimiliano Gioni). She
was alluding to the super collectors such as Charles Saatchi, Francois Pinault, and Eli Broad, who took a highly visible role in the
contemporary art market. Trussardi offered an alternative to this model, and spoke instead of the projects that the Trussardi
foundation had presented. See Andrea Bellini, with Cecilia Alemani, Lillian Davies (eds), Collecting Contemporary Art, Printed by
MUMESCI, spa. HAPAX series, 2008, pp. 87-90.
60
Global Developments
based Flash Art International, Massimiliano Gioni, as Artistic Director in 2001. 91 Gioni was only
twenty-nine, but he was already making a name for himself in Europe and New York.92 His
appointment by Trussardi reflected her first-hand knowledge of a local and global contemporary
art world, having completed a liberal arts education and further study in New York, as well as
internship positions in New York art museums.93 Their respective backgrounds presaged a
strong American/European focus of projects presented from 2001 onwards. Gionis
appointment signalled Trussardis desire to present contemporary art projects that reflected the
manifold forms of contemporary art, and the role art and culture could and should play as part of
a vibrant society.94 Trussardi and Gioni also appointed an advisory board for the Foundation,
comprised of high profile, well-connected, international contemporary art curators, critics and
writers. The board included: Laura Hoptman, Curator, Department of Painting and Sculpture,
MoMA, New York; Hans Ulrich Obrist, Director of International Projects and Co-director of
Exhibitions, Serpentine Gallery, London, UK; Jerry Saltz, critic, New York Magazine, New York;
and Philippe Vergne, Director Dia Art Foundation, New York.95 Trussardis ambition to create a
Milan-based global brand fusing luxury fashion, design, and contemporary art was a conscious
manifestation of Richard Floridas creatively led economy.96 It would be consistent with Floridas
thesis to hope that the creation of high profile international events, such as Fondazione Nicola
Trussardis contemporary art projects, would attract creative workers in related fields with higher
economic productivity.
Between 2003-2010, the Trussardi Foundation presented thirteen site-specific, temporary
projects by contemporary artists in a diverse range of locations and buildings throughout Milan.
91
Arte, n.a., Il Personaggio Del Mese, (person of the month), Arte, December, 2002.
92 In 2002, Gioni opened the Wrong Gallery in New York with Maurizio Cattelan and curator Ali Subotnic. The tiny gallery
space presented the work of leading contemporary artists, including Pawel Althamer, Martin Creed, Paul McCarthy and Paola
Pivi., See Arianna di Genova, n.t., Marie Claire, December 2002, n.p., 2002; Arte, n.a., Il Personaggio Del Mese, Arte, 2002.
93
Arte, n.a., Arte, January 2003, n.p, 2003.
In 2003, Trussardi noted that contemporary art, in particular, allows us to see reality in a different way, and enables a sort of
literary key for living and interpreting the past, the present and the future. Io credo che larte contemporanea ci permetta di
vedere la realt in modo diverso e costituisce una sorta di chaive di letteratura per vivere e interpretare il passato, il presente e il
future. In Viaggio, n.a., In Viaggio, Ottobre 2003, p. 47.
94
95 Though Roberta Tenconi, Curator of the Fondazione Nicola Trussardi, noted that they did not meet formally. Conversation
with Roberta Tenconi, Milan, June 21, 2010. For a list of board members, see Fondazione Nicola Trussardi,
http://www.fondazionenicolatrussardi.com/the_foundation/board_members.html, accessed October 7, 2012.
See Florida, The rise of the Creative Class, 2002. For a discussion of culturally-led urban regeneration, see Joanne Fox-Przeworski,
John Goddard and Mark De Jong (eds.), Urban Regeneration in a Changing Economy, Oxford: Clarendon Press, 1991.
96
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The project-curated approach with no permanent gallery space was a deliberate break both with
the Trussardi Foundations past as well as the practice of other prominent contemporary art
foundations in Milan of the time. Beatrice Trussardi and Massimiliano Gioni described the
functioning of the Foundation as a nomadic museum. 97 Their first project, an installation of
Michael Elmgreen & Ingar Dragsets Short Cut (2003), presented a car and its caravan erupting
from the patterned tile floor of the Galleria Vittorio Emanuele, under the central dome. The
work co-opted the symbol of Italys economic revival, the ubiquitous Italian everymans car, a
white Fiat Uno. The site the centre of Milanese retailing added cultural and political context
to the contemporary work of art, and announced the Foundations strategy of urban disruption
and discovery.
In February-March 2004, the Foundation presented I Nuovi Mostri (Life is Beautiful). Works by
sixteen young Italian artists were produced as posters that were affixed in public advertising
spaces throughout Milan. Trussardi described the project as a peaceful invasion of the city.98
The Milan project was also accompanied by a free tabloid-form publication, which included all
the images of the posters alongside an introductory text exploring stereotypes, and a dictionary of
Italian clichs. The project acknowledged a history of the poster as a form of protest, in ironic
contradiction to the Milan fashion capitals strong tradition of advertising and highly stylized art
photography of the fashion world. Trussardis project enabled it to build links with a younger
generation of Italian artists. It created opportunities for Gioni to work with his artistic
contemporaries. It also ensured that when the Foundation presented projects with
internationally recognized contemporary artists, these would resonate with and be supported by
the local artistic community.
Most Trussardi Foundation projects featured work by leading contemporary artists whose art
also appeared prominently in major international exhibitions and biennales. They ranged from
site-specific projects, to curated exhibitions in unique spaces in Milan that featured new and
existing work as sculpture, installation, video, film, and performance. Maurizio Cattelan
97 Gioni used this term often in interviews to discuss the projects and approach of the foundation, as did President Beatrice
Trussardi. See for example, Elena Lanzanova, Larte Shock Di Paul Mccarthy Arriva A Milano, Arcadja Art Magazine,
Wednesday 26 May, 2010, http://www.arcadja.com/artmagazine/it/2010/05/26/larte-shock-di-paul-mccarthy-arriva-a-milano/;
accessed June 20, 2010.
98 See Massimiliano Gioni (ed.) What Good is the Moon? The exhibitions of the Trussardi Foundation, Fondazione Nicola Trussardi,
Hatje Cantz, Germany, 2010, pp. 246-255.
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Global Developments
exhibited Untitled (2004), an installation of three children hanging by their necks from an ancient
oak in the centre of Piazza XXIV Maggio. John Bocks film Meechfieber (2004) was showcased in
Milans Sala Reale (Royal Room), part of a series of video installations that revealed Milans
Stazione Centrale (central train station) in a new light. Urs Fischers House of Bread inhabited the
church of the Istituto dei Ciechi, part of a larger project, Jet Set Lady (2005); while Martin Creeds
neon sign Everything is going to be all right (2006) (first commissioned by PEER in 1999)99
illuminated the faade of the Palazzo dellArgerio flanking Milans central Duomo, as part of the
exhibition I Like Things (2006) at the same institution. Paul McCarthys exhibition Pig Island
(2010) featured immersive video installations, sculpture, and a dramatically-scaled installation that
had never previously been shown. It was presented in Palazzo Citterios subterranean gallery
spaces, part of the Pinacoteca di Breras unfinished 1980s Grande Brera extension designed by
British architect James Stirling, which had languished forgotten and closed to the public for over
twenty years.100
Each project engaged with the sites and histories of Milan, offering a context for the projects and
installations that would remain unique.101 Gioni and others characterized Milan as lacking a
contemporary art space, or kunsthalle, and saw the Fondazione Nicola Trussardis projects and
exhibitions as a roaming contemporary art program that addressed this need.102 Gioni contrasted
Turins range of internationally recognized public and private contemporary art spaces with the
city of Milan, where contemporary art had been presented primarily by commercial galleries and
art spaces.103 In fact, Milan did have some other not-for-profit spaces and other galleries run by
99
See p. 58.
100 Palazzo Citterio was purchased by the Italian State in 1972 as an extension to the nearby Pinacoteca di Brera, to show
temporary exhibitions, cultural events and education programs. The project was halted by legal disputes, and in 2012 remains
unfinished. See Luisa Arrigoni, Pinacoteca di Brera: guida ufficiale, Touring club italiano, Soprintendenza per beni artistici e storici,
Milano, 1998, p. 14.
Other examples of contemporary art presented in historic buildings included Jeff Koons installation of work in Versailles in
2008; and Takashi Murakami at Versailles in 2010. See Meredith Martin, Amassed Ornaments, Meredith Martin on
contemporary art at Versailles, Artforum, Vol. 49, No. 7, March 2011.
101
See Luca Cerizza, Massimiliano Gioni, City Report, Milan and Turin, Frieze Issue 102, October 2006, pp. 251.
http://www.frieze.com/issue/article/milan_turin/, Accessed online, February 18, 2011. Marina Abramovi presented Rhythm 4
(1974) at Galeria Diagramma, Milan, part of her 1970s Rhythm performance series also presented in Rome and Naples. Galleria
Massimo de Carlo, EMI Fontana, Studio Guenzani, and Gi Marconi all opened in the late 1980s, while in the 1990s, a younger
generation of spaces presented a younger generation of contemporary artists. See Giacinto di Pietrantonio, Whats After Italy?
focus on Italy, Flash Art 260, May June 2008, Flash Art International online,
http://www.flashartonline.com/interno.php?pagina=articolo_det&id_art=106&det=ok&title=WHAT-S-AFTER-ITALY?Focus-Italy; accessed November 30, 2010.
102
103
Cerizza and Gioni, City Report, Frieze, 2006.
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private foundations focused on contemporary art, although none were committed to presenting
high profile international contemporary art on the scale that Trussardi subsequently developed.
Government funded spaces included the Villa Reale, which presented a mainly historic
permanent collection, though little of Milans historic early 20th century artists and art was ever on
display. They nearby Padiglione Arte Contemporanea (PAC), showed a range of temporary
exhibitions and contemporary art. However, Gioni noted it was an institution that remains in
perennial indecision that affects its programming and funding.104 Other spaces include Careof,
launched in 1987 and located in Fabbrica del Vapore since 2002, a not-for-profit organization
presenting a range of temporary exhibitions by emerging Italian artists with some younger
international artists, and housing an archive of artists materials and work.105 Its role in the
landscape of Milan is not dissimilar to other contemporary art spaces marketed as laboratories,
with a studio and residency program, created to support emerging contemporary art and ideas.106
Via farini was established in 1991 as a temporary project space, again supporting emerging Italian
contemporary artists, and an artist-in-residence program from 2008.107 Hangar Bicocca, a
permanent gallery space and art centre opened in 2004 in the massive 15,000 sq metres converted
spaces of the Ansaldo-Breda industrial plant, but had not established a significant program of
international curated projects at the time of Gioni and Cerrizas Frieze article.108
Fondazione Nicola Trussardis presence extended beyond the city of Milan. In September 2004,
at the invitation of the City of Venice, the Fondazione Nicola Trussardi bill-postered thousands
of posters around the streets of Venice from their I Nuovi Mostri project, previously presented in
Milan earlier that year. The project coincided with the inauguration of the Venice Biennales 9th
International Architecture Exhibition. For the second Frieze Art Fair in London in 2004, the
Fondazione was invited to make an Incursion as part of the Frieze Foundations curated
104
Cerizza and Gioni, City Report, Frieze, 2006.
105
Careof, http://www.careof.org/EN/about.html, accessed May 2, 2011.
106 In Australia, the most notable example is Melbournes Gertrude Contemporary, an exhibition space and studio and residency
program that opened in 1985, and changed its name from 200 Gertrude Street to Gertrude Contemporary in 2010. Curators
Roberta Tenconi and Chiara Agnello undertook a curatorial residency at Gertrude Contemporary, as part of an exchange between
the cities of Milan and Melbourne. Tenconi was subsequently appointed as curator for the Fondazione Nicola Trussardi, having
previously worked with Gioni on the Berlin Biennial; while Agnello continued in her role as Artistic Director of Careof.
107
Via farini, http://www.viafarini.org/english/history.html, accessed May 2, 2011.
108
Hangar Bicocca, http://www.hangarbicocca.org/, accessed May 2, 2011.
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Global Developments
program of Artists Projects and Commissions.109 Gioni organized an off-site project, Ill Be Your
Mirror (2004), in which artists Monica Bonvicini, Mircea Cantor, Martin Creed, Jeremy Deller,
Trisha Donnelly, Michael Elmgreen & Ingar Dragset, Gabriel Kuri, Adam McEwen, Richard
Prince, and David Shrigley left messages for those guests of the London hotel, City Inn
Westminster, who had registered as art fair visitors.110 Messages appeared in the hotel rooms
while guests were out, scrawled in lipstick on the bathroom mirrors, or left as a note on the bed.
Martin Creed left a simple X, to mark his spot, while Adam McEwen wrote new instructions to
the opening film scene of Elizabeth Taylors Butterfield 8 (1960), instructing guests to 1. Get out.
2. Leave the money. 3. Dont call. Ill Be Your Mirror (2004) offered a nomadic approach to
contemporary projects that the Trussardi Foundation had developed throughout the city of
Milan. For Frieze Art Fair and Frieze Foundation, the curated projects demonstrated the
successful partnering of public and private interests, and their desire to build credibility and add
intellectual curatorial weight to a global commercial art enterprise. For the Fondazione Nicola
Trussardi, it revealed Gionis networks within the global contemporary art world. Their inclusion
in the Frieze Art Fair as one of only two outside organisations acknowledged the role that the
Trussardi Foundation had started to play within a broader contemporary art landscape.111
In 2009, the Trussardi Foundation was involved in two critically acclaimed projects within the
Venice Biennale: Roberto Cuoghis Mei Gui and The Collectors, a curated exhibition by Michael
Elmgreen and Ingar Dragset. Both were important in the development of installation art that
acknowledged place, context and history, and in the development of the relationship between
foundations and biennales to produce such art, as discussed below.112 At the same time, the
Trussardi Foundation presented a further major project in Milan with British born, Berlin based,
The Frieze Foundation is a not-for-profit organization responsible for administering, commissioning, and producing various
curatorial programs such as Frieze Projects, Talks and Education, that is presented each year as part of the Frieze Art Fair (a
commercial company set up in 2002 by the publishers of Frieze magazine, under the auspices of Frieze Events Ltd.) Jens
Hoffmann noted that the activities of the Frieze Foundation and the Frieze Art Fair anticipate the kind of private/public
partnerships that will increase drastically in the next decade. Jens Hoffmann, The Curatorialization of Institutional Critique,
in Welchman, Institutional Critique, 2006, p. 330-331.
109
See Polly Staple (ed.), Frieze Projects, Artists Commissions and Talks 2003-2005, Frieze, London, 2006, pp. 60-78; Gioni (ed.), What
good is the Moon?, 2010, pp. 256-261.
110
The second was Portikus, a non-profit space and production site in Frankfurt, Germany, who presented Michael S. Riedel.
Director Daniel Birnbaum invited Riedel to create a work that played on the duplication of other organisations and artists works.
Riedel created a curtain out of his page in the 2004 Frieze Art Fair Year-book, hanging it over the stands entrance, and distributed
500 guerrilla copies of the yearbook.
111
112
See p.86.
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artist Tacita Dean, Still Life (2009).113 This was staged in the Palazzo Dugnani, a historic palazzo
replete with ceiling frescos by Gianbattista Tiepolo in the heart of Milan, which had been closed
to the public for many years. Notwithstanding the challenges of the site, such as dust and light
and not being able to affix anything to the heritage walls, the experience offered a unique context
and location for an exhibition made up solely of Deans 16mm film projections, many of which
were already well-known through international exhibitions.114 Also included were two new pieces
filmed at Giorgio Morandis studio in Bologna and produced for the occasion by the Fondazione
Nicola Trussardi.115 The new work was developed through extended access to Morandis studio,
which would not have been possible without Trussardis involvement, given the complex
bureaucratic process of Italian governments. The installation of Deans new and existing films in
a historic building resulted in an experience different from that of an art museum exhibition.116
The timing of the project allowed internationally based curators, collectors and artists to visit the
nearby northern Italian city while in Italy for the Venice Biennale.
International interest in the Fondazione Trussardi projects was reflected by their profile in
international art journals and magazines including Flash Art and Artforum. 117 This profile was
boosted by Gionis complementary roles as Artistic Director of the Fondazione Trussardi,
curatorial and directorial roles at the New Museum, New York, and positions as Artistic Director
of a number of notable international biennales.118
113
Tacita Dean, Still Life, May 12 June 21, 2009. Palazzo Dugnani, via Daniele Manin 2, Milan.
114 Conversation with Tacita Dean, Melbourne, June 23, 2009. In 2001, an exhibition of Deans 16mm films was presented as
part of the Melbourne Festival Visual Arts Program, curated by Juliana Engberg, project managed by Rebecca Coates. The
program presented seven solo international artist projects in Melbourne, and a curated exhibition Humid, at Australian Centre for
Contemporary Art (ACCA), Dallas Brooks Drive.
115 Filmed in black and white, Deans Still Life (2009) focussed on the meticulous markings and measurements found on the paper
Morandi placed underneath his objects. Day for Night (2009) dealt with the objects themselves. Unable to touch or move
anything, Dean chose to film them singly, making random groupings, in contrast to Morandis studied and mathematically
rigorous compositions.
Conversation with Tacita Dean, Melbourne, June 23, 2009. Trussardis exhibition and commissioned work, Morandi,
coincided with another exhibition of Tacita Deans films and other works, at Melbournes Australian Centre for Contemporary
Art. Tacita Dean, 6 June 2 August, 2009, Australian Centre for Contemporary Art, Melbourne. This exhibition featured Deans
films, including a number shown as part of the Trussardi exhibition, alongside prints and other works on paper. It was one of a
long series of institutionally based survey shows of the artists work in Europe and the UK.
116
117 Cattelans Untitled (2004) featured on the cover of Flash Art International, Anno XXXVII, no. 247, August September 2004;
while Urs Fischers Jet Set Lady, (2005) featured on the cover of Artforum International, best of 2005, December 2005.
118 In 1999, Gioni participated in Maurizio Cattelan and Jens Hoffmanns 6th Caribbean Biennial (1999) as Media Consultant for the
biennale without any art: see Jens Hoffmann, The Curatorialization of Institutional Critique in Welchman, Institutional
Critique, 2006, p. 333. Gioni regularly spoke on behalf of Cattelan for interviews, as noted by Tom Morton, Infinite Jester,
Frieze, No, 94, October 2005, London, pp. 15057; and Michele Robecchi, Maurizio Cattelan: All in One, Art in America, Vol. 99,
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Global Developments
Mirroring the practice of other foundations, the Trussardi Foundation contributed significantly
to writing its own history, either through book or exhibition form. The Foundation presented
8, an exhibition at Stazione Leopolda, Florence, as part of the celebrations for the 100th
anniversary of the Trussardi Group.119 It brought together the work of many of the artists who
had made projects with Trussardi over the preceding eight and a half years, and showcased it in a
city beyond Milan. The Foundations 368 page 2010 hard-backed publication, What Good is the
Moon?, provided an encyclopedic text with installation images for each of the projects, and other
related activities, presented in alphabetical order.120 A foreword by Hans Ulrich Obrist entitled
Avere fame di Vento (To be Hungry for Wind), in homage to the same-named artwork of 198889 by Alighiero Boetti, described the urban strategy of the Foundation of rejecting a fixed
institutional location and instead focusing on the city of Milan itself as both stage and material.
Obrist described the city of Milan as a magnificent ready-made,121 which was revealed through
the presentation of projects and exhibitions in unusual and often overlooked places and
locations.122 Obrist suggested that the Foundation was creating a form of dynamic memory,
acknowledging the work done in this area by Israel Rosenfield. 123 Its projects offered a means to
revisit and revise a collective sense of self and a renewed understanding of location. Their
contemporaneity, Obrist contended, was consistent with Giorgio Agambens definition of the
term: people who belong to their own time are those who do not coincide perfectly with it;
No. 10, November 2011, p. 112. Gioni was appointed as Curator of Special Projects, New Museum of Contemporary Art, New
York, in 2002. In the same year he set up the Wrong Gallery with artist Maurizio Cattelan and curator and art critic, Ali
Subotnick. In 2003, Gioni participated in Francesco Bonamis 50th Biennale di Venezia, curating a project dedicated to Italian art
titled The Zone ; he curated Manifesta 5 in 2004; the 4th Berlin Biennale, Of Mice and Men (2004), with Cattelan and Subotnick in
2004; was one of the independent curatorial advisors for Carolyn Christov-Bakargievs Sydney Biennale, Revolutions that Turn in
2008; and was a member of the Advisory committee for Artissima 2010, Turins major contemporary art fair for emerging artists
and galleries; and in 2010 Gioni was Artistic Director of the 8th Gwangju Biennial, 10,000 lives (2010) in Korea.
119 The title referred to Federico Fellinis film of the same name, and attempted to replicate Fellinis creation of a story in images,
flashbacks and dj vu. 8 , Stazione Leopolda, via Fratelli Rosselli 5, Florence. 13 January 6 February 2011. Otto e mezzo,
Fondazione Nicola Trussardi, http://www.fondazionenicolatrussardi.com/otto_e_mezzo.html, accessed February 21, 2011.
120
Gioni, What Good is the Moon? 2010.
121
Obrist, Avere Fame di Vento, in Gioni, What Good is the Moon 2010, p. 9.
122 Obrists use of readymade in this context was a somewhat loose adaptation of the art-historical term, which came to refer to a
found object, elevated to the status of an art object. Duchamps readymade has been extensively discussed from numerous
philosophical, political, and ideological positions. See for example Thierry de Duve, Kant after Duchamp, October Books, MIT
Press, London and Cambridge, Mass., 1996, Second edition 1999.
123 See for example Israel Rosenfield, The invention of memory: A new view of the brain, Basic Books, New York, NY, 1988. Hans
Ulrich Obrist, Avere Fame di Vento, in Gioni, What Good is the Moon?, 2010, p. 8.
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whereas the truly contemporary person is able to perceive obscurity, and is not blinded by the
lights of his or her time or century.124
Beatrice Trussardi and Massimiliano Gionis interview in What Good is the Moon? outlined their
aims and objectives for the foundation under their leadership.125 They hoped to redefine notions
of public art, through the creation of powerful images, firmly embedded within the history and
context of Milan: and they wanted to offer a new model of philanthropic support for artists
through an organization that was informal and responsive, and at the same time could partner
with local agencies and some of the major art museums and institutions around the world.
Through their choice of artists, working methodology, and siting of art, the Trussardi Foundation
reflected the professionalization of a private, alternative institutionalised model.
Prada Foundation
The Prada Foundation was also based in Milan. It was created in 1993 by Miucca Prada and her
husband Patrizio Bertelli, head of the Milanese luxury travel goods and fashion house, Prada.126
In 1995 Prada and Bertelli appointed international curator Germano Celant as its Artistic
Director.127 As Senior Curator of Contemporary Art at the Guggenheim Museum, New York
since 1989, Celant brought international connections and a curatorial reputation founded on his
association with the Italian arte povera movement of the 1950s and 60s. As sole Artistic Director
and curatorial voice, Celant was as visibly associated with the Prada foundation as the creators
and owners themselves.
Satellite projects and installations were not the Prada Foundations primary focus. Prada and
Bertelli had acquired a substantial private collection of contemporary art. From 1993, the Prada
Foundation operated a permanent gallery space in via Spartaco, Milan, and aimed to present two
See Giorgio Agamben, and David Kishik and Stefan Pedatella (translators), What is the contemporary, in What is an
Apparatus? And other essays, Stanford University Press, 2009. Obrist explored this more fully in Hans Ulrich Obrist, Manifestos for
the Future, e-flux journal, Issue 12, No. 1, 2010, http://www.e-flux.com/journal/manifestos-for-the-future/, accessed September
27, 2012.
124
Introduction: A conversation between Beatrice Trussardi and Massimiliano Gioni, in Gioni, What Good is the Moon?, 2010, pp.
11-17.
125
126 The first exhibition space was located in a renovated industrial building, where the Prada fashion offices were located, at via
Spartaco, no. 8, Milan. The Foundation was known as PradaMilanoArte. Prada Foundation,
http://www.fondazioneprada.org/en/intro.html, accessed May 24, 2011.
127
Fondazione Prada, 2008, http://www.fondazioneprada.org/en/comunicati/OMA.ENG.pdf, accessed March 3, 2011.
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Global Developments
gallery exhibitions per year.128 Exhibitions were closely associated with works and artists featured
in their private collection. The Office of Metropolitan Architecture (OAM), led by Rem
Koolhaas, was commissioned to create new spaces for the Foundations activities in via
Fogazzaro, 36, an early 20th century industrial site in the south of Milan, which opened in April
2011. In June 2011, the Prada Foundation opened a new, permanent exhibition space in Venice,
the Ca Corner della Regina, a historic palazzo on the Grand Canal.129 The permanent gallery was
located in one of Venices many historic buildings in a visible location, its purpose to present
works and exhibitions drawn from the Prada Collection. The model built on other examples of
private contemporary collections presented in historic public spaces in Venice and elsewhere.130
Permanent gallery spaces and temporary projects and installations presented alongside an
international biennale enabled the Prada Foundation to develop a substantial international
presence.
In 1995, the Prada Foundation presented two off-site projects in association with other art
institutions.131 The Prada Foundation began actively supporting site-specific installations through
its involvement in a number of high profile projects presented as collateral events at the Venice
Biennale. As discussed below, it presented an exhibition of two works by Francesco Vezzoli in
2005, and Thomas Demands Processo Grottesco in 2007.132 These were high profile, celebrity
studded events. The Venice projects enabled the Foundation to further support and showcase
new opportunities for artists well represented in the Prada collection.
128 Projects presented in Milan included Eliseo Mattiacci, May 1993-June 1993, and Nino Franchina, Nov 1993-Jan 1994.
Exhibitions in Milan included David Smith, In Italy, June July 1995; and Anish Kapoor, Nov 95- Jan 1996.
129
Fondazione Prada website, http://www.prada.com/en/fondazione/cacorner#about!, accessed September 12, 2012.
130 One might contrast the intent that art will revitalise a city corner with an intent for art to adopt the power of a substantial
historic building. Similar contrasts exist in the power relationships between collectors/philanthropists and art. Another notable
example in Venice was Franois Pinaults Palazzo Grassi and Punta della Dogana private art museum initiatives. See Richard
Dorment, Triumph of a tycoon, The Telegraph, 2 May 2006, http://www.telegraph.co.uk/culture/art/3652038/Triumph-of-atycoon; accessed November 8, 2010; and Vicky Ward, Franois Pinaults Ultimate Luxury, Vanity Fair, December 2007,
http://www.vanityfair.com/culture/features/2007/12/pinault200712, accessed November 8, 2010.
131 External projects included Mark di Suvero, External Project, XLVI Biennale di Venezia, June 1995, which featured three large
outdoor sculptures presented near the Giardini site; and Angelo Savelli, External Project, Centre of Contemporary Arts Luigi
Pecci, Prato, June 1995.
132
See p. 84.
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In 2010, Prada commissioned and presented First Spring (2010), a film by acclaimed Chinese artist
Yang Fudong for Prada Spring/Summer 2010 collection. 133 The work went viral through the
popular video site Youtube. Fudongs considerable reputation had developed through
participation in international biennales and institutional exhibitions. Represented by the
influential Marian Goodman Gallery in New York, Fudongs first instalment of a five-part work
entitled Seven Intellectuals in Bamboo Forest (2003) was exhibited at the Venice Biennale in 2003,
while all five parts were included in the Venice Biennale in 2007, to critical acclaim. His work has
also featured in documenta 11 (2002), the Shanghai Biennale (2002), and Brisbanes Asia Pacific
Triennial (2006).
The Prada Foundations desire to showcase innovative and challenging projects reflected Prada
and Bertellis approach to luxury fashion labels developed under the Prada Groups name.
Architecture, cinema and culture were part of the Prada Groups brand and core values, with
contemporary art playing an integral and influential role. Rem Koolhaas and OAM designed
experimental, theatrically performative spaces for Prada retail outlets, opening the Prada
Epicenter New York in 2001 in downtown SoHo, in the midst of an economic downturn and
just after September 11. In 2003, Prada opened a second Prada Epicenter in Tokyos fashionable
Aoyama district designed by Herzog and de Meuron, a six-storey futuristic glass bubble-paned
building. Koolhaas designed two further Prada stores: the Prada Epicenter, Los Angeles, in
2004; and the Prada Transformer, a rotating multi-use pavilion, in Seoul in 2009. OAMs designs
for the new gallery and office spaces in Milan extended their vision for the Prada Groups
redefinition of commercial and artistic fusion. Contemporary art projects and exhibitions
extended the Foundations collecting interests of sculpture, installation and architecture. The
creation of permanent exhibition spaces to present exhibitions drawn from a collection did not
differentiate the Prada Foundation from other contemporary international collectors and
foundations.134 Its temporary projects offered a new forum in a biennale context for artists
already well established in their collection. It is arguable, however, whether all large-scale
immersive projects presented by Prada enabled the artist to present something that they chose to
133 Yang Fudong First Spring (2010), commissioned by the Prada Group. See Youtube,
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nhswOlqbPUU, accessed March 11, 2012.
134
See for example Jana Hyner (ed.), BMW Art Guide by Independent Collectors, 2012.
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repeat, as in the case of Thomas Demands Processo Grottesco (2007).135 None-the-less, Pradas
model offered a singular approach to the overall fusion of cutting edge architecture, fashion and
contemporary art.
The Prada Foundation provides an interesting contrast with the Trussardi Foundation. Both
foundations are based in Milan, were created by the leader of a luxury fashion house, were
prominent in a global contemporary art world, were led by high profile curators, and contributed
to the presentation of large-scale immersive installations and exhibitions in the biennale context.
They extended the role of luxury fashion, in which art, architecture and cinema play an integral
part. Pradas Venetian art museum built on the notion of the house museum, conceived for the
display of a private collection of art, while its first Milan gallery offered a space for the
presentation of their contemporary collection and projects. The Fondazione Nicola Trussardis
artistic activities, on the other hand, were more closely aligned with the tradition of the kunsthalle,
albeit in a series of changing Milanese venues. The Trussardi Foundation presented projects that
offered unique experiences in the unique buildings and locations of Milan. They commissioned
new works, borrowed key works from the artists collection, and were also able to attract loans
form major public and private collections. Given the historic preponderance of private
collections in Milan, the Trussardi Foundation made site-specific temporary projects the focus of
its activities.136
Thyssen Bornemisza Art Contemporary (T-B A21)

Thyssen-Bornemisza Art Contemporary (T-B A21), a private foundation based in Vienna,
Austria, was created in 2002 by Francesca von Habsburg, a fourth-generation collector and
philanthropist of contemporary art. Although it became a prominent player in the creation of
temporary site-specific installations, through its Art Projects series, the Foundation was originally
created to aid the commissioning and collection of contemporary art. Von Habsburg noted in an
interview in Flash Art in 2010 that she had created the Foundation as it was the only way that
135 It is arguable whether Thomas Demands creation of an oversized model or immersive environment, Processo Grottesco (2007)
offered a significantly new development in his art. The installation enabled Demand to work with shifts in scale, and reveal the
sculptural process behind his photographs. This, however, was an aspect that he had always ensured remained hidden. While the
large photographs made from this installation were seductively grand, it was possible to view them as illustrative of the experience
of viewing itself. See Thomas Demand section below, p. 283.
136
See Cerizza and Gioni, City Report, Milan, Frieze, 2006, p. 251.
71
72
serious artists would part with their better works.137 Von Habsburg had seen Janet Cardiffs
work The Forty-Part Motet (2001) at P.S.1 in New York.138 When she approached Cardiff to
acquire the work, the artist refused to sell it to an individual, although she was prepared to sell
the major work to a foundation.139 For an artist of Cardiffs reputation, such a significant piece
was better positioned in an art museum collection rather than by a private collector, as the former
offered an institutional endorsement and art historical context. T-B A21 was formed, and its first
project was an exhibition Walking thru (2004) by Janet Cardiff. T-B A21 subsequently
commissioned and acquired further works and projects from Janet Cardiff, developing a long
working relationship.140
T-B A21 subsequently commissioned a series of Art Pavilion projects that presented standalone multi-disciplinary installations by both established and emerging artists and architects in a
series of unique locations and contexts in Europe and beyond. The Art Pavilions were a further
manifestation of Thyssen-Bornemiszas collecting interests. The format enabled the Foundation
to offer contemporary artists with international reputations and busy schedules a commission
that had equivalent scale and standing to a commission from an art museum. The Foundations
ability to organize a unique site, and to allow the artist to create a work specifically related to this
context, ensured that the experience would be unique. As part of this Art Pavilion series, in 2005
T-B A21 commissioned Olafur Eliasson and David Adjayes Art Pavilion Your black Horizon
(2005). It was first presented on Isola San Lazzaro degli Armeni, as a collateral event to the 51st
Venice Biennale.141 In a windowless pavilion, a thin horizontal line of light, directed through a
narrow gap at eye level, offered visitors a constantly changing colour spectrum calibrated to
reflect the specific light conditions of Venice. Accurate readings had been taken from sunrise to
See Alexander Ferrando, Francesca von Habsburg, Passionate Collaboration, Flash Art, Issue 43, July/September 2010, pp.
62-3. Von Habsburg was the daughter of the late Baron Hans Heinrich Thyssen-Bornemisza, who had amassed one of the great
collections of art in Europe in the previous generation. See also Bettina von Hase, A dynamo in the dynasty, Art Review, Issue 1,
no 11, 2003, pp. 89-93; William Shaw, We are Not a Muse, The New York Times Magazine, February 25, 2007.
137
Alexander Ferrando, Flash Art, 2010. Exhibitions from the Thyssen-Bornemisza Art Contemporary Collection (T-BA21) have
continued to be another focus. Presenting approximately forty-five of 450 works acquired and commissioned by T-BA 21 since
2002, in 2009, The Kaleidoscopic Eye was presented at the Mori Arts Center, curated by Daniela Zyman, of T-BA21, and Araki
Natsumi, of the Mori Arts Center. See Rochelle Steiner, The Kaleidoscopic Eye, Art Review (London, England), Issue 33,
Summer 2009, p. 148.
138
139
Shaw, We are Not a Muse,The New York Times Magazine, 2007.
140
Janet Cardiff and George Bures Miller, The Murder of Crows (2008), see p. 85.
Eva Ebersberger and Daniela Zyman (eds.), Your black Horizon, (ex. cat.), Thyssen-Bornemisza Art Contemporary, Vienna,
2007. The work was subsequently presented twice more on the island of Lopud, Croatia.
141
72
Global Developments
sunset to study the light and intensity of the Mediterranean laguna. Between 2005-2012, T-B
A21 presented five Art Pavilions, two further with David Adjaye, and two others in conjunction
with the Venice International Architecture Biennale that occurred in alternate years to the
contemporary art program. None received the level of critical acclaim of T-B A21s 2005 project
with Olafur Eliasson and David Adjaye.
In a panel discussion convened by Thyssen-Bornemisza to accompany the 2005 project with
Eliasson and Adjaye in Venice, Hans Ulrich Obrist noted that the T-B A21 model presented
another form, or new institution, of support for artists and artists projects.142 He noted other
novel models, such as those offered by Guang-Yi in China, who collected installations by other
Chinese artists that did not fit readily into buildings because they were either too big or
complicated. Instead, he constructed buildings specifically to show these works. Obrist
suggested that new institutions to support the commissioning of contemporary art would
continue to evolve.
The collection, touring exhibitions, the development of archives, and a small permanent
exhibition space remained important parts of T-B A21. It maintained a small permanent
exhibition space in Vienna, in the building where Francesca von Habsburg also had an
apartment, to show some of the smaller works from the collection.143 Archives were developed
and maintained through curatorial projects developed with artists working with the foundation
on new commissions.144 The Foundation also presented touring exhibitions from the collection
at other art institutions.145 By 2009, the Foundation maintained a permanent exhibition space in
Vienna, and a staff of ten.146 In 2012, they moved to new permanent galleries at Augarten,
142 Speakers included David Adjaye, Olafur Eliasson, Jude Kelly, Hans Ulrich Obrist, Andreas Ruby, Francesca von Habsburg,
moderated by Daniel Birnbaum. Reproduced in Ebersberger and Zyman (eds.), Your black Horizon, 2007, p. 25.
The scale of the galleries meant that only smaller works from the collection could be shown. John Bocks immersive
installation, Antonin Artaud und die Pest (Antonin Artaud and the Plague) (2005), incorporating everyday objects and furniture
presented in unexpected configurations, and video footage of Bocks live performance, was installed as a semi-permanent display
in the buildings roof space, under the eaves.
143
144 Conversation with Daniela Zyman, Vienna, Wednesday September 16, 2009. The archives were unavailable for consultation,
as they had been packed in preparation for T-B A21s move to new premises.
145 Recent exhibitions drawn from the collection include The Kaleidoscopic Eye, Mori Art Museum, Tokyo, April July 2009, a
collaboration between the Thyssen-Bornemisza Art Contemporary and Mori Art Museum. For details of other collaborations,
see Thyssen Bornemisza Art Contemporary website, http://www.tba21.org/program/exhibitions/62?category=exhibitions,
146
Christina Carrillo de Albornoz, I am a visionary, much like my father, Art Newspaper, December 2009, vol. 18, p. 31.
73
74
Vienna, inaugurating the space with an exhibition Reprototypes, Triangulations and Road Test, of
works from the collection by British artist Simon Starling and Danish artists group
SUPERFLEX.147 Nevertheless, the Art Pavilion projects were a core program for the
Foundation, arguably because they differentiated the Foundation from other private collectors
with gallery spaces and gave them an international presence.
Other recent foundations

Other new foundations further redefined their roles and the context within which they would
operate. Not-for-profit foundations and organizations commissioning, producing and presenting
ambitious art projects by emerging and established contemporary artists proliferated in the early
2000s, including the New York-based Art Production Fund founded in 2000 by curators Yvonne
Force Villareal and Doreen Remen; the Pasadena, California-based West of Rome (WoR),
launched by Emi Fontana in 2005, and working in the Los Angeles bay area; and LAND (Los
Angeles Nomadic Division), founded in 2009 by curator Shamin M. Momin, former
contemporary curator at the Whitney Museum of American Art, and Christine Y. Kim, Associate
curator of Contemporary Art at the Los Angeles County Museum of Art (LACMA), also
presenting contemporary art projects in Los Angeles and beyond.148 Each of these organisations
functioned without a permanent exhibition space, enabling it to select sites and locations specific
to each of the art projects. All collaborated with more established art institutions and community
organisations, enabling their temporary projects to reach a broader public. Like Artangel, Public
Simon Starling in collaboration with SUPERFLEX Reprototypes, Triangulations and Road Test, TBA21 Augarten, Vienna,
May 30 October 14, 2012.
147
New York-based Art Production Fund was founded in 2000. Commissioning site-specific, permanent and temporary projects,
projects included Elmgreen & Dragsets Prada Marfa (2005) in which the artists installed a Prada shopfront complete with luxury
goods in the Texan desert. See Eric Wilson, Little Prada in the Desert, The New York Times, Thursday September 29, 2009. Art
Production Fund website, http://artproductionfund.org/about, accessed September 24, 2012.
148
West of Rome Public Art was launched in 2005. Recent projects include Vaginal Davis performance, My Pussy is still in Los
Angeles (I only live in Berlin) (2012), performed on January 29, 2012 in the Louis XVI Bullocks Department Store on Wilshire, which
hosted the first boutique of Coco Chanel.; and Andrea Fraser Men on the Line: Men Committed to Feminism, KPFK (1972), performed
on Monday January 23, 2012 at the National Centre for the Preservation of Democracy, Los Angeles. Both performances were
presented as part of the Pacific Standard Time Performance and Public Art Festival, organized by LA><ART and the Getty
Research Institute. See Molly Enholm, West of Rome Public Art. Transforming perceptions through Public Art, Emi Fontana
takes to the streets, billboards and even graveyards of LA, West of Rome, http://westofromeinc.com/pdf/art_ltd_010111.pdf,
accessed September 26, 2012. WoR website, http://www.westofrome.org/projects, accessed September 26, 2012. For the impact
of the Pacific Standard Time exhibition model, see Sam Thorne and Stacey Allan, Pacific Standard Time, frieze Issue 144,
January-February 2012, pp. 110-117; and the October issue of Artforum 2011, which focussed on L.A. art and Pacific Standard
Time: Artforum, Vol. 50, Issue 2, October 2011. LAND website, http://www.nomadicdivision.org/aboutus/default.html,
74
Global Developments
Art Fund and Creative Time, they were not named after the individual, or individuals who
founded the organisation. Each was initiated by an art professional who was strongly embedded
within a local and global contemporary art world.
Other not-for-profit foundations such as SKOR, the Foundation for Art and Public Domain,
formally recognized the fact that temporary site-specific projects and installations were changing
the definition of public art and its role.149 Created in 1999, SKOR was a Dutch art institution
that advised, developed and created art projects in relation to public spaces. Its projects and
research reflected an ongoing interest in the way in which art projects in public spaces could
reflect socio-political changes and new developments in contemporary art, urban design and
landscape architecture.
Situations, a pilot art commissioning program within the University of the West of England in
2002, offered a further organization model.150 It looked to Artangel, Locus + (an artist led
collective in the North of England) and Creative Time for inspiration on ways to make and
engage with art in the public realm.151 Through artist commissions, lectures, seminars, research
and publications developed over the ensuing decade, Situations contributed to the redefinition of
public art and its presentation both in the U.K. and beyond.
Other curatorial initiatives reflected these trends. Led by the Litmus Research Initiative at
Massey University, Wellington, and Claire Doherty, Director of Situations, One Day Sculpture was
produced in partnership with art institutions and curators across New Zealand. A time-based
series of artist commissions, One Day Sculpture took place over the course of a year (from June
2008 to June 2009), as a form of time-based curation, and offered tangible examples of the
evolution in critical thinking and practice of public sculpture, temporality, performance, and
See SKOR website, http://www.skor.nl/eng/, http://classic.skor.nl/article-1527-en.html, accessed September 26, 2012. See
also recent publications by SKOR, Jorinde Seijdel and Liesbeth Melis (eds.), Open! Art, Culture & the Public Domain, Key Texts 20042012, SKOR and nai010 publishers, The Netherlands, 2012.
149
Situations website, http://www.situations.org.uk/, accessed September 27, 2012. After a partnership of ten years with the
University of the West of England, Situations was re-launched as a new independent arts organization in the autumn of 2012.
150
151 Claire Doherty, Director Situations, Situations Booklet, n.d.,

http://www.situations.org.uk/media/files/situations_booklet_updated_2_version.pdf, accessed September 27, 2012. For a
history of the Basement Group, Projects UK and Locus+, see Richard Grayson, This Will Not Happen without You: from the collective
archive of the Basement Group, Projects UK and Locus+ (1977-2007), (ex. cat.), Arts Council Touring Exhibition, University of
Sunderland Press, UK, 2007.
75
76
curating art in the public realm.152 The selected artists were familiar names on an international
biennale and exhibition circuit, their projects were artistically as well as philosophically and
theoretically driven. The subsequent publication, One Day Sculpture (2009), included texts by Jane
Rendell, Terry Smith, Mick Wilson, Amelia Jones and Daniel Palmer on a range of related
topics.153
Small rural towns in New Zealand were not the only ones to present site-specific installations and
socially engaged art. In February 2012, IASKA (International Art Spaces Kellerberrin Australia)
launched its inaugural Biennial event, Spaced: art out of place.154 After a highly successful residency
program had been established in the wheat-belt town of Kellerberrin, the decision to launch
Spaced positioned it as yet another biennale format in an overpopulated landscape. Heralded as
an international event of socially engaged art, the Biennial offered artists opportunities to stay in
often remote parts of Western Australia, and develop community-based projects that responded
to location, history and site. The attempt to reflect these community and site-responsive works
in an exhibition format was not entirely successful.155 The most compelling works in this
exhibition context were conceptually and aesthetically strong, though almost all bore little relation
to the site-specific project or installation that preceded them.156 For a State politically focused on
wheat-belt agriculture despite the reality of a booming mining and urbanist economy,157 the
biennial exhibition offered government stakeholders a tried and tangible outcome for cultural
projects that many would otherwise never see.
As I will show, KPAP started presenting temporary site-specific and publically engaged works
before many of these other not-for-profit foundations and organisations evolved, including
Artangel, PAF, and Creative Time. However, as I will argue, KPAPs projects presented from
See Rebecca Coates, One Day Sculpture, Art & the Public Sphere, Vol 1, No. 1, 2011, pp. 85-88,
www.intellectbooks.co.uk/File:download,aid=10626/aps.1.1.85.pdf., accessed September 27, 2012; Max Delany, One Day
Sculpture, Frieze, Issue 124, June-August 2009.
152
153
David Cross and Claire Doherty (eds.) One Day Sculpture, Kerber Verlag, Bielefeld, Germany, 2009.
The Biennial had evolved from what had previously been a successful and ambitious residency program presenting seventytwo site-specific projects in and around the small rural community of the West Australian wheatbelt town of Kellerberrin from
1998 onwards.
154
See Rebecca Coates, Spaced: out West, Art Monthly Australia, Issue 248, April 2012, pp. 28-30; Nicola Harvey, Spaced: Art
out of Place, Frieze, Issue 147, May 2012.
155
156
See p. 16.
157
See John Daley and Annette Lancy, Investing in Regions: making a difference, Grattan Institute, Melbourne, 2011, p. 47.
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Global Developments
the mid-1990s were influenced both by the projects and choice of artists presented by these
international organisations, as well as their curatorial approach and organizational structure.
BIENNALES
New forms of installation art were fostered by the rise of the biennale, alongside foundations. As
projects became more ambitious, they often demanded greater budgets. It was a form of artmaking that lent itself to the explosion of large international exhibitions during the same
period.158 However, the relationship between the development of installation art and its means of
support was not simply causal or simply responsive.159 The relationships between artistic
developments such as installation art, and the evolution of new institutional models through
which it was fostered and presented were often complex and symbiotic.
The 1997 Mnster Skulptur. Projekte embodied this shift. 160 A high-profile exhibition,
international in scope, Mnster Skulptur Projekte had occurred every ten years since its inception
by Kasper Knig in 1977. Knig, curator of the first Projekte, later noted that he had been
interested in examining the change in attitudes towards public art over time, and the relation to
social changes.161 He wanted to focus on process rather than product; question ideas of public
art for those who used the space; ask whether the role of the patron was still tenable in a
changing context; and question whether there were still symbols that could be used to create
collectivity.162 Twenty years later, these questions were still valid. In 1997, Mnster Skulptur.
Projekte filled the German town with a range of permanent and temporary projects that
continued to engage with process rather than product, site-specificity, audience, and socially-
158 See p.5. Installation art was also presented in a range of other art spaces, including ARIs, and dealer galleries. However, the
relative scale of most of these spaces ensured that they were usually not of the scale or spectacular nature of installation art in
biennales.
159
Installation proliferated beyond the art museum, biennale and private foundation models of support.
160 The full-stop between Skulptur and Projekte was to differentiate it from the previous iterations of the project in 1977 and 87,
and to indicate a new curatorial shift. For a discussion of the 1997 Mnster Skulptur. Projekte and social engagement, see Maria
Lind, Returning on Bikes: Notes on Social Practice, in Nato Thompson (ed.), Living as Form, 2012.
Knig noted that in post-WW2 West Germany, many cities had erected public sculptures as a way of expressing commitment
to democracy and freedom. In later years, these sculptures were seen very differently. Womens Audio Archive, WAA.033, Art
Beyond Gallery: James Lingwood, Jan Hoet, Kasper, Knig, ICA, London, February 20, 1988.
161
162 Womens Audio Archive, WAA.033, Art Beyond Gallery: James Lingwood, Jan Hoet, Kasper, Knig, ICA, London, February
20, 1988.
77
Biennales
78
engaged art.163 Michael Ashers Installation Mnster (Caravan) (1977) appeared once again, as it had
in each of the Projektes, becoming a lens for a model of urban redevelopment, as photographs
captured the changes to sites, and disappearance of certain original locations over twenty years.164
As in 1977, each week the caravan was parked at a different spot around the city during the
show. While information about its location was available from the central museum site, nothing
indicated that the caravan was art or that it had any connection to the exhibition at the central
site. More obviously interventionist, Hans Haackes Standort Merry-go Round (Location Merry-goround) (1997), was a childrens roundabout complete with music and lights, surrounded by planks
of wood and crowned by barbed wire. Placed next to a 1909 war memorial dedicated to the
three Prussian wars between 1864 and 1871, its cultural and historic overtones could not be
missed. In contrast, Douglas Gordons video installation Between Darkness and Light (after William
Blake) (1997) was presented in an underground pedestrian walkway, the action of the two films
somehow mirroring the passing of foot and street traffic above and below ground. The 1997
Projekte marked a shift in which a new generation of artists addressed urban spaces and
landscapes in a more exploratory, and participatory way. The town itself functioned as a public
space for a range of artistic media, rather than as the site for a series of installations or public
sculptures presented in isolation.
The third in a trinity of international exhibitions in Europe that year, Mnster Skulptur.
Projektes focus on installations and art responsive to site offered a real alternative to the 47th
Venice Biennale and documenta X held in Kassel in the same summer of 1997.165 The Biennale
was notable for video installations including Pipilotti Rists Anahitas swinging (1997), and works by
Sam Taylor Woods and Mariko Mori. Marina Abramovis performance and installation Balkan
Baroque (1997) was a compelling politically charged alternative.166 But in general, the biennale
context offered little interplay between installation and site. Instead, it offered a large audience a
series of contemporary projects and curated exhibitions in fairly conventional exhibition formats.
For a review of the 1997 Mnster Skulptur Projekte, see n.a., Sculpture Projects in Mnster, frieze, Issue 36, SeptemberOctober 1997, http://www.frieze.com/issue/article/sculpture_projects_in_munster/, accessed September 27, 2012.
163
See Michael Asher, Skulptur Projekte Mnster 07, http://www.skulptur-projekte.de/kuenstler/asher/?lang=en, accessed

September 27, 2012.
164
165 The 1997 47th Biennale di Venezia, curated by Germano Celant; documenta 10, curated by Catherine David; Mnster Skulptur
Projekte curated by Kasper Knig, Klaus Bussmann, and Florian Matzner.
166 Abramovi had been invited to present work in the former Yugoslavian pavilion. However, when the invitation was
withdrawn under pressure from the Montenegrin government, Celant invited her to show as part of his curated exhibition instead.
78
Global Developments
Catherine Davids documenta X (1997) was a monumental exhibition, the first documenta curated by
a woman, and it was accompanied by one hundred days of talks, lectures, performances, and
related events, entitled 100 days 100 guests.167 In contrast to these two mega-exhibitions in
established biennale venues, Skulptur. Projekte offered new ways of thinking about exhibitions in
the expanded field. Its artistic diversity marked an obvious shift in the nature of contemporary
art beyond the gallery walls. Skulptur. Projekte captured a renewed attention to social practice
and the immersive experience, alongside the spectacular and the site specific.
The Venice Biennale caught up with these changes with Szeemanns curated exhibition for the
1999 Venice Biennale. First initiated in 1895, the Venice Biennale was the worlds oldest
biennale. Unlike many later biennale forms, in addition to a curated exhibition component, it
featured a series of national pavilion exhibitions, as well as peripheral events beyond its official
scope. An inveterate biennale curator, Szeemann had co-organised the 1980 Venice Biennale
with Achile Bonito Oliva, in which they introduced the Aperto section for the first time, to
showcase younger artists and emerging art in the Magazzini del Sale in Dosoduro. In 1999,
Szeemanns dAPERTutto, the 48th edition of the Venice Biennale, introduced more artists from
countries beyond the Western hegemony, such as Asia and Eastern Europe, and used the newly
restored exhibition spaces of the Arsenale for the first time.168 Large-scale immersive installations
that actively engaged the viewer were a feature of Szeemanns curated exhibition, such as the
sound, video and atmospheric experiences included, such as Chen Zhens Drumming Room (1999),
Thomas Hirschorns World-Airport (1999), Doug Aitkens eight-projection installation electric earth
(1999) for which he won the International Prize, Olafur Eliasson, and New York-based Iranian
Shirin Neshats compelling two-screen video Turbulent (1998).169 For all, the spectator was central
to these experiential works of art. The massive exhibition halls of the Arsenale, that had once
been Venices industrial warehouses, required art-making on a grand scale, with video and
installation proliferating.
See documenta X short guide, Cantz Verlag, Germany, 1997, p. 258-283; and Catherine David and Jean-Francois Chevrier,
Politics/Poetics. Documenta X: the book, Hatje Cantz, Germany, 1997. For a discussion of the role of education and exhibitions of
contemporary art, see Irit Rogoff, The educational turn in Curating, e-flux Journal, Vol. 1, Issue 1, 2008. Accessed online,
:http://www.e-flux.com/journal/view/18, September 28, 2012.
167
168
Harald Szeemann, 48th Biennale di Venezia, dAPERTutto (1999)
169
As articulated by Bishop, Installation Art, 2005. See p. 12.
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Biennales
80
However, Szeemanns curated exhibition for the 2001 Venice Biennale, The Plateau of Mankind,
did not attract the same critical response.170 Whereas the 1999 Biennale was notable for
installations within the exhibition space, 2001 was remembered for projects beyond the frame of
the curated exhibition. In an article entitled Groans of Venice in the September 2001 issue of
Artforum, Daniel Birnbaum and others discussed the failings of Szeemanns The Plateau of
Mankind, which in their view suffered from too much video and durational cinematic work.171
But critics, curators and reviewers in 2001 all noted the strength of the national pavilions and
certain collateral events. Mark Wallinger represented Great Britain with a series of ironic Biblical
installations and witty trompe loeil hoardings that doubled as the faade of the Pavilion itself;
Pierre Huyghe represented France; Robert Gober the USA; Luc Tymans re-introduced painting
that was at once contemporary and political in the Belgian Pavilion; Ernesto Neto presented an
olfactory experience with Blue Cave (2001) in the Brazilian pavilion; while in the Australian
pavilion, Lyndal Jones presented a video elegy to the city of Venice.172 Janet Cardiff and George
Bures Millers The Paradise Institute (2001), in the Canadian pavilion, created an immersive
experience that incorporated cinema, sculpture and sound, layering spoken fictions and cinematic
film noire to create a work in which it was difficult to distinguish fact over fantasy. Gregor
Schneiders Totes Haus ur (Dead house ur) (2001) in the German Pavilion had queues of critics,
curators, collectors and celebrity guests lined down the central avenue of the Giardini for the
four days of the vernissage preview, and for which he was awarded the Golden Lion.173
Works extended beyond the traditional confines of the Biennale, and the city itself. Maurizio
Cattelan presented Hollywood (2001) as an off-site work, the first supported by a Venice Biennale.
It was located in Sicily, in the hills surrounding Palermo, above the southern citys municipal
rubbish dump. Cattelans equally dramatically-scaled Hollywood sign was a replica of the original
Harald Szeemann, 49th Biennale di Venezia, The Plateau of Mankind (2001), June 9-November 4, 2001. See for example
Daniel Birnbaum and others in a special Biennale focus, Groans of Venice, Artforum, Vol. 40, Issue 1, September 2001, pp. 154169; Beral Madra, Dark Rooms and National Pavilions, Third Text, 15: 57, pp. 101-105; and Lynne Cooke, Venice Biennale, The
Burlington Magazine, Vol. 143, No. 1182, Sept, 2002, pp. 589-590.
170
171
Daniel Birnbaum, Groans of Venice, Artforum, 2001.
172 Mark Wallinger, 49th Venice Biennale British Pavilion (2001): exhibition included Faade (2001); Ecce Homo (1999); Angel
(1997); Threshold to the Kingdom (2000). Pierre Huyghe, Le Chteau de Turing, French Pavilion (2001). Huyghe was awarded the
Special Jury Prize at the 2001 Venice Biennale.
173 Three years later, with the support of Artangel, Schneider presented a further extension of this work in London, Die Familie
Schneider (2004). It was another immersive, psychologically charged house experience that built on the reputation of the work
presented first in Reydt, Germany, and more publically, at the 2001 Venice Biennale.
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Global Developments
that famously sits atop the hills above Sunset Boulevard in Los Angeles. Its context and reading,
however, were very different in this setting. Lynne Cooke, curator of Dia Art Foundation, New
York since 1991, described a jet-load of art world insiders critics, collectors and curators who
were flown down south for the day, to see the work, have a drink, take a stroll, and take photos
of Cattelans re-appropriation of the iconic sign. It was, as Cooke noted, an event amongst
events.174 Projects such as these had become the convergence point for curator, critic, collector,
and expecting public alike. As Lynne Cooke noted in her review of the 2001 Biennale, the
proliferation of biennales and triennales reflected the exponential growth and gobalisation of the
art world, and was breeding a generation of biennale artists whose mode of practice was
primarily supported by this new industry of exhibition events.175
The influence of the biennale exhibition and the rise of a form of installation art also extended to
the commercial realm. In 2003, Polly Staple commissioned a program of Artists Projects for the
2003 inaugural Frieze Art Fair.176 It explored the idea of sited projects that could engage
politically, socially and economically with the commercial contemporary context of the art fair.177
It included works such as Paola Pivis Untitled (slope) (2003), a giant grass slope presented in the
Frieze tent, that was both a giant monumental sculpture, and a performance that required the
participation of art fair attendees. The curated program functioned in the same way as a minibiennale within the confines of a commercial art fair enterprise. In 2004, Staple invited artists to
address the notion of circulation as a means of communication that could achieve access for all.
Resisting the notion of the spectacular, exemplified by Pivis project of 2003, projects in 2004
included publications, such as Aleksandra Mirs fictitious biography of a collectors daughter;
Adam Chodzkos nocturnal map of the fair; Roman Ondks queues; and live radio broadcasts.178
Academic Olav Velthuis argued that the impact of these important international megaexhibitions, or biennales, and their relationship to the contemporary art market could not be
174
Cooke, Venice Biennale, The Burlington Magazine, 2002.
175
Cooke, Venice Biennale, The Burlington Magazine, 2002.
176 Staple was presented as one of a new, young breed of curators who epitomized the shift in curatorial practice. Staple noted
that she brought an academic art historians brain, but also a fine art training so I can see a project from both points of view. Liz
Hoggard, Lisa OKelly and Carl Wilkinson, Best in Show, Observer, Sunday 9 October 2005, http:
http://www.guardian.co.uk/artanddesign/2005/oct/09/art1, accessed December 1, 2012.
For a discussion of the shift in Art Fair Artists Projects, see Polly Staple, Production, in Frieze Projects 2003-2005, 2006, pp.
11-16.
177
178
For details see Staple, Frieze Projects 2003-2005, 2006.
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Biennales
82
overlooked.179 Arguably, he said in a lead article The Venice Effect, in the Art Newspaper in June
2011, the relationship (though a taboo topic) of commerce and culture at one of the worlds most
famous exhibitions of contemporary art went hand-in-hand. In 1895, when the Venice Biennale
was founded, it was established as a new market for contemporary art.180 Sales were an intrinsic
part of the biennale until 1968, when the protests of students and intellectuals led to the decision
to revoke sales. Since then, officially, a ban on sales has remained. Dealers and collectors,
however, use the vernissage period in which to view and acquire art. Curators and commissioners
have steadfastly repeated that exhibitions are framed as a locus for experiment rather than
commerce, elaborating on the fundamental difference between the institution and the art fair.181
Veluthuis also noted that as curators attempted to demonstrate their independence from the
market, they focused more extensively on work that is hard to sell. The Venice Biennales Utopia
Station (2003) epitomized this point.182 Thus, he suggested, we have seen the rise of installations
and videos in biennales around the globe.183 Non-commodities have slowly crowded out the
commodities at the biennale. This has not, however, separated the biennale from the market:
the representation of artists by commercial galleries who have a biennale practice produces
symbolic capital for these dealers, Velthuis suggested. And as a generation of collectors emerged
with the means and the desire to acquire this type of art, traditional non-commodity did not
prove an obstacle. As the biennale and art fair has positioned contemporary art as a social and
cultural experience, the increasingly elite aspects such as the acquisition of non-commodity art
reflects and reproduces the well-established status hierarchies of the contemporary art world.
Olav Velthuis, The Venice Effect, The Art Newspaper Magazine, June 2011, The Art Newspaper,
http://www.theartnewspaper.com/articles/The-Venice-Effect/23951, accessed March 25, 2013. See also Olav Velthuis,
Imaginary Economics: Contemporary Artists and the World of Big Money, NAI Publishers, 2005; and Talking Prices: Symbolic Meanings of
Prices on the Market for Contemporary Art, Princeton University Press, 2005.
179
Velthuis, The Venice Effect, 2011, p. 21. The Venice Effect that Velthuis referred to is the impact that being curated into
the Venice biennale could have on an artists career. For emerging artists, the effect could be huge, however for big name artists
with established reputations and impressive sales, the effect was far less.
180
181
Velthuis, The Venice Effect, 2011, p. 22.
182 See a discussion of the project by Jacob Dahl Jrgensen, 50th Venice Biennale, frieze, Issue 77, September 2003, URL:
http://www.frieze.com/issue/review/jacob_dahl_juergensen/, accessed online January 7, 2009.
183
Velthuis, The Venice Effect, 2011, p. 23.
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Global Developments
BIENNALES AND ART FOUNDATIONS

The 2001 Venice Biennale contained a work that brought together biennale and foundations for
the first time in support of large-scale installation. This model would subsequently prove
important to the development of large-scale signature installations at biennales. As a satellite
project to the 2001 Venice Biennale, the London-based not-for-profit foundation PEER
presented Mike Nelsons The Deliverance and The Patience (2001). The maze-like installation was
created in the Ex Birreria (a large disused brewery building), on Venices other island, the
Giudecca. Alluding to the 17th century settlement of the new colony of Virginia, slave trade, and
piracy, Nelsons title was a reference to the ill-fated voyage from Bermuda to Virginia of two
galleon ships, The Deliverance and The Patience.184 Built over two months, Nelsons work filled an
empty 26,000 square feet space with sixteen rooms, a mezzanine, and 190 running feet of
corridor.185 Though it borrowed from Nelsons Coral Reef (2000) project in style and form, shown
at Matts Gallery, London during the previous year, this was a far more ambitious undertaking.
No amount of recounting or photography could adequately capture the works sound, smell and
the experience of the unique location. A series of wooden doors opened to reveal a range of
squalid, abandoned spaces: an empty sweatshop, a workshop, a travel agents dingy office, and a
gambling den. Cigarette butts suggested recent occupation, though the bikers bar, and other
spaces remained sinisterly uninhabited. While the work was similar in form to Schneiders Totes
Haus Ur (2001) in the German Pavilion, Nelsons installation was notable for its quietly menacing
theatrics and its position away from the crowd.186 The work was widely reviewed both in articles
and newspapers at the time, and in subsequent scholarly research.187 Its status as an independent
project presented by a private foundation marked a further shift in global biennales, and the
institutional development of installation art. For PEER, Nelsons project marked a culmination
in a series of site-specific, temporary projects presented in and around the East End of London,
as we have seen, often presented in collaboration with local councils, and other trusts and
See Richard Grayson, The Deliverance and The Patience, Critical Quarterly, vol. 43, no. 4, 2001, pp. 86-93. See also Rachel
Withers, 1000 words, Mike Nelson Talks about his recent work, Artforum, Issue 40, No. 6, February 2002, p. 105.
184
185
Peer website, project details, http://www.peeruk.org/projects/nelson/mike-nelson.html, accessed September 12, 2012.
186 See Dan Fox and Jrg Heiser, Venice in Peril, the 49th Venice Biennale, frieze, issue 61, September 2001, accessed online,
http://www.frieze.com/issue/article/venice_in_peril/, September 12, 2012. See also Marcus Field, Young Brit steals the show
in Venice, The Independent on Sunday, 10 June 2001, p. 5.
See Grayson, The Deliverance and The Patience, Critical Quarterly, 2001; Withers, 1000 words, Artforum, 2002; Fox and
Heiser, Venice in Peril, frieze, 2001; Field, Young Brit, The Independent, 2001; and for a more recent article, see Helen Hughes,
An editorial approach: Mike Nelsons Corridors and The Deliverance and The Patience, emaj, Vol. 6, 2011-2012.
187
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foundations.188 For Nelson, it was the first of his large-scale, immersive, site-specific projects
presented within a biennale context.189
PEERs private initiative at the 2001 Venice Biennale revealed the changing role of private,
public and state institutions in an increasingly globalized art world. As this chapter has shown, it
was part of a wider trend of contemporary art privately supported by a younger generation of
philanthropists, whose motivations were not necessarily driven by personal collecting interests.
Indeed, this emerging form of installation art and large-site specific projects presented new
challenges for the average private collector. Martin Gayford, writing in The Telegraph in 2001
noted that, notwithstanding Nelsons newfound celebrity status as the possible next Emin or
Hirst (Nelson was shortlisted for the Tate Britains prestigious Turner Prize in 2001), his work
eschewed commodification.190 At that time, Nelson had only sold two works.191 But with the
exception of newspaper commentary about the artist or the work itself, there was no critical
writing about this new model of philanthropic support for contemporary art, or how it fitted
within the existing network of collectors, curators and art institutions that made up the
increasingly globalized contemporary art world.
Nelsons installation was one of the first of a series of notable satellite projects at the Venice
Biennale presented over the next ten years by private not-for-profit foundations. As a collateral
event to the 51st Venice Biennale in 2005,192 the Prada Foundation presented an exhibition of
Francesco Vezzoli curated by Germano Celant, at the Fondazione Cini, Isola di San Giorgio
Maggiore, Venice, entitled Trilogia della Morte (Trilogy of Death) (2005). Taking its inspiration
from the Italian director Pier Paolo Pasolini, the exhibition featured two works, the first being
Comizi di Non Amore (Non-love meetings) (2004), a reconstruction of an old-fashioned movie
188
See above p. 58.
189
Conversation with Mike Nelson, London, July 5, 2010.
190 In 2001, Nelson was shortlisted with Richard Billingham, Isaac Julien and Martin Creed. Creed won the Prize with his work
Work No. 227 The Lights Going On and Off (2000). Nelson was shortlisted a second time for the Turner Prize in 2007, along with
Nathan Coley, Sarina Bhimji, and winner Mark Wallinger. Wallinger was awarded the prize for his installation State Britain (2007),
a recreation of Brian Haws five-year anti-war display in Parliament Square, London, made in response to British involvement in
the Iraq war.
191 Martin Gayford, The alternative history man, The Telegraph, 8 September 2001, The Telegraph online,
http://www.telegraph.co.uk/culture/4725489/The-alternative-history-man.html, accessed September 17, 2012.
192
9 June 24 June 2005, 31 August 8 September 2005.
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Global Developments
theatre projecting a film inspired by television reality shows that featured female icons Catherine
Deneuve, Marianne Faithfull, Antonella Lualdi, Jeanne Moreay and Ela Weber. The second, Le
120 sedute di Sodoma (The 120 Seats of Sodom) (2004), was an installation of 120 Argyle chairs
with embroidered seats designed by Charles Rennie Mackintosh in 1904, arranged facing the
tapestry La Fine di Canterbury (2004), a Gobelins traditional handwoven wool tapestry featuring
erotic scenes taken from other films by the artist.193 In 2007, Vezzoli was one of two artists
chosen to represent Italy in the newly reappointed Italian Pavilion at the Tese delle Vergini in the
Arsenale.194 Celants exhibition and project for the Prada Foundation by Francesco Vezzoli in
2005 not only raised the profile of the artist on a global art stage, but also acted as a form of
public and private endorsement of the artists worth.
In 2005, Thyssen Bornemisza Art Contemporarys project with Olafur Eliasson and David
Adjayes Art Pavilion, Your Black Horizon (2005) was presented as a collateral event as part of the
Venice Biennale.195 In 2007, the Prada Foundation exhibited a further commission and
exhibition at the Fondazione Cini, Thomas Demands Processo Grottesco (2007), in which the artist
created a life-size model. It was an inversion of Demands photographic process, in which the
model of the found image from which the photographs were taken was discarded and remained
an invisible part of the process.196 Photographers, too, were entranced by the possibilities of the
spectacular. In 2008, T-B A21 commissioned Janet Cardiff and George Bures Millers The Murder
of Crows (2008) as part of Carolyn Christov-Bakargievs Sydney Biennale in that year. It was
another example of a foundation participating in the biennale context.197 It was one of the
memorable works of that years biennale, as the ambient sounds of seagulls and lapping water
under the pier intermingled with the soundscapes created by Cardiff and Bures Miller. A
retrospective text by Christov-Bakargiev on The Murder of Crows (2008) was included in Thyssen-
193
Prada Foundation, Press release, Francesco Vezzoli, Milan, 9 June 2005.
Italian Pavilion Press Release, 2007. For the 2007 newly appointed Italian Pavilion at the Tese delle Vergini in the Arsenale,
new works were presented by arte povera artist Giuseppe Penone (Garessio, Cuneo, 1947), and Francesco Vezzoli (Brescia,
1971). Vezzolis video installation Democrazy (2007) featured Hollywood actress Sharon Stone and French philosopher BernardHenri Lvy. It was inspired by the forthcoming 2008 US presidential elections, and conceived the venue of the Venice Biennale
as the forum for a confrontation between the two hypothetical candidates for one of the most important offices of the world.
Curator of the Italian Pavilion, Ida Gianelli, then Director of the Castello di Rivoli, stated of her choice of artists Although these
two artists belong to different generations and despite the difference between their languages, they are both contemporary art
protagonists and express the deepness and richness of contemporaneity.
194
195
See p. 72.
196
For a discussion of Demands process, see Demand section, p. 283.
197
See below p. 244.
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Bornemisza Art Contemporary: The Collection Book (2009), contextualising the work within the artists
broader oeuvre and exhibition history.198
For Daniel Birnbaums 53rd Venice Biennale in 2009, the Fondazione Nicola Trussardi supported
two projects, as well as exhibiting Tacita Deans project, Still Life in Milan, to coincide with the
Venice Biennale.199 Roberto Cougis sound work, Mei Gui, was installed as part of Birnbaums
curated exhibition Making Worlds, in the little known garden courtyard by Carlo Scarpa off the
Palazzo delle Esposizioni (formerly the Padiglione Italia) within the Giardini. The work received
a Special Mention in the Biennale awards.200 The Trussardi Foundations involvement marked
their ongoing support for an artist with whom they had previously worked.201
Trussardi was also involved in a second project as part of the 2009 Biennale. Described as an
Incursion, Trussardi produced the catalogue for Michael Elmgreen & Ingar Dragsets curated
exhibition, The Collectors, presented in the Danish and Nordic Pavilions.202 The Foundation had
previously worked with Elmgreen & Dragset with its first project in Milan in 2003.203 Elmgreen
& Dragsets contribution to the 53rd Biennale was the must see event of that year, awarded a
Special Mention in the Venice Biennale awards, and the subject of numerous art magazine
reviews and articles.204 The artists turned the Alvar Alto designed Modernist Nordic pavilion,
and its adjoining Danish pavilion, into the home of an imaginary collector. Works by twentyfour invited contemporary artists were presented within the setting of an imagined private home.
Carolyn Christov-Bakargiev, The Murder of Crows, in Eva Ebersberger and Daniela Zyman (eds.), Thyssen-Bornemisza Art
Contemporary: The Collection Book, Walther Knig, Cologne, 2009, pp. 97102.
198
199
See p. 66.
200
La Biennale di Venezia website, http://www.labiennale.org/en/art/archive/exhibition/awards/, accessed July 11, 2011.
201 Roberto Cuoghi had participated in a number of the Foundations Incursions, projects that supported younger and emerging
contemporary artists: a page in Art Diary Italia, 2003; I Nuovi Mostri (New Monsters) (2004), a series of posters by sixteen Italian
artists that appeared in advertising spaces in Milan and Venice during the Venice Biennale, in 2004; and Tarantula (2007), an
anthology of artists films and videos presented on the giant screen in Milans Piazza del Duomo. See Massimiliano Gioni (ed.),
What good is the Moon? 2010, pp. 248-255; 339-353.
202 The catalogue was conceived as an artists multiple: a play on the promotional bags produced to be gifted or sold to visitors by
many of the countrys pavilions. It contained a variety of offerings: limited editions, books, posters, postcards, and even a salami
an irreverent contribution from Maurizio Cattelan. See Gioni, What good is the Moon?, 2010, p. 360.
203
See above p. 62.
See for example Gillian Sneed, The Collectors: Elmgreen and Dragsets Danish and Nordic Pavilions, Art in America, June 6,
2009, http://www.artinamericamagazine.com/news-opinion/finer-things/2009-06-06/elmgreen-dragset-venice-biennale-danishnordic-pavilions/, accessed September 24, 2012; David Velasco, Elmgreen & Dragset: 500 words, Artforum, June 1, 2009,
Artforum online, http://artforum.com/words/id=23020, accessed September 24, 2012.
204
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Global Developments
As a lifelike dead collector floated face down in his outside pool, actual naked male youths
lounged in conversation pits surrounded by modernist design icons.
Elmgreen & Dragsets 2009 Nordic and Danish pavilions self-referentially characterised
significant developments in the art world over the preceding decade. In a subversively playful
manner, the artists highlighted the wider publics renewed love affair with the cool Modernist
lines of Danish architecture and design. Within the context of the Venice Biennale, their creation
of a fictitious contemporary collectors home acknowledged the role and status of the
contemporary collector within a globalised market.205 It coincided with a spate of books that
popularised the workings of the contemporary art world, the role of the market and the identity
of wealthy collectors within it.206 The exhibition also marked the apotheosis of the curator
through the international biennale exhibition.207
The Fondazione Nicola Trussardis involvement in two critically acclaimed projects within the
biennale context marked the increasingly public role of private foundations within the context of
the contemporary art world. They built on previously existing relationships developed between
artists and foundations, presented publically within the biennale framework. Foundations were
no longer merely the mechanism to fund the work. Collaboration of this kind circumvented the
institutional system of support for artists projects, which was often lengthy and bureaucratic (and
did not necessarily guarantee results).208 Through the biennale vehicle, if the curator or artistic
director was interested in an artists work, foundations that had previously worked with the artist
could become directly involved in commissioning often large, ambitious projects. Sometimes,
one of an edition went into the collection of the foundation, as in the case of Cardiff and Bures
Millers The Murder of Crows (2008). As a result of their international status, such artists usually
205
See above p.9, p. 30.
206 Sarah Thornton, Seven Days in the Art World, Granta Books, London, 2008; Don Thompson, $12 Million Stuffed Shark: The
Curious Economics of Contemporary Art and Auction Houses, Aurum Press, London, 2008; My Name is Charles Saatchi and I am an
arthoholic, Phaidon, London, 2009; Adam Lindemann, Collecting Contemporary Art, Taschen, Kln, 2011. Velthuis noted that this
interest in economic issues of the art world is not new, and has been the subject of exploration by artists from early in the 20th
century. See Olav Velthuis, Imaginary currencies. Contemporary art on the market critique, confirmation, or play, in Jack
Amariglio, Joseph W. Childers, Stephen E. Cullenberg (eds.), Sublime Economy. On the intersection of art and economics, Routledge,
Oxon and New York, 2009, pp. 203-219.
207
See above p. 6
208 For example, in Australia, artists can apply for government funding from state funding bodies, such as Arts Victoria, or
Commonwealth agencies, such as the Australia Council. Applications can be made twice a year, and require lengthy applications
and acquittal reports, if successful. Private foundations do not require this sort of administration.
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88
wanted to focus on art museum quality and scaled works. To give a work a similar cachet as an
exhibition in an art museum, the private collector or foundation needed to present the work in a
recognised context, such as a biennale.
ART FOUNDATIONS AND DESTINATION ART

What might be the cutting edge for foundations and contemporary art in the next two decades?
One possibility is the further influence of foundations in promoting contemporary art in remote
locations that is in part cultural tourism, part culturally led economic renewal, part cultural well
being, and in part the next phase of marketing exclusive experience and collecting. Unlike the
focus of this thesis, such work is not necessarily temporary or site-responsive, though particular
artworks may originally have been conceived as such. Projects may well present the work of
significant local contemporary artists who do not have a high international profile, alongside
works by contemporary big names. The confidence to do both reflects in some degree the
power of private collectors to acquire, and install, increasingly complex and ambitious
installations and large-scale projects, and make curatorial decisions, which were once the domain
of the public art institution or funding body.
Early manifestations
Early manifestations of destination art were already visible by 1990. Robert Smithsons Spiral Jetty
(1970), Dia Art Foundations sponsorship of Walter de Marias The Lightning Field (1977), Donald
Judds Marfa project, and Ian Hamilton Finlays sculpture and garden, Little Sparta, outside
Edinburgh, were early precursors of this form of art.209 They were, however, largely single artist
projects. More recent endeavours like the Benesse Art Foundations Art Site Naoshima; the
Instituto Inhotim, in Brazil; and on a smaller scale, MONA in Tasmania and the Gibbs Farm in
New Zealand, have all radically redefined the meaning of this term in scale and breadth of art.210
209
The garden was first established in 1966 by Finlay and his wife Sue Finlay, and was named Little Sparta in 1983.
New Zealand entrepreneur Alan Gibb created a 1000-acre sculpture park, The Farm, on New Zealands Kaipara Harbour,
approximately one hour from Auckland, which includes major commissions by international artists Andy Goldsworthy, Anish
Kapoor, Bill Culbert, Daniel Buren, Sol LeWitt and Tony Oursler. Like Kaldor, Gibb began collecting minimal and abstract art,
but purchased the farm in 1991 to create unique site-specific commissions. See Rob Garrett, Alan Gibbs Farm, Art
World AUS/NZ Edition Issue 9, June-July 2009, pp54-65; also published in Art World UK/Intl Edition Issue 12, AugustSeptember 2009, pp124-129.
210
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Global Developments
Supported by Dia Art Foundation, Donald Judds Marfa project, known as The Chinati
Foundation, opened a contemporary art museum in Marfa, Texas, in 1986 as an independent,
non-profit, publically funded institution.211 Based upon the ideas of its founder, Donald Judd,
Marfa was originally conceived by the artist as a vehicle to exhibit the work of Donald Judd, John
Chamberlain, and Dan Flavin in a series of former army barracks that Judd had acquired. It
offered a new form of museum as artwork. Colacello noted that the body of works Judd created
in Marfa, Texas, employed $5 million of Dia Foundations money.212 The collection was
expanded to include works by other artists, including Carl Andre, Roni Horn, Ilya Kabakov,
Claes Oldenberg and Coosje van Bruggen, Richard Long and John Wesley, alongside works by
the original artists. Furthermore, an artist in residency program enabled contemporary artists
from around the world to develop work in this unique location.
Benesse Art Foundation

Benesse Holdings, a series of private foundations created to develop Art Site Naoshima in
Japans southern Seto Inland Sea focused on the contemporary art development of an isolated
area. The undertaking developed a range of long-term projects and art experiences that opened
in 1992, and continued to evolve.213 Benesse Park was developed by Soichiro Fukutake, a
Japanese businessman with global interests, on a site first purchased by his father in 1955. It
included a series of buildings designed by internationally acclaimed Japanese architect, Tadao
Ando, which included the Benesse House Museum (1992), a hotel and museum complex, and
three further accommodation buildings, Oval (1995), Park (2006) and Beach (2006). Ando
designed two further museums in the Park, the Chichu Art Museum, and Lee Ufan Museum.
Permanent installations and art works were installed in and around the museums and buildings.
Yayoi Kusamas gigantic Pumpkin (1994-2005), sitting at the end of a jetty against a backdrop of
sea and nearby islands, became an iconic corporate image for the Benesse Art Site project.
211 See Marianne Stockebrand, Marfa, Chinati Foundation, Texas in association with Yale University Press, Newhaven, 2010. The
Judd Foundation and the Chinati Foundation are two distinct organisations, though they both manage aspects of Judds legacy.
212
Colacello, Vanity Fair, 1996.
Founded in 1955 as Fukutake Publishing Co., Benesse Holdings was largely the vision of Soichiro Fukutake, though it built on
the company created by his father, Tetsuhiko Fukutake started in the postwar years in Japan. See introduction by Nobuko
Fukutake, in Naoshima Fukutake Art Museum Foundation (ed), The Chichu Art Museum, Tadao Ando Builds for Walter De Maria,
James Turrell, and Claude Monet, Hatje Cantz, 2005, p. 79.
213
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While the collection did not demonstrate any radical departures from many private collections of
contemporary art, other installations and art projects did.214 The juxtaposition of an installation
of the late Nymphas water-lily paintings of Claude Monet, displayed in the cathedral-like space
designed by Ando and Yuji Ajimoto, with its white marble-tessellated floored gallery lit with
ambient natural light, did more than simply reflect the Japanese nations enduring regard for
French Impressionism.215 Shown alongside the Minimal sculpture of Walter de Maria and
immersive light and atmospheric installation by James Turrell, the combination of context,
architecture and art offered visitors a unique experience.216 It drew on a tradition of fusing art
and architecture, including Matisses chapel in Vence, the de Menil Rothko Chapel in Huston,
Texas, and Judds installations of his own work, and that of his contemporaries, at Marfa, Texas.
A series of eight Art House Projects were presented between 1998-2009 in the nearby district of
Honmura, Naoshima. Each project was a solo artist commission, and was installed in a local
disused or abandoned building in the once busy fishing village, now emptied by the economically
driven exodus of the younger generation to large cities combined with an aging population. Each
project evolved through extensive consultation with local residents and communities, and the
building, and even aspects of the works fabrication, used traditional techniques and Japanese
artisans. With the exception of James Turrells Minamidera (1999), a light work in a specially
designed vernacular black timber clad building, all Art House Projects presented work by
Japanese artists, including Tatsuo Miyajima, Rei Naito, Hiroshi Sugimoto, Hiroshi Senju,
Yoshihiro Suda, and Shinro Ohtake.217
214 The collection included works by Dan Graham, Bruce Nauman, Yukinori Yanagi, George Rickey, David Hockney, Jackson
Pollock, Jasper Johns, Cy Twombly, Alexander Calder, Frank Stella, Jean Michel Basquiat, and Donald Judd. See Yuji Akimoto
and Kumiko Ehara (eds.), Remain in Naoshima, Benesse Corporation Corporate Communications Office, Okayama, 2000.
Claude Monet, Water Lilies (1914-17); Water Lilies, Reflections of Weeping Willows (1916-19), Water-Lily Pond (1917-19), Water-Lily
Pond, (ca. 1915-26), Water Lilies (1914-17), on loan from Asahi Breweries, Japan. Recent examples of Japanese exhibitions
focusing on French Impressionism include Impressionist and Post-Impressionist Masterpieces from the National Gallery of Art, National Art
Centre, Tokyo (2011); Do you like Impressionism, Bridgestone Museum of Art, Tokyo (2010); Manet and Modern Paris, Mitsubishi
Ichigokan Museum, Tokyo (2010).
215
For a discussion of the relationship between French Impressionism and American Abstract Expressionism as a precursor to
the relationship of the three artists at the Chichu Art Museum, see Romy Golan, The Big Picture, in Naoshima Fukutake Art
Museum Foundation (ed), Chichu Art Museum, Tadao Ando Builds for Walter De Maria, James Turrell, and Claude Monet, Hatje Cantz,
2005, pp. 142-155.
216
217 Tatsuo Miyajima, Kadoya (1998); James Turrell, Minamidera (1999); Rei Naito, Kinza (2001); Hiroshi Sugimoto, Goo Shrine
(2002); Hiroshi Senju, Ishibashi (2006); Yoshihiro Suda, Gokaisho (2006); Shinro Ohtake, Haisha (2006) and Naoshima Bath I (love
heart) Yu (2009).
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Global Developments
Temporary and permanent art projects and installations on the nearby islands of Teshima and
Inujima extended the idea of temporary and permanent site-specific art.218 A number of the
works were first installed as part of the first Art Setouchi 2010, a festival of site-specific
temporary artworks by Japanese and international artists located on many of the islands of the
Seto Inland Sea. 219 The Festival reflected a further aspect of the Foundation, its international
ambitions revealed through the adoption of a triennial exhibition model, rather than festival, for
its second iteration in 2013.
The Foundations many publications disseminated information and images about the remote, and
visually beautiful projects, buildings and location. Titles included Remain in Naoshima (2000),
Naoshima, Nature, Art, Architecture (2010), and INSULAR INSIGHT, Where Art and Architecture
Conspire with Nature, Naoshima, Teshima, Inujima (2011). They featured a range of essays by local
and international academics and scholars, such as Miwon Kwons text in Naoshima, Nature, Art,
Architecture, published by Hatje Kantz.220 The Foundation also maintained an international profile
through its endowment of the Benesse Prize, awarded to an artist at the Venice Biennale.221 A
series of symposia, the Naoshima Meetings, held since the founding of the Naoshima
Contemporary Art Museum in 1992, enabled leading contemporary curators, writers and critics
to experience the site, and reflect on the role and place of the Benesse Art Site within a globalised
contemporary art world. The panelists of the 2000 Naoshima Meeting V included Hans-Ulrich
Obrist, Jrme Sans, and Dan Cameron, who had each been members of the jury that chose the
218 For a discussion of these projects, published by the Benesse Foundation, see Naoshima Contemporary Art Museum/Benesse
Corporation, Art House Project in Naoshima Kadoya, Naoshima Books, Benesse Corporation, Okayama, Japan, 2001; Naoshima
Fukutake Art Museum Foundation (ed.), Naoshima Standard2, Naoshima Fukutake Art Museum Foundation, Naoshima, 2007;
Yuji Akimoto and Kumiko Ehara (eds.), Remain in Naoshima, Benesse Corporation Corporate Communications Office, Okayama,
2000; Miwon Kwon, A Position of Elsewhere: Lessons from Naoshima, in Naoshima, Nature, Art, Architecture, Benesse Holdings
Inc. and Hatje Cantz Verlag, Germany, 2010; Lars Mller and Akiko Miki (eds.), INSULAR INSIGHT, Where Art and Architecture
Conspire with Nature, Naoshima, Teshima, Inujima, Lars Mller Publishers, Baden, Switzerland and Fukutake Foundation, 2011.
219 See Motoki Sakai (ed.), Setouchi International Art Festival 2010, (ex. cat.), Kentaro Oshita, Tokyo, 2011. The Echigo Tsumari Art
Triennial is Japans best-known site-specific event with an urban regeneration focus, focused on engaging with local communities,
unique sites and locations, and bringing local and international artists to work within these contexts. Based in the north of Japan,
its Director General is Fram Kitagawa, who also sits on the planning committee for the Setouchi International Triennial. See
Susanne Klien, Contemporary art and regional revitalization: selected artworks in the Echigo-Tsumari Art Triennial 2000-6,
Japan Forum, Vol. 22, Issue 3/ 4, Sept-Dec 2010; Zara Stanhope, Art as public good: the 4th Echigo-Tsumari Art Triennial, Art &
Australia, Vol. 47, Issue 2, Summer 2009, pp. 228-231.
220
Kwon, A Position of Elsewhere, in Naoshima, Nature, Art, Architecture, 2010; Mller and Miki, INSULAR INSIGHT, 2011.
221 The Prize was established on the occasion of the TransCulture exhibition organized in 1995 under the patronage of the 46th
Venice Biennale. Artists were chosen from the Biennale exhibitions and projects.
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winner of the Benesse Prize at the 1999 Venice Biennale.222 With its strong focus on the social
and political context of the projects, and relationship to landscape and site, Art Site Naoshima
revealed how a private foundation could enable its creator to develop projects rooted in their
local context, while engaging with a broader cultural and artistic frame. Though not articulated as
such, it was philosophically aligned with cultural well-being approaches.223
Instituto Inhotim
Another significant example of these private initiatives was the Instituto Inhotim, created by
mining billionaire Bernardo Paz in Minas Gerais, in a remote part of southeast Brazil. Paz began
building pavilions in grounds of the extensive botanic garden in which to show works of art in
the late 1990s, and in 2006 it opened to the public.224 A complex of permanent pavilions, art
installations, and exhibitions drawn from the permanent collection of contemporary art were set
within the 240 hectare complex of exotic gardens. The art park project united Pazs dual
passions for contemporary art and botanical gardens in one location. Over 30,000 people visited
in 2011.225 While one hundred people a day may not be much for a city-based art institution, in a
remote part of Brazil, the number is noteworthy. The project was in part cultural tourism, and in
part the further institutionalization of the activities of a not-for-profit foundation. In an article
for Frieze magazine in 2011, Dan Fox asked whether this represented a new kind of institutional
model.226 A recognition of the role of such institutions in the contemporary art landscape was
reflected by the Independent Curators International (ICI)s choice of Instituto Inhotim as the
venue for its Curatorial Intensive held in April 2012. 227 Scholarly research into new
developments in Asia, India, and China is yet to be developed.
Fumio Nanjo, Participating in the Naoshima Meeting V, in Kumio Ehara (ed.), Naoshima Meeting V, Art, Region, Locality:
Between Macro and Micro Perspectives, Benesse Corporation, Okayama, Japan, 2001. Other panelists were Akiko Miki and Yui
Akimoto, with Fumio Nanjo moderating.
222
For a report on the importance of increasing well-being rather than simply focusing on economic growth, see Joseph E.
Stiglitz, Amartya Sen, Jean-Paul Fitoussi, Report by the Commission on the Measurement of Economic Performance and Social Progress, 2009,
http://www.stiglitz-sen-fitoussi.fr, accessed September 30, 2012.
223
224
See Tom Phillips, Brazilian millionaire builds ambitious contemporary arts park in the hills, The Guardian, October 9, 2011.
225
Phillips, Brazilian millionaire, The Guardian, 2011.
Dan Fox, On Nature, Frieze, Issue 137, March 2011, Frieze, http://www.frieze.com/issue/article/on-nature/, accessed
February 23, 2012.
226
227
See ICI website, http://curatorsintl.org/intensive/instituto_inhotim, accessed September 27, 2012.
92
Global Developments
CONCLUSION
This review of foundations and not-for-profit organisations argues that one aspect of
international contemporary art for the two decades from 1990-2012 was the rise of the nomadic
artist, the internationally mobile contemporary artist presenting projects across the globe.228
These artists presented a form of biennale art that was temporary, often large-scale, and
sometimes responded to its specific location, history and site. Maurizio Cattelan and Jens
Hoffmanns notorious fictitious Caribbean Biennial of 1999 not only drew attention to the
proliferation of the biennale form in established and increasingly exotic locations, but the
generation of nomadic contemporary artists whose art was made in response to this format.229
Foundations were crucial in supporting and often co-producing this work. The allure of sitespecific temporary installations was the unreplicable experience of the first-hand viewing of a
work made specifically for its site. The exhibition context was also important, as was the fact
that the work no longer existed in that form after the event. Ironically, as these works
proliferated, supported by public institutions, biennales and foundations, the exclusivity of the
experience in this context waned, perhaps heralding the rise of foundation support for
Destination Art.
Foundations promoting site-specific, ephemeral installations and temporary art projects shared a
variety of motives, models and outcomes. Some organisations, such as Creative Time, chose to
work with artists whose practice often incorporated social and participatory forms of art. Others
such as Trussardi saw their commissions as, in part, a mechanism for revealing or revitalizing
their city. Others, particularly Artangel, simply saw installation art and temporary immersive
projects as the most visible cutting edge of contemporary art, in which they wanted to be
involved. The latter motive explains the attraction for foundations closely associated with
significant collections of contemporary art such as the Prada Foundation or Thyssen Bornimisza
Art Contemporary. The kudos and networks available as a result of their involvement with high
profile installations, often in association with biennales, also did no harm to their access to
collecting high-quality and significant art.
228
See Bydler, Global Art, 2004, for a discussion of this term.
229
See p. 66.
93
Conclusion
94
Although some foundations, such as PEER, Artangel and PAF began as organisations primarily
driven by their founders, almost all ultimately became more professional, adopting a model of
leadership by a high profile curator, backed by a curatorial team and often accompanied by an
equally high profile advisory board. Lingwood at Artangel, Eccles and Baume at PAF, Gioni at
Trussardi and Celant at Prada were all curators with high profiles in public institutions before
they began working with foundations. All, interestingly, are men, though a significant number of
women had initiated the foundations.
These foundations operated within, and effectively worked to expand and promote, a global
contemporary art world. As this study has shown, despite their location in several different cities,
there was substantial overlap between the artists they commissioned, their curatorial advisors,
and the biennale exhibitions that they supported.
As this analysis shows, from the 1990s, the development of large-scale immersive installations
coincided with the institutional and artistic evolution of not-for-profit foundations. The
relationship between the rise of installation art and foundations is symbiotic. New foundations
were often created to respond to the recent trends in contemporary art, particularly the renewed
focus on site-specificity and on large-scale temporary installations, which sometimes offered a
form of artistic social engagement for the viewer. These art forms were frequently presented
within the context of globally focused biennales. Foundations were often embedded within, and
worked alongside, the established institutional frames of art institutions, biennales, and
commercial art fairs. The role of private foundations and not-for-profit organisations within this
global contemporary art world should be seen as a new form of patronage that, alongside new
institutional support, actively facilitated the development of installation art.
To date, little critical work has assessed the foundations and organisations identified in this
chapter, or their role and impact as part of both local and global contemporary art worlds. The
remainder of this thesis analyses one such foundation Kaldor Public Art Projects in detail.
94
The Origins of John Kaldor Art Projects
CHAPTER TWO:
PROJECTS
THE ORIGINS OF JOHN KALDOR ART
KALDORS EDUCATION AND TRAINING

John Kaldors early history as an expatriate and immigrant shaped his subsequent philanthropic
and collecting decisions. Born in Budapest, Hungary, in 1936, a city ravaged by widespread
destruction during World War II and subsequent communist rule by the Soviets, Kaldor fled the
country with his parents and younger brother in 1948.1 The familys arrival in Paris, and Kaldors
experience of visiting great museums and galleries in the city have been well documented by
Baume and Thomas. 2 Kaldor noted their impression on him as a twelve-year-old. In retrospect
he viewed the experience as one of the great forms of art education available worldwide.3 It gave
him an early appreciation of art, the value of art museums and galleries as history writers and
teaching tools, and the significance of individuals through donations and bequests.
On arrival in Sydney, Australia, Kaldor was sent to a private, Catholic boys school.4 One of his
contemporaries was the future art critic and famed Australian expatriate, Robert Hughes, but it
does not appear this early association with one of Australias globally acknowledged writers
played any role.5 Kaldor studied painting on weekends while still at school, tutored by fellow
Hungarian expatriate, the painter Desiderius Orban.6 The link strengthened ties with others in
the Hungarian expatriate community, whilst continuing to develop Kaldors interest in making
art. Orbans style of painting was neither avant-garde, nor radical. His Landscape (1952), later
purchased by the Art Gallery of New South Wales, owed much to the cubist paintings of Paul
Cezanne. It could also be compared to the landscape paintings of other Australian artists with
extensive European experience, such as John Passmore, who taught at the Julian Ashton School
1 Nicholas Baume, The Artist as Model. John Kaldor in conversation with Nicholas Baume, in Forbat (ed.), 40 years: Kaldor Public
Art Projects, Kaldor Public Art Projects, 2009, p. 44. For details of Hungary post WWII, see David Thomson, Europe since
Napoleon, Harmondsworth, Penguin, 196l (second edition 1982).
2 Nicholas Baume, From Christo and Jeanne-Claude. John Kaldor art Projects & Collection, (ex. cat.), Museum of Contemporary Art
(MCA), Sydney, 1995, p. 10.
3
Baume, From Christo and Jeanne-Claude. 1995, p. 10.
Kaldor attended St Ignatius College, Riverview, as a day-boy and boarder. Baume, The Artist as Model in Forbat, 2009, p. 45.
For Hughes contribution to art criticism and history, see Jonathan Jones, Robert Hughes: the greatest art critic of our times, The
Guardian artblog, Tuesday 7 August 2012; and Kennedy, Randy, Robert Hughes, Art Critic whose writing was elegant and
contentious, dies at 74, The New York Times, August 6 2012.
4
Baume, From Christo and Jeanne-Claude, 1995, p. 10.
95
Kaldors education and training
96
and the National Art School, and was much admired by young Sydney artists in the 1950; and
Godfrey Miller, a teacher at the East Sydney Technical College from the 1940s, whose figurative,
landscape and still-life paintings revealed Millers pursuit of a radical distillation of form,
developed through small lattice-like divisions and a restricted colour palette.7 Kaldors early art
classes solidified his interest in art and art-making, which he largely developed painting still-lives.
On completing senior school, Kaldor was sent back to England and Switzerland to undertake
training in preparation for entering his parents textile business. In England, Kaldor studied
under Sir Nicholas Sekers, a pioneer of the British fashion textiles industry after World War II.8
He was Kaldors godfather and a business partner of his parents.9 Neither Thomas nor Baume
refer to a specific school or location where his training occurred. Kaldors studies took the form
of a professional internship or work placement with Sekers. Sekers had left Hungary earlier than
Kaldors family, arriving in Britain in 1937. He had trained in textile technology in Krefeld,
Germany, and had experience of textile manufacture in the family silk mills in Budapest. After
setting up in Britain, he sold his designs to leading French couture houses including Christian
Dior (whose firm used them for the first time in 1947), Pierre Cardin and Givenchy.10 Sekers
was a highly successful Hungarian migr whose professional career reflected a passion for art
and design, which enabled him to develop an increasingly public philanthropic role offering
support for many aspects of the arts. As a philanthropist, Sekers was a valuable role model,
though Kaldor subsequently focused his philanthropy on visual art. Sekers approach was more
heterogeneous, and stretched to theatre, opera, music, and art. He set up the Rosehill Arts Trust
and built the intimate Rosehill theatre in the garden of his large house. He was a trustee of
Glyndebourne, chairman of the London Philharmonic Orchestra, a member of Council of the
Shakespeare Theatre Trust and of the Royal Opera House, Covent Garden. 11
7 John Passmore (1904 Sydney 1984. Europe, England 1933-51, 1960-61); Godfrey Miller (1893 1964). See for example
works of a similar date, Passmores The argument (1953), and Millers Building and trees (1951-53), both in the collection of the
AGNSW. The three works were included in an exhibition Australian Contemporary Painting (1955) that toured to State galleries.
8
9 Baume, From Christo and Jeanne-Claude, 1995, p. 10. See also Momentum, Sydney, International forum for contemporary video,
new media and performance art, http://www.momentumsydney.com/speakers/john-kaldor-2. Accessed August 8, 2011.
10
Sekers Fabrics website, http://www.sekersfabrics.co.uk/about-sekers/sir-nicholas-sekers/ accessed August 11, 2011.
11
Sekers Fabrics website, http://www.sekersfabrics.co.uk/about-sekers/sir-nicholas-sekers/ accessed August 11, 2011.
96
In Europe in 1955 at the age of nineteen, Kaldor embarked on his training for the family textile
and fabric-making business. He studied colour and design with Bauhaus designer and teacher,
Professor Johannes Itten at the Textile College of Zrich in Switzerland.12 The experience of
studying with Itten gave Kaldor first-hand contact with the Bauhaus modernist principles that
had influenced Sekers approach to both art and design, and had also begun to alter distant
Sydney, Australia.13 Kaldors study with Itten at a technical school, in place of university study in
art history and aesthetics, reflected his desire to understand theory through practice, and his wish
to be involved with creators and artists rather than with academia, scholarship or theoretical
research. The experience wove together his personal interest in art-making and design, within his
professional training in the textile and fabric-making industry. This integration of art and
commerce marked the subsequent creation and support of John Kaldor Art Projects.
Kaldors Eastern European roots, his experience as an migr coming to a new and
comparatively unsophisticated country, and his early training in Europe within the intersection of
art and commerce influenced the development of his personal art collection and Art Projects. It
played a significant role in his decision to focus on bringing international artists to Australia to
present works of art.
Kaldor shared his European background, education and philanthropic role models with other
educated European immigrants who, like Kaldor, were New Australians.14 But, as Baume
noted, Kaldors formal and informal European art education set him apart from many others in
Australia.15 Kaldors childhood in Hungary, the months spent visiting art collections in Paris, and
his first-hand familiarity with the work of advanced, avant-garde European artists and the
involvement of philanthropists in high culture, were experiences that many Australians would
only have then been aware of through books.
12 Daniel Thomas (ed.), An Australian Accent, John Kaldor Art Project 7, P.S. 1 New York, Published by John Kaldor, Sydney
1984, p. 13; Baume, The Artist as Model in Forbat, 40 Years, 2009, p. 45. Swiss born Johannes Itten (b. 11 November 1999 d.
27 May 1967) taught at the Bauhaus school from 1919 to 1922 under the directorship of Walter Gropius. A painter, designer,
teacher, writer and theorist, Itten developed his universal doctrine of design during this time, which he taught as the Bauhaus
preliminary course in the Weimar. From 1943 1969 he became Director of the Textilfachschule in Zrich, with which he
affiliated his work as Director of the Kunstgewerbeschule 1938 1954 (school of art and textile design).
13 See Denise Whitehouse, The Contemporary Art Society of NSW and the Theory and Production of Contemporary Abstraction in Australia,
1947-1961, unpublished PhD, Monash University, 1999; and Ann Stephen, Philip Goad and A. McNamara (eds.), Modern Times.
The untold story of modernism in Australia, The Miegunyah Press, Melbourne in association with the Powerhouse Museum, Sydney,
2008, for example.
14
For a discussion of the role of emigres in the development of an Australian cultural landscape, see Butler, The Europeans, 1997.
15
Baume, The Artist as Model in Forbat, 40 Years, 2009, p. 45.
97
98
Kaldors international awareness was combined with an innate understanding of the role that art
acquisition and philanthropy can play in the development of a sense of place and identity. In his
essay for An Australian Accent (1984), Thomas noted that Kaldor was the pioneer, the first to
realize that the new 1960s global village existed in terms of transport and could be operated for
Australias benefit.16 While Australian artists had often spent extended periods living, studying
and working in Great Britain and Europe, Kaldor reversed this trend by inviting artists and
curators to make the opposite journey to Australia. Individual travel, though expensive, was still
cheaper than freighting exhibitions or artworks to Australia. The reversed trajectory could
potentially benefit a wider audience: it not only introduced international artists to an Australian
context and community of artists and supporters of contemporary art, but no doubt it was hoped
that invited artists would be international ambassadors after their Australian sojourn, courtesy of
John Kaldor.
KALDORS EARLY RELATIONSHIPS AND MENTORS

In Kaldors adopted city, Sydney, other migr architects and designers including Harry Seidler,
influenced Kaldors interest in modernist design and art as well as contemporary art.17 Born in
Hungary, Seidler had studied in the United States with Bauhaus exponents Walter Gropius and
Marcel Breuer.18 He arrived in Australia in 1948. As Whitehouse has noted, Seidlers efforts to
change the face of Australian architecture included lectures on Bauhaus theory, and a NSW
Contemporary Art Society exhibition of Josef Albers Basic Design Forms in 1951, which both
found a receptive audience in Sydneys expanding European population and the increasing
number of modernist designers.19 His designs for his mothers house at Turramurra, the Rose
Seidler House (1948-50), had an enormous impact on contemporary art and design.20 Seidlers
16
Thomas, An Australian Accent, 1984, p. 13.
For a history of migr artists in Australia between 1930-1960 see Butler, The Europeans, 1997; and Dinah Dysart, Emigre, Art
& Australia, special EMIGRE issue, Vol. 30, Number 4, Winter 1993, pp. 477-480.
17
18 Harry Seidler, (b. Vienna, 25 June 1923 d. 2006). Seidler is one of Australias best-known expatriate architects. He arrived in
Australia in 1948 after studying at the Harvard School of Design, USA, under two of the 20th centurys iconic modernist masters
Walter Gropius, founder of the Bauhaus school and movement, and Marcel Breuer. He had also studied under Joseph Albers at
Black Mountain College, North Carolina. Australian Institute for Architects biography, Harry Seidler,
http://www.architecture.com.au/i-cms?page=6364, accessed August 7, 2011.
Kenneth Frampton and Philip Drew, Four Decades of Architecture: Harry Seidler. Thames and Hudson, London, 1992, p. 19. Also
quoted in Whitehouse, The Contemporary Art Society of NSW, 1999, p. 79.
19
20 Seidlers first, and best-known, residential house was commissioned by his mother, the Rose Seidler House at Turramurra
(1948) on Sydneys North Shore. Glass walled, elevated and cubiform with a flat roof, the house was revolutionary, and
introduced the Bauhaus principles of Gropius and Breuer into Australia for the first time. Seidlers public buildings were similarly
98
radical architectural forms presented a new form of modernist architecture. As part of the strong
expatriate Hungarian community in Sydney, Kaldor was necessarily aware of Seidlers influence
as an architect and champion of this new school of art and design. It may well have contributed
to Kaldors decision to travel to Britain at the end of his secondary schooling to study with Itten
in Zrich in 1955.
Later during Kaldors first Art Project with Christo and Jeanne-Claude in 1969, Seidler was to be
a staunch public supporter. He advocated Kaldors initiative and the work itself in a film that
ABC Television made to commemorate the event.21 Seidler was to say on that film that for the
last twenty years Australia had lagged behind developments overseas. Christo and JeanneClaudes project not only closed the gap, but also heralded a change in the countrys attitudes.
Those who criticized it, Seidler said, reflected a parochial vision.22
The Seidlers and Kaldor had more than a passing relationship. Apart from Harry Seidlers
advocacy of new forms of art, Penelope Seidler was actively involved in the organization of the
Wrapped Coast (1969) project. When Kaldor travelled for work to New York during August and
September 1969, Penelope Seidler was left in charge of the project in Sydney. She received
detailed letters from Kaldor while he met regularly with Christo and Jeanne-Claude.23 Penelope
Seidler recalled in 2009 that, Harry and I were both enthusiastic about the concept I recall
getting badges manufactured which all the assistants wore while working on the rocks.24 As so
often happens with the women supporting prominent men, Penelope Seidlers role remained part
of the oral, rather than written history of Kaldors first project, and her importance, until
recently, unacknowledged.25
innovative: Australia Square (1961-1967) was one of the first modern international-styled office towers in Australia. It established
new principles in design and construction through its distinctive circular form and the creation of a large public open space at
ground level. At the time it was built, it was the worlds tallest light-weight concrete building. Public areas included Le Corbusier
tapestries, and Calder sculpture, commissioned as part of the original building. Australian Institute for Architects biography,
Harry Seidler, http://www.architecture.com.au/i-cms?page=6364, accessed August 7, 2011. For Seidlers significance in the
development of Australian architecture, see Peter Blake, Architecture for the new world. The architecture of Harry Seidler, Sydney,
Horwitz, New York and Wittenhorn, Stuttgart, Karl Kraemer, 1973; and Frampton and Drew, Four Decades of Architecture, 1992.
21 ABC Arts Online, Wrapped Coast Christo/Kaldor Collaboration, drawn from the ABC archives, Friday 7 January 2011.
http://www.abc.net.au/arts/stories/s3108455.htm, accessed August 7, 2011.
22 ABC Arts Online, Wrapped Coast Christo/Kaldor Collaboration, drawn from the ABC archives, Friday 7 January 2011.
23
KPAP Archive; also noted in Forbat, 40 Years, 2009, p. 64.
24
Seidler in conversation with Forbat, 40 Years, 2009, p. 64.
25
It was arguably for this reason that Jeanne-Claude was only retrospectively acknowledged as a collaborator with Christo.
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100
Kaldors professional experience in the textile industry brought him into contact with other New
Australians, whose support for artists and example as patrons clearly influenced him. On his
return to Australia in 1957, Kaldor began his first job as a designer at Silk and Textile Printers
Ltd., Hobart, under the guidance of the well-known textile entrepreneur and arts patron, Claudio
Alcorso.26 Alcorso had emigrated to Sydney from Rome in 1938, escaping Fascist Italy, to make
a new life for his family. He gradually expanded their business interests.27 They established Silk
and Textile Printers in Rushcutters Bay, Sydney. After internment in 1940 following the
outbreak of the Second World War, he transferred his company and factory to Derwent Park,
Tasmania in 1947.28 As a keen supporter of the arts, Alcorso was involved in setting up and
supporting fledgling Australian arts organisations such as the Australian Elizabethan Theatre
Trust and the Australian Ballet. He also directly supported Australian artists through
commissions for designs created by his company. His eclectic support of the arts followed a
well-established philanthropic model, whereas Kaldors philanthropy was to be more intensely
and narrowly focused.
Alcorsos commissioning of designs for his textile business from a younger generation of
Australian visual artists was a model that Kaldor later adopted in his own business. Coinciding
with the shift of Alcorsos business from Sydney to Tasmania, Alcorso organized an exhibition of
Modernage fabrics commissioned and fabricated by his company, and shown at Melbournes
Australia Hotel. Opened on 1 September 1947, the society event was launched by British
composer and conductor, and celebrity Eugene Goossens, who had recently emigrated to
Australia.29 The event was glamorous enough to feature in the major local newspaper, The Sydney
26 Claudio Alcorso (b. Rome 1913 d. 2000) emigrated to Sydney in 1938. He was interned as an enemy alien during the Second
World War. Known as a pioneer in the Tasmanian winemaking industry, Alcorso planted ninety Riesling vines on his property
Moorilla, outside Tasmania. He championed the arts through his involvement with the Australian Ballet, Australian Elizabethan
Theatre Trust, Tasmanian Arts Advisory Council, and as chairman of Opera Australia. Wendy Rimon, Claudio Alcorso, The
Companion to Tasmanian History, online anthology, n.d.,
http://www.utas.edu.au/library/companion_to_tasmanian_history/A/Claudio%20Alcorso.htm, accessed August 9, 2011.
Alcorso commissioned Melbourne modernist architect, Roy Grounds, to build a number of properties: the Circular House (1955)
at Moorilla; a workers village at Glenorchy, Tasmania, for Alcorsos Silk and Textile Printers company (1957-58); and a second
house (1965) for his family on the Moorilla estate, Hobart. Moorilla was subsequently purchased by art collector David Walsh,
who created a new museum on the site, the Museum of Old and New Art (MONA), incorporating the original Grounds buildings
alongside new gallery spaces designed by Nonda Katsalides, which opened in January 2011.
27 For a discussion of Alcorsos role in the development of Australian textiles, alongside other European artists HannaLemberg
and Maecella Hempel, see John McPhee, Sanctuaries: Three textile artist in Australia, in Butler, The Europeans, 1997, pp. 73-84.
28 Alcorso was interned from 1940-43, and production resumed in 1946. See McPhee, Sanctuaries in Butler, The Europeans, 1997,
p. 78.
29 Eugene Aynsley Goossens (1893-1962), was a charismatic British conductor and composer who returned to Australia in July
1947 to take up positions as both the first permanent conductor of the Sydney Symphony Orchestra, and Director of the New
100
Morning Herald, in a society feature article that married design with Australias latest fashion.30 The
exhibition featured designs by thirty-six well-known Australian artists and was accompanied by a
publication, A New Approach to Textile Design.31 Its cover imagery incorporated modernist
principles of design and text and it featured essays by some of the countrys leading art history
academics and gallery directors. These included Professor Joseph Burke, the inaugural Herald
Professor of Fine Arts at the University of Melbourne, Mr Hal Missingham, Director of the
National Art Gallery (AGNSW), Sydney, and Ure Smith, President of the Society of Artists,
Sydney.32 Colour, as well as black and white images of the artists designs and printed fabrics
were accompanied by designer-artists statements about the commission.
The featured artists, all of who had designed textiles for the occasion, included William Dobell,
Russell Drysdale, Donald Friend, Margaret Preston, Hal Missingham, Justin OBrien, and James
Gleeson.33 Ten of the artists were women, although their designs were no more domestic or
feminine than any other, and all featured a strong use of line. Several designs were derived from
landscape and natural motifs,34 such as Russell Drysdales Tree Forms (1947), made from drawings
taken from a sketchbook and arranged informally across the fabric. Justin OBriens The Three
Kings (1946-47) was the only religiously inspired design, based on a stylized Biblical theme and
featuring a palette of musky pinks, oranges and yellow.35 Other subjects were influenced by
South Wales Conservatorium of Music. He introduced sweeping changes to music in Australia: introducing audiences to works
that had previously been ignored or considered too challenging; championing local composition; and programming many world
premieres, all of which was broadcast widely on ABC Radio. David Salter, Goossens, Sir Eugene Aynsley (18931962),
Australian Dictionary of Biography, National Centre of Biography, Australian National University, n.d.,
http://adb.anu.edu.au/biography/goossens-sir-eugene-aynsley-10329, accessed August 9, 2011. This article was first published in
hardcopy in Australian Dictionary of Biography, Volume 14, (MUP), 1996. His impact was explored as part of a 4-part documentary
on the history of classical music on the ABC, presented by music historian Martin Buzacott, broadcast in January 2013. See
Martin Buzacott, Resurrection Symphonies: 1946-1956. The Eugene Gossens Era, Music Makers with Mairi Nicolson, ABC
broadcast 12.05, January 13, 2013, http://www.abc.net.au/classic/content/2013/01/13/3647178.htm.
30 Sydney Morning Herald, n.a., Art Accent in Textile Show, Sydney Morning Herald, Thursday 21 August 1947, p. 13. Trove online,
http://trove.nla.gov.au/ndp/del/article/18040400, accessed August 8, 2011.
31 Ure Smith, [with a foreword by Claudio Alcorso], A New approach to textile designing / by a group of Australian artists, (ex.cat.), Ure
Smith production, Sydney, 1947.
Smith, A New approach to textile designing, 1947. Burke was appointed the Herald Chair of Fine Arts in 1946 in Australias first
Department of Art History at an Australian university. The position was instigated by Daryl Lindsay, Director of the National
Gallery of Victoria, Sir Keith Murdoch, editor of the Herald & Weekly Times and patron of the arts, who funded the position, with
support from John Medley, Vice-Chancellor of the University of Melbourne.
32
33
Sydney Morning Herald, Thursday August 21, 1947, p. 13.
34
For a discussion on the range and focus of topics, see McPhee, Sanctuaries in Butler, The Europeans, 1997.
An example forms part of the AGNSW collection, gifted by Claudio Alcorso, 1971. AGNSW website,
http://www.artgallery.nsw.gov.au/collection/works/107.1971/, accessed August 11, 2011.
35
101
102
Surrealism; Aboriginal motifs and mythological patterns. The more abstract patterns were based
on Cubistic or scientifically derived motifs.
As the Sydney Morning Herald article noted, the commission was based on a similar initiative of the
Czech textile manufacturer Zika Ascher. Together with his wife Lida, he had founded the
Ascher studio in London after having escaped Nazi Europe in the early 1940s.36
Contemporaneously with Alcorso in Australia in the 1940s and 1950s, the London based House
of Ascher commissioned successful British and international Modernist artists to create a highly
successful scarf series, which became known as the Ascher squares.37 As Straub noted, the
Ascher squares reflected a yearning for optimism and a new start for life and for fashion
following the Second World War.38 British artists who designed fabrics for him included Henry
Moore, Cecil Beaton, and Graham Sutherland, whilst the international artists commissioned
included Pablo Picasso, Henri Matisse, Andre Derain, Alexander Calder and the American based
Salvador Dali.39 Moores design for the square was Family Group (1947), a repeating pattern of
clusters of people against a black background. The theme reflected the strength of the family
unit in wartime England, in a style reminiscent of his wartime bunker series.40 In May 1945,
James Laver, the dandified historian of dress, playwright and Keeper of the Department of
Prints and Drawings (as he was described by a similarly flamboyant Roy Strong, Director of the
Victoria & Albert Museum in his foreword to the exhibition catalogue for the 1987 Ascher
exhibition at the V & A),41 opened the Ascher Collection at the Dorchester Hotel in London.42
n.a., Art Accent in Textile Show, Sydney Morning Herald, 1947, p. 13; Valerie Mendes, Ascher: Fabric, Art, Fashion, (ex. cat.), V&A
Publications, London, 1987.
36
Liv Kavanagh, Fine Art and Textiles: the Ascher Head Squares and Wall Panels, Apollo: The International Magazine of Art &
Antiques, Vol. CXXV, No. 303, May 1987, pp. 331; Anita Feldman, Henry Moore Textiles, Lund Humphries, London, 2010; Anne
Straub, Ascher Scarves: Fine Art Meets Fashion, Ornament, Vol. 33, Issue 4, 2010, pp. 62-65.
37
38
Straub, Ascher Scarves, Ornament, 2010.
39 n.a., Art Accent in Textile Show, Sydney Morning Herald, 1947, for a list of other international artists; and Straub, Ascher
Scarves, Ornament 2010, who noted Moore, Matisse and Calder. Henri Matisses Ocanie, le ciel (Oceania, the sky) (1946), made as
part of the Ascher wall panels forms part of the NGA Collection. For details of Moores designs, see Fiona MacCarthy, Clock
faces and caterpillars, The Guardian online, http://www.guardian.co.uk/artanddesign/2008/oct/04/exhibition.art.henry.moore,
accessed April 6, 2012.
40 See illustrations in Mendes, Ascher, 1987. See also Emma Moore, Ascher reissues artist-designed scarves, Wallpaper, 22
October 2010, Wallpaper online, http://www.wallpaper.com/fashion/ascher-reissues-artist-designed-scarves/4921, accessed
August 25, 2012. Also Henry Moore Foundation website, http://www.henry-moore.org/pg/education/past-outreachprojects/the-big-draw-at-ware-museum, accessed May 20, 2012. For example, Henry Moore, Study for 'Tube Shelter Perspective:
The Liverpool Street Extension' 1940-41 (HMF 1649), pencil. wax crayon, coloured crayon, watercolour, wash, pen and ink.
41
Strong in Mendes, Ascher, 1987, p. 11.
42
Strong in Mendes, Ascher, 1987, p. 11.
102
The following year, fifty of the Ascher fabrics were shown in an exhibition at the Victoria &
Albert Museum, London, entitled Britain Can Make It (1946).43 The Squares were also widely
shown internationally, including New York and other cities in America, Motevideo, Sydney and
Cape Town.44 S quires were acquired for museum and art gallery collections, including the
National Gallery of Victorias acquisition of Henry Moores Family Group (1947) in 1948.45 As
well as promoting British art and textiles with newfound optimism, the designs also highlighted
Aschers place as a leading producer of innovative, international fabric designs. A collaboration
between contemporary fine art and fashion, and art and industry, the designs were supposed to
create a broader appeal for their art, through mass production and popular consumption.
Alcorso noted that the designs by Australian artists reflected not only a new approach to textile
designing, but also a desire to introduce creative thought and beauty into the everyday things of
life.46 In this, Alcorsos ambitions were in keeping with principles of international modernist
design, and industrys use of these principles to develop opportunities for living artists. The
exhibition reflected a desire to champion modern design principles, and the whole initiative
showed Australias increasing prosperity, which went with the growth of corporate and
commercial patronage.47 Whilst the project and exhibition offered Australian artists a rare
opportunity to develop their art through commercial avenues, it was not sufficiently popular to
continue the experiment, as McPhee noted.48 Claudio Alcorso remembered that The post war
enthusiasms quickly faded away, [and] in order to survive we returned to a diet of boiled
potatoes.49
Alcorso was ahead of his times in post war Australia. But in Britain, this was clearly not the case.
The example of Ascher was taken up by Sekers in London in 1959. His interests in art and
design came together in 1959 in an exhibition in which he asked artists including Cecil Beaton,
Oliver Messel and Graham Sutherland to create paintings and drawings for fabric designs. The
43
Straub, Ascher Scarves, Ornament, 2010.
44
Mendes, Ascher, 1987, p. 33.
Mendes, Ascher , 1987, p. 34. Henry Moore, Family group (1947), purchased 1948. See National Gallery of Victoria website for
details, http://www.ngv.vic.gov.au/col/work/51236, accessed June 9, 2012.
45
46
Alcorso in Smith, A New approach to textile designing, 1947, p. 3.
47
See Whitehouse, The Contemporary Art Society of NSW, 1999, Chapter 2 for further examples.
48
McPhee, Sanctuaries in Butler, The Europeans, 1997, p. 82.
49
Quoted in McPhee, Sanctuaries in Butler, The Europeans, 1997, p. 82.
103
104
company now recognised the need for new showrooms to reflect the times as well as the changes
in fabric designs, and in 1964 it moved to glittering new glass showrooms in Sloane Square, the
centre of Swinging London and the Kings Road.50 Kaldor was to imitate his mentors,
commissioning designs for fabrics by Australian artists and developing glamorous new
showrooms for John Kaldor Fabrics in 1973.51
On his return to Sydney in 1960, Kaldor joined Sekers Silk, the Australian arm of Sir Nicholas
Sekers business. This franchise was owned and run by John Kaldors parents Andrew and Vera
Kaldor.52 In 1962 John Kaldor commissioned artists, much in the manner of Claudio Alcorsos
1959 Modernage exhibition. In 1965, Sekers Silks and several other companies, including
Alcorsos, merged to form Universal Textiles of Australia.53 In the following year Kaldor became
Marketing Manager of the new organization. In this position, he initiated the Alcorso Sekers
Scholarship, to be discussed below.
KALDORS EARLY COLLECTING

Alongside a growing awareness of the role that contemporary artists could play in promoting
commercial interests, Kaldor began his personal collection in 1954. Kaldor often described his
collection and the Art Projects as separate activities, reflecting the private and public aspects of
his interest in contemporary art.54 Nevertheless, it can be argued that the motives for Kaldors
own art collecting played a significant role in the direction and development of the Public Art
Projects.
Kaldors early collecting did not reflect his subsequent focus solely on contemporary
international art. According to Thomas, the twenty year old Kaldor was also collecting classical
For a history of Swinging London, see Simon Rycroft, Swinging city: a cultural geography of London, 1950-1974, Re-materialising
cultural geography series, Franham, Surrey, England, Burlington, Ashgate, 2011; Christopher Breward, David Gilbert and Jenny
Lister (eds.), Swinging sixties: fashion in London and beyond 1955-1970, V & A, (ex. cat.), Victoria and Albert Museum, London, 2006.
50
51 Kaldor commissioned Australian artist Mike Kitching in Surrey Hills, Sydney in 1973. For its launch, he invited Antoni Miralda
to create a coloured feast of coloured breads. See Baume, From Christo and Jeanne-Claude, 1995, p. 23. Miralda also presented a
coloured bread project at the AGNSW from 21 September 4 October 1973. This was not originally considered by Kaldor as
one of his Art Projects. For Forbat, 40 Years, the project was reassigned Art Project status. See p. 168.
52
Momentum, http://www.momentumsydney.com/speakers/john-kaldor-2. Accessed August 8, 2011.
Baume, From Christo and Jeanne-Claude, 1995, p. 12. Baume referred to the business as Alcorso Fabrics, whilst in Baume, The
Artist as Model in Forbat, 40 Years, 2009, Kaldor referred to the company as Universal Textiles.
53
54
Discussed further below p. 298.
104
and Egyptian antiquities and medieval objects.55 His early purchases reflected his aspirations
towards connoisseurship.56 Thomas suggested that Kaldor favoured these areas of collecting less
as objects than for their connection with history and past civilization.57 However, his broad
focus on objects that signified a European history and its civilization did not differentiate Kaldor
from many other European and American collectors in either subject-matter or motivation.58
Kaldors appreciation of art was based on a strong personal aesthetic response to the object
rather than scholarship or research.59 In 2009 Kaldor stated that we talk about contemporary art,
but I love art of all periods, whether its Egyptian, Byzantine, Renaissance, baroque, impressionist
or modern. To me, periods dont really matter; there is great art and bad art, and what you call it
is very arbitrary.60 This was the rationale for Kaldors early collecting decisions, which included
antiquities and historical art in contrast to the contemporary focus of subsequent collecting and
projects.61 In later years, conversations with artists with whom he had built up a friendship Jeff
Koons, for instance enabled him to see the relationships between earlier periods and
contemporary art.62
Like many collectors, Kaldor started collecting contemporary art early in life. This became his
focus. Kaldors collecting of contemporary art rapidly took him beyond tradition. In a 2009
interview, Kaldor noted that art should reflect what is going on today and point the way to the
future.63 Kaldors first art purchase was a semi-abstract painting bought for 10 in London in
55
56
See p. 25.
57
Thomas, The Art Collectors, Art & Australia, 1971, p. 313.
For an overview of the culture of collecting, see Pearce (ed.), Museums, Objects and Collections, 1992; John Elsner and Roger
Cardinal (eds.), Cultures of Collecting, Reaktion Books, London, 1994 (Second edition 1997). Notable British collectors include Lisa
and Robert Sainsbury, a significant role model for Charles Saatchi. See Rita Hatton and John A. Walker, Supercollector. A critique of
Charles Saatchi, Elipse, London, 2000, p. 16. In the USA, examples include the De Menil family, Kristina Van Dyke, The Menil
Collection, Houston, Texas, African Arts, Autumn, 2007, pp. 36 49.
58
59 See Kaldors comments in Susan Moore, The Quiet Pioneer, Apollo: The International Magazine for Collectors, May 2011, Vol. 173,
Issue 587, p. 30.
60
For an analysis of the motivations of collectors, see Belk, R.W., Collectors and Collecting, Advances in Consumer Research,
Association for Consumer Research, Vol. 15, 1988, pp. 548-53.
61
62 Kaldor noted that Koons enabled him to develop a love of the Baroque through his own interest in this area explored through
his work. Moore, The Quiet Pioneer, Apollo, 2011.
63
Michael Young, The Great Commissioner, Art & Asia Pacific, Issue 65, Sept/Oct 2009, p. 77.
105
106
1954.64 Baume did not note the artists name, title of the work, or any further description. The
fact is significant for two points: Kaldor was aged eighteen, and the acquisition of the work
heralded his interest in avant-garde forms of modern art. The material value of the work was
also significant for the collector: in subsequent histories Kaldor referred to its cost, but neither
the name of the artist nor the works title. Kaldors focus on the financial value of the work, still
remembered some forty years later, presaged his deployment of art as a positional good in years
to come.65
On his return to Australia in 1957, Kaldor focused briefly on the work of his Australian
contemporaries. He began collecting paintings by Sydney artists, including works by James
Gleeson, Michael Kitching, Colin Lanceley, John Olsen, Ivan Van Wieringen and Dick Watkins.66
Whilst Gleesons work had featured in Modernages textile designs from 1947, other artists were of
a younger generation. Acquisition, however, did not actively involve Kaldor with the artists.
Based on the Ascher (1942 and 1955), Alcorso (1947) and Sekers (1959) projects, Kaldor
commissioned furnishing fabrics by leading Australian painters and sculptors for the launch of a
new furnishing division of his parents company in 1962. Titled Artists Originals, the
commissions featured John Coburn, Russell Drysdale, Donald Friend, James Gleeson, Clement
Meadmore and John Olsen. These results were subsequently exhibited in 1963 in Sydney and
Melbourne.67 In Melbourne, they were shown at John Reeds Museum of Modern Art and
Design of Australia.68 Kaldors Originals enabled Kaldor to work directly with a younger
generation of Australian artists, following a well-established tradition of commercial patronage.
Kaldors attention was refocused on international contemporary art by an article in Time on Pop
Art in May 1963.69 The article impressed Kaldor. He saw an extraordinary nature in
reproductions of works by Jasper Johns, Roy Lichtenstein, Claes Oldenburg, Robert
64
65
For a definition of positional goods see above p. 25.
66 Baume, From Christo and Jeanne-Claude, 1995, p. 10. Kaldor also mentioned his interest in the work of John Olsen and Fred
Williams. See Tunnicliffe, John Kaldor Family Collection, 2011, p. 19.
67 Baume, From Christo and Jeanne-Claude, 1995, p. 10. Artists whose work was included in the range were Judy Cassab, John
Coborn, Russell Drysdale, Cedric Flower, Donald Friend, James Gleeson, Elaine Haxon, Clement Meadmore, John Olsen and Ian
Van Wieringen. The work was exhibited at the Dominion Art Galleries in Castlereagh Street, Sydney.
68
Baume, From Christo and Jeanne-Claude , 1995, p. 10.
69
Time, n.a., Art: Pop art Cult of the Commonplace, Time Magazine, 3 May 1963.
106
Rauschenberg, Andy Warhol and Tom Wesselmann.70 For Kaldor, Pop Art was not only
revolutionary, but embodied the energy and creativity of the new world which could easily
encompass Australia.71 Baume notes that this article marked an important moment in the
development of Kaldors taste.72 It shifted his interest decisively from the local to the
international. The sensational tone played a part: Pop-Art: Cult of the Commonplace, was
resoundingly dismissive. Whether positive or negative in tone about the newer developments in
American art, the art writer wielded increasing power. Francis OConnors 1972 Artforum article
Notes on Patronage: the 1960s, observed that patronage divided into three separate activities:
promotion, acquisition and subvention, in order of importance, and that the art writer - whether
critic, curator, or art historian had become the principal tastemaker and canoniser of art and
artists of the 1960s.73 He argued that those who acquired art, such as collectors, dealers and
museums, depended on the art writers judgments to certify their investments.74
The development of Kaldors interest in American artists of the 1960s, beginning with his
acquisition of Pop Art, appeared to be part of a well-established international trend. By 1963, a
key group of American Pop artists were already well established, and Pop Art had attracted a
considerable following. Pop Art collector, architect Philip Johnson was quoted in the same Time
article saying that it was the most important art movement in the world today.75 If a collector
wanted to be associated with the latest developments in international contemporary art, than this
was it. Whilst the work of these artists may have been revelatory for Kaldor, altering the focus of
his collecting interests, they were already much collected by American museums and private
collectors. The art world of that time, made up of galleries, collectors and those interested and
involved in related aspects of the arts, may have been smaller. However, key artists and artistic
trends were still able to capture a popular imagination, as they continue to do today.76 Featured in
70 Noted by Baume, From Christo and Jeanne-Claude, 1995, p. 10. Time, n.a., Time, Pop Art Cult of the Commonplace, Time
Magazine U.S., 3 May 1963. http://www.time.com/time/magazine/article/0,9171,828186-1,00.html , accessed August 24, 2011.
71
John Kaldor, Preface, in Forbat, 40 Years, 2009, p. 20.
72
73
Francis OConnor, Notes on Patronage: the 1960s, Artforum, Vol. 11, Issue 1, September 1972, pp. 52-56.
74
OConnor, Notes on Patronage, Artforum, 1972, p. 53.
75
Time, n.a., Pop Art, 1963.
Iconic works, such as Damien Hirsts formaldehyde embalmed shark, The Physical Impossibility of Death in the Mind of Someone
Living (1991), reflect the ability of certain works to attract critical and popular interest. The work featured on the cover of Terry
Smiths book What is Contemporary Art (2009). It was also used by BBC News online and Bloomberg Businessweek Markets &
Finance online, accompanying articles about Hirsts 2012 retrospective at the Tate Modern and marketability in 2012 or not
76
107
108
popular American magazines such as Time, American Pop Art was not only the latest thing in the
development of contemporary art, demonstrated by the interest of galleries and private
collectors, but it had also attracted the interest of a wider public, even if opinion reflected the
usual hostility towards new forms of art, as did Sieberlings article for Life magazine in 1964.77
A number of gallerists and advisors played a key role in this early phase of Kaldors collecting,
particularly Romanian-born collector and gallerist Ileana Sonnabend.78 Sonnabend and her
husband Leo Castelli opened their first gallery in New York in 1957, discovering the work of the
emerging generation of American artists that included Jasper Johns and Robert Rauschenberg.
Returning to Paris, she opened Galerie Sonnabend in 1962 with her second husband, Michael
Sonnabend, with an exhibition of work by Jasper Johns.79 Later exhibitions showcased the same
young generation of American artists as championed by Leo Castelli Gallery in New York,
alongside emerging European work.80
In 1963, Kaldor purchased Roy Lichtensteins painting Peanut Butter Cup (1962) from the first
solo exhibition of the American artist held in June 1963 at the Paris gallery.81 Kaldor chose a less
important work from the exhibition, his choice primarily driven more by financial considerations
respectively. See n.a., BBC News, Damien Hirst is most visited Tate Modern solo show, BBC News, September 17, 2012, http:
http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/entertainment-arts-19623072, accessed 19 September 2012; Andrew Rice, Damien Hirst: Jumping
the Shark, Bloomberg Businessweek, November 21, 2012, http://www.businessweek.com/articles/2012-11-21/damien-hirstjumping-the-shark, accessed December 2, 2012. Other artists with both critical and popular appeal include Jeff Koons, Maurizio
Cattelan, Takashi Murakami, and Yayoi Kusama.
77
Dorothy Seiberling, Is He the Worst Artist in the U.S.?, Life Magazine, January 31, 1964, pp. 79-83.
78 Ileana Sonnabend was born in Bucharest, Romania in 1914. 2007. She married Leo Krausz (later Leo Castelli) in 1933. In
1935 they moved to Paris and opened an art gallery before emigrating to New York in 1941. In the 1940s and 50s the Castellis
initiated a collection of art that included works by Piet Mondrian and Jackson Pollock. They began showing new art, beginning
with Neo-dada and Pop Art (Roy Lichtenstein, Andy Warhol, Claes Oldenburg and James Rosenquist). Sonnabend Gallery,
http://www.sonnabendgallery.com/index.php?v=exhibition&id=13&press=1, accessed August 8, 2011.
79
Sonnabend Gallery, http://www.sonnabendgallery.com/index.php?v=exhibition&id=13&press=1, accessed August 8, 2011.
The Galerie Sonnabend exhibited the work of American artists and young Italian artists including Mario Schifano (1963) and
Michelangelo Pistoletto (1964), Mario Merz and Giovanni Anselmo (1969) and Jannis Kounellis (1972). In 1970 Ileana
Sonnabend opened a gallery in New York, moving in 1971 to the SoHo district, together with the Castelli Gallery, opening her
SoHo gallery with a now-celebrated performance by Gilbert & George. Sonnabend was known for the international focus of her
gallery, presenting new art from both the European and the New York scene: Minimalism, Arte Povera, Conceptual Art,
Transavanguardia, Neo-Expressionism, Neo-Geo. See Gallery Sonnabend website, Sonnabend Gallery,
http://www.sonnabendgallery.com/index.php?v=exhibition&id=13&press=1, accessed August 8, 2011. Sonnabends role as a
gallerist and collector of late 20th century contemporary art was celebrated in an exhibition presented at the Peggy Guggenheim
Collection, Venice, Ileana Sonnabend. An Italian Portrait, May 29 to October 2, 2011, coinciding with the opening of the 54th Venice
Biennale, 2011.
80
81
Roy Lichtenstein, Galerie Ileana Sonnabend, Paris, 5 30 June, 1963.
108
than the significance of the work.82 He saw the acquisition as his first real purchase of
contemporary international art, reflected by his later gift of the work to his wife Naomi Milgrom
Kaldor.83 It was the first of a number of acquisitions of American Pop Art.84 Kaldor credited his
meeting with Sonnabend in Paris at that date as shifting his focus towards more cutting edge art.
Sophy Burnham, writing in 1973, noted that the introduction of sophisticated marketing
techniques by dealers such as Leo Castelli and others had helped to create the vogue for Pop
Art.85
The relationship between art dealer and collector was also significant as part of a complex
network of art markets for the more experimental forms of contemporary art. Economic
sociologist Olav Velthuis has written extensively on the development of the contemporary art
markets, and the relationship between collectors and dealers in network terms.86 While market
exchange is invariably embedded in social networks, in Talking Prices: Symbolic Meanings of Prices on
the Market for Contemporary Art (2007) Velthuis outlined a further approach: the consideration of
markets as cultural constellations. He proposed that, like other forms of social interaction,
market exchange is highly ritualized, involving a wider variety of symbols that transfer rich
meanings between people who exchange goods with each other.87 People participating in these
exchanges are connected through ties of different sorts, involving complex social processes. As a
result, intimate, long-term relationships between artists, collectors, and their intermediaries
develop. Art and commerce is kept distinct, through dealers advice on the acquisition of the
right and wrong work.88 Dealers also have a vested interest in managing the biography of key
works, by ensuring that they are positioned with suitable collectors to prevent them coming into
Kaldor noted that works ranged from $150 to $250 US, though he only had $50 to spend. Tunnicliffe, John Kaldor Family
Collection, 2011, p. 19. Noted by J.K., Woolwich, Sydney, June 22, 2008.
82
83
Also featured on the frontice page of Tunnicliffes interview with Kaldor, Tunnicliffe, John Kaldor Family Collection, 2011, p. 19.
Tunnicliffe, John Kaldor Family Collection, 2011, p. 19; Thomas, The Art Collectors, Art & Australia, 1971, p. 320. Baume, From
Christo and Jeanne-Claude, 1995, p. 8.
84
85 For a discussion of the techniques of pricing, placing and restricting supply of work by a dealer, see Sophy Burnham, The Art
Crowd, David McKay Company Inc., New York, 1973, p. 43. For a broader analysis of the role and influence of art critics,
collectors, dealers and museum professionals in the development of vanguard art and New York art world from in the 1950s70s, see Steven W. Naifeh, Culture Making: Money, Success, and the New York Art World, The History Department of Princeton
University, 1976.
86 Olav Velthuis, Talking Prices: Symbolic Meanings of Prices on the Market for Contemporary Art, Princeton University Press, 2007. See
also Maria Lind, Olav Velthuis (eds.), Contemporary Art and its commercial Markets. A Report on Current Conditions and Future Scenarios,
Sternberg Press, 2012.
87
Velthuis, Talking Prices, 2007, p. 3. For a discussion of the social fabric of the market, see chapter 2.
88
Velthuis, Talking Prices, 2007, p. 5.
109
110
contact with money again too soon through circulation on the secondary market. Curators and
artists also played an important role. The curator gained increasing prominence with notable
collectors of contemporary art, often replacing the dealer as a source for advice. As the role of
the intermediaries such as gallerists decreased, the role of artists also evolved. As Isabelle Graw
reflected in 2012, artists in turn became more a kind of critic-curator-consultant-gallerist.89
They had to work as sophisticated participants in a complex art world. The relationships that
Kaldor developed with key dealers, critics, curators and artists over time forms part of what
Velthuis defined as the social networks and cultural constellations of the contemporary art world
and market.
Other acquisitions reflected Sonnabends continued influence on Kaldors developing taste. As
Velthuis noted, pre-existing social ties with the dealer are critical in order to purchse an
artwork.90 His new interest in European conceptual art was reflected by his acquisition of work
by Dutch artist Jan Dibbets, while Robert Rauschenbergs Dylaby (1962), purchased from
Sonnabend in 1966, bookended his developing collection. 91 Its significance, and that of Galerie
Ileana Sonnabend, was underscored when an installation photograph of Rauschenbergs Dylaby
(1962) in Sonnabend Gallerys February 1963 exhibition was included in Baumes review of
Kaldors collection and projects published in 1995.92
Dylaby (1962) was first shown as part of the exhibition Dynamic Labyrinth at Amsterdams Stedelijk
Museum in 1962, for which Director Willem Sandberg had invited six artists to take over seven
rooms and create environments.93 Kaldor had neither seen the installations at the Stedelijk, nor
the subsequent exhibition at Sonnabends Paris gallery in 1963 in which Dylaby (1962) was also
included.94 However, Rauschenbergs significant exhibition history, and Sonnabends close
involvement with his Stedelijk show certified the reputation of this relatively unknown artist for
Kaldor. The history of Kaldors purchase of the work would become part of the mythologizing
Isabelle Graw, In the grip of the market? On the relative heteronomy of art, the art world, and art criticism, in Maria Lind,
OlavVelthuis (eds.), Contemporary Art and its commercial Markets, 2007, p. 195.
89
90
Velthuis, Talking Prices, 2007, p. 71.
91 Thomas, An Australian Accent, 1984, p. 13. Robert Rauschenberg, Dylaby (1962), gifted to the AGNSW as part of the John
Kaldor Family Collection, 2011.
92
93
Baume, From Christo and Jeanne-Claude, 1995, p. 11. Sonnabend assisted Rauschenberg with the installation of the work.
Rauschenberg: premire exposition (oeuvres 1954-61), Galerie Ileana Sonnabend, Paris, 1-16 February 1963. Noted in Baume, From
Christo and Jeanne-Claude , 1995, p. 11; and Tunnicliffe, John Kaldor Family Collection, 2011, p. 47.
94
110
of the early development of his collection.95 The works association with a major international
gallery, with a history of presenting avant-garde and experimental work, enabled Kaldor to begin
an international collection with works that had international clout. Kaldor noted the social
openness of the art world in the early 1960s, likening it to a small but non-exclusive club as
anybody who wanted to could join in.96
Kaldor also admitted that low cost was a motivation for collecting American Pop Art rather than
Australian artists at that time.97 In 2009, Kaldor recalled that artists such as Robert Rauchenberg,
Jasper Johns, Andy Warhol and Roy Lichtenstein were only beginning to gain attention in 1963.
This made their works relatively affordable.98 However, by 1962, Lichtensteins paintings had
already been included in a number of key articles and art museum exhibitions. Max Kozloffs
article in that year, Pop Culture, Metaphysical Disgust, and the New Vulgarians in Art
International, might have been profoundly unsympathetic to the emergent art movement, but it
linked the artists together as a cohesive group. Gene R. Swensons article in ARTnews in
September of the same year called Pop Art impudent, single-minded, and so obvious as to be
unexpected.99 Even populist articles followed, such as Life magazines feature on Pop Art in June
1962.100 Lichtensteins paintings began to appear in art museum exhibitions. In 1962, his Head
(Red and Yellow) (1962) was acquired by the Albright-Knox Art Gallery (Buffalo). The following
year, the Guggenheim Museum, New York, presented Six Painters and the Object, an exhibition
featuring works by Dine, Johns, Lichtenstein, Rauschenberg, Rosenquist and Warhol, which
travelled throughout the US.101
95
See Tunnicliffe, John Kaldor Family Collection, 2011, p. 20.
96
Tunnicliffe, John Kaldor Family Collection, 2011, p. 19.
97 J.K. in conversation, 22 June 2008, Woolwich, Sydney. Also noted in Kaldor, Preface in Forbat, 40 Years, 2009, p. 20; and
Edmund Capon and John Kaldor, In conversation, podcast, AGNSW public programs, May 21, 2011.
98
Kaldor, Preface in Forbat, 40 Years, 2009, p. 20.
Max Kozloff, Pop Culture, Metaphysical Disgust, and the New Vulgarians in Art International, Vol. 6, Issue 2, Feb. 1962;
Swenson, G. R., The New American Sign Painters ARTnews 61, September 1962, pp. 4447. Repr. in S. H. Madof (ed.), Pop
Art: A Critical History, Berkeley, University of California Press, 1997, pp. 3438.
99
100
Life, n.a., Something New Is Cooking., Life, Vol. 52, No. 24, June 15, 1962, pp. 115-116; 119-120.
See Lichtenstein Foundation website for biographical details, http://www.lichtensteinfoundation.org/lfchron1.htm, accessed

February 19, 2012. Six Painters and the Object, March 14 June 2, 1963, Solomon R. Guggenheim Museum. See Alloway,
Lawrence, Six Painters and the Object, (ex. cat.), Solomon. R. Guggenheim Museum, 1963. Accessed via
http://archive.org/details/sixpaintersobjec00allo, March 23, 2012.
101
111
112
In 1995, Kaldor remembered that the Lichtenstein painting of 1962 cost US $50, whilst the work
of a recognized Australian artist would have been priced at least double.102 He was later to
acknowledge that the work was less expensive than others in the Paris exhibition, which ranged
between $150 and $250. 103 If Kaldors memory about prices in the French exhibition was correct,
then the French exhibition reflected very good value for money, priced significantly below
American exhibitions of the time. Records from the Leo Castelli Gallery show that in 1962,
prices ranged between US $350 to $1200 for Lichtensteins first show at the New York Gallery,
and featured signature paintings such as The Kiss (1962), Engagement Ring (1961), and Turkey
(1961).104 All works were sold prior to the exhibition. 105 Prices for Lichtensteins second solo
exhibition with Leo Castelli Gallery in September 1963 ranged from US$1,200 to $3,500, whilst
his exhibition in 1964 of larger oil on canvas works made in that year ranged from US$12,000 to
$15,000.106 Kaldors anecdote about the low price of the work reflected not only its relative scale,
date, and importance, but also the fact that Sonnabend may well have priced the works
significantly lower for a European market. Kaldor remembers her saying to him that since he
appeared honest, she was willing for him to take a larger work and pay the balance later.107 While
Kaldor purchased the smaller, and less significant work, her trust was repaid by Kaldors respect
for Sonnabends advice, and ongoing support for the artists her gallery represented through the
acquisition of works of art.
A personal relationship with the artist also appeared to have played a significant role in other
early acquisitions by Kaldor. In 1964, Kaldor acquired a number of works by Scottish sculptor
Eduardo Paolozzi during a visit to the artists studio in London. They had been made during the
artists earlier residency in Paris.108 Paris Bird (c. 1948-9) and Figure (1958) were used to illustrate
Baume, From Christo and Jeanne-Claude, 1995, p. 11. This fact has been widely repeated. Huda noted that prices for William
Dobells paintings in the early 1960s were incongruous, especially for a living artist. They bore no relation to the general market
value of paintings either in Australia and Europe. See Shireen Amber Huda, Pedigree and panache: A history of the art auction in
Australia, ANU E Press, Australian National University, Canberra, 2008, Chapter 4, p. 63.
http://epress.anu.edu.au/titles/pedigree-and-panache/pdf-download, accessed August 25, 2012
102
103
The Kiss (1962), oil on canvas, 80 x 68 inches, priced at $1200 and sold for $1000; Engagement Ring (1961), oil on canvas, 67 x
79 inches, priced at $1200; Turkey (1961), oil on canvas, priced at US$350, sold $300. Leo Castelli Archive, Price list for Roy
Lichtenstein, February 10 March 3, 1962.
104
105
Lichtenstein Foundation website, http://www.lichtensteinfoundation.org/lfchron1.htm, accessed February 19, 2012.
106
Leo Castelli Gallery Archive, Price list of Roy Kichtenstein, 20 September 1963.
107
108 Thomas, The Art Collectors, Art & Australia, 1971, p. 320; Baume, From Christo and Jeanne-Claude, 1995, p. 11; Tunnicliffe,
John Kaldor Family Collection, 2011, p. 19, although Kaldor noted that the date was 1963. Images accompanying Thomas, The Art
112
Daniel Thomass feature on Kaldors collection for Art and Australia in 1971. The transitional,
lumpen cast-bronze Figure (1958) showed the impact of Surrealism and Paris-based
contemporaries Brancusi and Giacometti, as well as the lart brut sculptures of Jean Dubuffet.109
By contrast, Paris Bird (1948-9), with its incorporation of machine parts and found objects,
presaged Paolozzis later participation in the development of Pop Art in Britain.110
Purchasing work directly from the artist enabled Kaldor to develop a closer, and often more
personal, engagement than if the contact were mediated by a gallerist. In some cases, direct
negotiations may also have financial advantages for the collector. Establishment of personal
contact was characteristic of Kaldors subsequent relationships with artists, and one that he
particularly valued. The acquisition of these sculptures marked the awakening of Kaldors
interest in artforms beyond painting. From this point on, sculpture and increasingly postsculptural practice, drawings, installations, assemblages, photographs, conceptual works and
artists books became the focus of his collecting.111
Thomas has suggested that it was at this point Kaldor became less an art collector than an art
patron.112 He was alluding to the different relationships that collectors and art patrons have with
artists. Art patrons have a closer relationship with the artists whose work they often commission,
whereas collectors usually acquire works of art from galleries or auction houses, and may never
encounter the artists whose work they acquire. Kaldors collecting in the mid-1960s was now
more international, and more focused on sculpture, installation, and assemblages, rather than
painting. This differentiated him from other collectors in Australia. However, Kaldors
developing relationship with the galleries directly involved with Pop Art was not markedly
different from other international collectors at that time. Naifeh noted that the number of
collectors who spent more than US $10,000 annually on vanguard art rose to about 200 by
Collectors 1971 article on p. 321, included Eduardo Paolozzi, Paris Bird (c. 1948-9), and Eduardo Paolozzi, Figure (1958); and Roy
Lichtenstein, Peanut Butter Cup (1962).
See The Independent Group website for full details of Paolozzi in Paris between 1947 9, the influence of French artists on
him, Paolozzis subsequent participation in the Independent Group in the 1950s and their influence on Pop Art in Britain.
http://www.independentgroup.org.uk/contributors/paolozzi/index.html, accessed August 24, 2011. Whitehouse also noted the
influence of the French Art brut group of artists on the NSW Contemporary Art Societys abstract expressionists. See
Whitehouse, The Contemporary Art Society of NSW, 1999, p. 112.
109
For a discussion of Richard Hamilton, Paolozzi and English Pop Art, see Thomas Crow, The Rise of the Sixties, American and
European Art in the Era of Dissent 1955-69, The Everyman Art Library, 1996, pp. 39-47.
110
111
112
113
114
1970.113 Collectors were not solely based in New York. They also came from smaller American
cities such as Detroit, Houston and Atlanta. European collectors, predominantly from Italy and
Germany, began to outbid Americans in the market for contemporary art. The number of
modest collectors also rose, and by 1973, there were approximately 50,000 collectors of vanguard
art from around the globe.114
On the other hand, Kaldor had been more closely associated with artists both through his
commissioning of the Kaldor Originals fabric designs, and his visit to Paolozzis studio. The
close association put him in a smaller category of highly engaged collectors of contemporary art.
He clearly valued direct personal relationships with artists. His next acquisition followed an
introduction to an artist that began a relationship that would continue for decades.
THE ALCORSO SEKERS SCULPTURE PRIZE

The threads of Kaldors early association with contemporary artists producing fabric
commissions, and his increasingly international collection, came together in the creation of the
Alcorso Sekers Sculpture Prize. Kaldor acknowledged the financial and philanthropic examples
of his two mentors, Sekers and Alcorso, by naming a fledgling sculpture prize after them. In
1966, as Marketing Manager of Universal Textiles, Kaldor convinced the company to start the
Alcorso-Sekers Travelling Scholarship for young Australian sculptors, a prize that supported
travel and professional development for an Australian artist overseas.115 State Gallery directors
were to select the entrants, and a $2,000 travel grant was to be awarded to the winner. An
exhibition of work by the entrants was to be shown in alternate years in Sydney and Melbourne
state galleries.116 Modelled loosely on the existing Helena Rubenstein Scholarship for oil painting,
the Alcorso-Sekers Scholarship was created specifically to support sculpture since Kaldor
believed there was no equivalent prize for that medium.117 For state galleries, involvement with
113
See Naifeh, Culture Making, 1976, pp. 105-6.
114
See Naifeh, Culture Making, 1976, pp. 105-6.
Baume, The artist as model in Forbat, 40 Years, 2009, p. 44. Three Alcorso-Sekers Travelling scholarships and exhibitions
were held from 1966-68. The first exhibition was held at the Art Gallery of New South Wales from 27 July to 28 August 1966,
and was won by George Baldessin. See Anne Sanders, The Mildura Sculpture Triennales 1961-1978: an interpretative history, Chapter 3.
unpublished online PhD thesis, 2009, p. 122. ANU Digital Theses, Http://hdl.handle.net/1885/7452, Accessed August 11,
2011.
115
116
117
114
prizes of this nature enabled them to present an exhibition of contemporary work by Australian
artists for whom they might not have otherwise had the exhibition budget. Support by
companies such as Helena Rubenstein or Universal Textiles enabled state galleries to receive
much-needed funds. For Kaldor, it enabled him to develop useful contacts with key public
galleries in Sydney and Melbourne.
The international focus of the Alcorso-Sekers scholarship which saw an Australian artist
dispatched overseas reflected Kaldors early European roots and a belief that the most
interesting work was being produced overseas. It reflected Kaldors resolutely international focus
that he developed in both business and art.
A proliferation of prizes, and an increased discord about the nature of these awards, may also
have prompted Kaldor to propose a different model for the 1969 Alcorso-Sekers model.118 The
medium of sculpture was gaining greater attention. In 1966, the same year that the AlcorsoSekers scholarship was inaugurated, the Transfield Prize was altered. Created by fellow
immigrant, Italian-born Franco Belgiorno-Nettis, the Transfield Prize had long been the richest
art prize in Australia.119 Within a year, the number of prizes specifically for sculpture had
doubled, and the Alcorso-Sekers Travelling Scholarship was one amongst many. 120 At the same
time, there was growing criticism from curators and critics about the selection processes and
criteria of prizes. 121 James Gleeson noted on ABC Radio that rather than rewarding the artist,
prizes such as these were commissioning works, and shaping the nature of the work
produced.122
118 For a discussion of other art prizes, the Mildura Sculpture Triennial and their context, see Sanders, The Mildura Sculpture
Triennales, 2009, pp. 128 230.
119 Ken Scarlett, Australias Sculpture Prizes, Sculpture, January/February, Vol. 23, No. 1, 2004. However, by 1968, this appeared
to have evolved again to include painting, as a painting by Melbourne artist Robert Hunter was exhibited in the Transfield Art
Prize, shown at the Bonython Art Gallery, Sydney in November 1968. See Jenepher Duncan, Robert Hunter Paintings 1966-1988,
(ex. cat.), Monash University Gallery, 1987, p. 8.
See Scarlett, Australian Sculpture Prizes, Sculpture, 2004 for a discussion of the history of sculpture prizes in Australia. Apart
from the shift in the Transfield Prize, the Flotta Lauro Shipping Company set up a travelling prize for sculpture and painting in
1967. The Comalco Invitation Award for Sculpture in Aluminium was launched on 23 September, 1968, and lasted from 1968 to
1971. The Helena Rubenstein Prize encouraged international travel. The Mildura Sculpture Prize was held in 1961, 1964 and
1967. Its aim was to focus on contemporary Australian sculpture. It subsequently became the Mildura Sculpture Triennial. See
Sanders, The Mildura Sculpture Triennales, 2009, chapters 2 and 3.
120
121 Some of these issues were addressed by Elwyn Lynn, Art prizes in Australia, Art & Australia, Vol. 6, No. 4, March 1969, pp.
31418; and Sanders, The Mildura Sculpture Triennales, 2009, particularly chapter 3 which traced the relationship of early sculpture
prizes to the development of the Mildura Sculpture Triennial.
122 Gleeson as reported by Lynn in NSW Broadsheet. December 1957. Whitehouse, The Contemporary Art Society of NSW, 1999, p.
223.
115
116
These concerns prompted Kaldor in 1968 to suggest the Alcorso Sekers Scholarship be amended
to bring an international artist to Australia rather than sending an Australian artist overseas.123
Kaldor proposed an international artist who represent[ed] important trends in contemporary art
practice and to help realize major projects of their work.124 His recommendation differentiated
his prize from the others and more importantly, it would introduce emerging trends to
Australian artists and the wider local audience. The shift also meant that identifying important
trends in contemporary international art would be Kaldors personal responsibility, as would the
selection of the artists to visit Australia.
In his essay for An Australian Accent (1984) Thomas noted that Kaldor was the pioneer, the first
to realize that the new 1960s global village existed in terms of transport and could be operated
for Australias benefit.125 An international awareness, combined with an understanding of the
role that acquisitions and philanthropy could play resulted in Kaldors focus on bringing
contemporary artists to Australia.
Under the amended Alcorso Sekers scheme, in 1969 Kaldor invited New York-based artists
Christo Javacheff and his partner Jeanne-Claude de Guillebon to Australia: Christo would
perhaps give a couple of lectures in each of the cities [Sydney and Melbourne] and arrange an
exhibition.126 Christo in turn proposed giving open meetings (as his English was not good), but
said his real interest lay in the realization of his project Packed Coast.127 Christo had already made
his first drawings for a wrapped coastline in 1967, initially planned for California as Packed
Coast.128 Both Christo and Kaldor immediately envisaged the project as a major artistic
123
John William Kaldor, biography, http://www.kaldorartprojects.org.au/biography-jk.asp , viewed 10 November 2006, cited in

Sanders, The Mildura Sculpture Triennales, 2009, p. 129. No longer available online, August 11, 2011.
124
125
126 Christo and Jeanne-Claude had been based in New York since 1964, after leaving Communist Bulgaria. Jeanne-Claude was
born in Morocco, though of a French military family. Baume, From Christo and Jeanne-Claude, 1995, p. 14. Quoted from letter to
Christo, Sydney 12 February 1969.
127 Christo letter to John Kaldor, New York, 7 March 1969. Baume, From Christo and Jeanne-Claude , 1995, p. 14. Wrapped Coast was
originally credited solely to Christo but in the 1970s the environmental works were retrospectively credited to both Christo and
Jeanne-Claude. See Charles Green, The Third Hand: collaborations in art from conceptualism to postmodern, University of Minnesota
Press, Minneapolis, 2001, p. 128. Letters from Christo to John Kaldor regarding the 1969 Australian project were in fact all
written by Jeanne-Claude, reflecting their close working relationship. See letters reprinted in Baume, From Christo and JeanneClaude, 1995, p. 78.
Baume noted that Christos first project to make direct use of landscape forms was his unrealized Packed Hills Project for
Wrapping 30 Hectares Area (1968), which he hoped to undertake in the United States. Later in the same year he made his first
studies for what was then called Packed Coast Somewhere on the West Coast of the USA, between Los Angeles and San Francisco (1968),
though he was unable to obtain permission for the work. In his letter to Kaldor in early 1969, he wrote what I am really
128
116
achievement. Kaldors shift from the private collection of Pop art to a highly public engagement
with a lesser widely known ephemeral form of artmaking offered him the chance to engage with
an artform that was able to attract widespread interest, controversy, images and debate. The
work would attain world-wide coverage and underwrite the image of Sydney as one of the most
progressive cities of the world.129
Whilst Kaldor was clearly interested in the new forms of art-making Christo was exploring, he
was also interested in Christos personal history. Like Kaldor, Christo saw his art as emerging
from his own biography.130 Christo grew up in Bulgaria under a communist regime, the son of
Marxist intellectuals. Kaldor and Christo shared the early experience of repressive Eastern
European political regimes and social unrest that contributed to the Kaldor familys decision to
emigrate and to Christos to defect.131 Like the Kaldor family, Christo had fled to Paris. Like
Kaldor, Christos experience of Paris was pivotal. So too was Christos subsequent decision to
settle in New York in 1964, though his experience of American Pop Art in the 1960s was a far
cry from Sydneys in the 1940s. Kaldor was attracted to Christo because they shared a similar
history, tenacity and determination, and a desire to challenge perceived expectations of modernist
art.
However, a site for Packed Coast was difficult to procure, and following adverse publicity about
the project and mounting financial concerns,132 the Alcorso-Sekers company eventually withdrew
its support. John Kaldor, by then Managing Director of Universal Textiles, decided to continue
without their support. Strangely, no-one appears to have made the link between the AlcorsoSekers line of business fabrics and Christos extensive use of a woven fabric to wrap the
interested in is the realization of my projects, most of all Packed Coast. Christo letter to John Kaldor, 7 March, 1969. See
Nicholas Baume (ed.) Christo, (ex. cat.), Art Gallery of New South Wales, Sydney, 1990, p. 37. For a history of these early
projects, see also David Bourdon, Christo, Harry N. Abrams Publishers, New York, 1972.
129 Baume, From Christo and Jeanne-Claude, 1995, p. 14. Letter from Kaldor to Peter Coleman, Member of State Parliament, Sydney
14 April, 1969.
130
Referred to by Thomas in Baume, Christo, 1990, p. 28.
See Bourdon, Christo, 1972 for biographical details. Thomas noted that Christos parents were Marxist intellectuals, and the
family owned numerous books on Russian avant-garde art and theatre. These disappeared from the Javacheff family home when
Bulgaria was occupied by Hitlers German soldiers, prior to it becoming a communist republic in 1944. Thomas in Baume,
Christo, 1990, p. 29. Following the First World War, Hungary also suffered from political, social and economic upheaval, which
no doubt contributed to many Hungarians, including the Kaldors decision to emigrate.
131
132 The Reverend Roger Bush railed against the project on Radio 2GB, implying that the products of the company, or companies
that sponsor this project should be boycotted. Baume, From Christo and Jeanne-Claude, 1995, p. 16.
117
International parallels
118
Australian coast.133 A foundation, named John Kaldor Art Projects, was created in 1969. It
retained this name until 2004. By naming the foundation John Kaldor Art Projects, the
organisations activities were inextricably linked to the identity of its creator. The two activities private art collecting and the presentation of public art projects - were intertwined.
The transformation of the Alcorso-Sekers Scholarship into an internationally focused event that
took place in Australia was mirrored by the evolution of another major art prize, the Transfield
Prize. It was awarded for the last time in 1971 and then transformed into the first Biennale of
Sydney in 1973 with the support of the Belgiorno-Nettis family.134 The Biennale presaged a new
model of exhibition in Sydney and Australia: it was designed to be a showcase for international
contemporary art.135
INTERNATIONAL PARALLELS
Other models of support for the kind of post-sculptural, environmental work that Christo and
Jeanne-Claude produced were evolving elsewhere.136 US philanthropists such as Heiner Friedrich
and Philippa de Menil were actively supporting a contemporary generation of American artists,
many of whom were producing large-scale site-specific installations.137 In their desire to work
directly with artists, Friedrich and de Menils aspirations accorded with Kaldors. Kaldor was
visiting the US regularly for business, at which time he acquired works of art by international
artists. He was also reading about contemporary art, exhibitions and new means of support in
popular magazines such as Life, and The New York Times. Fred Sandback, one of the artists
supported by Friedrich, noted in 1981 that This was a new paradigm for patronage, and I myself
am ungodly lucky to have had such support and freedom in my life.138
133 The sponsorship would have seemed a better fit than the sponsorship of Harald Szeemanns Live in your Head exhibition by
cigarette company Philip Morris. See below p. 151.
134
See Transfield website, http://www.transfield.com.au/arts/biennale.htm, accessed January 11, 2012.
For a history of early Biennale of Sydney, see Charles Green, Peripheral Vision: Contemporary Australian Art 1970-1994, Craftsman
House, NSW, 1995; Leon Paroissine, The Biennale of Sydney A partisan view of three decades, Art & Australia, Vol. 41, No.
1, Spring 2003, p. 60-69; Felicity Fenner, So far away, and yet so near, Art in America, September 2010, Vol. 98, Issue 8, pp.45
50.
135
136
See above p. 3.
137
See above p. 43.
138
Quoted in Kimmelman, The Dia Generation, The New York Times Magazine, 2003.
118
Thus, Kaldors model of philanthropic support and involvement in the artistic process coincided
with a more widespread desire to find new ways of supporting artistic practice. Roses 1967 Art in
America article addressed some of the issues associated with arts funding and patronage and what
would be most useful for artists individual needs.139 Drawing on interviews with American
sculptors, including Donald Judd, Dan Flavin, Sol LeWitt, John McCracken, Roy Lichtenstein
and Robert Morris, she argued the need for new forms of philanthropy better able to respond to
the requirements of artists and a more avant-garde art. Boards of private foundations and
museums, she noted, often reflected conservative taste, whilst art dealers often took on the role
of de facto patrons financing the production of work, as Dwan Gallery had done. She observed
that artists only needs were money, materials, places to store and exhibit their work.140 Kaldors
Art Projects appeared to offer the artist just that: a place in which to show their work, and the
means and resources with which to do so.
CONCLUSION
For Christos project in 1969, Kaldors philanthropic initiative developed out of a pre-existing
model of philanthropic support for the visual arts in the form of a travelling scholarship and art
prize. Its evolution into a series of Art Projects chosen and initiated by one individual was born
of Kaldors interest in international contemporary art. He had developed this first through
collecting, and now his desire to present it in a uniquely Australian context. The model adopted
by Kaldor for Christo and Jeanne-Claudes visit to Australia fused the models being explored
overseas to support site-specific art together with an international artist touring program.141
Where international touring exhibitions and curatorial formats brought the art and permanent
collections from overseas to Australia, Kaldor now brought the artist. Baume credited Kaldor as
being the first private patron in Australia, possibly even the world, to realize it was becoming
more simple to transport people than work.142 Though part of an international trend to find new
models to support contemporary art, Kaldors initiative was the first by an Australian individual,
free of direct commercial interests, to support contemporary art in this way.
139
Rose, Art in America, 1967, p. 35.
Rose, Art in America, 1967. Artists noted in Roses survey included Dan Flavin, Charles Frazier, Donald Judd, Sol LeWitt, Roy
Lichtenstein, John McCracken, and Robert Morris.
140
141
See above p. 16.
142
119
120
Christo and Jeanne-Claude, Wrapped Coast One Million Square Feet, Little Bay, Sydney, Australia (1968-69)
Photo: Harry Shunk
Forbat (ed), 40 Years, Kaldor Public Art Projects, 2009, p. 35.
120
Christo Kaldors first project (1969)
CHAPTER THREE:
PROJECT (1969)
CHRISTO KALDORS FIRST
MEETING CHRISTO
Kaldors early collecting provided the entre in 1968 that led to his first art project with Christo
and Jeanne-Claude in 1969. By 1968, Christo and Jeanne-Claudes work had received significant
attention internationally, and their site-specific installations and Christos exhibitions had been
the focus of numerous magazine and art journal articles in Europe and America.1 Two years
earlier in 1966, Christo had presented a solo museum exhibition at the Stedelijk van
Abbemuseum, Eindhoven; and in the same year Christo and Jeanne-Claude made their second air
package (42,390 Cubic Feet Package) shown in conjunction with an exhibition held at the Walker
Art Center, Minneapolis, Minnesota.2 In 1968, Christo and Jeanne-Claude exhibited at the
Museum of Modern Art, New York, and in the summer of that year they presented wrapped
buildings as part of the Two Worlds Festival in Spoleto, Italy.3
In the same year, the artists completed their first fully wrapped building, Wrapped Kunsthalle, Bern
(1967-68). Curated by Museum Director Harald Szeemann, Wrapped Kunsthalle, Bern (1967-68)
formed part of an exhibition featuring an international group show of environmental works by
twelve artists, presented to mark the fiftieth anniversary of the Kunsthalle in Bern.4 Christo and
Jeanne-Claudes work shrouded the Kunsthalle with 2,430 square metres of reinforced
polyethylene, left over from the discarded first skin of the Kassel Air Package and secured with
three kilometres of nylon rope.5 Visitors could enter the gallery through a small slit at the main
entrance. It took six days to wrap with the help of eleven construction workers and the
assistance of the local fire brigade. The building was unwrapped after one week, as insurance
companies refused to underwrite the building whilst wrapped. Once inside the exhibition, Andy
1 Christos work had been featured in Art International, Domus and Art and Artists; whilst exhibition catalogues had been produced
for exhibitions of Christos work held at the Stedelijk van Abbemuseum, 1966; the Institute of Contemporary Art, University of
Pennsylvania, Philadelphia, 1968; Lucy Lippards Pop Art, 1966; and Bourdon, Christo, 1972, p. 55.
2
Bourdon, Christo, 1972, p. 55.
3 Christo Wraps the Museum: Scale Models, Photomontages and Drawings for a Non-Event, Museum of Modern Art, New York. Noted in
4 12 ENVIRONMENTS/50 YEARS, Kunsthalle Bern, Switzerland, July 1968. Curator: Harald Szeemann. For details of the
exhibition see Szeemann, Bezzola and Kurzmeyer, Szeemann, 2007, pp. 206 217.
5
Bourdon, Christo, 1971.
121
Meeting Christo
122
Warhols Brillo Boxes (1964) created a monstrous advertising display, and in another room
Warhol created environments of sprayed and stenciled walls in blue, pink, salmon, purple and
green, interspersed with electric chairs turned into happenings, heads of Marilyn Monroe and
cows.6 Other rooms were treated in a similarly immersive manner, with one covered with silver
wallpaper, and mirrors covering the floor.7 The exhibition was significant not only for Christo
and Jeanne-Claude, as the first large-scale wrapping project they created, but also because it
proved a pivotal exhibition for Harald Szeemann, who was later to be invited by Kaldor to
Australia as the second John Kaldor Art Project in 1971.
Kaldor had seen Christo and Jeanne-Claudes 5,600 Cubic Meter Package (1967-68) illustrated in an
art magazine about documenta IV in 1968.8 As projects such as these were increasingly covered in
magazines and newspapers such as Time, Life and the New York Times, a new generation of
collectors and those interested in more progressive art forms was developing.9 Whilst the artists
presented their largest ever store-front, Corridor Store Front (1968) as part of the exhibition, their
inflatable sculpture floating above the Karlswiese, Auepark, attracted greater media and public
attention.10 At eighty-five metres in height, the column of air-filled synthetic fabric was the most
ambitious work to date.11
For Kaldor and the artists, the context of 5,600 Cubic Meter Package (1967-68) was important.12
The work was part of documenta IV, the highly significant international exhibition held in Kassel,
Germany. This had been initiated in 1955 by Arnold Bode as a means of reestablishing a
connection between an impoverished Germany and current developments in the international art
Szeemann, Bezzola and Kurzmeyer, Szeemann, 2007, p. 207. For installation photographs see pp. 206 209.
Szeemann, Bezzola and Kurzmeyer, Szeemann, 2007, p. 208.
Baume and Forbat both refer to an art magazine article though neither directly reference the publication: Baume, From Christo
and Jeanne-Claude, 1995, p. 14, and Forbat, 40 Years, 2009, p. 60. Time Magazine published a review of a conceptual exhibition in
New York in June 1968, in which Christos work was featured. In February 1969, Time magazine featured an article on Christos
wrappings, and mentioned the documenta work. Kaldor regularly mentioned reading about artists in Time, a magazine that was no
doubt readily available on newsstands when travelling overseas on business. Time, n.a., Time, A hint, a Shadow, a Clue, Time
Magazine U.S., June 14, 1968, Vol. 91 Issue 24, p. 85; Time, n.a., Time, All Package, Time Magazine U.S., February 7 1969, Vol. 93,
Issue 6, p. 72.
8
Steven W Naifeh noted that articles in Time, Life or the New York Times were more useful in attracting new collectors than an
article in an art journal such as Artforum, as most collectors of vanguard art lived outside the art world, and did not read such
abstruse journals. See Naifeh, Culture Making, 1976, p. 96.
9
10
Noted on Christo and Jeanne-Claude website, http://www.christojeanneclaude.net/,ajor_cubicmeter.shtml, accessed August

24, 2011. Also noted by Baume, From Christo and Jeanne-Claude, 1995, p. 14.
11
12
As noted in project notes, Forbat, 40 Years, 2009, p. 60, although not mentioned in Baume, From Christo and Jeanne-Claude, 1995.
122
world.13 documenta IV was a deliberate contrast to its precursors: eschewing the retrospective
model, the exhibition concentrated on current art activity from the 1960s. Installation, sculpture,
Colour Field painting, Minimal art and Pop Art were included, with American art playing a
significant role.14 Within a large-scale international art exhibition, the context and prominence of
Christo and Jeanne-Claudes work ensured that their inflatable sculptures and large-scale
wrappings received an international exposure that solo exhibition projects were unable to
provide. Widespread coverage in the international press ensured that Kaldor would have been
aware of this.
5,600 Cubic Meter Package (1967-68) became the model for Christo and Jeanne-Claudes
subsequent projects. It was funded by the artists through the sale of Christos original drawings,
collages and early works from the 1950s and 60s. This aspect was attractive to museums lacking
a large exhibition budget, and no doubt featured in Kaldors subsequent discussions. As with
later works, Christo and Jeanne-Claudes 5,600 Cubic Meter Package required a team of people for
its realization and installation.15 This means of production became synonymous with Christo and
Jeanne-Claudes large-scale wrappings. The artists maintained that it initiated a form of cultural
consciousness-raising through the engagement of paid and voluntary workers.16 For some young
students involved in the later Wrapped Coast (1968-9) projects, the experience certainly proved
pivotal.17
In 1968 when visiting New York, Kaldor endeavored to meet Christo and Jeanne-Claude.
Gallerist Leo Castelli made the introduction, even though Christo had no gallery representation
and sold his work directly from his studio.18 In a phone conversation with Jeanne-Claude to
arrange the meeting, Kaldor introduced himself as a young collector from Australia.19 Kaldor
met the artists, purchased Package (1967), and later invited them to come to Australia, do an
13 documenta IV, Kassel, Germany. Artistic Director Arnold Bode. 27 June 6 October 1968. documenta website,
http://www.documenta.de, accessed August 24, 2011.
14 The exhibition included Americans Carl Andre, Kim Dine, Dan Flavin, Donald Judd, Ellsworth Kelly, Sol LeWitt, Roy
Lichtenstein, Walter de Maria, Bruce Nauman, Robert Rauschenberg, Ad Reinhardt, and more. See documenta website for a full list
of artists and focus on art forms, http://www.documenta.de.
15
Christo and Jeanne Claude website, http://www.christojeanneclaude.net/,ajor_cubicmeter.shtml, accessed August 24, 2011.
16
17
See above p. 83.
18
19
Baume, The Artist as Model, in Forbat, 40 Years, 2009, p. 43.
123
Meeting Christo
124
exhibition and give a lecture.20 In June 1969, the same year that the project with Christo and
Jeanne-Claude was to take place, Package (1967) was included in an exhibition of international art
from Australian collections organized by Chandler Coventry and shown at Sydneys Central
Street Gallery.21 A commercial gallery, Central Street was known as one of the more significant
avant-garde venues in Sydney at the time.22 Its adherence to the formalist tenets of Greenbergian
Colour Field and Hard Edge painting reflected the Gallerys aspirations to be part of an
international rather than Antipodean set of values. The 1969 exhibition that included Christos
Package not only drew the attention of Australian collectors to these artistic developments, but
also contributed funds to the proposed Australian project through the sale of works.23 Kaldors
meeting with the artists in New York demonstrated the advantage of a private collector with
independent means over public institutions, which frequently struggled with limited funds for
purchase of works, lengthy acquisition processes, and the risk of potential public outcry at new
forms of art.
The inclusion of Christos Package was a foretaste of Wrapped Coast, which was presented some
four months after the exhibition at Central Street Gallery. Artist and critic James Gleeson, in a
review of the exhibition in The Sun, 18 June 1969, wrote that interest in Christos work from the
Kaldor collection lay not only in its new material form, but also because it came as a prelude to
his ambitious plan to wrap up almost a mile of coastline at Little Beach (sic).24
20 Baume, The Artist as Model, in Forbat, 40 Years, 2009, p. 43. The invitation formed part of the Alcorso-Sekers Travelling
Scholarship. Package (1967) was gifted to the ANGSW as part of the John Kaldor Family Collection in 2011.
21
22 Central Street Gallery opened in April 1966. Cramer noted that it closed in 1971. See Sue Cramer, Inhibodress, 1970-72, (ex.
cat.), Institute of Modern Art, Brisbane, 1989, p. 8. See also Heather Barker and Charles Green, Flight from the Object: Donald
Brook, Inhibodress and the Emergence of Post-Studio Art in Early 1970s Sydney, e-maj Issue 4, 2009. Under Coventry, it
evolved into a commercial gallery, and changed locations and focus. See Sasha Grishin, Chandler Coventry. A beautiful
obsession, Art & Australia, Vol. 37, No. 2, 1999, pp.262-269. Another private gallery of contemporary art that played a major
role in the presentation of Australian and international art was Gallery A. First opened in Melbourne in 1959 by Max
Hutchinson, it expanded to Sydney in November 1964, and was run by Huthchinson, Ann Lewis and Rua Osborne from a house
in Gipps Street, Paddington. For a history of Gallery A, see, John Murphy (ed.), Gallery A Sydney 19641983, (ex. cat.),
Campbelltown Arts Centre and Newcastle Region Art Gallery, 2009.
Christo maintained that his projects were always funded by the sale of his drawings and works in advance of the project.
Michael Kimmelman, writing in the New York Times in 2005, noted the institutionalisation of artists such as Daniel Buren whose
work ostensibly critiques just that, through his participation in large museum exhibitions. He contrasted this with Christo and
Jeanne-Claude, who operate for the most part, outside traditional institutions, with fiscal independence, in a public sphere
beyond the legislative control of art experts. Michael Kimmelman, Tall French Visitor Takes up Residence in the Guggenheim,
New York Times, March 25, 2005, http://www.nytimes.com/2005/03/25/arts/design/25KIMM.html?_r=0, accessed October 20,
2012.
23
24
James Gleeson, The Sun, 18 June 1969.
124
Wrapped Coast remains to this day one of Kaldor Public Art Projects (KPAP) most significant
projects, both artistically and in its impact on the local and international art scene.25 It played a
major role in the development of John Kaldor Art Projects, and the positioning of JKAP as a
major influence on the development of contemporary art in Australia. Later, the 40 Year
retrospective of KPAP at the AGNSW in 2009, and reviews of the accompanying exhibition
both portrayed Wrapped Coast (1969) as pivotal in the evolution of John Kaldor Art Projects and
Australian art history.26 Comments such as those made by Edmund Capon, Director of the
AGNSW, in his foreword to the KPAP publication 40 Years also reinforced this position. Capon
sweepingly noted that though he was not much given to the notion of defining moments, if
there was ever such a moment in the story of modern and contemporary art in Australia it was
surely the very first Kaldor project: Christo and Jeanne-Claudes Wrapped Coast.27 For John
Kaldor, Wrapped Coast introduced him to a new way of working with artists. It was also a means
to bring leading international art and artists to Australia in a manner that was not being done by
others. It differentiated his art collecting and support for contemporary art activities from most
other important collectors worldwide.
AUSTRALIAN CONTEXT
What was the context for the first John Kaldor Art Project in 1969? Thomas claimed in his
catalogue essay for An Australian Accent (1984) that until 1969, art exhibitions visiting Australia
were rare.28 Similarly, Baume noted in his survey of Kaldor Art Projects in 1995 that when
Kaldor presented his first John Kaldor Art Project, the Power Bequest was yet to be realized, the
Biennale of Sydney had not begun, the National Gallery of Australia was still thirteen years from
opening, and Federal funding for the arts was limited.29 Bonds article marking the 40th
anniversary of the Art Projects was similarly disparaging about the contemporary art landscape
25 See below p. 303. Name changes from John Kaldor Art Projects (JKAP) to Kaldor Public Art Projects (KPAP) denote the
not-for-profit foundations title at the time of the project referred to.
26 See Dinah Dysart, Smart Art: 40 Years of Kaldor Public Art Projects, Public Art Review, Vol. 21, No. 2, Spring/Summer 2010,
pp. 20 3.
27
Capon, 40 Years, 2009, p. 18.
28
29
125
Australian context
126
on offer in Australia in 1969.30 In reflecting on the context for his first Art Project, Kaldor also
noted that there were almost no other initiatives for this sort of internationally focused project in
Australia at that time. As Bond and Kaldors words echoed each other, Kaldor also remembered
that there was no Biennale of Sydney, no Museum of Contemporary Art. . What people knew
about contemporary art came from magazines.31 Furthermore, letters and telegrams were the
main forms of international communication. Interactions therefore occurred at a slower pace.
However, these memories did not acknowledge the significant contemporary art activities of the
time. Contemporary Art Societies in Sydney and Melbourne, and the associated support of
individuals such as John and Sunday Reed in Melbourne, had brought international artists and
ideas to the attention of Australian artists during the preceding decades, as is now well
documented and researched.32
By 1969, a number of pivotal international exhibitions had travelled to Australia, significantly
influencing a younger generation of artists alongside a wider public. International touring
exhibitions were an established part of cultural activity across the globe. American and French
Abstract Expressionism had been presented in the 1950 and 1952 Venice Biennales, whilst
popular magazines such as Life elevated Jackson Pollock to a celebrity status.33 An exhibition of
American art was presented in Paris in 1955 at the Muse Nationale de lArt Moderne.34 The
British Council organized a range of different exhibitions of English contemporary art in Europe
post WWII. 35 A form of cultural propaganda, travelling exhibitions, and international art and
trade fairs, were employed as part of a strategic campaign to promote international stature and
political ideals in the emerging Cold War. As E.A. Spaeth wrote in 1951 in a paper for the annual
convention of the American Federation of Artists, America was a mature nation with a
At the time there was no Biennale of Sydney, no Australia Council for the Arts, no museum with a contemporary curator although Daniel Thomas at the Art Gallery of New South Wales (AGNSW) clearly had a deep personal commitment to new art and there were no publicly funded contemporary art spaces. In this impoverished art scene .: see Bond, A nice well-done
child, Art & Australia, 2009.
30
31
Young, The Great Commissioner, Art & Asia Pacific, 2009, p. 76.
For a discussion of the influence, adoption and adaption of international thinking and practice in Australia during this period,
see Whitehouse, The Contemporary Art Society of NSW, 1999; Heide Museum of Modern Art, The Heide Collection: Heide Museum of
Modern Art, Bulleen, 2011.
32
33
Life, August 8, 1948.
Exhibition included work by Stuart Davis, Arshile Gorky, Morris Graves, Edward Hopper, John Kane, John Marin, Jackson
Pollock and Ben Shahn; and sculptures by Alexander Calder, Theodor Roszak and David Smith.
34
35
See Whitehouse, The Contemporary Art Society of NSW, 1991, p. 119.
126
democratic and free culture that epitomized all that was good about capitalism, and it was time
for America to follow Britain and France and use contemporary art exhibitions as propaganda;
as a means for spreading knowledge about the American way of life.36
Consistent with this, travelling exhibitions arranged by nations were an established feature of the
Australian exhibition landscape. In 1953, an exhibition of French Painting Today was arranged
between the French and Australian Governments. 37 A historical survey of French modernism, it
included extensive coverage of young artists whose work had to that time only been accessible to
Australians through overseas travel or art reviews in the few international publications.38
Between January September 1953, it toured to Hobart, Sydney, Melbourne, Adelaide and Perth.
Bernard Smith, academic, critic and author of Place, Taste and Tradition: a study of Australian art since
1788,39 observed in an article for Meanjin that the French exhibition presented an excellent survey
of recent painting, and offered Australians the opportunity to participate in an international
discourse and to judge for themselves the relative merits of the new developments of figuration
and abstraction.40
Exhibitions of American art also toured to Australia.41 Contemporary US Prints was sent to
Australia in 1958 as part of the Museum of Modern Art (MoMA), New Yorks International
Program of American Art, and the ideas surrounding the new American abstraction were
explored in publications such as NSW Broadsheet, edited by artist and critic Elwyn Lynn.42 In
1967, nearly ten years later, and as part of this soft power approach, 43 Two Decades of American
36
E.A. Spaeth, Americas Cultural Responsibilities Abroad, College Art Journal, vol. XI, no. 2, June 1951, pp. 115-120.
37
National Art Galleries of Australia, French Painting Today, Sydney, 1953.
38
Cahiers des Arts, the Listener and the Spectator. Whitehouse, The Contemporary Art Society of NSW, 1999, p. 102.
39
Published Ure Smith, Sydney, 1945.
B. Smith, 'The French Art Exhibition, Meanjin. Vol. XII, no. 2, 1953, pp. 165-174. Quoted in Whitehouse, The Contemporary Art
Society of NSW, 1999, p. 105. For further analysis of the impact of exhibition, see Whitehouse, 1999, p. 102-112.
40
41 See Heather Barker and Charles Green, The watershed: Two Decades of American Painting at the National Gallery of Victoria,
Art Journal, No. 50, National Gallery of Victoria, 2011, pp. 65-78 for a discussion of the impact of international touring
exhibitions. For a discussion of internationalism in 1970s see also Heather Barker and Charles Green, Flight from the Object, emaj, 2009.
42 The exhibition featured forty prints by thirty-two artists from MOMA, and was shown at the Contemporary Art Society (CAS),
in Melbourne in February 1958. For details of the influence of these publications as disseminators of the ideas of American
Abstraction and early minimalist theory, see Whitehouse, The Contemporary Art Society of NSW, 1999, p. 130; Barker and Green,
The Watershed, Art Journal, 2011.
43 For a discussion of the use of art exhibitions such as Two Decades of American Painting (1966-7) as a means of spreading and
conveying political agendas and ideologies using Joseph Nye Jnrs theory of soft power, see Rebecca Elliott, Political Power and
Art: Two Decades of American Painting, Conference Papers Midwestern Political Science Association, 2008, pp. 1 15.
127
Australian context
128
Painting was sent to Australia as part of the MoMA International Program of American Art.44
The touring exhibition included works by Willem de Kooning, Ashile Gorky, Jackson Pollock,
Franz Kline, Roy Lichenstein, Andy Warhol, Barnett Newman, Mark Rothko, Ad Reinhardt,
Josef Albers and Frank Stella, presenting American Hard Edged abstraction and Colour Field
painting.
The touring show was the last exhibition presented at the 19th century spaces of the NGV at
Swanston Street, installed in the classically proportioned galleries that usually held the permanent
collection.45 As Barker and Green have noted, it was an exhibition organized and largely paid for
by Australians.46 In Melbourne, NGV exhibition officer, John Stringer, was actively involved,
after having been temporarily based at MoMA in 1966 on a work placement, while in Sydney a
young curator Daniel Thomas played an equally central role.47 When reflecting on the intentions
and significance of the exhibition, Stringer noted: Isolated and often hanging alone, paintings
were presented with a reverence and authority appropriate to masterpieces it was a challenge to
local taste that invited critical response, and the public responded with unprecedented passion in
the pages of the dailies.48 Daniel Thomas, in his dual role as critic for the Sydney Morning Herald,
wrote a complimentary review entitled Australias most important exhibition.49 The works were
abstract, often monumental in scale, contemporary, and included some of the leading American
artists at that time. The exhibition hang was spacious, affording the paintings the same
44 Two decades of American painting: an exhibition, selected by Waldo Rusmussen, the Museum of Modern Art (MOMA), New York,
under the auspices of its International Council, exhibited in Australia under the patronage of the United States Ambassador and
with the assistance of the Commonwealth Government. The exhibition first travelled to Japan and India, followed by the
National Gallery of Victoria, June 6 - July 9, 1967, and the Art Gallery of New South Wales, July 26 - August 20, 1967, National
Gallery of Victoria, Two decades of American painting: an exhibition, selected by Waldo Rusmussen, the Museum of Modern Art, New
York, (ex. cat.), National Gallery of Victoria, Melbourne, 1967. The International Council, a membership organisation of art
patrons and community leaders from various parts of the United States, was incorporated in 1956 to promote international
exchange of art. In July 1957, the Council assumed sponsorship of the Museum of Modern Arts International program, in
operation since 1952. See International Council at the Museum of Modern Art, August Heckscher elected Chairman of the
Interntational Council at the Museum of Modern Art, Press Release, Wednesday March 19, 1958, MoMA Archives, URL:
http://www.moma.org/docs/press_archives/2345/releases/MOMA_1958_0028.pdf?2010, accessed February 27, 2013.
45 For a comprehensive examination of the exhibition and its impact, see Heather Barker and Charles Green, The watershed: Two
Decades of American Painting at the National Gallery of Victoria, Art Journal, No. 50, National Gallery of Victoria, 2011, pp. 65-78.
46 Barker and Green, The watershed, Art Journal, 2011, p. 65. For a discussion of the role of members of the International
Council in enabling and financially supporting international exhibitions of this kind, see p. 295.
47
See Barker and Green, The watershed, Art Journal, 2011, p. 67.
John Stringer, Cultivating the field, in Green, Charles and Smith, Jason, Fieldwork, (ex. cat.), National Gallery of Victoria,
Melbourne, 2002, p. 18. This exhibition was noted as a key moment in the development of the NGV in its 150th anniversary
publication. See also Phip Murray, The NGV Story, A Celebration of 150 Years, National Gallery of Victoria, Melbourne, 2011, p.
98.
48
49
Daniel Thomas, Australias most important exhibition, Sydney Morning Herald, 15 July 1967, p. 10.
128
veneration as the Old Masters. Ad Reinhardts paintings in the exhibition were of particular
significance for a younger generation of Australian artists. Represented by three of his black
paintings, all marked by a cruciform shape painted in close black tones on a five-foot square
canvas, the works impressed both Robert Hunter and John Nixon.50 The exhibition was
important not only for the institution, but also a wider Australian artistic audience. Prior to 1973,
there was no overarching Commonwealth Arts body. The Australian Council for the Arts had
been established in 1968, with responsibility for some professional training schools, national
touring companies, and special projects. However, this and other bodies were seen as ad hoc,
with insufficient involvement from artists, and poor administrative processes.51 Touring
exhibitions of this kind were the major showcase of leading international developments for a
local Australian audience, notwithstanding their overtly nationalistic agenda and Euro-American
focus.
The impact of this international exhibition has been widely documented.52 Thomas described it
as the first truly blockbuster show, whilst Stringer reflected in 2002 that the exhibition had been
a significant catalyst for the opening exhibition The Field (1968) at the new NGV building in St
Kilda Road.53 The importance of the exhibition for a local audience was reflected by the
acquisition of works from the exhibition. The NGV acquired two works: a small yellow abstract
painting by Josef Alberss Homage to the square: Autumn echo (1966), and second-generation
Abstract Expressionist Helen Frankenthalers Cape (Provincetown) (1964).54 Neither acquisition was
a radical choice. The AGNSW also acquired works from the exhibition: Albers Homage to the
square (1966), another yellow painting from his extensive series; and Morris Louiss large and
imposing abstract painting Ayin (1958) (Thomas would later hang this work alongside a Kaldor
art project by Miralda in 1973).55 Though a large number of the works were available for sale,
50 Hunter noted by Dodge, Dodge, Alan, Robert Hunter and Minimal art, in Duncan, Jenepher, Robert Hunter 1989, p.33; and
Nixon, see Coates, Less is More, or More is More: Minimal + Postminimal art in Australia, Art & Australia, 2012 (forthcoming).
51 John Gardiner-Garden, Arts Policy in Australia: a history of Commonwealth involvement in the arts, Commonwealth Parliamentary
Library, 1994. URL:
http://parlinfo.aph.gov.au/parlInfo/search/display/display.w3p;query=Id%3A%22library%2Fprspub%2FYEO10%22, accessed
December 2, 2012.
52 Stringer, Cultivating the field, in Green and Smith, Fieldwork, 2002, p. 18; Barker and Green, The watershed, Art Journal, 2011.
Sue Cramer also noted the exhibitions significance in her exhibition catalogue essay: Cramer, Less is More, Minimal + Post-Minimal
art in Australia, (ex. cat.), Heide Museum of Modern Art, Melbourne, 2012, pp. 20-30.
53
Thomas, An Australian Accent, 1984, p. 12; Stringer, Cultivating the field, 2002, p. 18.
54
Murray, The NGV Story, 2011, p. 98.
55
See below p. 94.
129
Australian context
130
interest from private collectors was almost non-existent.56 However, architect Harry Seidler also
purchased a work from Albers Homage to the square: impartial (1966), which, unlike the similar
NGV and AGNSW yellow works from the series, featured luminous pink-grey paint on
masonite.57
Key international exhibitions, however, did not always receive the widespread and public interest
that they should have merited. A major touring exhibition of avant-garde works by Marcel
Duchamp organized by the Arts Council of Britain travelled extensively throughout Australia in
1967-8.58 Bond noted that that the retrospective presented yet another example of posthumous
work.59 Melbourne sculptor Peter Cripps, who was a young student at the time, acknowledged
the exhibitions pivotal role in the development of his conceptual, post-sculptural practice.60
However Thomas, then curator of the AGNSW, remembered that the exhibition was barely
noticed by a wider public.61
Influenced by Two Decades of American Painters, in August 1968 Melbourne curators Brian
Finemore and John Stringer presented their own interpretation of developments in international
art-making with an exhibition of Australian art entitled The Field. The first show at the newly
opened National Gallery of Victoria on St Kilda Road, the exhibition subsequently travelled to
the Art Gallery of New South Wales. The curators aimed to look at the influence of American
Colour Field painting and Hard-edged abstraction on Australian artists. 62 With artists including
Robert Hunter, who at twenty-one, was the youngest artist in the exhibition, Robert Rooney,
Trevor Vickers, Mel Ramsden and Ian Burn, Stringer noted that all of the artists chosen had
56
Baker and Green, The watershed, Art Journal, 2011, p. 154.
57 Seidler had studied with Albers in the USA. See above p. 18. See also AGNSW website for an illustration of the work,
http://www.artgallery.nsw.gov.au/exhibitions/mad-square/berlin-sydney/josef-albers/ , accessed August 24, 2012.
Marcel Duchamp, the Mary Sisler Collection, 78 works 1904-1963 (1967-8). Organized by the Arts Council of Great Britain. The
tour commenced at Auckland City Art Gallery (May 1967), travelled to Tasmanian Museum and Art Gallery, Hobart (Dec 1967Jan 1968); National Gallery of Victoria, Melbourne, (1 Feb-3 Mar 1968); Newcastle Art Gallery, (27 Mar -28 Apr 1968); Art
Gallery of New South Wales, Sydney, (8 May-2 Jun 1968); Queensland Art Gallery, Brisbane, (19 Jun-14 Jul 1968); Art Gallery of
South Australia, Adelaide, (2-31 Aug 1968); Western Australian Art Gallery, Perth, (19 Sept-20 Oct 1968). National Gallery of
Australia, international collection,
http://nga.gov.au/International/Catalogue/Detail.cfm?ViewID=1&MnuID=1&GalID=4&SubViewID=3&IRN=44875,
accessed online September 9, 2011.
58
59
Bond, A nice well-done child, Art & Australia, 2009.
Carolyn Barnes, Peter Cripps: Art & Other Strategies in Coates, Rebecca (ed.), Peter Cripps: Towards an Elegant Solution, (ex.cat.),
Australian Centre for Contemporary Art, Melbourne, 2010. p. 21.
60
61
Thomas in Baume, Christo, 1990, p. 28.
62
The Field, National Gallery of Victoria, Co-curated by Brian Finemore and John Stringer, 21 August 28 September 1968.
130
dedicated themselves to radical forms of abstraction.63 Presented in Roy Grounds exhibition

spaces, with their resoundingly modernist modular forms of installation and display, and lined for
the occasion by Stringer in silver foil, The Field was an enormous public and critical success. 64
The decision to open the NGVs new building with a contemporary exhibition of Australian art
exploring and responding to international Abstraction and Colour Field painting reflected the
NGVs desire to be part of a current contemporary art debate. However, by the late 1960s, the
focus of The Field reflected only one aspect of new forms of art. Presented two years prior to the
publication of Sydney academic and feminist Germaine Greers The Female Eunuch (1970), the
exhibitions inclusion of only two women, alongside thirty-eight male artists, did not reflect its
times. While a key exhibition in the development of a specifically Australian cultural landscape,
the exhibitions backward view meant that even for many of the artists included in the show, the
moment had already passed.
In November 1968, Robert Hunter travelled overseas. He stayed with James Doolin in Los
Angeles, followed by six months in New York staying with Mel Ramsden and Ian Burn.65 All
had shown with him in The Field (1968) earlier that year. In New York, Hunter was impressed by
Sol LeWitts art, whose work he noted as having a particular resonance with his own.66 Hunters
travels reflected the increasing trend among a younger generation of Australian artists to spend
extended periods travelling and living overseas, strengthening valuable contacts with artists and
galleries, and enabling them to immerse themselves in the most recent contemporary art. The
significance of The Field for this younger generation of Australian artists was in part its role as
catalyst. Kaldor built on this awareness of contemporary international art with the presentation
of Wrapped Coast (1969) the following year.
63 Stringer, Cultivating the field, 2002, p. 16. Hunter exhibited No. 27 Untitled (1968), now in the collection of the National
Gallery of Australia. See Duncan, Robert Hunter, 1989, p. 8 for details.
64 See Green, in Smith and Green, fieldwork, 2002, p. 12, for a discussion on the impact and legacy of The Field. See also essays by
Lindsay, left field, fieldwork in context, and Stringer, Cultivating the field, in Smith and Green, fieldwork, 2002, pp. 8 11.
65 Duncan, Robert Hunter, 1979, p. 8. For a discussion of the significance of Hunters paintings see also Charles Green, Persistent
subjectivity; Revaluing Robert Hunter, Robert Hunter Artist-in-Residence 1988/89, (ex. cat.), The University of Melbourne, The Ian
Potter Gallery, Melbourne, 4 May-10 June, 1989.
66 Dodge noted that Hunter would have seen LeWitts cage-like structures based on cubic modules and constructed of wood and
metal, either painted white or covered in white baked enamel, the earliest of which were made in 1965. Although threedimensional, they were conceived as two-dimensional. Dodge in Duncan, Robert Hunter, 1987, p. 23.
131
Australian context
132
In Sydney, the J.J.W. Power Bequest, formally accepted and announced by the University of
Sydney in 1962, had also increased access to international contemporary art and theory.67 John
Powers bequest to the University of Sydney was at the time the largest gift for contemporary art
in Australia, and the largest gift to the arts in Australia save for the NGVs Felton Bequest.68 An
artist, author, surgeon, medical scientist, businessman and benefactor, John Power (18811943)
bequested works of art and $2 million to the University of Sydney for the establishment of the
Power Institute of Fine Arts. The Power Bequest aimed to make available to the people of
Australia the latest ideas and theories in the plastic arts by means of lectures and teaching and by
the purchase of the most recent contemporary art of the world.69
The Bequest was instrumental in enabling the development of art history as a discipline, which in
turn played a pivotal role in the development of contemporary art in Australia. Whilst Baume
noted that when John Kaldor became active as a patron in Australia in 1969 the full potential of
the Power Bequest had yet to be realised,70 it had already begun to play an important role. In
1967, eminent art historian and author Bernard Smith was appointed founding Power Professor
of Contemporary Art, and Director of the Power Institute at the University of Sydney, where he
remained until 1977. The significance of his role in the development of contemporary art in
Australia has been widely noted.71 The second art history department created in Australia, its
courses were structured around an established chronology of Western painting, sculpture and
architecture. Alongside these activities, the Institute ran a nationwide programme of annual
public lectures, and it was through this initiative that celebrity New York critic and theorist
Clement Greenberg visited Australia and launched the Power Lectures in Contemporary Art in
1968 with a lecture entitled Avant-Garde Attitudes.72 A Research Library for contemporary art
67 Power died in 1943, however the Bequest was not acquired until 1961, on the death of Powers wife on 6 October 1961. She
also bequeathed most of his paintings to the University. For a detailed account of the history of the Power Bequest, see Museum
of Contemporary Art, John Power, Artist and Benefactor, essays by Donna Lee Brien and Virginia Spate, Museum of Contemporary
Art, Sydney, 1991; and Bernice Murphy, Museum of Contemporary Art: Vision and Context, Museum of Contemporary Art, Sydney,
1993. For a discussion of the role of Bernice Murphy and Leon Paroissien as first co-curators of the Power Collection in 1984,
and their role in Sydneys Museum of Contemporary Arts (MCA) collection, see Dinar, Dysart, Preparing the ground: On the
founding of Sydneys Museum of Contemporary Art, Art & Australia, Vol. 47, Issue 4, 2010, pp. 586.
68
Donna Lee Brien in MCA, John Power, 1991, p. 22.
69
MCA, John Power, 1991, p. 6.
70
71
See, for example, Heather Barker and Charles Green, Bernard Smith, cold warrior, Thesis 11, No. 82 (1), 2005, pp, 38 53.
Clement Greenberg, Avant-garde Attitudes, The John Power Lecture in Contemporary Art delivered at The University of
Sydney, Friday 17 May, 1968.
72
132
was created. In the departments inaugural year, a Power Studio for Australian artists was
endowed at the Cit International des Arts in Paris. The Power Gallery appointed Gordon
Thomson (1967) and artist Elwyn Lynn (1969) as its first curators: their role was to develop an
international contemporary art collection that would be exhibited extensively in Sydney and
elsewhere. The collection was later transferred to the Museum of Contemporary Art building at
its Circular Quay location in 1989. Each of these activities had a major impact on the developing
cultural life of Sydney.
Despite the comments of Thomas, Bond, Baume and Kaldor himself,73 Australia was not bereft
of international contemporary art in 1969. There had been many opportunities to see
contemporary international work first-hand rather than just in magazines. Nevertheless, the first
John Kaldor Art Project had a significant impact on contemporary artists, the Australian public
imagination, the subsequent careers of artists and arts professionals, and the evolution of KPAP.
WRAPPED COAST IMPACT

Wrapped Coast One Million Square Feet, Little Bay, Sydney, Australia (1968-9) dramatically caught the
publics imagination, and exploited the peculiarly collaborative aspect of Christo and JeanneClaudes art.74 It was captured on film, generated countless editorial columns, was the subject of
newspaper cartoons, and was championed and pilloried alike.
With most of Sydneys coastline government-owned, Kaldors approaches to the New South
Wales Premier and Minister for Lands had been refused on the grounds that the project would
not be appropriate use of Crown land.75 Dr Jack Clancy, Chief executive officer of The Prince
Henry Hospital, then a quarantine hospital for tropical diseases, agreed to the Little Bay sites use,
on the condition that a small fee would be paid to the hospital and insurance would be covered.76
The London art magazine Studio International described the event:
73
See above p. 29.
Wrapped Coast, 28 October 14 December 1969, Little Bay; Drawings and Collages, 22 October 8 November, Central Street
Gallery; Wool Works, 1 30 November, National Gallery of Victoria. An exhibition of Christos drawings and collages was also
held at Central Street Gallery, Sydney. From the mid 1990s all environmental projects created since 1961 have been
retrospectively recognized as collaborations between Christo and Jeanne-Claude. Christo is sole creator of the drawings, collages
and wrapped objects. See Green, The Third Hand, 1999 for a discussion of the collaborative aspect of their work.
74
75 Tom Lewis (New South Wales Minister for Lands) to Peter Coleman, Sydney 28 April, 1969, Baume, From Christo and JeanneClaude, 1995, p. 15.
76
Baume, From Christo and Jeanne-Claude 1995, p. 15. Letters from Kaldor to Clancy.
133
134
Christos latest package, 1,000,000 sq.ft. of the Australian coastline at Little Bay, near
Sydney covering a frontage of approximately one mile, was realized for the period 1 to 28
November. Using a polypropylene fabric, 35 miles of rope, two-way radios and an
estimated 17,000 man-hours, and despite southerly gales and pyromaniac hooligans,
Christo wrapped up rocks to a height of 84 feet. Sponsors were the Aspen Centre of
Contemporary Art, Colorado, and Christo himself.77
Though incorrectly acknowledging the sponsors as the Aspen Centre of Contemporary Art,
Colorado, the news piece was accompanied by an image of the work.
ABC local film footage of the wrapping and subsequent opening on 28 October captured the
sense of excitement about the work. Images showed some of the many participants on the
project: the local garbage workers from the nearby dump; nurses swimming, sunbathing, and
watching the works progress; and constantly shifting numbers of local students who acted as
paid and voluntary labour for the wrap. Though shot in black and white, the billowing white
fabric and orange rope were in sharp relief against the mass of the Antipodean sky and ocean.
The workforce totalled 120 people daily, and included a site engineer, technical coordinator,
fifteen professional rock-climbers, eleven students and one hundred labourers, who spent four
weeks climbing, wrapping and sewing.78 CAS Broadsheet called for volunteers to assist with the
installation at Little Bay, and Christo was invited to lecture to students and staff at the Power
Institute at the University of Sydney.79 Many of the students from the University and the East
Sydney Technical College were architecture students, introduced to the project by their
University of Sydney lecturer, Marr Grounds.80
The project had a significant impact on students, even if some of them were not enrolled in art
school per se. Thomas noted the importance of departments other than art in a report in 1969,
suggesting that there was little intellectual stimulus to be had in art schools and technical
77 Studio International, n.a., News and Notes, Studio International, Vol. 178, no. 917, December 1969, p. 206. The work in fact
existed for ten weeks, opening on 28 October 1969. It was also sponsored by John Kaldor Art Projects and Christo. Kaldor may
well have seen this international publication: the same issue featured an article on Sol LeWitts wall drawings from 1968-69 with
images. See Barbara Reise, Sol LeWitt drawings 1968-1969, Studio International, Vol. 178, no. 917, December 1969, p. 222-225.
78 Baume, Christo, 1990, p. 38. Also noted in Forbat, 40 Years, 2009, p. 60. Christo frequently drew attention to the fact that not
only were works funded by the sale of artists models and drawings, but those involved should also be paid.
79
Sanders, The Mildura Sculpture Triennales, 2009, p. 129.
80
Architect and lecturer Marr Grounds was son of Roy Grounds. Barker and Grounds, Flight from the Object, e-maj, 2009.
134
aspects can be learnt at part time courses.81 Students involved in Wrapped Coast (1969) included
architecture student Imants Tillers and self-taught artist Ian Milliss. Tillers noted that the
experience not only introduced him to a new perspective on art, but also convinced him to
become an artist.82 My conception of what an artist could be had been quite a limited one, you
know, prior to the sort of encounter with Christo and his work. So I think I was quite inspired
by that aspect.83
In a collective event that involved bureaucrats, technicians, students and artists, the project
challenged popular notions of the artist and art itself.84 J.A.C. Dunn, writing in the Sydney Morning
Herald commented, From some aspects, wrap-up looks like construction of a commune.85 The
impact of the experiential and collaborative nature of the work influenced other organisations in
Australia. Tom McCullough, curator-director of the Mildura Art Centre, travelled to Sydney to
see and photograph Wrapped Coast (1969).86 The works participatory and performative nature, its
site-specificity, and the experiential nature of the work were all to be explored in later Mildura
Sculpture events from 1970.
Locally, the project presented a new form of post-sculptural art as well as bringing internationally
acclaimed artists to Australia to make new work.87 Thomas underlined the significance at the
time: This year, for the first time ever, foreign artists of stature will have actually worked in
Australia.88 Not only was the artwork present, but local artists gained first-hand access to the
artists.
81 Submission to the Committee of Enquiry Art and Design, by Daniel Thomas, Curator, Art Gallery of New South Wales, 9
December 1969, Donald Brook Archives, Art Education. Cited in Sanders, 2009, p. 129.
Tillers quoted in Burt Churnow, Christo and Jeanne-Claude: a biography, St Martins Press, New York, 2002, p. 192. See also
Baume, Christo, 1999, p. 27; and Forbat, 40 Years, 2009, p. 66. This is now well mythologised. See above p. 135.
82
83 Imants Tillers interviewed on ABC TV, broadcast 6.30 pm, 19 April 2004: transcript located at:
http://www.abc.net.au/gnt/history/Transcripts/s1090226.html, viewed 10 November 2006. Cited by Sanders, The Mildura
Sculpture Triennales, 2009, p. 130.
84 There is extensive literature on the work, and the involvement of diverse members of Sydneys community. See for example
Bourdon, Christo, 1972; Baume, From Christo and Jeanne-Claude, 1995; Australian Broadcasting Commission Arts Online (ABC), film
footage, written and directed by Brian Adams, Wrapped Coast Christo/Kaldor Collaboration, 1969, drawn from the ABC archive,
85
JAC Dunn, The Alps on a surf-washed Australian Pacific shore, Sydney Morning Herald, 25 October 1969, p. 6.
86
See Daniel Thomas, Two New York sculptors In Sydney, Art & Australia, Vol. 7, No. 2, Sept 1969, pp. 124-125; Daniel
Thomas, Art in Christos wrapping, Sunday Telegraph, 26 October 1969, p. 68..
87
88
Thomas, Two New York sculptors in Sydney, Art & Australia, 1969, p. 124.
135
136
In 1969, Americas cultural and political influence dominated world news. Television broadcast
Neil Armstrong as the first man to walk on the moon, the Woodstock three-day music festival
held in the US became a cultural touchstone for a generation, while protest marches continued in
the US and Australia against conscription and an unwinnable war. Amidst all this, Wrapped Coast
(1969) made Australia a brief focus of international attention, attracting widespread local and
international interest.89 New York art critic David Bourdon, dressed in an outrageously
flamboyant apple-green suit, even covered the project for Life magazine.90
The project certainly captured the publics imagination. No doubt fuelled by the controversy and
media interest, thousands of people gathered for the opening, paying a 20 cent donation to
experience the large wrap. Writing for Melbournes Herald evening newspaper, Alan McCulloch
reported Every taxi-driver knows the way to Little Bay and the roads from the city are packed
with tourists.91 250,000 people visited Wrapped Coast.92 As Green noted, the work of art was a
part of real life an obstacle, a tourist attraction rather than an art gallery experience.93 This
aspect was key: visitors experienced the work beyond the white cube of the gallery frame, so that
the work was not mediated by expectations of context.94 With the surrounding ambient sounds
of seagulls, sun and surf, the experience could not have been further from the gallery world.
The response to the work would not have been complete without controversy.95 Bourdon noted
that much of the adverse criticism addressed the works impact on the environment.96 This was
the first wrapping by the artists of a natural environment rather than a man-made object. The
project was the subject of cartoons in the local papers,97 whilst the Reverend Roger Bush
89
See Bourdon, Christo, 1972, for example.
90
Thomas in Forbat, 40 Years, 2009, p. 37.
91
Alan McCulloch, It IS art, Herald, 28 October, 1969, p. 4.
92
Patricia Angley,Catalyst for a rag trade prince, The Australian, 4 May 1976, p. 15.
Charles Green, Disappearance and Photography in Post-Object Art: Christo and Jeanne-Claude, Afterimage, Vol. 27 Issue 3,
Nov/Dec 1999, p. 13.
93
94
On the social engagement of installation art, see above p. 58.
Baume, Christo, 1990, p. 37. Whilst Smiths The provincialism problem, Artforum essay of 1974 was not directly mentioned,
the reference to a sparsely populated island continent implied a form of provincialism.
95
96
See cartoons in Baume, From Christo and Jeanne-Claude, 1995, p. 41, by Frank Benier, The Sun, Sydney, 13 June 1969; and others
republished in Forbat, 40 Years, 2009.
97
136
deplored the project in the ABCs television and radio broadcasts about the event.98 Not all
artists supported the project either, with critic Alan McCulloch noting in the January edition of
Art International that Melbourne-based social realist painter Albert Tucker accepted the role as
defender of the national innocence from attacks by the paranoiac out-riders of the extremist
international fashions.99
The impact of Christo and Jeanne-Claudes temporary environmental work of art was profound
and has become inscribed as a key moment in Australias cultural history. 100 Whilst the
comments of Thomas, Baume, and others involved in the projects and auspicing institutions
could be seen as self-reinforcing, its cultural, historic and artistic significance is clear from the
works broader critical frame. For critic and academic Donald Brook, Christo and JeanneClaudes Wrapped Coast (1969) was powerful because it raised either explicitly or by implication
nearly every question that ought to matter to us about art now.101 In 1984, reflecting on the
impact of Wrapped Coast (1969), Thomas described the work as having conspicuously raised
questions about the nature of art while being so undeniably, indeed glamorously, a work of art.102
For Australian artists, Thomas argued, the work was directly linked to the emergence of
Conceptual art in Sydney at the same time.103
The durational aspects of the work were important to its success. Christo reflected on the
experience of the local audience: People would take time to walk from one side of the project to
the other. For me, that element of time is the most significant and influential part of the
project.104 The durational aspects of the work included not only the length of time that visitors
spent experiencing the work, but also the works own temporality: the long gestation of the
project; the four weeks it actually took to realize the work; its finite period of existence after
which the site was returned to its original state; and the works continuing legacy in peoples
memories. This legacy was framed both through the interviews and commentary that surrounded
98
See Baume, From Christo to Jeanne-Claude, 1995, p. 16.
99
McCulloch, Letter from Australia, Art International, 1970, p. 72.
100
See Thomas, in Baume, Christo, 1990, pp. 25 30; Green, The Third Hand, 2001, p. 127.
101
Donald Brook, The Little Bay Affair, Art & Australia, Vol. 7, No. 3, December 1969, p. 230.
102
Anthony Bond began his essay for the 1990 Christo and Jean-Claude exhibition and project at the AGNSW with a reference to
Thomas reflections on the works impact for an Australian audience. See Baume, Christo, 1990.
103
104
137
138
the work, and through its photographic documentation. The works very impermanence was a
key element of its continued identity.105 The artwork eschewed commodification, and introduced
a new form of post-object work. Its very ephemerality could only be captured in the models,
photographs, films, books and publications that are now all that remains of one of the earliest
site-specific environmental sculptures.
As their first large-scale wrapping, Wrapped Coast (1969) was instrumental to the subsequent
development of Christo and Jeanne-Claudes work. It enabled them to move beyond the
museum and the object into the landscape itself. In retrospect, Wrapped Coast (1969) had more
impact than any other KPAP project on the evolution of its artists practice and on the evolution
of site-specific ephemeral works internationally. Wrapped Coast (1969) played a key role in
subsequent exhibition catalogues, essays and monographs on Christo and Jeanne-Claudes
work.106 Catalogue essays and monographs regularly cite Christos early wrapping of things
furniture, motorbikes, traffic signs and cars as having established Christos reputation.107 The
wrapping of buildings, such as Wrapped Kunsthalle (1968), bridges and even the inflatables
extended this part of Christos art. Wrapped Coast (1969) went further, taking the artists beyond
the art gallery or museum, so that the site and location were an important aspect of the work
itself. It was memorable both for the logistical challenges of the work and its relation to site.
The work was the first site-specific intervention by the artists. In the United States it was
followed by Valley Curtain (1970-1972); Ocean Front, Newport, Rhode Island (1974); Running Fence,
Sonoma and Marin Counties, California (1972-76); Wrapped Walkways, Jacob Loose Park, Kansas City,
Missouri, 1977-78); Surrounded Islands, Biscayne Bay, Greater Miami, Florida (1980-83); and The Gates,
Central Park, New York City (1979-2005).108 In Europe it was followed by Wrapped Roman Wall, via
Veneto, Rome (1974); Wrapped Reichstag, project for Der Deutsche Reischstag West Berlin (1971-1995);
and The Pont Neuf Wrapped, Paris (1975-85).
105
On this feature of installation art, see above p. 18.
106
See for example, Bourdon, Christo, 1972; Thomas An Australian Accent, 1984.
107 See for example Dieter Ronte, Christo and Jeanne-Claude The Wrth Museum Collection, Wurth collection, Philip Wilson
Publishers, London, 2004, p. 28.
For details and images see Christo and Jeanne-Claude website, http://www.christojeanneclaude.net/major_islands.shtml,
accessed February 22, 2012.
108
138
Writing just three years after the work was created, Bourdon noted the wider significance of
Wrapped Coast (1969) for a developing form of artistic practice.109 He linked the work to the
development of a recent trend in sculpture, a sprawling kind of landscape art that uses Mother
Earth as its medium, variously described as earth art, earthworks, and land art. He placed
Christos work alongside those of American artists working in this area, including Walter de
Maria and Michael Heizer, and suggested that Italian conceptualist Piero Manzoni had arguably
created the most comprehensive earthwork, Socle du Monde (Base of the World) (1961), a sculptural
cube whose inverted title enabled the work to be interpreted as supporting the whole earth the
largest found object yet.110 Present at the wrapping, Bourdon maintained that Wrapped Coast
(1969) was Christos most spectacular package.111 At the very least, he added the wrapped
coast was one of the most extraordinary images and memorable art spectacles of the 1960s.112
Subsequent writing on Land art recognized the importance of Wrapped Coast (1969) as a seminal
work.113 The historical positioning of the work was reflected by Jeffrey Kasteners survey book
Land and Environmental Art (1998, updated in 2010), which featured a picture of Wrapped Coast
(1969) on its cover.114 More recent academic research presented in the form of the first historic
survey exhibition of Land art, Ends of the Earth, Land art to 1974 (2012) presented by MOCA LA
and Haus der Kunst, Munich, located the project as one of many other significant ephemeral
works of its kind.115 Accompanied by an extensive hard-back catalogue, curators Philipp Kaiser
and Miwon Kwon challenged many of the Land Art myths that had evolved. In contrast to the
109
Bourdon, Christo, 1972, p. 43-44.
110
111
112
See Gilles A. Tiberghien, Land Art, Princeton Architectural Press, New York, 1995; Ben Tufnell, Land Art, Tate, London and
New York, 2006; Jeffrey Kastner, Land and Environmental Art, Phaidon, London and New York, 1998, abridged and updated 2010.
113
114
Kastner, Land and Environmental Art, 1998 2010
115 In 2012, Ends of the Earth: Land Art to 1974 was presented by the Museum of Contemporary Art, Los Angeles (MOCA), at the
Geffen Contemporary at MOCA (May 27- August 20, 2012); and at the Haus der Kunst, Munich (October 2012-January 2013).
Curated by MOCA senior curator Philipp Kaiser and co-curator Miwon Kwon, professor of art history at UCLA, the revisionist
art-historical exhibition provided the most comprehensive historical overview of the art movement to date. It examined the
complex network of collectors, patrons, art dealers and curators who where instrumental in establishing Land art, and concluded
in the mid-1970s before it became a fully institutionalized category. See Philipp Kaiser and Miwon Kwon, Ends of the Earth: Land
Art to 1974, (ex. cat.), MOCA LA, The Geffen Contemporary at MOCA and the Haus der Kunst, Munich, Prestel, Munich,
London and New York, 2012; MOCA media release, Ends of the Earth: Land Art to 1974, URL:
http://moca.org/pdf/press/MOCAEnds_ofthe_Earth.pdf, accessed October 20, 2012; and Christopher Knight, Art Review:
Ends of the earth brings Land art indoors, Los Angeles Times, June 03, 2012,
http://articles.latimes.com/2012/jun/03/entertainment/la-et-knight-land-art-review-20120602, accessed October 20, 2012.
139
140
traditional histories of the art movement presented to date, the cover featured a black and white
photograph of LA conceptual artist, Edward Ruscha from Royal Road Test (1967), an apparently
random action that took place on the side of U.S Highway 91, south of Las Vegas in the
California desert.116 Wrapped Coast was reproduced as a full-page illustration, along with other
notable works, and was noted as the largest single artwork ever made.117 However, the works
contribution did not outweigh many other significant works of its kind presented by artists from
Europe and Great Britain, Iceland, Israel, Japan, and the United States. These were often lessknown, as they took place in remote locations in various parts of the world and were not
captured by the seductive photographic images of Harry Shunk.
Wrapped Coast (1969) had a substantial impact on the evolution of the work of Christo and
Jeanne-Claude, and of environmental sculpture internationally. It also affected thinking about
philanthropy for contemporary art, as Bourdon noted in his essay on Christo in 1972.118 The
financial aspect of such an ambitious project was clearly an important issue. Under the terms of
textile company Alcorso-Sekers Travelling Scholarship for Sculpture, airfares and
accommodation were covered.119 Christo maintained that he paid for all costs incurred for each
of his wrapped works, including Wrapped Coast.120 Funds were raised through the sale of collages,
drawings and other original works of art, in a model of fund-raising for large-scale projects that
Christo and Jeanne-Claude continued in subsequent projects. As Baume noted in 1990, as the
sole financier of each project, through corporations set up for that purpose, Christo and JeanneClaude were able to maintain complete artistic control of their projects.121 Nevertheless, Thomas
framing of the work for his essay commissioned for JKAPs An Australian Accent (1984)
reinforced the philanthropic legacy fifteen years later. His comments were written primarily for
an American audience who, by that time, would have been aware of a number of Christo and
116
For a discussion of the work see Emily Eliza Scott, Desert Ends, in Kaiser and Kwon, Ends of the Earth, 2012, p. 82-3.
117 Wrapped Coast was discussed as the first work in the series of Kaldor Public Art Projects initiated by Australian collector John
Kaldor.: see Kaiser and Kwon, Ends of the Earth, 2012, p. 29, p. 193.
118
119
See Christo and Jeanne-Claude website, Who Pays for the artwork?, http://www.christojeanneclaude.net/faq, accessed May
12, 2012. The also state that they do not accept donated labor (volunteer help). For this first environmental wrap, volunteer
help was accepted.
120
121
140
Jean-Claudes other gentle disturbances that had taken place in American locations.122 Thomas
explained Kaldors role as pivotal in the realization of Wrapped Coast (1969), presaging a new form
of philanthropic support. As Christos art cut across many styles and concerns of art, it raised
issues about both the social responsibility of the artist and the changing role of patronage.
Wrapped Coast (1969) placed Kaldor within these debates, and its example enabled him to form
John Kaldor Art Projects as a means of further developing these activities.
WOOL WORKS
A further element of Christo and Jeanne-Claudes 1969 project was a sculptural wrap for the
National Gallery of Victoria.123 After completing Wrapped Coast (1969), Christo and JeanneClaude travelled to Melbourne in November 1969 to create Wool Works, an installation of
wrappings in two parts. The work was conceived to be presented in the Murdoch Court, an
open-air space that adjoined the temporary exhibition galleries. However, when the open bales
proved unsuitable for this exterior site, NGV curator John Stringer successfully negotiated the
installation of the open bales in the NGVs temporary galleries, in sight of a larger wrapped stack
in Murdoch Court.124 Within Grounds bluestone and timber clad interior spaces, and still
retaining the temporary galleries silver foil-clad walls installed for The Field exhibition in 1968, 75
bales of wool were presented in two long rows along the floor.125 On the ground floor, in the
Murdoch Courts bluestone clad interior courtyard space, a further two truckloads of wool bales
were stacked and wrapped in dark tarpaulins. The materials and trussed form were reminiscent
of wool transported by freight trucks across the country. Alongside the wrapped bales was a
further stack, from whose partly opened hessian bales cascaded woolen filling: the odour of
lanolin was redolent of shearing sheds, peppercorn trees, and the Australian rural myth. In its use
of natural materials, the work related to an earlier Christo wrapping, Wrapped Hay (1968), that
Christo had made for the Institute of Contemporary Art, University of Pennsylvania,
Philadelphia.126 Christos choice of material could not help but evoke reflections on a country
122
Elsen, in Baume, Christo, 1990, p. 13.
For a discussion of Christos Wool works, see Frances Lindsay, Christo and Jeanne-Claude: Wool works at the National Gallery
of Victoria, Art Journal, 50, 2011, pp, 116 119; Sanders, The Mildura Sculpture Triennales, 2009, Chapter 3 pp. 102 149; Green,
The Third Hand, 2001; and Green, Disappearance and Photography, Afterimage, 1999.
123
124
Lindsay, Christo and Jeanne-Claude, Art Journal, 2011, p. 118.
125
See installation photographs in Baume, From Christo and Jeanne-Claude, 1995, p. 13.
126
Baume, 1999, p. 40.
141
Wool Works
142
Christo, Wrapped Tree (1969)

Installation view, home of John Kaldor
Photo: Kerry Dundas
Forbat (ed), 40 Years, 2009, p. 43.
142
Christo and Jeanne-Claude, Wool Works (1969)

installation view, National Gallery Victoria
Photo: Harry Shunk
Forbat (ed), 40 Years, 2009, pp. 58-59.
that had developed through Australian rural labor and an economy that had prospered on the
sheeps back. This was reinforced by the works proximity to the Gallerys famous colonial
painting, Tom Roberts Shearing the rams (1890).127
As neither Wrapped Coast nor the Sydney exhibition of Christos work was associated with a
public art institution, Christos Melbourne project was an opportunity for a public gallery to
present work by the charismatic international contemporary artist at the very moment he was
gaining widespread international recognition. The institutional context placed Christos work
within the art historical trajectory of the countrys most significant historic collection.128 The
NGVs new Australian Modernist building in St Kilda Road, and the recent success of The Field
(1968) made it an ideal Melbourne location for Kaldors project.
However, Wool works did not have anything like the cultural, historic or artistic significance of
Wrapped Coast (1969). Alan McCulloch, writing in Art International in 1970, noted that wrapped
walls and wool bales were in effect routine exercise[s] and after the epic of the wrapped coast
they appeared very much as anti-climax.129 As Saunders has also noted, the work appeared both
miniaturised and emasculated inside the gallery building.130 With the memory of Wrapped Coast
still fresh in peoples minds through extensive media and television coverage, Christos NGV
work appeared in marked contrast to the major environmental and ephemeral installation. The
impact on local arts and students could also not be compared to Wrapped Coast. The artists
enlisted by Stringer to help with the Melbourne installation included John Davis, Les Kossatz,
Peter Clarke, Clifford Last, Ti Parks, William Ferguson, Peter Corlett, Clive Murray-White, and
Jock Clutterbuck.131 Students were suggested by Alun Leach-Jones, whose work had been
included in The Field in 1968, and included Roger Butler and Simon Klose amongst others, who
had also assisted with the Little Bay project.132 However, participating in the NGV wrap gave
neither the extended contact with the artist, or the experience of working beyond the gallery
127
Daniel Thomas also pointed out the relationship of Christos work to the Roberts painting. Noted in Forbat, 40 Years, 2009.
The Felton Bequest had significant impact on the development of the NGVs collection, and its position at that point as one
of the major art institutions in Australia. See J. Poynter, Mr Feltons Bequests, The Meigunyah Press, An imprint of MUP,
Melbourne, 2003.
128
129
McCulloch, Alan, Letter from Australia, Art International, January 1970, p. 72.
130
Sanders noted the involvement of Davis as an assistant. Sanders, The Mildura Sculpture Triennales, 2009, p. 148. See also
131
132
143
Wool Works
144
space. Where Wrapped Coast transformed the work and the public experience of it into an event
in itself, experienced over time and in relation to context and place, the Melbourne installation
did not.
Though Christos preparatory drawings for Wool works (1969) were submitted for purchase by the
NGV in December 1969, endorsed not only by the Director Eric Westbrook and the
Acquisitions Sub-committee, the work was declined.133 Whilst there was a single black and white
photographic image of Wool Works (1969) in the NGA collection, gifted by Thomas in 1980,134
the NGV did not acquire works or documentary material from the show until 2010-11.135
Lindsays article in the NGVs Art Journal (2011) was written to coincide with the Gallerys
acquisition of Christos drawing Project for Keith Murdoch Court, National Gallery of Victoria, Melbourne
(1969).136 The pencil, wax crayon, charcoal and collage of cotton, string, staples and cut
photographs on paper was shown alongside thirteen drawings by the artist and three other
preparatory drawings for Wool Works. The 2010-2011 Annual Report of the NGV described
Wool Works (1969) as the seminal event in 1969, bringing to the city the most recent international
practice in terms of installation art, 137 although the failure to acquire any contemporaneous
record of the ephemeral event suggests it was not seen as being so by some in the institution at
the time. Instead, the Gallery Trustees of the time saw these works as preparatory works, which
were not part of the NGVs exhibitions policy to include installations and happenings such as
Wool Works (1969), thus reflecting current developments in contemporary art.138 Nevertheless,
for Kaldor, the Melbourne project built awareness of Christo and Jeanne-Claudes work with a
wider Australian audience, extending the cultural reach of Wrapped Coast (1969) beyond its
geographic location in Sydney.
133
A black and white photograph of Christo and Jeanne-Claudes, Woolworks wrapped wool bales, 1969. Murdoch Court, National
Gallery of Victoria, was included in Smith and Green, Fieldwork, 2002, p. 152.
134
National Gallery of Australia, online catalogue, http://artsearch.nga.gov.au/Detail.cfm?IRN=72879, accessed February 23,

2012.
135
136
The 2010/2011 Annual Report noted that the NGV Contemporary group had contributed to the purchase of Christos Project
for Keith Murdoch Court, National Gallery of Victoria, Melbourne. Council of Trustees, NGV, NGV Annual Report,
2010/2011, p. 33, accessed online, http://www.ngv.vic.gov.au/__data/assets/pdf_file/0016/522007/NGV_Annual_Report.pdf,
February 23, 2012.
137
138
Quoted in Lindsay, Christo and Jeanne-Claude, Art Journal, 2011, p. 118.
144
IMPACT OF JKAP AND KALDOR

The significance of Wrapped Coast (1969) for the projects instigator and project manager, John
Kaldor, has been well documented, and has become a part of the artworks history.139 Kaldor
often stated that the experience as project coordinator of the complex and logistically demanding
project inspired him to start up his own company.140 As the first project to be presented as part
of John Kaldor Art Projects, it shaped the direction of many of the subsequent JKAP events.
What was Kaldors role in the initiation of the Art Projects? Kaldor himself, rather humbly, saw
his role in Wrapped Coast (1969) as the project co-ordinator.141 Kaldor did not at the time see his
position as a curator.142 No doubt this has to do with the evolving nature of the contemporary
curator, and what became inherent in the term itself. By the mid-2000s, the role of the curatorproducer was a well-established model for working with contemporary artists both in and beyond
the institution. Some organisations, however, still consciously chose to refer to their staff
fulfilling this hybrid role as Producers.143 The changing nature of the role of the curator, from
traditional collection curators to curator-producers, was in keeping with the evolving nature of
contemporary art.
In 2011, Claire Doherty suggested that by 2006, the curator-producer emerged as the linchpin in
negotiations between artist and place.144 She proposed that the qualities that differentiated a
curator-producer from the traditional museum curator was their active involvement in the
production of the artwork; their consideration of the need to work from an informed, embedded
position; and the responsibility to account for considerable expenditure of public funds on
artworks that must be locally relevant but also internationally significant. She also noted that they
needed to avoid the pseudo-ethnographic commissioning process outlined in Miwon Kwons
One Place After Another: Site-Specific Art and Locating Identity (2002), while at the same time seeking
139 See for example Bourdon, Christo, 1972; Baume, Christo, 1990; Baume, From Christo and Jeanne-Claude, 1995; Green, The Third
Hand, 2001.
140
See for example Kaldors Preface in Baume, Christo, 1990, p. 11.
141
See Baume, From Christo and Jeanne-Claude, 1995, and Baume, Christo, 1990, p. 37.
At this stage there was no discussion of the role of Curator, which was first adopted in 1984 to describe Kaldors role for An
Australian Accent.
142
143 See introduction, p. 20. Artangel refers to their curatorial staff as Producers. In 2001, curatorial roles for the Visual Arts
Program of the Melbourne International Arts Festival were referred to as Project Managers.
144
145
Impact of JKAP and Kaldor
146
to enable the creation of a truly remarkable work or project that would resonate beyond the
specifics of a given location.145
Balancing the need for the spectacular and memorable with these other practical and
philosophical constraints was no easy task. As private initiator of this new work, Kaldor was not
technically responsible for the expenditure of public funds. He was, however, responsible for the
use of public land, and the weight of financial responsibility for the project lay with Kaldor and
the artists. Though project co-ordinator did not necessarily imply any curatorial participation,
his activities as co-ordinator and manager of the logistics of a complex and ambitious project,
and desire to engage a local and international audience with the final result, means that his role
for this first project should be considered as a curator-producer as that role has now evolved. In
2009, in an interview with Nicholas Baume, Kaldor noted the similarity of his role to that of a
curator, in its contemporary form.146 Subsequent models of Art Projects that presented
internationally acclaimed works by well-established international artists, meant that Kaldors role
would continue to evolve from curator-producer to an artistic directorial role.
Whether as patron or curator-producer, as with Wrapped Coast (1969), the Art Projects enabled
Kaldor to play an active role in the development of projects. Charles Green noted that Kaldor
was both a facilator for the realization of projects, and a collaborator working directly with the
artists.147 This role enabled Kaldor to be actively engaged with the artists whose work he also
collected. Kaldor noted that he did not commission works, but rather facilitated or enabled.148
In Baumes interview with Kaldor in the 2009 publication celebrating 40 years of Kaldor Public
Art Projects, he asked Kaldor whether in his mind a patron, a philanthropist, and a curator is
really the artist?149 Baumes analogy alluded to the belief that artists have their own vision, often
in the face of resistance and rejection, and suggested that Kaldors dedication to projects shared
similar determination. However, Kaldor emphatically rejected Baumes suggestion. I never
considered myself an artist closer, maybe, to a curator, he stated.150 Kaldors use of the term
145
146
See Kaldors interview with Baume in Forbat, 40 Years, 2009, p. 45.
147
Green, Disappearance and Photography, Afterimage, 1999.
Conversation with John Kaldor, Thursday August 14, 2008. Kaldor noted he did not commission works, rather facilitated or
enabled their presentation.
148
149
Baume in Forbat, 40 Years, 2009, p. 45.
150
146
curator, picking up its connotations in 2009, acknowledged a shift in meaning implied by the
term that began with Szeemanns role as independent curator of documenta 5 in 1972,151 and
developed to encompass a curator as the initiator and collaborator of projects.152 Kaldors use of
the term connoted his involvement as a collaborator and enabler, rather than the more traditional
scholar-curator role, whilst acknowledging the professionalization of the curator within a now
global contemporary art world.
Kaldor also saw himself as a collector with an interest in supporting new forms of
contemporary art. In acquiring artworks for his own private collection, Kaldor took on the role
of passionate conoisseur, a role reflected by other collectors of contemporary art at that time. In
1984 in his catalogue preface to An Australian Accent, Kaldor stated, I am neither a professional
curator nor a critic; I am an individual with a great interest in contemporary art. I believe that
collecting art is a private and somewhat passive role.153 Ironically, Kaldor was expressly credited
as the curator of An Australian Accent, although its format was very different from any other
JKAP project.154 However, the nature of the Art Projects inherently involved Kaldor working
with artists more closely than a conventional collector. Christo commented in 1988:
Even though he is a collector of things, John became involved with art that was beyond the
collectable dimension. With us, Gilbert & George, Charlotte Moorman and Nam June
Paik, the important thing was not that there would be some permanent object, but that
there was another dimension that needed to be experienced. 155
Kaldors close involvement in artistic developments through the evolution of the temporary Art
Projects placed him in a different position to many other collectors of contemporary art at that
time. In Australia, Wrapped Coast (1969) was new: both in collecting the non-collectable, and in
the presentation of such work. Conceptual, performative, and large-scale installation based
artworks increasingly forced collectors to rethink considerations of scale and space. By creating
John Kaldor Art Projects to host the presentation of work of this nature, works that might once
151
See below p.154.
152
See above p. 6
153
Thomas, An Australian Accent, 1984.
154
See Baume, From Christo and Jeanne-Claude, 1995, and Thomas, An Australian Accent, 1984, Kaldor foreword.
Conversation between Christo and Baume, New York, 26 August 1988. Quoted in Baume, From Christo and Jeanne-Claude,
1995, p. 25.
155
147
Conclusion
148
have been perceived as beyond the collectable were now pivotal to the philanthropic endeavor.
What differentiated Kaldor from other collectors was his initiation of a series of Public Art
Projects.
Christo and Jeanne-Claudes Wrapped Coast (1969) had a significant impact on the subsequent
development of John Kaldor Art Projects. The couple introduced him to Harald Szeemann,
Gilbert & George, Miralda, and Charlotte Moorman and Nam June-Paik, who made the four
projects that followed Wrapped Coast (1969).156 Their influence was also indirect: Szeemanns
European exhibition Live in Your Head: When attitudes become form (1969) included work by Sol
LeWitt and Richard Long, who made JKAP projects 6 and 7 in 1972. Kaldors friendship with
Christo and Jeanne-Claude had developed because he was able to visit exhibitions and artists
while overseas for business. Continued acquisition of their work, and the work of others,
enabled him to make contact with other artists, curators and gallerists. The personal
endorsement of Christo and Jeanne-Claude gave Kaldor confidence in the artistic merit and
importance of artists selected to participate in subsequent Art Projects.
CONCLUSION
The first JKAP was pivotal to the future success of the enterprise. Christos Wrapped Coast (1969)
had an enormous impact on contemporary art in Australia. Although Australia had not in fact
been bereft of direct exposure to international contemporary art, as demonstrated by the
presentation of international touring exhibitions French Art Today (1953), Contemporary US Prints
(1958), Two Decades of American Painting (1967) and Marcel Duchamp (1967-8), Wrapped Coast (1969)
was the first time that a significant international artist had worked in Australia and produced a
work with international impact that was pivotal in the development of the artists oeuvre.
The collaborative nature of the work affected many young Australian artists, and the work gained
a public profile in Australia unmatched in that generation.
The experience was also foundational for JKAP, and for Kaldor himself. Kaldor now developed
his own private fabric business, Universal Textiles, and alongside that, the organization JKAP. It
Harald Szeemann, I want to leave a nice well-done child here, Bonython Gallery and National Gallery of Victoria (1971); Gilbert &
George, The Singing Sculpture, AGNSW and NGV (1972); Miralda, Kaldor Fabrics and ANGSW (1973); Charlotte Moorman and
Nam June-Paik, Recitals and Performances (1976). Baume, From Christo and Jeanne-Claude, 1995, p. 25.
156
148
created a model for Kaldor to work directly with artists, which he found very attractive. It
offered the flexibility of an event-based institution, often working with, or alongside established
art museums. It was neither as costly as the presentation of a temporary exhibition, that required
a venue and curatorial research, and was neither time and resource heavy as the other wellestablished form of private support, the establishment of the private bricks and mortar art
museum. The model also differentiated Kaldor from other Australian collectors of
contemporary international art. The project provided Kaldor with an entre to other important
figures in international contemporary art. This was important to identifying and procuring
subsequent art projects.
149
150
Harald Szeemann, I want to leave a nice well-done child here (1971)

Installation view, National Gallery of Victoria
top: Mike Brown, Untitled (1971); below left: Alec Tzannes, Contact (1971), below right: Tim Johnson, Light (event), installation
(1971)
Forbat (ed), 40 Years, 2009, p. 77.
150
Kaldors early projects (1971-1977)
CHAPTER FOUR: KALDORS EARLY PROJECTS (1971-1977)

JKAPs following five projects between 1971 and 1977 included Harald Szeemann an
international curator and a number of international contemporary artists. Kaldor continued the
model of inviting an international contemporary artist to Australia to exhibit, and make work.
There were many performances, though not always considered as such by the artists, such as
Gilbert & George.1 However, all of the works had either been previously presented elsewhere, or
were part of a series presented elsewhere. Consequently, they did not have the same international
impact as Wrapped Coast (1969).
HARALD SZEEMANN
The second JKAP was the visit of international curator, Harald Szeemann, to Australia in 1971.
He made a series of studio visits from which he curated two exhibitions of Australian art. By
1971, Szeemann was already an important international curator, emerging as the most influential
curator of his generation.2 Szeemann was an intensely European curator. He was charismatic,
theatrical, and travelled at the speed of light. Appointed at the age of twenty-eight to what was
then a provincial institution without a permanent collection, Szeemann had adopted an
improvisational, working style.3 His 1969 exhibition, Live in Your Head: When attitudes become form
(1969) had a profound impact and it continues to be discussed today.4 Teresa Gleadowe, in her
introduction to the history of the exhibition publication, Exhibiting the New Art, noted that Live in
Your Head (1969) achieved an almost mythical status, as the first major exhibition to bring
together international developments in post-Minimalism, Arte Povera, Land art and Conceptual
art, and to juxtapose art emerging in the US with contemporaneous developments in Western
On the appropriate definition of Gilbert & Georges work, see below p. 164.
Bezzola and Kurzmeyer describe Szeemann as the most celebrated independent organization of exhibitions in the latter part of
the 20th century, see Bezzola and Kurzmeyer, Szeemann, 2007, p. 7. See also Christian Rattemeyer, Exhibiting the New Art, Op
Losse Schroveven and When Attitudes Become Form, 1969, Afterall, 2010; Daniel Birnbaum, When attitude becomes form: Daniel
Birnbaum on Harald Szeemann, Artforum International, Summer (June) 2005, pp. 53-54; Hans Ulrich Obrist and Richard Serra,
Harald Szeemann 1933-2005, frieze, Issue 91, May 2005.
2
Birnbaum, When attitude becomes form, Artforum International, 2005.
Live in Your Head: When attitudes become form (1969), Kunsthalle Bern; Museum Haus Lange, Krefeld (Germany); Institute of
Contemporary Art (I.C.A.), London. See Birnbaum, Szeemann, Artforum International, 2005; David Levi Strauss, The Bias of the
World: Curating After Szeemann & Hopps, in Rand et. al., Cautionary Tales, 2007, pp. 15 25; Barry Barker, When Attitudes
become form, Flash Art, No. 275, November December 2010; Rattemeyer, Exhibiting the New Art, 2010.
4
151
Harald Szeemann
152
Europe.5 She added that the exhibition was increasingly regarded as the cornerstone for an
understanding of contemporary exhibition making, illustrating the curators transformation from
scholarly art historian to artists co-worker, engaged with the conception, production,
presentation and dissemination of art of his or her own time. 6
The subtitle of Szeemanns groundbreaking exhibition Live in Your Head: When attitudes become form
(1969), Works, concepts, processes, situations, information, marked an important
methodological shift in exhibition practice. As artists took over the institution, they presented a
range of works that existed in and beyond the gallery space: Lawrence Weiner removed three
square feet of wall space, whilst Richard Long left the institutional framework and went on a
three-day hike in the Swiss mountains.
Live in Your Head also introduced a new model of financial support for exhibitions and
institutions. Museum director, curator and critic Daniel Birnbaum noted in his article on
Szeemanns legacy in Artforum International in 2005, that according to Szeemann, the exhibition
came about only because people from Philip Morris and the PR firm Ruder & Finn came to
Bern and asked me if I would like to do a show of my own. They offered me money and total
freedom.7 John A. Murphy, the companys European president, asserted in the exhibition
catalogue that his company experimented with new methods and materials in a way fully
comparable to the Conceptual artists in the exhibition.8 The opening of the exhibition was
preceded by a press campaign, also coordinated by Ruder & Finn. Press releases were sent to
specific publications, which included Artforum, Le Figaro, International Herald Tribune, Time
Magazine, Der Spiegel, Business Week, and The New York Times.9 Exposure to the exhibition in more
than one country was important to the sponsors, and sponsorship of the exhibition was
5 For a detailed analysis of the exhibition, artists included, and its significance, see Barker, When Attitudes become form, Flash
Art, 2010.
6
Teresa Gleadowe in Rattemeyer, Exhibiting the New Art, 2010, p. 9.
Birnbaum, Szeemann, Artforum International, 2005.
Szeemann, Live in your head: when attitudes become form (1969), (ex. cat.), Independent Curators International website,
http://ubumexico.centro.org.mx/text/Szeemann-Harald_Live-In-Your-Head_When-Attitudes-Become-Form_1969.pdf,
8
See Claudia Di Lecce, Avant-garde Marketing: When Attitudes Become Form and Philip Morriss Sponsorship in Rattemeyer,
Exhibiting the New Art, 2010, p. 226.
152
conditional on it travelling.10 Ambitions for the exhibition, from both the curator and the
sponsors, were international.
The prominence of the exhibition in the catalogue raisonn of all of Szeemanns exhibitions from
1957-2005 attested to its key role in Szeemanns own mind.11 That exhibition had introduced a
European audience to a new form of exhibition-making, expanding the notion of art, profiling an
emerging generation of European and American artists, and highlighting new developments in
post-sculptural avant-garde practice. As Bezzola and Kurzmeyer noted, Szeemanns exhibitionmaking endeavoured to reflect the experimental, gestural attributes of the works in their
presentation by allowing the artists to actually provide the work at the exhibition.12 Artist
Lawrence Weiner reflected on the significance of the exhibition for artists in an interview in
1994:
Everybody that was in the Attitudes show knew all about the work of everybody else in the
Attitudes show. They wouldnt have known them personally, but they knew all the work
Most artists on both sides of the Atlantic knew what was being done. European artists
had been coming to New York and U.S. artists went over there.13
For artists, the exhibition appeared to bring all of these ideas together in the one place and
moment. It also reflected Szeemanns insistence on the presence of the artist, turning the gallery
into the studio and enabling artists to see at first-hand the works by their contemporaries, many
of them made in situ. The values of transporting artists to make work locally had already been
recognized by Kaldor with Wrapped Coast (1969).
The controversial nature of the new curating model, however, spilled into the public reception of
Live in your Head. The exhibition was not favourably received by the Kunsthalle board, the local
government, or the local press, where it attracted headlines including When Platitudes Become
Form; Sabotage in the Art Temple, Is Art Finally Dead? and Stupidity14 By the end of
10
Di Lecce, Avant-garde marketing in Rattemeyer, Exhibiting the New Art, 2010, p. 227.
11
Szeemann, Bezzola and Kurzmeyer, Szeemann, 2007, p. 7. For a complete list of artists and installation pictures, pp. 224 261.
12
Szeemann, Bezzola and Kurzmeyer, Szeemann, 2007, p. 7.
13 Gerti Fietzek and Gregor Stemmrich (eds.), Having Been Said: Writings & Interviews of Lawrence Weiner 1968-2003, Hatje Cantz
Verlag, Ostildern-Ruit, 2004, p. 315. Also quoted in David Levi Strauss, The Bias of the World: Curating After Szeemann &
Hopps, in Rand et. al., Cautionary Tales, 2007, p. 22.
14
Birnbaum, When attitude becomes form, Artforum International, 2005.
153
Harald Szeemann
154
1969, Szeemann had resigned to become the first of a new breed of independent curators.15 He
was soon appointed curator for the 1972 documenta V exhibition in Kassel, West Germany.
Eschewing traditional museum curators work classifying and displaying art based on scholarship
and research, Szeemann presented a series of exhibitions that could not easily be categorized.
Documenta V, titled Questioning Reality Pictorial Worlds Today, was shown immediately after
Szeemanns Australian project. Using an encyclopedic format, Szeemann broke down
hierarchical conventions in exhibition practice. Extending Arnold Bodes idea of documenta as a
100-day museum first presented in 1955, Szeemann supplemented this with 100 days of
events.16 He described himself as an ausstellungsmacher, or exhibition maker,17 rather than a
curator, in a linguistic shift that placed his role firmly alongside the artists with whom he worked.
The collaborative nature of exhibition maker working with artists was one that would have
resonated with Kaldors own role as project co-ordinator working with Christo and JeanneClaude.18
Szeemann explained his position on exhibition-making and developments in European art in an
interview published in The Australian prior to the Australian exhibition opening in 1971:
In Europe now, the art world is divided into two parts. One wants art works that are
autonomous and explain themselves. The other is for making more complex exhibitions,
and putting art works in a state bigger than autonomous works Im interested in the art
of concept, change, permanence, environments and attitudes rather than objects.19
His attitude reflected a curatorial direction that gave precedence to the display of conceptual art,
performance and sculpture of a more ephemeral nature.20
Kate Fowle noted that Szeemann is now generally acknowledged as the first independent curator. See Fowle, Who cares? in
Rand et. al., Cautionary Tales, 2007, p. 29.
15
For a history of documenta, see Roger Buergel, The origins of Documenta, in Michael Glasmeier and Karen Stengel (eds.),
Archive in Motion, Germany, 2005, pp. 173-79.
16
17
Birnbaum, When attitude becomes form, Artforum International , 2005.
18
See above for a discussion on the changing nature of the curator-producer.
19
The Australian, 15 April, 1971. Quoted in Baume, From Christo and Jeanne-Claude, 1995, p. 25.
20 Szeemann continued to reflect these interests in subsequent exhibitions, such as his contributions to the 1980 and 1999 Venice
Biennales: see above p. 79.
154
Kaldors decision to invite a curator rather than an artist reflected Szeemanns status as an avantgarde exhibition-maker. His reputation was on a par with that of artists.21 Kaldor initially invited
Szeemann to visit Australia, and whilst in Australia to make a work in this case an exhibition.
This international curator-led project was the first of its kind in Australia. It presaged later
developments in biennale curating, in which visiting artistic directors adopted an almost artistic
role in the conception and realization of their chosen theme. Kaldor was unafraid of the
controversy that Szeemann might generate. In interviews with the local press, Kaldor had
previously dealt with his detractors.22 Indeed, criticism from Alcorso-Sekers about Christo and
Jeanne-Claudes project had already seen Kaldor taking on the project himself. In an interview in
The Australian newspaper about the Szeemann project, Kaldor stated: Sure I know Ill be
ridiculed for this but I dont care.23
Instead, Kaldor wanted Szeemanns Art Project to have a longstanding influence in Australia,
with the additional hope that it might lead Szeemann to present Australian artists work in his
exhibitions overseas.24 Ironically, Szeemanns major export was an international touring
exhibition documenting Wrapped Coast (1969) for European and American audiences.25 Christo
and Jeanne-Claude had first worked with Szeemann in 1968 when he was Director of the
Kunsthalle, Bern. He included them as part of his exhibition 12 environments? 50 Years, for which
they made their first major wrapped building, Wrapped Kunsthalle, Bern (1967-68).26 The 1970
European tour of documention of Wrapped Coast (1969) enabled Szeemann to once again work
with the artists, and present their first large-scale environmental wrap to a European audience.27
Szeemanns travelling exhibition of the Australian project firmly located Kaldors place within the
artists international oeuvre.
21 See for example Burens essay of 1972, republished e-flux, 2004, in which he criticized Szeemanns curatorial methodology in
the 1972 documenta exhibition. Daniel Buren, Where are the artists?, e-flux, http://www.eflux.com/projects/next_doc/d_buren_printable.html, accessed February 12, 2012
22 See for example the editorial tone of J.A.C. Dunns article for the Sydney Morning Herald, Little Bay plastic hell for a pooch,
Sydney Morning Herald, 18 October 1969, p. 13. Criticism also noted by Kaldor in ABC film footage, written and directed by Brian
Adams, Wrapped Coast, 1969.
23
Kaldor quoted in Janet Hawley, Sea of hands acclaims Mr Kaldor, The Australian, 30 April 1971, p. 3.
24
25
See Christo and Jeanne-Claude exhibition biography, Bourdon, Christo, 1972.
26
See above p. 121.
27
155
Harald Szeemann
156
Szeemann was questioned about his knowledge of Australian art prior to arriving in Australia in a
Sydney television interview on the project.28 He noted that though he was aware of an older
generation of Australian artists, including Nolan who was based in England of the younger
generation he knew very little, apart from some information gleaned from a single article in Art
International.29 Kaldors invitation came at a relatively quiet moment between Szeemanns
resigning his institutional position at the Berne Kunsthalle and his next big project, documenta V.
Kaldor offered him the opportunity to travel and see more radical forms of contemporary art in a
country of which he knew little.
Szeemann described the scope of his Australian trip as follows:
(a) to gather general information on the Australian art scene;
(b) to make a very subjective choice of works by artists met during this stay.
The result is a non-representational survey about recent tendencies in Australian art.30
Szeemanns visit enabled Kaldor to present this new form of exhibition-making to Australians
whilst at the same time presenting the work of Australian artists to a curator with an international
reach who was preparing for documenta V. Kaldor invited Szeemann to visit Australia and curate
an exhibition for Sydney and Melbourne. Szeemanns intensive two-week visit between 14 and
27 April 1971, during which he visited museums, galleries, and seventy artists studios in Sydney,
Adelaide and Melbourne, resulted in an exhibition entitled I want to leave a nice well-done child here
(1971).31 Travelling at high speed, wearing a safari jacket, dark glasses and occasionally a bear-fur
hat, his visit was accompanied by photographers and an ABC film crew. This lent the visit the
tone of a celebrity event rather than a serious art world endeavour.
The Sydney exhibition featured the work of twenty-two young artists, with a focus on openform construction, deriving from either sculpture or wall-hangings.32 Much of the work was
installation, or sculptural, but a couple of paintings were included. Aleks Danko showed a slide
28 Noted in Szeemann, Bezzola and Kurzmeyer, Szeemann, 2007, p. 304, though no specific details are given of the television
interview. Brian Adams, who had directed and scripted the ABC TV film of Christo and Jeanne-Claudes Wrapped Coast (1969),
was part of the travelling support team, documenting the event with still camera and film.
29
Quoted in Szeemann, Bezzola and Kurzmeyer, Szeemann 2007, p. 304.
30 I want to leave a nice well-done child here, (ex. cat.) John Kaldor Art Projects, Sydney, 1971, p. 17; quoted in Szeemann, Bezzola and
Kurzmeyer, Szeemann 2007, p. 304.
31 Szeemann, I want to leave a nice well-done child here, 29 April 13 May, Bonython Gallery, Sydney; 4 June 4 July, National Gallery
of Victoria, Melbourne. Itinerary for visit, KPAP Archive. Also noted in Forbat, 40 Years, 2009, p. 81 83.
32
Terry Smith, Szeemann: exhibition maker, Sunday Australian, 9 May 1971, p. 17.
156
projection. Peter Kennedy recorded the sound of a willow tree blowing in the wind and played
its original sound back to visitors. Durational works were included by Tim Johnson and Neil
Evans. As part of his contribution to the exhibition, Mike Parr produced an exhibition invitation
in the form of a questionnaire that asked the visitor whether the show was a) material, b)
immaterial, or c) neither.33 Another Parr work, Shadow piece (1971) presented a series of
intersecting strings arranged across the length of the wall, which cast shadows and changed with
light and time. An exhibition catalogue documented the visit, including itinerary and notes for
the exhibition by Szeemann, as well as a hand-written list of works.34
New works were added for the Melbourne NGV show: Mike Brown contributed a large mixedmedia installation. Of the twenty-two artists originally chosen, only one was a woman.35 Whilst
Ian Burns conceptual work had been included in The Field in 1968, this was the largest exhibition
including conceptual art that had yet been staged in an Australian museum. After a fourteen day
whirlwind visit, that included lectures, the bestowal of art prizes, and numerous parties and
dinners, Szeemann returned to Zurich, two days before the Sydney exhibition opened.
I want to leave a nice well-done child here (1971)36 appeared first at Sydneys Bonython Gallery in
Paddington. Its purpose-built commercial gallery spaces, interior courtyard, and focus on leading
international and Australian artists lent itself to a challenging exhibition of this kind.37 Terry
Smith, reviewing the exhibition for The Australian, noted that the chic nature of Bonython
Gallery itself defeats some of the work.38 The choice of a commercial gallery as a venue for
Szeemanns Sydney exhibition was unusual. It might be attributed to a number of factors.
Kaldor would have come into contact with Bonython and his gallery activities through his own
early collecting of Australian art and commissioning of designs by Australian artists for his fabricmaking activities. Other alternative spaces may have offered possible sites, such as the small
33
Mike Parr, opening invitation, KPAP Archive. Reprinted in Forbat, 40 Years, 2009, p. 76.
The exhibition included work by John Armstrong, Tony Bishop, Robert Boynes, Gunter Christmann, Tony Coleing, Aleks
Danko, Margaret Dodd, Neil Evans, Ross Grounds, Dale Hickey, Tim Johnson, Peter Kennedy, Warren Knight, Nigel Lendon,
Ian Milliss, Ti Parks, Mike Parr, Guy Stuart, Alec Tzannes, and a collaborative work by William Pigdeon, Brett Whiteley and Tony
Woods. Mike Browns work was added for Melbourne.
34
35
Margaret Dodd.
36
Bonython Gallery, Sydney, 29 April 13 May, 1971; National Gallery of Victoria, 4 June 4 July, 1971.
37The
Director was Kym Bonython, whose commercial gallery in Paddington, Sydney opened 1967, closed 1976, specialised in
contemporary Australian and international art.
38 Smith, Szeemann, Sunday Australian, 1971. Smith referred to Mike Parrs String-shadow piece and his Invitation as having suffered
from its context.
157
Harald Szeemann
158
alternative Sydney gallery Inhibodress conceived by artist Mike Parr as a venue for new art, and
intended as a space for the most experimental art possible. 39 But its tiny size, lack of funds and
minimal gallery administration made the space unsuitable for Kaldors project with Szeemann. It
is conceivable that, as in Melbourne, Kaldor might have preferred a state art museum for the
Sydney exhibition. Thomas, the curator of contemporary art at the AGNSW, had been highly
supportive of Kaldors first Art Project.40 However the AGNSWs contemporary gallery spaces
were closed for refurbishment, and there was no talk of showing the work anywhere else in the
AGNSW. The Melbourne exhibition was staged at the NGV, implicitly providing an institutional
imprimatur.
Subsequent documentary photography of the project largely focused on images of the exhibition
at the NGV rather than the Bonython Gallery installation.41 In part, this may be attributed to the
fact that the exhibition spaces of Roy Grounds new St Kilda Road Gallery lent themselves better
to the avant-garde and conceptual nature of the work presented, when compared with the smaller
spaces of Bonython Gallery. Equally, the authority of an institutional setting further endorsed
the experimental nature of many of the works.
At the exhibition opening at Bonython Gallery, on 29 April 1971, Kaldor outlined what he hoped
the project would achieve and enable:
Firstly, local artists and interested people will have the opportunity to get a better
understanding of dominant international trends through first-hand observation and
contact. Secondly, I hope that through these visits Australia will receive more and more
international recognition and encouragement for the talent and potential we have here.
Unfortunately it is not within my scope to bring to Australia major exhibitions either of
trends or retrospective shows The role I would like to play, from time to time, is to
single out a dominant theme or personality whose impact will stimulate our scene. I also
39 Inhibodress, November 1970 until August 1972. For a history of the alternative gallery and role that it played within the
development of conceptual art in Australia, see Cramer, Inhibodress, 1989; Barker and Green, Flight from the object, e-maj, 2009.
40
Eg, see above p. 135.
Baume, From Christo and Jeanne-Claude, 1995, p. 22; Forbat, 40 Years, 2009, p. 77, 84-5. A small photograph of Szeemann
installing work at the Bonython Gallery appears in Forbat (ed.) 40 Years, 2009, p. 78.
41
158
feel that at this formative state of our development the personal contact has a deeper
meaning than just a straight-out exhibition.42
Kaldors opening remarks signposted a number of key issues that would develop in his
subsequent Art Projects. Kaldor would present leading contemporary international art to a local
audience. He hoped that the international visits would focus attention on the work of Australian
artists. He wished his projects to focus on individuals rather than large-scale surveys. Presenting,
or being involved in, large-scale international survey exhibitions was not Kaldors interest.
Financially costly, they also required curatorial and scholarly expertise and considerable time,
none of which Kaldor possessed. With his international fabric business, frequent trips overseas,
involvement in the Art Projects, and expanding personal collection, large-scale international
exhibitions were not a serious possibility.
The significance of Szeemanns visit was clear to reviewers. James Gleeson, for The Sun
newspaper, wrote it presents the conceptual artists point of view as decisively and with as much
impact as the now famous Field exhibitions presentation of abstract minimalism in 1968.43 Critic
and historian Terry Smith summed up the sentiment surrounding Szeemanns visit in an article
for The Sunday Australian: Dr Szeemann will direct the exhibition documenta at Kassel, Germany,
next year. He has to live up to its reputation as the biggest, most intelligent, most innovatory and
just plain good mega-exhibition in the world His exhibition of the most exciting art in
Australia, is obviously less ambitious than documenta but in local terms almost as important.44
Similarly, artist Tim Johnson remembered the exhibition as a very important event. He had seen
When Attitudes Become Form in London. He noted that it had been one of the two most significant
exhibitions he had seen in London and New York.45 The exhibition offered Australian artists the
chance to work with one of Europes most significant curators of the day. Working with
Szeemann in Australia, however, left a little to be desired. Szeemanns approach was autocratic
(he informed Johnson that You cant put photos on the wall in a gallery, referring to Tim
Johnsons exhibition of photographs at artist-run space Inhibodress). Everything was left to the
42 Opening of Harald Szeemanns exhibition I want to leave a nice well-done child here in Sydney 29 April 1971 at the Bonython Gallery,
Sydney. Baume, From Christo and Jeanne-Claude, 1995, p. 26.
43
Gleeson, The Sun, 1971.
44
Smith, Szeemann, Sunday Australian, 1971.
45
Cramer, Inhibodress, 1989, p. 54.
159
Gilbert & George
160
last minute, and he did not spend much time actually talking to Johnson about his ideas and
work. 46 Though his comments reflect much repeated concerns about curators, Szeemanns
whistle-stop tour of cities and venues visiting seventy artists and selecting work from twentytwo, dinners and social events, and media presentations, would have left little time to actually talk
or research.
Whilst I want to leave a nice well-done child here appears to have been largely well received, Kaldor did
not achieve a secondary goal. No Australians were shown at Szeemanns documenta V exhibition
in 1972. Perhaps for this reason, Szeemanns visit was the first and last JKAP that invited an
international curator to make a show, instead of asking an international artist to present a work.
Nor did Szeemanns Australian exhibition have much impact internationally. It was not reviewed
overseas. The exhibition was included in the 2007 catalogue raisonn of Szeemanns exhibitions,
however it was not covered as extensively as other projects. Much of the six pages was taken up
reproducing Szeemanns hectic fourteen day itinerary. The Christo touring exhibition that
Szeemann organized in 1970 was not mentioned at all.47
GILBERT & GEORGE

British artists Gilbert & George48 had achieved international notoriety as living sculptures in
1969.49 John Kaldor invited them to present their Singing Sculpture in 1973 at AGNSW and NGV
as his third Art Project. 50 Atop a table, dressed in almost identical tailored suits and ties, their
faces and hands covered in metallic paint whilst holding a cane and one rubber glove, the two
artists genteelly sang along to Flanagan and Allens 1930s music hall tune, Underneath the Arches,
which played on a portable tape recorder.51
46
See interview with Johnson and the author in Cramer, Inhibodress, 1989, p. 54 55.
47
Szeemann, Bezzola and Kurzmeyer, Szeemann, 2007, pp. 304-50.
48
Gilbert Proesch and George Passmore.
49 Crow noted that the artists collective entity, Gilbert & George, evoked a double act from the extinct English music hall
tradition, a reference that was further revealed by The Singing Sculpture. See Crow, The Rise of the Sixties, 1996, p. 163.
50 Gilbert & George, John Kaldor Art Project 3, The Singing Sculpture, The Shrubberies Number I, The Shrubberies Number 2; Sydney 16
21 August, Art Gallery of New South Wales; Melbourne, 29 August 2 September, National Gallery of Victoria.
51 For a discussion of Gilbert & Georges Australian presentations, see Green, The Third Hand, 2001, and Charles Green,
Doppelgangers and the third force: the artistic collaborations of Gilbert & George and Marina Abramovi/Ulay, Art Journal, Vol.
59, No. 2, 2000, pp. 36-42.
160
When Kaldor invited Gilbert & George to present The Singing Sculpture (1969-73) in Australia in
1973 it was already a well-known work internationally. The work had first been presented as Our
New Sculpture in 1969 at St Martins School of Art, London, and other London art schools
including the Royal College of Art and Camberwell School of Art.52 In the same year, Gilbert &
George made two appearances before rock concert audiences, presenting The Singing Sculpture at
the Lyceum Ballroom in London, and then at the National Jazz and Blues Festival in Plumpton,
Sussex, alongside The Who.53 Deciding that this was not the appropriate context for their work,
they then proceeded to present the work a further nineteen times between 1969 and 1972 in a
series of commercial galleries and art museums across Europe.54 In 1971, Gilbert & George
travelled to America to present the work at the launch of Ileana Sonnabends second New York
Gallery on 420 West Broadway.55 The works New York presentation was reviewed in a number
of key international art journals and magazines including ARTnews, Studio International, The New
Yorker and Artforum.56
Kaldor regularly met with leading international contemporary gallerists at this time, and noted
their influence. In 1970 he had launched his own business, John Kaldor Fabricmaker Pty Ltd.
Kaldor noted that the experience of successfully organizing and presenting Wrapped Coast (1969)
convinced him to start his own business.57 Business rapidly expanded during the mid-1970s.
Kaldor regularly travelled between Sydney, New York, Paris and Tokyo. These trips enabled him
to make regular visits to galleries and exhibitions and remain well-informed about new art.58
Gallerists such as Sonnabend were deeply connected with the European art world, and engaged
Anthony McCall (ed.) Gilbert & George: The Singing Sculpture, Thames and Hudson, London, 1993, p. 50; Green, Doppelgangers,
Art Journal, 2000, p. 37.
52
53
McCall, Gilbert & George, 1993, p. 52; Green, Doppelgangers, Art Journal, 2000, p. 39.
54
McCall, Gilbert & George, 1993, p. 59.
55 Baume, From Christo and Jeanne-Claude, 1995, p. 29; and Roberta Smith also noted this visit: Roberta Smith, Gilbert & George 20
Years Later, The New York Times, September 27, 1991.
ARTnews, New York, November 1971; Studio International, London, November 1971, The New Yorker, October 9, 1971, Artforum,
New York, December 1971. Excerpts republished in McColl, Gilbert & George, 1993, pp. 54 57.
56
57 You really acted as a catalyst for me!, Letter from Kaldor to Christo and Jeanne-Claude, 3 December 1969. See Baume, From
58
161
Gilbert & George
162
Gilbert & George, The Singing Sculpture (1973)

background, The Shrubberies Number 1 and Number 2 (1972)
Installation view, Art Gallery of New South Wales
Photo: Macrae/Fairfaxphotos
162
with new artistic developments in New York as well.59 Kaldor has noted the influence she played
in forming his ideas about art.60 Sonnabends advice in this period was significant not only in the
acquisition of artwork, but also in influencing the direction of his Art Projects. Other New York
dealers were also important as sources of information and introductions, including Antonio
Homem and later, Paula Cooper and John Weber.61
Artists also played a key role. Christo and Jeanne-Claude introduced Gilbert & George to Kaldor
and they met for tea and conversation in London.62 Nigel Greenwood, who had presented their
Singing Sculpture in his London gallery in 1970 and would later accompany the artists on their
Australian visit, noted that when he first met Kaldor in London Hed just done the Christo
project in Sydney the most daring thing Australia had yet seen.63 With the encouragement of
Christo and Jeanne-Claude and Sonnabend, but without actually having seen The Singing Sculpture,
Kaldor invited the two to Australia to present the work at the Art Gallery of New South Wales
and the National Gallery of Victoria.64
It was a little unusual that Kaldor could personally offer the artists exhibitions in two state art
galleries. Kaldor had established relationships with both organization, their directors, and
curatorial staff.65 However, he was neither a gallery trustee, nor did he have an official role.
While it was an opportunity for each art gallery to present a significant work by leading
international contemporary artists, it was odd for an invitation of this kind not to come from the
gallery Directors themselves.66
59 Archives of American Art, Leo Castelli archive now at the Smithsonian Institute also demonstrates this through
correspondence between Castelli and his past wife. http://www.aaa.si.edu/collections/interviews/oral-history-interview-leocastelli-11784, accessed February 20, 2012.
60
See above p. 108.
61 Baume in Forbat, 40 Years, 2009, p. 48. Kaldor also noted the importance of Leo Castelli at this early stage; Anthony dOffay in
London; Galerie Monika Spruth in Cologne in the 1990s when he began collecting German photography; and Matthew Marks in
New York and Thomas Struth for Andreas Gursky and Thomas Struth; Ugo Rondinone from Matthew Marks and Peter
Kilchmann in Zurich for Francis Als. Tunnicliffe, John Kaldor Family Collection, 2011, p. 19.
62
In conversation with Forbat, Kaldor did not note the date of the meeting. Forbat, 40 Years, 2009, p.88, p. 95.
63
Quoted in Baume, From Christo and Jeanne-Claude, 1995, p. 29.
64
Forbat, 40 Years, 2009, p. 88.
65
These relationships only deepened over time: see below p. 294.
Directors of the NGV and AGNSW respectively were Eric Westbrook, Director, NGV, 1956-1973; Philip Laverty, Director,
AGNSW, 1971-1978.
66
163
Gilbert & George
164
Kaldors invitation to the two artists reflected his complete confidence in Christo and JeanneClaude. It also reflected the close, advisorial role that gallerists and artists played in Kaldors
decisions about significant work and artistic developments, a role later taken up by curators and
public gallery directors. Kaldors decision to present a work unseen also reflected, in all
likelihood, the impact of Szeemanns curatorial risk-taking. Szeemann had invited artists to
participate in exhibitions without choosing specific works, reflecting an innate confidence in his
choice of artist to continue to produce significant works.
Gilbert & Georges living sculptures emerged at the same time as performance art,67 however
they rejected this classification of their work.68 Whilst other artists during this period strove to
bridge the gap between performer and audience, Gilbert & George appeared distant, removing all
personal expression and placing themselves on a raised table dais.69 We were a work of art, they
stated.70 Publications and interviews also reinforced their position, each performance
accompanied by a dedicated text. Writings by the artists included The Law of Sculptors
published in 1969, and A Guide to Singing Sculpture (1970), published for the audiences of
their Singing Sculpture. 71 At the time of their arrival in Australia, Gilbert & Georges new form of
sculptural practice was still radical and groundbreaking.72
Kaldors invitation to perform The Singing Sculpture was to be the last one the artists accepted, as
they did not wish to be known for just one signature work.73 It was, however, presented one
further time as part of Sonnabend Gallerys twentieth anniversary celebrations in New York in
1991, which coincided with a signature publication on the work by Thames and Hudson.74 The
reprisal of the work, whose exhibition history had so significantly included John Kaldor Art
Projects in Sydney and Melbourne, reflected the important role Sonnabend had clearly played in
67 Artists including Chris Burden, Vito Acconci, Dennis Oppenheim, Joan Jonas, later Joseph Beuys. See RoseLee Goldberg,
Performance art: from futurism to the present, Thames and Hudson, London and New York, 3rd edition, 2011, Chapter Seven.
68 According to Gilbert We never did performance, ever. We never called it performance, ever. Wolf, Gilbert & George, 1989;
Green, The Third Hand, 2001, p. 148.
69
Green, Doppelgangers, Art Journal, 2000, p. 38.
70
Franois Jonquet, Gilbert & George: intimate conversations with Franois Jonquet, Phaidon Press, London/New York 2004, p. 68.
71 The Law of Sculptors was one of two texts written to accompany the SHIT AND CUNT Magazine Sculpure, 1969; Gilbert &
George, A Guide to Singing Sculpture , was under the imprint Art for All, 1970. See McCall, Gilbert & George, London, 1993, p.
37 and p. 50.
72
See Green, The Third Hand, 2001, p. 142.
73
74
See Smith, Roberta, Gilbert & George 20 years later, The New York Times, 1991; McCall, Gilbert & George, London, 1993.
164
the artists career and the importance she placed in this key, early work. The work was reprised
one more time, for the Valentines Day closure of the AGNSWs exhibition 40 years: Kaldor
Public Art Projects.75 It too attested to the strong links between Kaldor, the artists, the original
hosting organisations NGV and AGNSW, as well as the significance that this work, and the
artists visit to Australia, had played in the history of KPAP.
The Singing Sculptures was the first project for which Kaldor published a catalogue. Conceived and
designed by the artists, it was presented as an artists book rather than an exhibition catalogue.
This was in keeping with the many publications they had already made.76 It contained images
from their photographic work The General Jungle (1971) and details from a large charcoal on paper
sculpture drawing, The Shrubberies Number 1 and Number 2 (1972). Publications, invitations and
announcements had formed a significant part of the artists production. Kaldors first
publication accompanying a temporary artwork was his, and their, means of capturing an
essentially ephemeral work. Brian Adams filmed a documentary of Gilbert & Georges visit for
ABC TVs Survey program. His films of the first three projects for the ABC had played an
important role. Kaldor remembered a TV interview they did on arrival as being so filled with
double entendres that it could only be broadcast late at night.77 Audiences attending the
performances, Kaldor remembered in another much recounted anecdote, were absolutely
mesmerised, staying at length.78
Gilbert & George increased the profile of John Kaldor Art Projects and his artistic activities.
Three projects highlighted the fact that the first two were not simply one-off experiments. John
Kaldor decided to use the title John Kaldor Art Projects as an overarching marketing brand. In
his arrangements for the artists visit, Kaldor noted that he would acknowledge the project as the
third in the John Kaldor Art Project series. Item 11 of the reminder noted: 11. Remember John
75 February 14, 2010. A public lecture was also held in Melbourne, at the NGV. You-tube presentation, Gilbert and George talk
and sing at the Art Gallery of New South Wales, AGNSW, http://kaldorartprojects.org.au/project-archive/gilbert-george-1973,
accessed August 24, 2012.
76 Publications reprinted in McCall, Gilbert & George, 1993; Forbat, 40 Years, 2009, p. 97. Noted by Baume, From Christo and JeanneClaude, 1995, p. 29.
77
Baume, From Christo to Jeanne-Claude, 1995, p. 29.
Baume, From Christo to Jeanne-Claude, 1995, p. 29; Kaldor in interview with Baume, 40 Years, 2009, p. 46; Forbat, 40 Years, 2009,
p. 95; Capon and Kaldor in Tunnicliffe, John Kaldor Family Collection, 2011. Conversation with John Kaldor, Sydney, Wednesday
June 25, 2008.
78
165
Gilbert & George
166
Kaldor Art Project 3.79 Whereas other philanthropists often chose anonymity, Kaldors note
reflected his desire to be clearly identified, and for the individual project to be seen as part of a
wider and ongoing program of philanthropy. As an astute and successful businessman, these
were strategies that Kaldor had developed in his own business.
John Kaldor Art Projects third project consolidated Kaldors relationship with the countrys two
leading state art museums. Kaldors relationship with these art museums had begun during the
Alcorso-Sekers scholarship, in the involvement of the Gallery Directors in the finalist selections,
and through the exhibition at one of the two galleries.80 Kaldor had also been involved with both
art museums through earlier Art Projects. As we have seen, Christo and Jeanne-Claudes
Woolworks had been shown at the NGV in 1969, as had Szeemanns exhibition I want to leave a welldone child here in 1971. Kaldors relationship with curatorial staff was also important. Woolworks
and Szeemanns exhibition at the NGV had introduced Kaldor to John Stringer, Brian Finemore,
and Frances McCarthy (later Lindsay), Brian Finemores Associate Curator of Australian Art at
the NGV. In 1972, McCarthy was appointed Assistant Curator of Australian Art at AGNSW,
working directly with Daniel Thomas.81
In Sydney, opening in 1972, the newly dedicated spaces for contemporary art, the James Cook
Gallery of Contemporary Art, offered curatorial staff the chance to develop and present a vastly
expanded program of exhibitions and events. Thomas noted that until that point, the staff size
was small, and that the primary curatorial focus was on the care and development of collections,
with exhibition-making as only a very occasional activity for collection curators.82 In contrast,
the NGV was rich and big and professional.83 Thomas described the period from 1972-1978 as
79
Forbat, 40 Years, 2009, p. 96.
80
See Sanders, Mildura Sculpture Trienniales, 2009, and see above p. 114.
Joanna Mendelssohn, Design & Art Australia online, http://www.daao.org.au/bio/frances-lindsay/#artist_biography, accessed

August 24, 2012.
81
Thomas worked at AGNSW from 1958-1976. He noted other the other professional staff were director Hal Missingham and
deputy director Tony Tuckson, both of whom were artists outside their AGNSW work. Steven Miller, Daniel Thomas: Empathy
and Understanding, Artlink, Vol. 26, no 4, 2006, URL: http://www.artlink.com.au/articles/2863/daniel-thomas-empathy-andunderstanding/, accessed August 17, 2010.
82
83
Miller, Daniel Thomas, Artlink, 2006.
166
a six-year golden age of exhibition-management and exhibition-making.84 For Director Philip

Laverty (1971-1978), Kaldors first series of Art Projects played an important role. They offered
another means by which AGNSW could showcase leading international contemporary artists and
their art as part of the institutions expanded exhibition program.
Kaldors close association with major public art museums developed through close personal
relationships with a key curator, Daniel Thomas, who played an integral role in his support of
Kaldors Art Projects and his relationship with AGNSW. An ABC television program, Survey,
documented Gilbert & Georges visit, filming Thomas with the artists at Mrs Macquaries Chair
on the harbour.85 Though making much of the artists eccentricity, Thomas strongly endorsed the
artists visit. A black and white photograph of Gilbert & George, Daniel Thomas, and others at
the same harbourside event captured Thomass close friendship with the artists.86 This
photograph was reproduced in both major retrospectives of JKAP. After the presentation at the
AGNSW, The Singing Sculpture travelled to the NGV in Melbourne. JKAP was inextricably
connected with state art museums. In 2011, in a conversation with Kaldor at the launch of the
Kaldor Family Collection, Edmond Capon, AGNSW Director, described Gilbert & Georges
Singing Sculpture as a defining moment in the history of art in Australia.87 Kaldors ability to
introduce international artists to an institution, and support their projects with a financial
contribution, was a generous offer, one too difficult to refuse.
84 Miller, Daniel Thomas, Artlink, 2006. Thomas exhibitions from overseas, including Modern Masters, newest America art,
Chinese antiquities, and in-house produced exhibitions of colonial art, historical modernism, and newest Australian art, such as
Tim Burns A Change of Plan (1973), a closed-circuit TV piece in 1973, that he suggested must have been the first New Media
work seen by a big public.
85
Image from film republished to accompany Daniel Thomas essay for Forbat, 40 Years, 2009, p. 36.
86
Baume, From Christo and Jeanne-Claude, 1995, p. 29; Forbat, 40 Years, 2009, p. 36.
87
Capon and Kaldor in Tunnicliffe, John Kaldor Family Collection, 2011.
167
Antoni Miralda
168
ANTONI MIRALDA
On 18 September 1973, John Kaldor launched his new fabric showrooms in Surry Hills, in
Sydneys eastern suburbs. They had been designed by Australian artist, Mike Kitching.88 For the
launch of the new showrooms, Kaldor invited New York-based artist Antoni Miralda to present
one of his famous edible coloured feasts. Kaldor had met the artist with Christo and JeanneClaude in their apartment in 1972.89 Miraldas large-scale public spectacles and coloured feasts
had previously been included in parades for exhibitions, public events such as the Munich
Olympics (1972) and festivals in New York.90 An estimated three-hundred guests were invited to
partake of a feast that included purple pasta, blue eggs, coloured jellies, blue turkey, and brilliantly
multi-hued bread, attracting notice in the local newspaper and society pages.91 Thomas attended.
He later wrote about the event in an article titled Miralda, in Art & Australia.92 Daniel Thomas,
as Senior Curator, AGNSW, arranged for Miralda to present a new work at the Gallery during his
visit. Coloured bread was an 8.5 metre long table of dyed bread, displayed in the Gallerys
entrance.93 It was installed in front of Morris Louiss Ayin (1958),94 a work the Gallery had
acquired from Two Decades of American Painting (1967).95 The American abstract expressionist
painters washes of colour offered a painterly contrast to Miraldas equally formalist repetition of
form in coloured bread.
At the time, neither of Miraldas works was considered an Art Project alongside those of Christo
and Jeanne-Claude (1969), or Gilbert & Georges more recent Singing Sculpture (1973).96 Miraldas
project was eventually retrospectively designated an Art Project in the 2009 publication
88 For descriptions of the event, see newspaper and magazine coverage of the social occasion including Leslie Walford, Artist
among the purple mayonnaise, Sun-Herald, 23 September 1973, p. 96; and Valerie Carr, First this then this and now this!,
The Australian Womens Weekly, Wednesday 19 September, 1973.
89
Forbat, 40 Years, 2009, p. 102.
See Miralda. De gustibus non disputandum, (ex. cat.), an exhibition of Miraldas past projects presented at the Museo Nacional de
Reina Sofia, 24 June 17 October, 2010. Reina Sofia website,
http://www.museoreinasofia.es/exposiciones/2010/miralda_en.html, accessed 27 June, 2011.
90
91 n.a., An edible rainbow, The Sydney Morning Herald, 1973; Sandra McGrath, Good enough to eat, Australian, 29 September
1973, p. 17.
92
Daniel Thomas, Miralda, Art & Australia, Vol. 11, Apr-June 1974, p. 384.
93
Coloured bread, 21 September 4 October, 1973, Art Gallery of New South Wales.
Acquired by the ANGSW in 1967. See AGNSW website, http://www.artgallery.nsw.gov.au/work/OO2.1967/, accessed July
30, 2012. (in the background of the installation shot, scaffolding for the new contemporary wing can be seen).
94
95
See above p. 129.
96
As demonstrated by the original numeric order of subsequent projects following Miralda on JKAP Press Releases.
168
Miralda, Coloured bread (1973)

Installation view, Art Gallery of New South Wales, with Morris Louiss Ayin (1958) in background
Photo: Douglas Thompson
Forbat (ed), 40 Years, 2009, p. 103.
169
170
celebrating 40 years of Art Projects.97 While Miraldas work was subsequently included in
documenta VI in 1977,98 his work never achieved the critical success of the other international
artists or projects that JKAP had presented in Australia between 1969-1977. Until its inclusion in
the Kaldor history of 2009, it had left little, if any, artistic trace. The commercial motivations
may have been the dominant driver of Miraldas visit at the time.
CHARLOTTE MOORMAN AND NAM JUNE PAIK

Kaldors fourth project, with New York based, Korean video artist Nam June Paik and
classically-trained New York cellist Charlotte Moorman, continued Kaldors presentation of
contemporary art to Australians.99 Paik was incorporating electronic technologies in sound with
images. Moorman was interpreting these through her modified classical cello.100 Paik and
Moorman had been included in Szeemanns performance festival, Happening & Fluxus, in
Cologne in 1970. The exhibition documentation shows Szeemann tying on Moormans TV-Bra
for Living (1969).101 Well-known for their experimental concerts, it was the first time the artists
had performed in Australia.102 Moorman and Paiks Art Project revealed Kaldors increasing
understanding of the relevance of marketing and strategic communication to inform the public,
and to mark the project as being ahead of the curve.
Though Kaldor had already presented projects in collaboration with state galleries, it was the first
of Kaldors projects to receive government funding from the newly formed Visual Arts Board of
the Australia Council.103 The Sydney series of events were also part of the Sydney Festival,
partnering that increased the public audiences awareness of the event. New York-based
exhibitions coordinator, John Stringer, who had supported earlier Art Projects when he was
97
Conversation with John Kaldor, Melbourne, Friday June 13, 2008. See Forbat, 2009 for subsequent inclusion.
98
documenta 6, Kassel, 26 June 2 October, 1977. Manfred Schneckenburger, Artistic Director.
Adelaide: 21 & 26 March, 1976, Recitals, Performances, Exhibition, AGSA, 22-26 March, including Ice Music for Adelaide, 22
March; Flying cello, 23 March; Cello sonata, 24 March (Adelaide Festival). Sydney: Recitals, performances, exhibition, 1-7 April,
AGNSW; and performances, Cello Sonata, April, Ice music for Sydney, April, AGNSW. Special events: Candy (the ultimate Easter
Bunny), 2 April, Coventry Gallery; Sky kiss, 11 April, Sydney Opera House forecourt.
99
100 On February 9, 1967, Moorman and Paik were arrested for indecency during a performance of Paiks Opera Sextronique at the
Filmmakers Cinematheque in New York. Paiks TV Bra for Living (1969) was created specifically for Moorman. See Joan
Jeanrenaud, Naked Ambition, Strad, Vol. 117, Issue 1399, November 2006, pp. 74-79.
Szeemann, Happening & Fluxus, 6 November 1970 6 January 1971. See Szeemann, Bezzola and Kurzmeyer, Szeemann, 2007,
pp. 284 289.
101
102
Baume, From Christo and Jeanne-Claude, 1995, p. 32. Paik had been included in the So Paulo Biennale (1975).
103
170
Charlotte Moorman and Nam June Paik, Concerto for TV cello and videotapes (1971)
Entrance vestibule, Art Gallery of New South Wales (1976)
Photo: Kerry Dundas
Forbat (ed), 40 Years, 2009, p. 103.
171
172
curator at the National Gallery of Victoria, assisted with the coordination. The performances
were also presented in conjunction with the Adelaide Festival, the Art Gallery of South Australia,
The Art Gallery of New South Wales, and the Sydney Opera House.104 Moorman and Paiks
schedule reflected the broader national support system for contemporary art, that had
developed since Kaldors first project in 1969.105
As part of the forty events scheduled for Moorman and Paiks 1976 JKAP, an Easter
performance of Jim McWilliams Chocolate cello (1973) was performed as Candy (The ultimate Easter
Bunny) at the Coventry Gallery.106 Moorman and her cello were smeared with thirteen kilograms
of chocolate fudge. She sat amid a display of fake grass and wrapped Easter eggs.107 The most
spectacular performance by Moorman was Sky kiss (1968) performed above the forecourt of the
Sydney Opera House. Dressed in a bonnet, black jacket and white skirt, a suspended Moorman
played her cello, held up, apparently, by bright coloured balloons. The event attracted wide
public attention: satirized in a cartoon by Emeric that appeared in the Sydney Morning Herald on 13
April 1976. He drew former Prime Minister Gough Whitlam floating above the Opera House
Moorman-style, playing a cello and supported by balloons.108 There was extensive coverage of
the visit and performances in local newspapers. Most editorial headlines focused on the
sensational nature of the art, the artists visit even hitting the front page of the West Australian,
though the artists did not visit Perth, in an editorial piece headlined Up, up and a-wail .109 The
visit also attracted the interest of the glossy magazines, including Cleo Australia, Australian Womens
Weekly, and Vogue Australia.110 The weekly magazine Bulletin ran the story under an attention-
104
See details of performances and events in Forbat, 40 Years, 2009, p. 111.
105
Increased support noted by Baume, From Christo and Jeanne-Claude, 1995, p. 35.
106
See Jill Bowen, Now, its Charlotte and her chocolate cello, Australian Womens Weekly, 21 January 1976, p. 8-9.
107
Also reproduced in Forbat, 40 Years, 2009, p. 120.
108
Reproduced in Baume, From Christo and Jeanne-Claude, 1995, p. 40.
109 Articles and reviews were featured in a range of national newspapers, including the Advertiser, Australian, Sydney Morning Herald,
Daily Telegraph, Examiner, Manly Daily, Herald, Sunday Telegraph, Sun-Herald, West Australian. See for example Patricia Angly, Thanks
for the mammary, The Australian, 2 April 1976, p. 10; Daily Telegraph, n.a., Flight notches up an Aussie first for Charlotte, Daily
Telegraph, 12 April 1976, p. 3.; Sturgeon, Graeme, Cooler than a cucumber, Australian, 29 March 1976, p. 8; n.a., Up, up and awail, West Australian, 12 April 1976, p. 1.
Kirsten Blanch, June is busting out all over, Cleo Australia, April 1976, p. 122; Bowen, Now, its Charlotte and her chocolate
cello, Australian Womens Weekly, 1976; Elizabeth Reeve, Mixed media, Vogue Australia, March 1976, p. 75.
110
172
grabbing title Topless Cellist,111 while Daniel Thomas wrote on the artists visit for Art &
Australia.112 The performances did not, however, appear to leave a lasting artistic legacy beyond
these iconic images, though a later article in 2005 contextualised the artists Australian visit within
the history of Nam June Paik, by then the well-established grandfather of video art.113
Kaldor was unable to become close to the artists in the way that he had with Christo and JeanneClaude and Gilbert & George. There is no doubt he respected their work, acquiring two works
made by Paik linked to the Art Project. One was TV cello, first created by Paik in 1971. For the
Art Project, Paik created a second version of this now iconic work, which Moorman played at
AGNSW in 1976. Paik also linked Kaldors personal collection and his Art Projects. TV Buddha
(1976) created by Paik for Kaldor on the visit incorporated an old Korean Maitreya (Buddha of
the future) from Kaldors collection. 114 Both works were gifted to AGNSW as part of the
Kaldor Family Art Collection in 2008, and were presented in the inaugural exhibition hang.
Though Kaldor clearly acknowledged Paiks significance for subsequent developments in
contemporary art, he noted that Paik was not only difficult to get to know, but also not easy to
work with.115 None the less, Kaldor reminisced in 2011, they eventually became very good
friends.116 The association did not, however, have the same artistic impact for subsequent Art
Projects as Kaldors early friendship with Christo and Jeanne-Claude.
SOL LEWITT AND RICHARD LONG

Kaldor was primarily interested in collecting conceptual and minimal art. With this focus, the
collection began to emulate a more museum-like collecting practice.117 The best comparison is
Friedrich and Phillipa de Menils support for American artists in what was to become the Dia Art
111
John Hallows, Topless cellist, Bulletin, 31 Jan 1976, pp. 48-49.
112
Daniel Thomas, Moorman and Paik in Australia, Art & Australia, Vol. 14, No. 1, Jul-Sept 1976, pp. 36a-36c.
Rhana Davenport revisited Moorman and Paiks Art Project and visit to Australia for an article in Art & Australia, see Rhana
Davenport, A Transgressive Duet: Nam June Paik and Charlotte Moorman in Australia in 1976, Art & Australia, Vol. 43, Issue
1, Spring 2005, pp. 88-93; while Genevieve OCallaghan introduced a review of Paiks exhibition in Liverpool in 2011 with a
reference to the Sydney Opera House performance by Moorman. See OCallaghan, Nam June Paik, Tate Liverpool, Art Monthly
Australia, No. 243, September 2011, pp. 14-16.
113
See AGNSW collection for details, http://www.artgallery.nsw.gov.au/exhibitions/new-contemporary-galleries/featuredartists-and-works/nam-june-paik/, accessed August 24, 2012.
114
115
116
117
173
174
Foundation in New York.118 Kaldors fifth and sixth projects, with Sol LeWitt and Richard Long
respectively, reflected this shift. In 1977, each artist made a site-specific installation at both the
Art Gallery of New South Wales and the National Gallery of Victoria. Catalogues were
published for both projects.119
JKAP was not alone in bringing such art to Australia. A 1973-4 MoMA touring exhibition, Some
Recent American Art, was important in this respect. 120 Organised by the International Council of
the Museum of Modern Art, New York, as part of their touring exhibition program, the
exhibition was accompanied by curator Jennifer Licht, touring to Melbourne, Perth, Sydney,
Adelaide and Auckland.121 It included work by Carl Andre, Vito Acconci, John Baldessari, Dan
Flavin, Eva Hesse, Robert Irwin, Donald Judd, Joseph Kosuth, Sol LeWitt, Agnes Martin, Robert
Morris, Robert Ryman, Richard Serra, Lawrence Weiner, and others in an exhibition comprised
of installation and video art. The exhibition included significant works such as Eva Hesses
Contingent (1969), which had occupied the cover of the May 1970 edition of Artforum.122
Presented in the last phases of the Vietnam War, the exhibition was criticized by a vociferous
group of Marxist artists and academics in Adelaide,123 who accused it of elitism and American
cultural imperialism, condemning the self-referential quality of works presented. In Melbourne,
Patrick McCaughey, art critic of The Age, wrote of the great significance of Andres floor piece,
Lever (1966), comprised of one hundred and thirty-seven standard house bricks arranged in a line:
The value of seeing these particular objects in the flesh is immeasurable So far we have heard
the rhetoric but not seen the art.124 The exhibition enabled artists and the public to see such
works at first hand.
118
See above p. 44.
Sol LeWitt, Wall drawing, artists book, John Kaldor Art Projects, Sydney, 1977; Richard Long, A straight hundred mile walk in
Australia: a walk along a line, returning to the same campsite each night, artists book, John Kaldor Art Projects, Sydney 1978.
119
120 See Jennifer Licht, Some Recent American Art, (ex. cat.), National Gallery of Victoria with permission of the Museum of Modern
Art, New York, 1973, Melbourne, 1973.
121 Tour details published in the exhibition catalogue, see Licht, Some Recent American Art, 1973. The exhibition was shown at the
NGV, Art Gallery of Western Australia, AGNSW, Art Gallery of South Australia and the Auckland City Art Gallery.
Artforum, May 1970. The issue also featured an interview on Hesse. Cindy Nemser, An interview with Hesse, Artforum, 1970,
pp. 59 63.
122
For a discussion of the debate the exhibition generated, see David Dolan (ed.), Cultural Imperialism and the Social Responsibility of
the Artist, Adelaide, Contemporary Art Society of Australia, 1976; see also Brian Medlin, Donald Brook and Ian Norths articles
from 1974-5 reprinted in Broadsheet, Cultural Imperialism Revisited, Broadsheet, Vol. 40, No. 4, 2011, pp, 262-275.
123
124 Patrick McCaughey, The seriousness of 137 bricks, The Age, 13 February 1974, p. 7. Carl Andres work Equivalent VIII (1966)
had been purchased by the Tate Gallery in London in 1972, and was shown in 1974, although controversy only erupted after a
Sunday Times article in February 1976. See Editorial, The Burlington Magazine, Vol. 118, No. 884, Nov 1976, pp. 762-67.
174
Sol LeWitt, All two part combinations of arcs

from four corners, arcs from four sides, straight, not-straight &
broken lines in four directions (1972-1977)
Installation view, Art Gallery of New South Wales (1977)
Photo: Kerry Dundas
Forbat (ed), 40 Years, 2009, p. 125.
Sol LeWitt, Lines to points on a grid.

On yellow: Lines from the center of the wall. On red: Lines from
four sides. On blue: Lines from four corners. On black: Lines
from four sides, four corners and the center of the wall. (1975-7)
Installation view, National Gallery of Victoria (1977)
Forbat (ed), 40 Years, 2009, p. 130
175
176
Works from the exhibition were acquired for the developing National Gallery of Australia
collection. In 1973, the NGA acquired Hesses Contingent (1969) from the estate of the artist,
whilst in 1975 the institution purchased Robert Morris Untitled (1969), a felt wall sculpture
similar to the one included in the touring show. 125 The NGV acquired two works from the
exhibition in 1974: Morris felt work, Untitled (1970), and Donald Judds aluminium form with
blue interior, Untitled (1969-71). Both were purchased through the Felton Bequest.126 Kaldor
also acquired a work by Carl Andre from the exhibition in 1974: Andres Steel-copper plain (1969), a
small square steel and copper floor piece of thirty-six units. Baume noted that the work had
originally been made for the Guggenheim Museum, New York, as part of 37th Piece of Work
(1970), a gigantic floorpiece made up of 1296 metal plates, arranged alphabetically by the element
symbol of the metals.127 The acquisitions reflected the significance of these works for both
private and public collectors in Australia, and the key role of early touring exhibitions.
As major international works continued to be presented through exhibitions of this kind in state
galleries, artists themselves increasingly travelled to Australia. Donald Judd, for instance,
accepted an invitation to travel to Australia and create a public work in association with Some
Recent American Art.128 As a suitable site could not be found at AGNSW, the offer was made to
the Art Gallery of South Australia. Judds visit coincided with the exhibition tour. He created
Untitled (1974-75), a large triangular concrete sculpture permanently installed in the courtyard of
the Art Gallery of South Australia.129 As Ian North, the Gallerys Curator of Paintings and
Sculptures noted in the works press release, the Judd sculpture was Adelaides Blue Poles
suggestive of artistic progressiveness against the conservatism of the times.130 Judd did not stay
for the final completion of the work. It was one of very few site-specific outdoor installations he
125 NGA online catalogue,

http://nga.gov.au/International/Catalogue/Detail.cfm?ViewID=1&MnuID=1&GalID=ALL&SubViewID=5&IRN=49353,
accessed March 7, 2012.
126
National Gallery of Victoria, http://www.ngv.vic.gov.au/col/work/4198, accessed March 7, 2012.
127
John Neylon, Dear Donald, The Adelaide Review, June 2012, accessed online,
http://www.adelaidereview.com.au/article/1547, August 12, 2012.
128
129 See Public programs arranged as part of the 30th anniversary display, Art Gallery of South Australia (AGSA), 15 October 2004
30 January 2005.
130 AGSA, 2004. North also gave a lecture as part of the 30 years celebrations, Thursday 14 October, 2004, noted in the media
release, though no transcript exists.
176
ever made.131 Where visits by leading international artists had to date been John Kaldors
preserve, his Art Projects were no longer unique.
In 1978, Carl Andre visited Australia on the invitation of his Australian friend and fellow artist,
Robert Hunter.132 Hunter had met Andre in 1971, when he had represented Australia at the
Second Indian Triennale of Contemporary Art where Andre was also participating. The artists
had become good friends.133 On his visit to Australia in 1978, Andre presented three joint
exhibitions with Hunter, held almost simultaneously at Pinacotheca, Melbourne; Newcastle City
Art Gallery, Newcastle; and the Institute of Modern Art, Brisbane. 134 Each installation was
different. Joanna Mendelssohn, reviewing the exhibition for Art & Australia, observed that the
exhibition was a variation on the travelling shows that had dominated gallery programs.135
For the 1977 JKAP project, Sol LeWitt created a wall drawing. All two part combinations of arcs from
four corners and four sides, straight, not-straight and broken lines in four directions (1972-1977) had already
been installed a number of times overseas. Acquired by the Italian collector Count Giuseppe
Panza di Biumino, the permission was lent to LeWitt for its temporary installation at
AGNSW.136 By 1977, LeWitts wall drawings had been shown in leading museums worldwide.137
He was widely collected.138 With each installation, the instructions varied in size and dimensions.
No two works were exactly the same: at the AGNSWs central space, he used the double height
131
Others are in Germany, New York, and in the grounds of Philip Johnsons Glass House, in New Canaaan, Conneticut.
132
Duncan, Robert Hunter, 1987, p. 11. Also noted by Dodge in Duncan, Robert Hunter, 1987, p. 15.
133
Barker and Green, The watershed, Art Journal, 2011.
For details see Joanna Mendelssohn, Andre/Hunter joint exhibition, Art & Australia, Vol. 16, No 3, March 1979; Duncan,
Robert Hunter, 1987, p. 11; Dodge in Duncan, Robert Hunter, 1987, p. 33. Hunter noted his friendship with Andre, as an artist
friend and colleague, in Gary Catalano, something out of nothing. An interview with Robert Hunter Art & Australia, Vol. 33,
No. 2, Summer, 1995, p. 203 and 204.
134
135
Mendelssohn, Andre/Hunter, Art & Australia, 1979, p. 225.
136 Daniel Thomas, in his article on LeWitt for the Bulletin, noted the artists relationship to the collector. See Daniel Thomas,
The master of the grid, Bulletin, 2 April 1977, p. 69. LeWitt, Wall Drawing #146. All two part combinations of arcs from four corners
and four sides, straight, not-straight and broken lines in four directions (1972-1977) forms part of the Solomon R. Guggenheim Museum,
New York, Panza Collection, Gift 92.4160. http://www.guggenheim.org/new-york/collections/collection-online/showfull/piece/?cr=1&f=quicksearch&page=1&search=sol+lewitt, accessed April 11, 2012. Also noted by Forbat, 40 Years, 2009, p.
124.
137 For a discussion of LeWitts Wall Drawings, see Rosalind Krauss, The LeWitt Matrix, in The Museum of Modern Art,
Oxford, SOL LEWITT STRUCTURES 1962-1993, (ex. cat.), curated by Chrissie Iles, MOMA, Oxford, 1993, pp. 25-33.
138 For an extensive bibliography of solo and group shows see The Museum of Modern Art, Oxford, SOL LEWITT
STRUCTURES 1962-1993, 1993, pp. 119 121. LeWitt was included in Szeemanns When Attitude Becomes Form, Kunsthalle
Bern, Switzerland (1969), whilst his renowned text Paragraphs on Conceptual Art was published Artforum 5, No. 10, June 1967,
pp. 79-83, reprinted in Gary Garrels, (ed.), Sol LeWitt: A Retrospective (San Francisco: San Francisco Museum of Modern Art, in
association with Yale University Press, New Haven, Conn., 2000), p. 369.
177
178
wall to join the old and new wings. Students from the Alexander Mackie College acted as
LeWitts assistants.139
At the NGV, a 3 x 12 metre wall was divided into four equal panel squares of white lines on
yellow, red, blue and black. The works title, Lines to points on a grid. On yellow: Lines from the centre
of the wall. On red: Lines from four sides. On blue: Lines from four corners. On black: Lines from four sides,
four corners and the centre of the wall, described the process of the work. Shown within this art
museum, the differences were difficult to discern and the work was, in addition, not radically
different from others that had previously been shown. For Australians, LeWitts works were not
novel. Examples of the artists wall drawings had first been shown in Australia in Some recent
American Art (1973).140 Artist Peter Cripps, then working at the NGV as an exhibitions officer,
met LeWitt through this show, and then travelled around Australia installing the work at other
venues.141 Cripps, artist Robert Rooney, and others exchanged post-cards with LeWitt following
this exhibition.142
Kaldors interest in presenting a LeWitt Art Project developed from his purchase of the artists
drawings and sculptures. Kaldor first acquired works by Sol LeWitt in 1975, shortly after Some
Recent American Art (1973). He purchased two drawings from the John Weber Gallery, The location
of 21 lines with lines from middle points mostly (1974), and The location of six geometric figures (1975).143
Kaldor continued to collect LeWitt. While the artist was in Australia for the 1977 JKAP, Kaldor
commissioned LeWitt to make a wall drawing for his collection, Six geometric figures superimposed in
two parts (1977).144 Kaldors personal collection and Art Projects were becoming intertwined.
139
140
Licht, Some Recent American Art, 1973.
141
Peter Cripps, Artist floor talk, Less is More, curated by Sue Cramer, Museum of Modern Art, Heide, Sunday 26 August, 2012.
Conversation with Peter Cripps, Melbourne, August 26, 2012. Cripps noted that he was unaware that other artists in
Melbourne were exchanging post-cards with LeWitt at that time, and discovered this when viewing other postcards to Rooney in
Endless Present: Robert Rooney and Conceptual Art, curated by Maggie Finch, Assistant Curator, Photography NGV, 12 November
2010 27 March 2011.
142
143
Baume, From Christo and Jeanne-Claude to Keff Koons, 1995, p. 32.
144
178
The project with LeWitt had little immediate public impact. Media response was muted, if
generally positive. 145 Two reviews appeared in local Sydney papers, and Daniel Thomas wrote
an article for The Bulletin locating LeWitts wall-drawings within the history of Minimal and
conceptual art. 146 Acknowledging Italian collector and patron, Count Giuseppe Panza di
Buimino, who had keenly supported artists such as LeWitt through the acquisition and
commission of works, Thomas also mentioned the financial support of the recently created
Visual Arts Board of the Australia Council.147 A familiarity with LeWitts wall-drawings, existing
connections between LeWitt and Australian artists, the rigorous quality of the work itself, and
LeWitts reluctance to be the subject of a media program no doubt all played their part in the
subdued response. Baume attributed the lack of interest to LeWitts uninterest (sic) in personal
publicity and the low-key nature of his work.148
When Sol LeWitt wrote to Kaldor on April 17, 1976, to confirm his visit to Australia and his
desire to create wall drawings for Kaldors office, and the art museums in Sydney and Melbourne,
he had noted that I dont want to do any lectures or parties, dinners and too much social stuff.149
Jill Sykes, writing in the Sydney Morning Herald, noted the artists reluctance to answer questions
about himself.150 Whilst LeWitts austere approach differed from the more theatrical earlier
Kaldor projects, the presentation of work by an artist who had already been seen in Australia,
with both large-scale wall works and as part of an exhibition, meant that the work was unlikely to
receive the celebrity coverage of earlier projects. Presented within an art museum, the project
looked like part of the institutions exhibition program, rather than a special independent project.
145 Four reviews: Nancy Borlase, Arcs and lines, Sydney Morning Herald, 31 March 1977, p. 7; Sandra McGrath, Up the wall,
artistically, Australian, 5 April 1977, p. 10; Jill Sykes, Lines of communication, Sydney Morning Herald, 18 March 1977, p. 7;
Thomas, The master of the grid, Bulletin, 1977.
Thomas also noted that the work was owned by Italian Count Giuseppe Panza di Buimino, who had an example of Arcs and
Lines in his house at Varese, near Milan. As noted, he had lent the concept back to LeWitt temporarily, so it could be installed in
Sydney. Thomas, The master of the grid, 1977.
146
147 Given Count Giuseppe Panza di Buiminos involvement with Minimalist artists closely associated with Dia Art Foundation, it
is likely that Kaldor knew of this method of support from a private individual. See Chave, Revaluing Minimalism, Art Bulletin,
2008.
148
149
Letter from LeWitt to John Kaldor, dated 17 April 1976, reproduced Forbat, 40 Years, 2009, p. 124.
150
Sykes, Lines of communication, 1977.
179
180
Richard Long, Brushwood circle (1977)

Installation view, National Gallery of Victoria
Photo: Kerry Dundas
Forbat (ed), 40 Years, 2009, p. 140.
180
Richard Long, Stone line (1977)

Forbat (ed), 40 Years, (2009), pp. 142-3.
Richard Longs Art Project was similarly framed. Longs A straight hundred mile walk in Australia
(1977) was presented late in a body of works he had been making for several years.151 In an
interview, Long said:
Back in the early seventies I had this idea to make straight hundred mile walks along
straight lines in different landscapes. I did one in the classical boggy temperate landscape
of Ireland and then I did one on the prairies of Canada so that the idea was that the
hundred mile walks were always the same but the landscape changed. I did another one in
a bamboo forest in Japan, and another in the red Australian outback.152
Kaldor had long been interested in Longs installations and walks. He first invited Long to create
a project in Australia in the early 1970s.153 By this time, the artist had already achieved
considerable international recognition. A student of Anthony Caro at the St. Martins School of
Art, London, along with Gilbert & George, by 1968 Long had already been shown in Dsseldorf
in the gallery of Konrad Fischer.154 Szeemann included one of Longs text works in When attitudes
become form (1969).155 Kaldor was well aware of sustained interest in the artist. An article on
Longs walks and engagements with nature by Germano Celant for domus magazine in 1972
formed part of the JKAP project file on the artist.156 By 1977, Longs work had been shown at
the Solomon R. Guggenheim Museum, New York (1971); the Museum of Modern Art, New
York (1972); documenta V (1972); and the Venice Biennale (1976), as Kaldor mentioned in the
project press release.157 Longs walks, sculptures and conceptually based photographic
documentation were a well-established part of art museum and biennale programmes, and widely
documented through images in exhibition catalogues and associated critical texts.
The project responded to the Australian outback. It was part of Longs exploration of process
through walks in many countries. Near Broken Hill, Long made solitary walks over a period of
151 Richard Long, Broken Hill, A straight hundred mile walk in Australia and A line in Australia, December 1977. Melbourne, Bushwood
circle, 8 December 1977 7 January 1978, National Gallery of Victoria; Sydney Stone Line, 15 December 1977 5 February 1978,
Art Gallery of New South Wales.
152
Long quoted in Colin Kirkpatrick, Richard Long: No Where, Transcript, Vol. 2, No. 2, 1997, p. 46.
153
Forbat, 40 Years, 2009, p. 136.
154
Thomas Crow, The Rise of the Sixties, 1996, p. 162.
155
See above p. 152.
156
Germano Celant, Richard Long, domus magazine 511, giugno, 1972, pp. 48 51.
157
Noted in John Kaldor Art Project 6 Press Release.
181
182
eight days and nights, walking in a straight line by compass and returning to the same, randomly
chosen, campsite each night.158 He documented this process in photographs he took. They were
simple and straightforward, taken at eye-level.159 Long installed Stone line (1977) at AGNSW, and
Bushwood circle (1977) at the NGV. An artists book was made of the documentary photographs
of the walk.160 Like Sol LeWitts project earlier that year, Longs Australian project was
supported with assistance from the Visual Arts Board of the Australia Council.161 With both
institutional and government support, Kaldor was now the leading partner in what were,
effectively, consortia of private, art museum and government projects.
Longs Australian visit was reflected in his choice of titles for subsequent exhibitions. He
included images from Australia in later publications. His 1978 exhibition at Lisson Gallery,
London, was titled Outback. It featured one of the artists black and white photographs of his
bush camp surrounded by Australian eucalypts and native bush.162
Richard Longs Australian project drew derisory silly season comments in the popular press.
The response was again muted, due, in part, to the December-January summer slot.163 Critical
reviews on Longs work more generally appeared in February and May 1977, in Art News and Art
Monthly.164 These assisted in attracting artworld interest to his Australian project. The private and
solitary nature of Longs walks also differed radically from Christo and Jeanne-Claudes complex
processes of social and political interaction, Szeemanns sensationalism and Gilbert & Georges
spectacle. The community participation involved in Wrapped Coast (1969) contrasted sharply with
Longs working method, which was solitary and invisible. Longs exhibitions at the two state art
museums could easily have been mistaken, once more, as having been generated by the
158
159
Long quoted in Baume, From Christo and Jeanne-Claude, 1995, p. 39.
160
Installation views in Baume, From Christo and Jeanne-Claude, 1995, 38 and 39; Forbat, 2009, 40 Years, 140 43.
161
Noted in Jill Sykes, The rocky road, Sydney Morning Herald, Good Weekend, 17 December 1977, p. 16.
Project 7: an invitation from Richard Longs exhibition shown at the Lisson Gallery, London, 1978 titled Outback. Reproduced
on JKAP website, http://kaldorartprojects.org.au/project-archive/richard-long-1977, accessed May 12, 2012.
162
163 Baume, From Christo and Jeanne-Claude, 1995, p. 40. Longs project was reviewed in the Daily Telegraph, Australian, Manly Daily,
Age, Sun, and Sydney Morning Herald. See Daily Telegraph, n.a., Now art comes by the tonne, Daily Telegraph, 15 December 1977, p.
7; David Elias, Artist who knows his way around, Australian, 9 December 1977, p. 5; Margaret Geddes, As a work of art its a
ring-in, Age, 9 December 1977, p. 2; Sykes, The rocky road, Sydney Morning Herald, 1977.
164 Articles included Paul Overy, Richard Long, Art Monthly, No. 4, Feb 1977, p. 21; and William Feaver, Passionate
togetherness, Art News, Vol. 76, No. 5, May 1977, pp. 94-5.
182
institutions themselves. Though Kaldor had long wanted to make a project with Long,165 by the
time Kaldors Art Project with Long materialized, he was not only well-known, but had already
received considerable official public recognition. Kaldor purchased a number of significant works
by Long. It consolidated a personal relationship that Kaldor was to develop further in later
years.166
CHANGING CULTURAL CONTEXT

The subdued response to LeWitt and Long may also have reflected social and artistic changes in
Australia. Cheaper travel and increased coverage of international exhibitions and artists made
projects of this kind available to a widening audience. The establishment of the Sydney Biennale
in 1973 had significantly altered the cultural and artistic frame for Kaldors projects. The 1976
Sydney Biennale, Recent International forms in Art, was curated by Thomas G. McCullough, who had
been director of the innovative Mildura Sculpture Triennials in the 1970s.167 Working closely
with AGNSW curators, where the biennale was primarily held, McCullough was able to bring
together artists, critics and the public for a series of live events, installations and artworks that
extended beyond the gallery context. McCullough involved curators Daniel Thomas, Frances
McCarthy (Lindsay), Bernice Murphy, and Robert Lindsay, whom he described as talented
individuals. He noted that their employers placed too much emphasis on traditional things like
the Archibald Prize to give them the scope to experiment. 168 The Biennale was now creating the
opportunity to work closely with more experimental artists, both local and international.
With the establishment of the Visual Arts Board (VAB) in 1973, one of seven Boards of the
newly chartered Australian Council for the Arts, government funding was now also more
165 Noted in a letter to Leon Paroissien, Director Visual Arts Board, Australia Council, from John Kaldor, 9 May, 1977, Kaldor
Archive. Conversation with John Kaldor, Melbourne, Monday August 11, 2008. Also noted by Baume, From Christo and JeanneClaude, 1995, p. 38; and Forbat, 40 Years, 2009, p. 136.
166 Baume noted that Kaldor acquired Slate cairn (1977) in 1978, the year after the Art Project. Baume, From Christo and JeanneClaude, 1995, p. 40. Double page image featured in Tunnicliffe, John Kaldor Family Collection, 2011, pp. 142-3 in John Kaldors
garden. Sydney Harbour driftwood (1977) was also made on the visit, and gifted to the AGNSW in 2008. Other works by Long, and
acquired from Anthony dOffay, who first met Kaldor in 1978 when he started showing Richard Long, included mud works on
paper and made directly onto a wall at Kaldors house; and text works such as A moved line in Japan 1983, acquired in 1986 and part
of the John Kaldor Family Collection, AGNSW. Long also returned to Australia to complete a major new mud wall work,
Southern gravity (2011). See Tunnicliffe, John Kaldor Family Collection, 2011, pp. 134-149.
167
See Sanders, The Mildura Sculpture Triennales, 2009.
168
Biennale of Sydney website, http://www.biennaleofsydney.com.au/about/history/1976, accessed February 23, 2012.
183
184
available to support artist visits and exhibitions in Australia.169 Longs project itself was presented
with the financial assistance of the Visual Arts Board (VAB) of the Australia Council (as it had
subsequently become), as noted in the Press Release for Longs JKAP Art Project 6.170 The
newly formed VAB defined its role in two parts. First, it was to mount Australian exhibitions to
tour internationally, as outlined in the 1973 Australian Council for the Arts First Annual
Report.171 Secondly, it was to co-operate with State galleries in bringing outstanding overseas
exhibitions to Australia.172 Because both LeWitt and Longs projects with JKAP were shown at
major State galleries, they were eligible for support. Potential government funding offered
another motivation to present Art Projects within a state art museum. But it also meant that the
private initiative was competing directly for government funds with other newly formed
enterprises, such as the Sydney Biennale.
Australias national arts institutions were also coming of age. Though the National Gallery of
Australia building in Canberra was yet to open, a significant collection of international art was
being acquired, including the widely publicized, controversial purchase of American Abstract
Expressionist Jackson Pollocks Blue Poles (1952) in 1973.173 Acquired for more than $1 million
dollars, the price was the largest figure spent by an Australian institution on a twentieth century
painting.174 Its acquisition reflected both the increased prices of late modern and contemporary
169 Barker and Green noted that the VAB assumed some of the functions of the former Commonwealth Art Advisory Board, but
not those relating to acquisitions for the Australian National Gallery. Its main responsibilities lay in the general fields of painting,
sculpture, photography, industrial design, architecture, art education and the conservation of art works. See Barker and Green,
The Provincialism Problem: Terry Smith and Centre-Periphery Art History, Journal of Art Historiography, Number 3, December
2010. For details of the establishment of the VAB see Australia Council for the Arts First Annual Report JanuaryDecember
1973; and for a history of the development of arts funding in Australia see John Gardiner-Garden, Commonwealth arts policy
and administration, Parliament of Australia, Social Policy Section, Background Note, 7 May 2009,
http://www.aph.gov.au/library/pubs/bn/2008-09/ArtsPolicy.pdf, accessed September 29, 2011.
170
John Kaldor Art Project 6, Richard Long, Press Release, Art Gallery of New South Wales.
171
Australian Council for the Arts First Annual Report 1973, Australian Council for the Arts, Sydney, 1974.
172
Australian Council for the Arts First Annual Report 1973, Australian Council for the Arts, Sydney, 1974.
173 See Lindsay Barrett, The Prime Ministers Christmas Card, Blue Poles and Cultural politics in the Whitlam era, Sydney, Power
Publications, 2001. Max Hutchinson, who had founded the influential Sydney commercial gallery Gallery A with Ann Lewis,
acted as broker for the deal between the American collector Ben Heller and the National Gallery of Australia for the purchase of
the work. See also John Murphy (ed.), Gallery A Sydney 19641983, (ex. cat.), Campbelltown Arts Centre and Newcastle Region
Art Gallery, 2009, p. 46.
174 Australian galleries had in the past acquired highly priced works for permanent collections, though not of a modernist or
abstract nature. See Barrett, The Prime Ministers Christmas Card, 2001, p. 16. There was some discrepancy in prices quoted for the
work. The agreed price with the seller was US$2,000,000. However, the purchase price quoted by journalists on Whitlams
announcement of the works acquisition was $1,340,000. See Barrett, The Prime Ministers Christmas Card, 2001, p. 14 and p. 1. The
National Gallery of Australia, Canberra, opened in 1984. James Mollison was appointed its first director.
184
art, and the confidence of this Australian institution, yet to open, in acquiring great international
works of this stature.
Prime Minister Gough Whitlams very public endorsement of the acquisition reflected his Labor
governments brief, though very public, support for visual art and culture. As Sanders noted,
Whitlams use of the image of Blue Poles for his 1973 Christmas card, coinciding with the opening
of the iconic Sydney Opera House in late 1973, was a defiant, and very public proclamation of
the changing status of art and culture in Australia.175 For some Australian artists and critics,
however, the acquisition implied the privileging of international artists over Australians. It
signaled that Australia was buying cultural dependency.176 With the VABs creation, and the
increasing role of state and national institutions in contemporary art and emergent artforms, John
Kaldor Art Projects needed to redefine the direction of its projects.
At the same time, Australias place within the global art world was hotly debated. Essays by
Terry Smith and Ian Burn, members of Art and Language, showed their concern about the power
of New York, about Australias dependency, and about the problems of translating cultures.177
Terry Smiths 1974 Artforum essay The Provincialism Problem presented the issue within a
broad international and geopolitical frame.178 Artists, however, travelled increasingly between art
centres such as London and New York, as distance became less of a barrier, and were able to
spend extended periods of time working overseas through Australia Council residencies. The
somewhat paternalistic idea of bringing the centre to the periphery, or of leading international
artists to provincial outposts, was not only problematic but also increasingly outmoded. As
Barker and Green noted, Smiths essay on the provincialism problem was framed within the
political rather than aesthetic context.179 John Kaldors Art Projects were not exempt.
175
See Barrett, The Prime Ministers Christmas Card , 2001; Sanders, The Mildura Sculpture Triennales, 2009, p. 152.
Burn, quoted in Ann Stephen, On Looking at Looking, the art and politics of Ian Burn, The Miegunyah Press, An imprint of
Melbourne University Press, Melbourne, 2006, p. 164.
176
See Stephen, On Looking at Looking, 2006, pp. 153 155 and Barker and Green, The Provincialism Problem, Journal of Art
Historiography, 2010, p. 5. Essays by Art and Language members included Ian Burn, Provincialism, Art Dialogue, no. 1, October
1973, pp. 3-11; Ian Burn, Art Market, Affluence and Degradation, 1975, reprinted in Amy Baker Sandback (ed.), Looking
Critically: 21 Years of Artforum, Ann Arbor, U.M.I., 1984, pp. 173-177.
177
Terry Smith, The provincialism problem, Artforum, Vol. 1, No. 1, Sept 1974, pp 5459; See also Stephen, On Looking at
Looking, 2006.
178
179
Barker and Green, The Provincialism Problem, Journal of Art Historiography, 2010, p. 15.
185
186
Australian politics was also changing rapidly in the 1970s. The 1967 referendum recognized
Indigenous Australians as citizens. The Vietnam War and the subsequent arrival of a wave of
refugees from Vietnam and other nearby neighbours focused attention on Asia, changing the
countrys ethnic mix yet again.180 The Whitlam Labor government had reformed arts and culture,
but then became a victim of its own political slogan, Its time.181
Thus by 1977 there were many other organisations engaged in similar activities to JKAP, all with
the support of the VAB. Artists, academics and critics were questioning the value of bringing
international artists to Australia to reproduce work with the supposition that locals could learn
from them.
The impact of this changing cultural landscape was illustrated by the visit of Mario Merz, whom
Kaldor had cultivated through the acquision of works and talk of a possible project, but whose
high profile visit was ultimately auspiced by the Sydney Biennale. Kaldors interest in the Italian
arte povera artist had been longstanding.182 Merz had been included in the 1969 publication Arte
Povera, by Italian curator and writer Germano Celant, alongside other conceptual artists Joseph
Beuys, Giuseppe Penone, from Europe; Richard Long and Barry Flanagan from Britain, and
Americans Robert Smithson, Richard Serra, Evan Hesse, Robert Morris and Carl Andre.183 It
appeared that Kaldor invited Merz to make an art project, in 1977 or there abouts, although there
is no firm record of the timing.184 As with many projects, there were material issues to resolve.
An undated letter from Merz referred to the cost of stone tables for the work, which was
prohibitive, and noted the possibility of making the work in concrete, though this would not have
been as good.185 In a postscript, Merz requested that Kaldor keep the original drawings for his
collection. In the end, the project did not eventuate. However, Kaldor collected at least two
A 1973 amendment to the Migration Act introduced a non-discriminatory immigration policy, and in 1975 the Racial
Discrimination Act formally rejected the racist bias of the White Australia policy.
180
The Australian Labor Party ran on a slogan of Its time in the 1972 Federal election. Whitlam was dismissed by GovernorGeneral Sir John Kerr.
181
182
Baume, From Christo and Jeanne-Claude, 1995, p. 60. Conversation with John Kaldor, Melbourne, Friday June 13, 2008.
Germano Celant, (ed.), Arte Povera, Conceptual, Actual or Impossible Art?, Studio Vista London, Gabriele Mazzotta Publishers,
Milan, 1969.
183
184 Kaldors interest in Merz noted in Baume, From Christo and Jeanne-Claude, 1995, p. 60. Not discussed by Thomas, or Forbat in
40 Years, 2009, presumably because the project never eventuated.
185
Kaldor Archives, viewed Melbourne, Thursday 26 June 2008.
186
works, Old Bison on the Savannah (1979), and The Architect (1984),186 which were shown as part of
the Kaldor Collection at the MCA in 1995.
Merz came to Australia on the invitation of Nick Waterlow for his Third Biennale of Sydney,
European Dialogue, in 1979.187 Waterlows Biennale focused on European conceptual and postobject art, which, he noted he had not seen in Australia, though there had already been a number
of important exhibitions on recent trends of American art in Australia.188 Waterlow had a strong
community arts background, including work in the UK, where he became acquainted with these
new European trends prior to moving to Australia in 1977.189 He included works by Marcel
Broodthaers, Gerhard Richter, Hanne Darboven, Mario Merz, Valie Export, Daniel Buren and
Armand Arman, as well as performances by Marina Abramovi and Ulay, Ulrike Rosenback and
others.190 Merzs work for the Biennale, Objet cache toi (1979), dominated the whole of the
AGNSWs entrance court, and Merz visited Sydney and Melbourne, meeting many artists.191 It is
possible that Kaldors enthusiasm waned once Merz had visited Australia as part of the Biennale
rather than as one of his Projects.
186 Merzs Old Bison on the Savannah (1979), and The Architect (1984) were both reproduced in Baume, From Christo and Jeanne-Claude,
1995, p. 54, p. 60, p. 85.
187
Nick Waterlow, Third Biennale of Sydney, European Dialogue, 12 April 27 May, 1979.
Waterlow, Biennale of Sydney website, http://www.biennaleofsydney.com.au/about/history/1979, accessed February 23,

2012.
188
189 Waterlow was appointed director in November 1977. As artists Vivienne Binns and Ian Milliss noted in their history of the
1979 Biennale of Sydney, Waterlows strong community arts background was seen positively by the artistic community. In his
previous role as Senior Recreation Officer, Waterlow had been responsible for the development of the arts in the new city of
Milton Keynes, U.K., initiating community arts programmes. At the time of his appointment to the Biennale, Waterlow was
teaching at Alexander Mackie College, and was a member of the steering committee of the N.S.W. Branch of the National
Community Arts' Co-operative. See Vivienne Binns & Ian Milliss, Sydney Biennale: White Elephant or Red Herring: Comments
from the art community 1979, Ian Milliss website, http://www.ianmilliss.com/documents/historyherstory.htm, accessed
September 24, 2012. Waterlow quoted on Biennale of Sydney website,
http://www.biennaleofsydney.com.au/about/history/1979, accessed February 23, 2012.
190
See List of works for details, European Dialogue, 1979.
Waterlow, Biennale of Sydney website, http://www.biennaleofsydney.com.au/about/history/1979, accessed February 23,

2012.
191
187
188
An Australian Accent (1984)

top: Ken Unsworth, The mirror and other fables (1983-84), installation view P.S.1, New York
Photo: Andrew Moore
bottom: Imants Tillers, installation view Corcoran Gallery of Art, Washington
Forbat (ed), 40 Years, 2009, p. 140.
188
Kaldors quiet years (1978-1994)
CHAPTER FIVE:
KALDORS QUIET YEARS (1978-1994)
The growth of alternative avenues through which international artists could visit Australia,
particularly the Biennale of Sydney and increased VAB support, may explain why JKAP
presented only two projects in the seventeen years from 1978 to 1994. Of these, one was an
experimental format that Kaldor did not repeat, and the other was a Christo and Jeanne-Claude
retrospective that built on the historical significance of their JKAP project in 1969. If projects
during this period were scarce, Kaldor continued to develop his personal collection, focusing on
the work of leading international contemporary artists.
AN AUSTRALIAN ACCENT
Kaldors An Australian Accent (1984) was a curated exhibition, consisting of three artist projects
by Mike Parr, Imants Tillers and Ken Unsworth. An Australian Accent was shown at the Institute
for Art and Urban Resources Inc.s permanent space, P.S.1 in Long Island City, Queens, New
York.1 Its form, location, and Kaldors intent differentiated it from other John Kaldor Art
Projects which all presented the work of international artists to Australians.
Harald Szeemanns exhibition for Kaldor in 1971 may have been the precedent. Szeemann,
however, was a curator and museum director, whilst Kaldor was not. As a museum
professional, Szeemann preferred the term Ausstellungsmacher (exhibition maker) to describe his
methodology of controlled chaos.2 His preference for an improvisational, laboratory approach
and working style had more in common with the experimental and conceptual artists with whom
he worked than the traditional academy.3 John Kaldor was not a professional exhibition-maker.
The show subsequently toured to the Corcoran Gallery in Washington DC, though this was not
originally part of Kaldors exhibition plan. It was shown alongside an exhibition of German
artists, Expressions. 4 In Australia, An Australian Accent toured to the Art Gallery of Western
1 Thomas, An Australian Accent, 1984. John Kaldor, Curator; Mike Parr, Imants Tillers and Ken Unsworth John Kaldor Art
Project 7, PS1, New York, 1984. 15 April 10 June 1984.
2
Quoted in Birnbaum, When attitude becomes form, Artforum, 2005.
Szeemann described his working process in these terms, as quoted by Birnbaum, When attitude becomes form, Artforum, 2005.
Corcoran Gallery of Art, Washington DC, 30 June 26 August 1984; Art Gallery of Western Australia, Perth, 22 September
11 November 1984; Art Gallery of New South Wales, Sydney, 1 December 1984 31 January 1985. Kaldor Public Art Projects
website, http://kaldorartprojects.org.au/_webapp_1098355/AN_AUSTRALIAN_ACCENT_1984, accessed August 3, 2011.
See also Forbat, 40 Years, 2009, p. 150.
4
189
190
Australia in Perth and AGNSW. The work of the artists, Kaldor believed, reflected a maturity of
expression and an originality of style that reveals a new authority in Australian art.5 In New
York, Kaldor was attempting to present an exhibition that would extend exhibition making by
Australians beyond a nationalistic agenda to reveal them as international artists, comparable in
artistic quality to any in the art worlds centre. It is hard not to read it as a philanthropist and
collectors engagement with the provincialism debate, and as something of a response to his
earlier critics.6 Another exhibition of Australian art presented in New York in the same year had
similar, though broader, aims. Australian Visions: 1984 Exxon International Exhibition was shown at
the Solomon R. Guggenheim Museum, New York. It included many more artists, including
Peter Booth, Dale Frank, Bill Henson, Mandy Martin, Jan Murray, John Nixon, Susan Norrie and
Vivian Shark LeWitt. 7 The catalogue contained a foreword by Betty Churcher, then Chair of the
Visual Arts Board, Australia, and an essay entitled Impressions of Australia by Diana Waldman,
Solomon Guggenheim Museum deputy Director. The catalogues other essay was written by
Australian writer and critic Memory Holloway and titled Bleak Romantics, though Philip Brophy
remembered that it was included in place of a rejected essay commissioned from Paul Taylor, the
larger than life creator and commissioning editor of Melbourne-based art magazine Art & Text.8
The Visual Arts Board sponsored the Guggenheim exhibition and Guggenheim curator Diana
Waldmans visit, in partnership with Exxon mining company. It formed part of the Guggenheim
Museums series of country-focussed exhibitions.9 It was difficult to see the exhibition beyond a
nationalistic frame. By contrast, Kaldors project aimed to reflect a new internationalism in
Kaldor in Thomas, An Australian Accent, 1984, p. 8.
6 See above p. 185. Kaldors Art Projects and collecting interests have focused largely on international artists, to the perceived
exclusion of Australian artists. Kaldor has collected a younger generation of Australian artists, including Daniel von Sturmer,
Callum Morton, Shaun Gladwell, Christian Capurro, Daniel Crooks, and TV Moore. See Tunnicliffe, John Kaldor Family Collection,
2011.
7
Australian Visions: 1984 Exxon International Exhibition (ex. cat.), Solomon R. Guggenheim Museum, New York, 1984.
8 Noted by Brophy at Monash University conference, Impresario: Paul Taylor, Art & Text, Popism, Monash University Museum of
Art in Association with the School of English, Communications and Performance Studies, Monash University, Saturday 1
September 2012. Taylor was founding editor of Art & Text magazine in Melbourne in 1980-81. For a discussion of the role and
significance of the magazine locally and internationally, see Barker and Green, The Provincialism Problem, Journal of Art
Historiography, 2010.
9 Other Guggenheim exhibitions in this series included British Art Now: An American Perspective: 1980 Exxon International Exhibition,
1979; and Angles of Vision: French Art Today: 1986 Exxon International Exhibition, 1986.
190
Australian art.10 His interest was to reveal the strength of Australian art within an international
context. He had little interest in national identity.
In the early 1980s, Australia was flavour of the month. Australian film, literature and music had
already attracted significant international interest. Peter Weirs film Picnic at Hanging Rock (1975),
Patrick Whites Nobel Prize for Literature in 1973, and Peter Careys Bliss (1981) had all garnered
wide attention. Kaldor hoped that his exhibition of three Australian artists would do the same.11
Kaldors desire coincided with P.S.1 Director Alana Heisss interest in Australian art, though she
cautiously noted that she neither wanted a survey, a national advertisement nor an obscure
trend exhibition.12 Heiss had met John Kaldor in 1975 during a series of Collectors of the
Seventies exhibitions that were held at The Clocktower in New York in 1975, and knew him as a
collector as well as the organizer of artists projects in Australia.13 Heiss noted in her foreword
for the exhibition that she was also motivated by Kaldors long involvement with Christo and
Jeanne-Claude.
Daniel Thomas, now the Senior Curator of Australian Art at the Australian National Gallery, and
American curator Jonathan Fineberg were the project advisors. They contributed catalogue
essays, and Thomas edited the publication.14 Thomass essay offered an Australian perspective on
Kaldor, his Art Projects, and the artists; Finebergs essay presented a critical examination of the
artists work from his New York perspective.
For Kaldor, the project was notable not only because it exhibited Australian artists overseas, but
also because it was the first project for which he described his role as that of an exhibition
curator.15 In his choice of artists, Kaldor noted that he did not attempt to represent Australia
through the exhibition, but rather to provide an introduction.16 In part, this read as a broad
John Kaldor Art Project 7 An Australian Accent Press Release, 1984. Kaldor Public Art Projects website,
http://kaldorartprojects.org.au/_webapp_1098355/AN_AUSTRALIAN_ACCENT_1984, accessed August 3, 2011. Forbat, 40
Years, 2010, p. 146.
10
11 Kaldor noted, Now, hopefully, we can show we have a thriving art world, quoted in an article in the New York Post, 16 April
1984, p. 9.
12
Heiss in Thomas , An Australian Accent, 1984, p. 7.
13
Heiss in Thomas, An Australian Accent, 1984, p. 7.
14
Noted in Kaldors preface, Thomas, An Australian Accent, 1984, p. 8.
15
16
Forbat, 40 Years, 2009, p. 146.
191
192
justification for his limited choice of artists, and for the lack of a clear curatorial frame linking the
three beyond the loose ideas of the experimental or internationalism. Kaldor had originally
hoped to present a much larger exhibition, shortlisting five artists, subsequently reduced to
three.17 Thus he noted that the exhibition was drawn from absolute personal conviction,18
rather than any sort of curatorial or museological rationale. Daniel Thomas justified the obvious
lack of female artists and Sydney-centricity as the privilege of a private individual, unrestrained by
the demands of official exhibition requirements. It is not, Thomas stated, his role to take on the
more complex political problems of a larger survey.19 However, Thomass close involvement in
Kaldors An Australian Accent Art Project and its subsequent exhibition in Australian public
galleries amounted to an endorsement of the exhibition by an important figure working within
state and national institutions. It could not have occurred without the approval of his superior,
AGNSW Director, Edmund Capon. It reflected the allied interests of Kaldor and Capon, who
had been appointed Director of AGNSW in 1978, the same year that Kaldor had been made a
Trustee.
Both Kaldor and the artists subsequently mythologised the project, stressing its importance in
bringing their work to an international audience. Tillers and Parr each remembered that the
experience had a significant impact on their work and, in the case of Tillers, gave him increased
international visibility.20 In 2009, as part of the 40th anniversary publication of KPAP, Parr even
suggested that the exhibition precipitated a major change in Australian art.21 However, Parrs
comments, within the congratulatory glow of a 40 year celebration, would appear to owe more to
Kaldors position as senior statesman and significant benefactor to a Sydney institution, than an
objective appraisal of the impact of this unrepeated model. The objective evidence suggests that
An Australian Accent had a very limited bearing on the international awareness of the artists, and
almost none on Australian art more generally. Both Ken Unsworth and Mike Parr had already
represented Australia in the countrys national pavilion at the Venice Biennale in 1978 and 1980
17
Forbat, 40 Years, 2009, p. 146.
18
Heiss in Thomas, An Australian Accent, 1985, p. 7.
19
20
Forbat, 40 Years, 2009, p. 150.
21
Forbat, 40 Years, 2009, p. 150.
192
respectively.22 Tillers had already represented Australia at the 13th So Paolo Bienal in 1975. In
1979, Parrs performances Black Box: Theatre of Self Correction, Part 1. Performances 1-6 (1979) had
been included by Nick Waterlow in his 3rd Sydney Biennale, European Dialogue, alongside
international contemporaries including Marina Abramovi and Ulay, who travelled to Australia to
make and present their work.23
For Tillers, international exhibitions had already played a key role. In 1982, two years prior to An
Australian Accent, his work had been included in Rudi Fuchs documenta VII, 24 alongside other
international artists invited to participate in what was widely recognized as the most important
survey exhibition of contemporary art. These opportunities offered a more compelling context.
Whilst Tillers may have extended his canvas-board paintings for the JKAP New York show,
international exhibitions such as documenta VII curated by leading art professionals were a far
more important platform. Tillers and others were also showing in commercial galleries in New
York. When a review of Tillers exhibition of recent paintings shown at the Bess Cutler Gallery,
New York, appeared in Artforum in December 1984, the reviewer noted that Tillers use of
appropriation and canvas-board squares to that point did little other than merely affirm an
Australian obsession with geographic isolation.25 Two years after An Australian Accent, Tillers
represented Australia at the 1986 Venice Biennale.26 Tillers Venice biennale project had far
greater artistic significance than An Australian Accent. Heart of the Wood (1985) and Mount Analogue
22 Ken Unsworth, John Davis and Robert Owen (1978); Mike Parr, Tony Coleing, Kevin Mortensen (1980); Peter Booth and
Rosalie Gascoigne (1982). Tillers represented Australia at the Venice Biennale in 1986, two years after the New York exhibition
curated by Kaldor.
Nick Waterlow, Artistic Director, European Dialogue: 3rd Biennale of Sydney, 1979 (Sydney: Art Gallery of New South Wales, 1979).
In 1980 Abramovi and Ulay returned to Australian to spend five months in the Australian outback. They performed Gold
found by the artists at the ANGSW, which was to become the first of a series of twenty-two performances collectively titled
Nightsea Crossing. They also performed Anima mundi: tango at the First Australian Sculpture Triennial, Latrobe University,
Melbourne in 1981. For details and photographic stills, see AGNSW collection,
http://www.artgallery.nsw.gov.au/work/211.1981.1/, accessed January 30, 2012.
23
24
documenta 7, Kassel, Germany, 982, Curator Rudi Fuchs.
25 As the proverbial Down Under, Australia suffers from its physical isolation it is discussed and vocally discusses itself in
terms of its distance, and thus detachment, from Western culture this situation is being altered, as much Australian art, and
many Australian artists, are now appearing in America and Europe. Linker concluded her review noting But what remains to be
seen is what Tillers can actually do with such cultural and theoretical bric-a-brac. Kate Linker, Imants Tillers, Bess Cutler Gallery,
Artforum, Volume XXIII No. 4, December 1984, pp. 89-90.
26 Daniel Thomas, then Director of the Art Gallery of South Australia, organized the exhibition, which was presented in the
majestic spaces of Venices Arsenale because Australias pavilion was yet to be installed.
193
194
(1985), both included in Tillers Venice exhibition, were purchased for the NGA Collection in
1987. Both are regularly cited as key works in the artists oeuvre.27
Kaldors project did little to alter perceptions about Australian art and artists for an international
audience. It did not reflect the experimental range of each of the artists work to that point.
Kaldor may have had a more profound impact on the younger Tillers, but this was much earlier
in Tillers career, and reflected the impact again of Christo and the experience of participating in
Wrapped Coast (1969). The significance he later attributed to An Australian Accent may well have
been coloured by his early association with Kaldor and Christos Wrapped Coast (1969).
With the benefit of hindsight, some parts of an artists oeuvre carry greater artistic weight than
others. In 2008, Carolyn Christov-Bakargievs 16th Biennale of Sydney, Revolutions Forms that
turn featured Parrs performance videos in a sprawling Cockatoo Island installation.28 Whilst
previously private collections may have focused more on Parrs works on paper, objects and
installations, this international curator concentrated on Parrs performances, as had other
exhibitions overseas.29 Works included Bottom of the Harbour (2008), an installation and
performance; and MIRROR/ARSE (2008), a sprawling suite of fourteen video programs drawn
from seminal performances by the artist, installed in the evocatively derelict sailors barracks on
the historic island.
Many other contemporary Australian artists also already had international exposure in the 1980s.
Art & Text, Flash Art and Artforum had played an important role in disseminating the work of a
younger generation of Australian artists. Half a dozen articles in leading contemporary art
journals between 1981 and 1984 highlighted this work.30
27 See Green, Peripheral Vision, 1995, pp. 60-69 for a discussion of the significance of these works. For Tillers, see Elliott and
Morphy in Coates and Morphy (eds.), In Place (Out of Time), Contemporary Art n Australia (ex. cat.), MOMA Oxford, 1997; and John
Barrett-Lennard, Imants Tillers: Written on the Land, Art & Australia, Spring, Vol. 48, Issue 1, 2010, pp. 100-111.
28
Mike Parr, 16th Biennale of Sydney, Revolutions Forms that turn (ex. cat.), 2008, p. 295.
See for example David Elliott and Howard Morphy, In Place (Out of Time), (ex. cat.), 1987; and most recently Mike Parr, Edelwei,
Kunsthalle Wien, Curator: Synne Genzmer, November 7, 2012 February 24, 2013. Exhibition publicity featured an image of
Parrs The Emetics (Primary Vomit): 1am Sick of Art (Red, Yellow and Blue) Red (1977). Kunsthalle Wien,
http://www.kunsthallewien.at/cgi-bin/event/event.pl?id=4627&lang=en, accessed 1 December, 2012.
29
30 See for example Paul Taylor, Australian New Wave & the Second Degree, Art & Text, No. 1, 1981; Paul Taylor, Jenny
Watson's Modernism, Art International, January/February 1981; Dunn, Richard The Pursuit of Meaning, Art & Text, No.11,
1982; Paul Taylor, Popism: The Art of White Aborigines, On The Beach, November 1983 & Flash Art, Milan, May, 1983; Paul
Taylor, Popism, Real Life Magazine, New York, No. 9,1983; Kate Linker, Imants Tillers, Artforum, Dec 1984, Vol. 23, Issue 4, pp.
89-90.
194
A key factor was the emergence of a new Postmodern art, particularly by female artists.
Melbourne-based Jenny Watson had featured in a range of exhibitions: the inaugural Perspecta
exhibition at AGNSW (1981). Popism, Paul Taylors important exhibition introduced these new
ideas at the NGV in 1982. Critical writing, by Taylor and others through Art & Text, on the
work of Watson and other Australian artists of her generation contributed in bringing these
artists to international attention. In the same year, William Wrights 4th Biennale of Sydney Vision
in Disbelief (1982) was also engaged with Postmodern art.
Ironically, An Australian Accent (1984) passed over these developments to highlight the more
conventional side of the work of three, male, Sydney-based artists. Given the limited impact of
An Australian Accent both in Australia or abroad, and its slight impact on the careers of the artists
involved, it is perhaps not surprising that Kaldor did not repeat this format.
CHRISTO AND JEANNE-CLAUDE RETROSPECTIVE

Kaldors other project between 1978 and 1994 took the form of a large-scale Christo and JeanneClaude exhibition accompanied by a new Art Project by the same artists. In 1990 Kaldor invited
Christo and Jeanne Claude to Australia to mark the 21st anniversary of Wrapped Coast. A survey
exhibition, Christo, was staged at Sydneys Art Gallery of New South Wales and Perths Art
Gallery of Western Australia.31 It was organised by Nicholas Baume, curator of the MCA
Sydney. Whilst the bulk of the exhibition was drawn from the collection of Jeanne-Claude
Christo, other works were borrowed from private collections in Australia, London and Europe.
The twelve works, credited as Private Collection, Sydney, were Kaldors own. A number were
later gifted as part of the John Kaldor Family Collection to the AGNSW.32 Other works were
lent by Chandler Coventry, Sydney, (in whose gallery Christos exhibition was held just prior to
Wrapped Coast); R.E. Curtis, Sydney; Pro Hart Gallery, Broken Hill; Museum of Contemporary
Art, Sydney (gift of Chandler Coventry 1972); New England Regional Art Museum, Armidale (on
Wrapped Vestibule and Christo, 12 September 25 November, 1990, Art Gallery of New South Wales; Perth, Christo, 2 March
14 April, Art Gallery of Western Australia.
31
32 Christo, Package, 1967; Wrapped Paintings, 1968; Two Wrapped Trees, 1969 were part of the 1990 AGNSW exhibition, and formed
part of the John Kaldor Family Collection. In 1990, Show Window, 1966, was attributed to the Collection of Jeanne-Claude
Christo, New York, but it subsequently formed part of Kaldors gift to AGNSW. See Tunnicliffe, John Kaldor Family Collection,
2011, p. 329.
195
196
Christo and Jeanne-Claude, Wrapped Vestibule (1990)

Installation view, entrance vestibule, Art Gallery of New South Wales
Photo: Wolfgang Volz
Forbat (ed), 40 Years, 2009, p. 163.
196
loan from Chandler Coventry); the AGNSW; and Australian National Gallery, Canberra the Art
Gallery of New South Wales.33 Thus, one can see the impact of collector and dealer, Chandler
Coventry, the host of Christos first Australian commercial show, who had played a substantial
role in selling works from that exhibition and providing the financial footing of Wrapped Coast
(1969).34 Others had, therefore, also underpinned this project.
For the Sydney launch, Christo also created a new wrapped work, Wrapped Vestibule (1990), which
shrouded the Neo-Classical antechamber leading onto the Gallerys exhibition spaces. Marble
busts, columns and the white cloth-covered floor (reminiscent of painters drop-sheets) were all
bound in rope.35 Forbat noted that the exhibition was the largest survey of Christos works to
date internationally, and the first time an Australian museum had curated a definitive survey of
the contemporary international artist.36 One hundred and thirty-five works were displayed, many
drawn from the artists private collection. 37 The documentation of Wool Works (1969) was
included, as well as Wrapped Trees (1969). Documentation, drawings and plans were also
presented for ten of Christo and Jeanne-Claudes public works, including Wrapped Kunsthalle, Bern
(1967-68). From the 1969 Kaldor Project, Wrapped Coast (1969), a mural-sized photograph of the
wrapped shoreline was presented, alongside models, drawings and collages. The JKAP project
was clearly portrayed as the first in a worldwide series. The 1990 project looked backwards to
Kaldors first project with the artists in 1969. Located in one of Australias major collecting
institutions, it highlighted the pivotal role of John Kaldor Art Projects in the artists
development. Wrapped Coast (1969) and its initiator, John Kaldor, had become part of the canon
of Australian and international art.38
33
Baume, Christo, 1990, pp. 44 223.
34 Christo and Jeanne-Claude maintained that all funding for projects came from the sale of artworks and models: see above p.
140.
35 Critic John McDonald commented, At first it looks as though a team of workers has placed a huge drop cloth over everything
in preparation of painting the ceiling. it draws attention to a space that thousands of people pass through every week without
really seeing it. John McDonald, Concealment opens our eyes, Sydney Morning Herald, 22 September 1990, p. 79.
36 Forbat, 40 Years, 2009, p. 158. A substantial exhibition catalogue accompanied the exhibition, published by AGNSW. The
books frontice acknowledged John Kaldor Art Projects and AGNSW in equal prominence. See Baume, Christo, 1990.
37
Number of works listed in Baume, Christo, 1990, p. 221.
38
See for example Bourdons inclusion and focus on the work in 1972.
197
198
Christo (1990)
Top: Christo, Wrapped Trees (1969), Bottom: images and plans, Christo and Jeanne-Claude, Surrounded Islands, Biscayne Bay, Greater
Miami, Florida (1980-83)
Photo: Tim Marshall
Forbat (ed), 40 Years, 2009, p. 159.
198
Wrapped Vestibule (1990) and Christo (1990) reflected the changing nature of John Kaldor Art
Projects and the role of his private foundation. It was the public apotheosis of Kaldors
relationship with Christo and Jeanne-Claude.39 It also demonstrated his close working
relationship with one of the key Australian public institutions. Despite the enthusiasm
surrounding this 1990 Christo retrospective, JKAPs record at this point - only two projects in
seventeen years - suggests a diminishing energy for the enterprise.
REASONS FOR QUIET

The absence of projects between 1978 and 1994 was in part a result of Kaldors internationally
expanding business interests, which precluded him spending time actively involved in the
development and realization of Art Projects. Kaldors philanthropy was probably also diverted
by his appointment as Trustee of the AGNSW from 1978-1980, commencing the same year that
Edmund Capon was appointed Director. The move not only acknowledged the contribution
that Kaldor had made to contemporary art in Sydney through his Art Projects, but also cemented
the ongoing relationship between the patron and institution.
The nature of large-scale installations was also changing. Many of these developments were not
reflected in Kaldors personal collection. They may have interested him less. For example, Mary
Kellys Post Partum Document (1973-79), and Judy Chicagos, The Dinner Party (1974 1979) offered
two responses to feminist debates and the representation of feminine sexuality. Jenny Holzer
and Barbara Kruger both presented large public projects with New Yorks Public Art Fund
(PAF) and Artangel between the late 1970s and 1990s.40 The contributions of these, and other,
women artists has attained an historic significance, as was reflected by the unrelated series of
major survey exhibitions around the impact of feminism and art staged around the globe.41
Kaldor did not collect their work. These artists worked with large public installations and public
billboards that often had a political edge. In 1982, Holzers Aphorisims were posted on the
Kaldor narrates the story of sending a bottle of aged cognac to Christo for his birthday. Christo returned it, wrapped, after
having drunk the contents. Conversation with John Kaldor, Thursday August 14, 2008.
39
40 See above p. 47, p. 53. For a full list of projects by date and artist, see Public Art Fund website
http://www.publicartfund.org/PAF-Project-List-by-year.pdf, accessed January 30, 2012.
41 Exhibitions included WACK! Art and the Feminist Revolution, March 4 July 16 2007, The Geffen Contemporary at MOCA,
which focused on the period from 1965 1980; Global Feminisms, Brooklyn Museum, March 23 July 1, 2007, focussing on
feminist art from 1990 to 2007; and Elles@centrepompidou, a thematic exhibition displaying the feminine side of the museums
collection focusing on women artists from the 20th century to the present day from the collections of the National Modern Art
Museum, May 27 2009 February 21, 2011.
199
Reasons for quiet
200
Spectracolor electric signboard in New Yorks Times Square by Public Art Fund. Her pithy
texts, such as Abuse of power comes as no surprise, blended in amongst the illuminated
advertising billboards of the central site, offering viewers a new take on consumerism and power,
and inextricably linking the viewing experience with the works content.42 Barbara Krugers
agitprop style works, juxtaposing large photographic black and white images with pithy texts in
Futura Bold typeface on red banners, carried an equally political message. In 1981, Kruger was
included in the Solomon R. Guggenheim Museums Nineteen Emerging Artists (1981); her work was
included in Rudi Fuchs documenta VII, Fridericanum, Kassel (1982), and La Biennale di Venezia,
Venice (1982) in the same year; while in 1983, Kruger was also included in the 1983 Biennial
Exhibition at the Whitney Museum of American Art, NYC, NY.43 In 1983, her work also
featured in the Times Square Spectachrome Square Sign, NYC, NY, a commission by PAF.44
Her inclusion in this series of temporary billboard public works stemmed from her political
messages that mixed advertising and art in a medium that promoted a wider engagement with her
new form of art.
Later PAF commissions continued to explore themes of sexual and ethnic identity politics, HIV
and AIDS.45 Felix Gonzales-Torres large black and white billboard poster, Untitled (1989),
featured a black background, upon which two rows of names and dates were run across the
bottom, referring to specific individuals and events directly linked to homosexuality, AIDS, the
Stonewall Riots and Police harassment. It was presented by PAF in downtown Manhattan,
NYC, within the community to which it spoke directly.46 Kaldors interests remained firmly
rooted in Abstract, Minimal and post-Minimal sculpture and painting, and certain conceptual and
performance works largely from Europe and America, and did not encompass the politicization
42 For a discussion Feminism and women artists in the 1970s and beyond, see Eleanor Heartney, Helaine Posner, Nancy
Princenthal, Sue Scott, After the Revolution, Women Who Transformed Contemporary Art, Prestel, London and New York, 2007; and
Nancy Princenthal (ed.), The Deconstructive Impulse: Women Artists Reconfigure the Signs of Power 19173-1991, Prestel, New York, 2011.
43 Krugers work was shown alongside Richard Artschwager, John Baldessari, Jenny Holzer, and Cindy Sherman, as part of the
1983 Whitney Biennial exhibition. documenta 7 (1982) included Vito Acconci, John Bandessari, Alighiero Boetti, Jenny Holzer,
Donald Judd, Joseph Kosuth, Sherrie Levine, Sol LeWitt, Michelangelo Pistoletto, Ed Ruscha, Cindy Sherman. Artistic Dirctor,
Rudi Fuchs. For full exhibition history, see Sprth Magers Berlin London,
http://www.spruethmagers.com/artists/barbara_kruger@@exhib, accessed February 12, 2012.
44
PAF Archive, New York, 12 January 2011.
45 See for example Nancy Princenthal, Felix Gonzalez-Torres: Multiple Choices, Art & Text 48, 1994, pp. 40-45; Simon Watney,
In Purgatory: the Work of Felix Gonzales-Torres, Parkett 39, 1994, pp. 38-44.
46 Felix Gonzales-Torres, Untitled (1989), corner Christopher Street and Seventh Avenue, Gonzales-Torres made the work for
the twentieth anniversary of the Stonewall Rebellion (1969). The billboard was installed directly across the street from the site
that this took place.
200
of art-making that characterized much of the work of this period. A younger generation of artists
working with performance art was also gaining increasing prominence, including American artists
Joan Jonas and Laurie Anderson.47 However, the artistic developments of these international
artist, and many others, was not reflected in the choice of the increasingly occasional organizer of
the Art Projects.
Instead, Kaldor collected art predominantly made by American and European late Modernist and
Postmodern male artists, all of whose work tended to be already exhibited by large public
galleries and well-known private collections. It was for this reason, no doubt, that AGNSW
curator Wayne Tunnicliffe thought Kaldors collecting interests during this period emulated
museum-friendly art.48 Kaldor acquired Frank Stellas painting Untitled (1966) in 1977, which
had been included in Ileana Sonnabends first New York gallery exhibition of the artist in 1970.49
He also acquired work by experimental artists with established reputations, such as German artist
Joseph Beuys. Beuys Untitled (Plight) (1985) was one of the artists rolls of felt hung diagonally on
the wall.50 It was acquired in the same year from Anthony dOffay Gallery, London, another of
the gallerists Kaldor credited as playing a pivotal role in his collection.51 Kaldors interest in the
Dsseldorf School of photographers was reflected in his purchase of work by Berndt & Hiller
Becher from the late 1970s, with key works such as Cooling Towers, Germany (1964-93) and
Framework houses (1959-71), now part of the ANGSWs John Kaldor Family Collection.52 Kaldor
also acquired work by the younger generation of German photographers influenced by the
Bechers. For example, Kaldor purchased Thomas Struths Kunsthistorisches Museum II, Vienna
(1989), one of a group of large-format photographs of visitors in the worlds most famous art
museums.53 In 2011, Kaldor remembered being influenced by gallerists including Monica Sprth
in Cologne, (Galerie Monica Sprth dealt in German photography including Berndt & Hilla
47 For a comprehensive history of performance, see RoseLee Goldberg, Performance art: from futurism to the present, Thames and
Hudson, London and New York, 1979 (3rd edition, 2011).
48
Baume credited Kaldors interest in Stellas painting as deriving from his appreciation of the Minimalist artists desire for a work
of art to be a thing-in-itself. Baume, From Christo and Jeanne-Claude, 1995, p. 40. An installation photograph featuring Stellas
painting from Ileana Sonnabends New York gallery exhibition Major works in black and white (1970) is reproduced in Baume, 1995,
p. 40; pp. 48-9. The exhibition also included works by Jasper Johns, Ellsworth Kelly, Roy Lichtenstein.
49
50
Reference to acquisition of work in Baume, From Christo and Jeanne-Claude, 1995, p. 60.
51
Importance of dOffay in Tunnicliffe, John Kaldor Family Collection, 2011, p. 19.
52
See Annear in Tunnicliffe, John Kaldor Family Collection, 2011, pp. 217-245.
53
Reproduced in Baume, From Christo and Jeanne-Claude, 1995, p. 70.
201
Reasons for quiet
202
Becher); Matthew Marks in New York (who represented Andreas Gursky); and Marian
Goodman, New York (who represented Thomas Struth).54 Kaldor also acquired works by
American Richard Prince, whose use of found images and media appropriations subsequently
located him as a leading exponent of what popularly became known as the Pictures Generation
of artists from the late 1970s and 80s.55 In Untitled (Cowboy) (1989),56 the artist re-photographed
one of the iconic images of American advertising, an appropriation technique that made him
along with Jeff Koons - one of the better-known international exponents of Postmodernism.57
Rather than making art that lent itself easily to site-specific, temporary Art Projects, these artists
often focused on commodification, and the market in which their work circulated. The works
were suited to the world of large-scale international exhibitions, easily becoming the domain of
most collectors and art museums. Collecting these artists did not differentiate Kaldor from most
other international contemporary collectors.
The increased activity of other international, not-for-profit private foundations may also have
given artists more choices, reducing the attractiveness of JKAPs support. New York based Dia
Art Foundation had been established in 1974, with a specific focus on American minimal and
abstract art.58 New Yorks Public Art Fund was founded in 1977, the consolidation of City Walls
and the Public Arts Council.59 Londons Artangel was formed later, in 1985.60 Like John Kaldor
Art Projects, each of these foundations had been initiated largely through the drive and vision of
one individual. Like JKAP, they were developed in response to new forms of art. None was
named directly after its creator. Between 1977 and 1981, unlike John Kaldor Art Projects, each
shifted their organization methods, professionalizing themselves to become not-for-profit
institutions with formal structures. Each later appointed professional staff from arts
54
55 Prince was not included in the original exhibition curated by Douglas Crimp, Pictures (1977), shown at Artists Space in New
York.
56 The work was gifted to the AGNSW as part of the John Kaldor Family Collection, along with a number of other significant
works by the artist. See complete list of works in Tunnicliffe, John Kaldor Family Collection, 2011.
57 See Douglas Crimp, Pictures exhibition (1977), Artists Space, New York. Though Princes work was not included in this early
exhibition, his work has become synonymous with the Pictures Generation. Rosetta Brooks, Jeff Rian and Luc Sante, Richard
Prince, Pahidon, London/New York (2003).
58
See above p. 43.
59
See above p. 52.
60
See above p. 46.
202
backgrounds.61 By contrast, until KAP shifted its status in 2008, with the creation of a Board and
a Curatorial Advisory Group,62 John Kaldor Art Projects remained a private foundation
dependent on its founder to identify projects, invite the artists, and to find time and money to
pursue them.
The very paucity of activity between 1977 and 1994 inevitably reduced local and international
recognition of the Kaldor name and institution, further reducing JKAPs stature and ability to
attract big international names. Combined with the increased ability of Australian public
institutions to bring international artists to Australia, artistic shifts that may not have matched
Kaldors interests, and increased competition from other private international operational notfor-profit foundations, it is perhaps not surprising that 1977 to 1994 were quiet years for JKAP.
61
See above p. 47; p. 54.
62
See below p. 242.
203
204
Jeff Koons, Puppy (1995)

Installed outside the Museum of Contemporary Art, Sydney as part of the Sydney Festival
Photo: Peter Nuchtern
Forbat (ed), 40 Years, 2009, p. 167.
204
Kaldors Revival Years (1995-2004)
CHAPTER SIX:
KALDORS REVIVAL YEARS (1995-2004)
JEFF KOONS
Kaldors project with Jeff Koons in 1995 reinvigorated JKAP.
After a mere two projects in the
seventeen years between 1977 and 1994, JKAP presented four projects in the nine years from
1994 to 2009. Three of these combined an art project with the public exhibition of the artists
works from Kaldors collection. At a personal level, Kaldor met his second wife, Naomi
Milgrom, through the Jeff Koons project. Her involvement in contemporary art, Kaldor has
since recognized, revived his interest in his Art Projects.1
By the mid-1980s, Koons had become one of the most controversial, and most publicized New
York-based artists of his generation.2 His sculptural objects and mass-marketed ready-mades had
created a new form of visual language particularly well-tuned for the late capitalist culture in
which they were made. 3 His sculptures, objects and ready-mades fused the artificial and kitsch
with Pop and Surrealist traditions, often incorporating baroque and rococo excess. Koons recodified icons from contemporary mass culture. He took every-day objects, low-brow sourcematerial and gave them mirror finishes. Certain critics coined the term Neo-Geo to describe the
group of artists working in this way, the group further consolidated when they were shown
together at Sonnabend Gallery in New York in 1986.4 Koons, however, was the leading
exponent. In 1987, one year before Kaldor began collecting Koons work, the artist was included
in the Whitney Biennial in New York. The Saatchi Collection exhibition New York Art Now
(1987) showcased New American Art of the 1980s, and used Koons work Rabbit (1986) as the
cover picture for the catalogue. In 1987, Kaspar Knig invited Koons to participate in the
1 Noted by Michael Fitzgerald, Impresario of the New, Time Magazine, Thursday March 22, 2007. In his introduction to the
2009 publication, Kaldor acknowledged Milgroms role as mentor and muse. We share a great love of art, and she has always
encouraged me to devote my energies to projects and has supported their realisation. With our shared dedication the projects
grew and expanded. Forbat, 40 Years, 2009, p. 20. See also David Marr, A lifes work, Sydney Morning Herald, May 7, 2011.
2 His first solo show, Equilibrium, International with Monuments, New York (1985), introduced Koons Total Equilibrium series, in
which basketballs appeared suspended or floating in aquariums filled with water, alongside bronze casts of a rubber dinghy,
snorkel and goggles, and other diving paraphernalia; this was followed by Luxury and Degradation (1986); and Statuary (1986). See
Angelika Muthesius, Jeff Koons, Taschen, Cologne, 1992.
3 See Michael Danoff (ed.), Jeff Koons, (ex. cat.), Museum of Contemporary Art, Chicago, 1988; Jeff Koons, The Jeff Koons handbook,
Anthony dOffay Gallery and Thames & Hudson, London, 1992; Muthesius, Jeff Koons, 1992; Francesco Bonami (ed.), Jeff Koons,
Museum of Contemporary Art, Chicago, 2008. For a discussion of Koons interest in the Baroque, see Martin Gayford, Artist in
View, Selling candy to the masses, Apollo, Vol. 167, Issue 552, March 2008, pp. 140-143.
4 Other artists included Meyer Vaisman, Peter Halley, Haim Steinbach, and Ashley Bickerton. Katy Siegel, Jeff Koons Talks to
Katy Siegel, Artforum, Vol. 41, No. 7, March 2003, p. 253.
205
Jeff Koons
206
outdoor Mnster sculpture exhibition.5 Koons participated with his first outdoor sculpture, a
recasting of the citys familiar folklore public sculpture Kiepenkerl (1987) in highly reflective
stainless chrome steel.
For private collectors, Koons work was highly appealing. He rapidly attracted the support of
major gallerists and collectors, including several key advisers to Kaldor: New York dealers Ileana
Sonnabend and Geoffrey Deitsch, and Londons Anthony dOffay.6 His notable private
collectors included West Coast developer Eli Broad, Greek construction tycoon Dakis Joannou,
and Christies auction house owner and luxury goods tycoon, Franois Pinault, amongst many
others.7 Eli Broad and his wife Edythe had formed the Broad Art Foundation in 1984. Their
stated aim was to share their growing art collection with museums, other institutions, and the
public.8 Their collection included more works by Koons than any other public or private
collection, with Broad actively involved in funding the fabrication of a number of the Koons
works he acquired.9 Broad described his activities as venture philanthropy.10 Collector and
artist were similar in their shrewd business acumen, and their ability to track art markets and
anticipate trends. Though the financial risks associated with presenting a major work by Jeff
Koons were great, the choice of artist was not.11 Thus, the major issue in Kaldors decision to
invite Koons to re-present Puppy in Sydney in 1995 was whether Koons would be interested in
participating in the project. No doubt, the significance of Christos Wrapped Coast (1969) played a
part in Koons decision to accept. As well, the mixed response to his recent series, Made in
Heaven (1989), first shown at the Venice Biennale in 1990 to often negative reactions, might have
encouraged him. Made in Heaven (1989) had featured Koons soon to be wife Ilona Staller, an
Muthesius, Jeff Koons, 1992, p. 172.
See above p. 201; p. 108.
For a list of some notable collectors of Koons, see Kelly Devine Thomas, The Selling of Jeff Koons, ARTnews, May 1, 2005.
See for example Stephanie Barron and Lynn Zelevansky, with essays by Thomas E. Crow and Eli Broad Family Foundation,
Jasper Johns to Jeff Koons: four decades of art from the Broad collections, (ex. cat.), Los Angeles County Museum of Art, Los Angeles, in
association with H.N. Abrams, 2001; The Broad Art Foundation website,
http://broadartfoundation.org/worksOnLoan.html?sid=2, accessed February 23, 2012; n.a., Eli Broad gets candid with 60
minutes, Culture Monster, LA Times, April 25, 2011; n.a., Koons Collector: Eli Broad, Art + Living,
http://www.artandliving.com/jm/us/now/collectors/408, accessed February 23, 2012.
8
Thomas, The Selling of Jeff Koons, ARTnews, 2005.
10
See Koons Collector: Eli Broad, Art + Living.
11 Thomas noted that Jeffrey Deitch, who helped bankroll Koons ambitious Celebration (c.1995) series, nearly went bankrupt
doing so in the 1990s. Thomas also noted that Koons had also persuaded patrons to pay for the fabrication of his sculptures,
which could run into hundreds of thousands of dollars. See Thomas, The Selling of Jeff Koons, ARTnews, 2005.
206
Italian porn star and politician known as La Cicciolina. The explicitly sexual content and
airbrushed perfection of the images had somewhat overshadowed the series.
Kaldor had begun collecting Koons in 1988, the year of the artists solo exhibition Banality held
at Sonnabend Gallery.12 Kaldor purchased Vase of Flowers (1988), a rococo mirror piece later
gifted to the AGNSW John Kaldor Family Collection.13 Koons has noted that in this show, he
was putting the bourgeois at my service trying to help affect their moral belief.14 He wanted
to remove their guilt and shame about the banality that motivates them and which they respond
to.15 The ironic mix of cuteness and kitsch, presented by one of New Yorks leading commercial
galleries, no doubt appealed to the many collectors, including Kaldor, who acquired Koons
works.
Puppy (1995) was presented by John Kaldor Art Projects as part of the Sydney Festival on the
forecourt of the Museum of Contemporary Art.16 The origins of the large-scaled public artwork
lay in a small sculpture of a West Highland terrier, White Terrier (1991), acquired by Kaldor from
Koons Made in Heaven exhibition that year.17 Scaled up to approximately twelve metres in height,
the flower clad Puppy played upon the emotions of sentimentality and kitsch on a giant scale. In a
pastiche of 18th century historic gardens, it consisted of near 70,000 brightly coloured flowering
plants, including marigolds, begonias, impatiens, petunias and lobelias, all of which grew from
pots in the steel and soil structure.18 Whilst the common bedding plants were no doubt chosen
for their robustness and colourful floral display, their association with municipal plantings and
12 Baume described this as Koons first solo show, but this had occurred three years earlier: see above p. 205. Baume, From
13 Koons Art Ad Portfolio (1988-89) also formed part of the John Kaldor Family Collection. See Tunnicliffe, John Kaldor Family
Collection, 2011, pp. 206 213.
14
Interview with Koons and Anthony Haden-Guest, Muthesius, Jeff Koons, 1992, p. 26.
Interview with Koons and Anthony Haden-Guest, Muthesius, Jeff Koons , 1992, p. 28. See also David Littlejohn, Who is Jeff
Koons and why are people saying such terrible things about him?, ARTnews, Vol. 92, April 1993, pp. 90-94; Arthur C Danto,
Banality and Celebration: The Art of Jeff Koons in Unnatural wonders: essays from one gap between art and life, New York, Farrars,
Straus and Giroux, 2005, pp. 286 - 302.
15
16 For a detailed description of the development and project management of Koons Puppy see Baume, From Christo and JeanneClaude, 1995, pp. 64 77. Also Forbat, 40 Years, 2009, p. 164 173.
Baume, From Christo and Jeanne-Claude, 1995, p. 64. The White Terrier (1991) date of origin indicates that the work was first
shown in Koons 1991 Sonnabend Gallery exhibition, the year after the photographs from the Made in Heaven series were shown
at the Venice Biennale.
17
Public Art Fund Press Release, http://www.publicartfund.org/pafweb/projects/00/koons_j_release_00.html, accessed

October 11, 2011.
18
207
Jeff Koons
208
populist taste was clear. The work was a form of public sculpture that championed kitsch. It
was a public monument.
In keeping with most John Kaldor Art Projects, the Australian presentation of Puppy was not a
new commission. Nor was it the first time the work had been shown to an international art
audience. Koons had been invited by curator Veit Loers in 1992 to present a work as part of a
temporary exhibition not far from Kassel in Arolsen, Germany.19 Though Puppy was not part of
documenta IX (1992), it was shown at the same time. Puppys critical reception and timing made it
one of the highlights of the documenta European summer.20 Kaldors main contribution to the
1995 re-staging of the work in Sydney was to locate an engineering company who would create a
recyclable structure for the giant work. Sophisticated computer modeling and engineering
expertise created the structure, which was made from a series of stainless steel armatures
constructed to hold over twenty-five tons of soil watered by an internal irrigation system.21
Puppy was shown outside Sydneys foremost contemporary art institution, the Museum of
Contemporary Art (MCA). It stood on Circular Quay, opposite another of the citys iconic
buildings, the Sydney Opera House. Puppys central location and size made the project
impossible to miss. The project was shown alongside an exhibition of John Kaldors art
collection presented by the MCA, as well as a smaller exhibition relating to Puppy (1995) and its
documentation, design and construction.22 The exhibition catalogue claimed that this was the
first time that Kaldors public projects and private collection interests had been shown together,
although Christos project at the AGNSW in 1990 had been accompanied by an exhibition that
included a significant number of works from Kaldors personal collection, though not publically
acknowledged at that time.23
However, notwithstanding the public exposure that Koons Puppy (1995) attracted for the artist,
the MCA, and Kaldor himself, questions were raised about the financial viability of presenting
19
Muthesius, Jeff Koons, 1992, p. 33; Baume, From Christo and Jeanne-Claude, 1995, p. 73.
20
Noted in biography and interview with Koons, Muthesius, Jeff Koons, 1992, p. 172 and 32 33.
21
From Christo and Jeanne-Claude: John Kaldor Art Projects and Collection, Museum of Contemporary Art, Sydney, 12 December 1995
March 1996.
22
23
See above p. 195.
208
high cost projects such as these for an institution facing severe financial challenges.24 In the
Annual Report 1995, MCA Chair John Reid drew attention to the financial vulnerability of the
institution, noting that while Jeff Koons Puppy cost $1 million, it did, however, meet its budget.25
Reid also spoke of Kaldors extraordinary philanthropic gesture in announcing his intention to
give the Museum ongoing access to his private collection of international art, and to work with
the Museum on an evolving series of contemporary projects, continuing the spirit of his now
famous Art Projects over a 25-year period.26 Ruth Rentschler, in a paper entitled Museum of
Contemporary Art: an Entrepreneurial initiative in a University Context, wrote that Leon
Paroissien, MCA Director from 1989 to 1997, claimed Puppys $1 million dollar cost contributed
to the MCAs financial woes at the time, leaving the Museum $70,000 in debt by the end of
1996.27 Kaldor strenuously disputed Paroissiens comments, claiming instead that the work was
one hundred percent sponsored.28 Annual reports suggest that Puppy attracted additional projectspecific sponsorship of around $250,000,29 and that there was also substantial support in kind.30
From 1995 to 1996 the MCA dealt with substantial financial pressures by changing its scale and
scope. The profile provided by Puppy was part of this transformation. As the Power bequest
reduced its support from $950,000 in 1995 to $500,000 in 1996, the MCA substantially increased
its activites. Operating revenue increased from $5.5 million to $6.9 million between 1995 and
1996.31 Operating costs increased from $5.3 million to $7.1 million, leading to an operating loss
24 From 1995-1996 the Power Bequest reduced by $450,000, and operating costs increased from $5.3 million to $7.2 million, with
approximately $1 million of cost increase due to the presentation of Puppy. See Museum of Contemporary Art Annual Reports
1994, 1995, 1996.
25
MCA Annual Report 1995, p. 5.
26
27 Ruth Rentschler, Museum of Contemporary Art: an Entrepreneurial initiative in a University Context, n.d., accessed online,
http://www.deakin.edu.au/arts-ed/chcap/publications/mcakotler.pdf, April 11, 2012.
Referenced in Rentschler, Museum of Contemporary Art, accessed online, http://www.deakin.edu.au/artsed/chcap/publications/mcakotler.pdf, April 11, 2012. Kaldor was appointed to the MCA Board on 18 May 1997, and as
Chairman of the Board as of 10 September 1998.
28
29 A Year in the Life of the MCA, the renamed 1997 Annual Report, did not present detailed financial statements. Rather, the
final page of the report detailed brief Sources of Revenue 1997, and a Balance Sheet at 31 December 1997. A note stated that
Private Patronage in 1996 included an abnormal contribution for Puppy. Private Patronage in 1996 was $902,017, which dropped
to $643, 122 in 1997, implying that the difference was project-specific sponsorship for Puppy.
30 MCA Annual Report 1996, p 6 indicates Non-cash Sponsorship (or sponsorship in kind) of $924,000 in 1995, reducing to
$276,000 in 1996. It is likely that much of the $648,000 difference between 1995 and 1996 can be attributed to Puppy.
31
209
Jeff Koons
210
of $237,048.32 Although the institution was financially vulnerable, it continued to present an

artistically rigorous exhibition program.33 As part of the Sydney Festival, Jeff Koons Puppy
offered the MCA a spectacular drawcard project that would attract wider audiences, with the
potential of helping to redress the Museums financial imbalance.
In 1997, John Kaldor was appointed to the MCA board, and became Chairman in September
1998.34 Questions were again raised in a 2008 newspaper article, at the time that the John Kaldor
Family Collection gift to the AGNSW was announced, about the long-term, free-of-charge
storage by the MCA of Kaldors private collection.35 Kaldor noted, I spent hundreds of
thousands of dollars on the MCA and doing projects with the MCA, and I suppose that was a
way of small compensation.36 Such an arrangement would no longer be possible with clearer
ethical guidelines surrounding the role of trustees of art museums now in place both in Australia
and overseas.37 What both Puppy and the use of Kaldors private collection by the MCA reflect is
that projects that may appear ostensibly free for the art museum, offered through the largesse of
an individual or private foundation, may still incur substantial associated costs for the institution.
32 MCA Annual Report 1996, p. 40. However, although the bottom line profit and net assets are consistent between the 1995 and
1996 Annual Reports, revenues, costs, assets and liabilities for 1995 were restated as substantially higher in 1996.
33 The 1997 exhibition program included Spirit and Place: Art in Australia 1861-1996, curated by Nick Waterlow and Ross Melick,
featuring 100 artists plus Gurirr Gurrir performance by dancers and singers of the Gija language group of the East Kimberley; Eye
of the Storm: Eight contemporary Indigenous Australian Artists, curated by Djon Mundine and the National Gallery of Australia; Natural
Selection, Australian Perspecta 1997: Between Art and Nature, curated by Linda Michael; Pictura Britannica: Art from Britain, curated by
Bernice Murphy; Primavera 1997; the Seppelt Contemporary Art Award 1997; and Yves Klein.
34
Kaldor was Chair from 1998-2002. See A Year in the Life of the Museum of Contemporary Art, Annual Report 1998.
35
Corrie Perkin, $35 million gift a gain for gossips, Australian, April 15, 2008.
36
Quoted in Perkin, $35 million gift, Australian, 2008.
In July 2000, following the controversy surrounding the proposed Sensation show at the Brooklyn Museum of Art, New York,
American Association of Museums (AMA) announced new ethical guidelines for the display of art borrowed from private
collections in museums. Earlier exhibitions in national museums had also facilitated this shift: a 1999 retrospective of Giorgio
Armani presented at the Solomon R. Guggenheim Museum was later confirmed to have been sponsored by Armani; while in May
2000, the Metropolitan Museum cancelled a Coco Chanel retrospective that was to have been sponsored by Chanel. See David
Barstow, After Sensation Furor, Museum Group Adopts Guidelines on Sponsors, New York Times, August 3, 2000; and
Michael Kimmelman, At the Met, a Necessary Retreat, New York Times, May 28, 2000. Many art museums now display their
Codes of Ethics online. See International Council of Museums (ICOM), ICOM Code of Ethics for Museums, 2004; Museum of
Modern Art, New York, Code of Conduct for Trustees, 2009; Elaine King and Gail Levin (eds.), Ethics and the Visual Arts,
Skyhorse Publishing, Allworth Press, New York, 2006; Museums Association, UK, website, Ethical debate: Conflict of interest,
http://www.museumsassociation.org/ethics/12166, accessed September 29, 2012.
37
210
For Kaldor, however, the presentation of Jeff Koons Puppy (1995) outside the entrance to the
MCA signaled his reawakening desire to be seen as a major collector and contemporary art
philanthropist both in Australia and overseas.
The subsequent acquisition of Puppy by Guggenheim Museum Bilbao in 1997 confirmed its
significance, and Kaldor and Art Projects were back in the game. However, the project did little
for the reputation of JKAP internationally. Although Kaldors Art Project enabled Puppy (1995)
to be remade and modified, facilitating an edition of two and subsequent sales to the
Guggenheim Bilbao Museum and the Brant Foundation, Greenwich, Connecticut, the catalogue
entry for the work referred to its first presentation in 1992, its subsequent reconstruction in
1995, but made no direct mention of JKAP. 38 For the museum, the provenance and the initial
date of the work were more significant than the physical redevelopment or restagings thereafter.
When the work was presented as part of Public Art Funds programme of public sculpture in
New York Citys Rockefeller Centre in 2000, the first time the work had been shown in the USA,
the project press release did note that the work will be brought to the United States from
Sydney, Australia.39 References were made to the sculptures first installation in Germany in
1992, its Sydney staging in 1995, and later acquisition for the collection of the Guggenheim
Museum Bilbao in 1997, but these did not mention JKAPs involvement directly.40 Koons entry
in the 2004 Public Art Fund publication, Plop, recent projects of the Public Art Fund, noted, First
created for the German city of Arolsen in 1992, Puppy logged time in both Sydney and Bilbao
before settling into its almost four-month residency in midtown Manhattan.41 There was no
mention made of JKAP, and Sydney was a short stop on a global itinerary that, logically,
concluded in New York. Kaldors invitation to artists arose from personal contact developed
through collecting their work, confirmed in letter-form.42 Unlike standard museum practice,
legally binding contractual agreements did not appear to have been exchanged, stipulating image
38 See Guggenheim Museum, Collection online. Citation details: Puppy, 1992. Guggenheim Bilbao Museum, GBM 1997.29,
http://www.guggenheim.org/new-york/collections/collection-online/showfull/piece/?search=Jeff%20Koons&page=1&f=People&cr=1, accessed October 10, 2011.

October 11, 2011.
39

October 11, 2011.
40
41
Eccles, Tom, Plop, 2004, pp. 129-131.
42
As in the case of Christos invitation to Australia in 1969, and subsequent Art Projects.
211
Sol LeWitt - again
212
credits and wording for acknowledgements. These agreements, however, do not always mean
that a patron will be acknowledged in subsequent showings of a commissioned work.
SOL LEWITT - AGAIN

In 1998, Kaldor presented a second project with veteran American post-minimalist and
conceptual artist Sol LeWitt.43 It built on the Art Project with the artist from 1977. New works
were presented as part of a substantial exhibition of LeWitts work at the MCA, Sydney. Curated
by Nicholas Baume, the exhibition was accompanied by an exhibition catalogue published by the
MCA.44 LeWitts large, bright, acrylic Wall pieces, first shown at Ace Gallery in New York in 1997,
were reconstructed.45 Earlier works from Kaldors collection were also exhibited, to provide a
broader context for the artists work. The exhibition was critically well-received. Greens review
of the exhibition for international art magazine Art/Text contextualized these later brightlycoloured wall works with LeWitts earlier, more austere, wall-drawings, and described the large
black wall-works as a form of enormous black-on-black Ad Reinhardt-esque environment. It
was, Green noted, an exquisite exhibition.46 For local audiences, the Art Project appeared little
different from other survey exhibitions by international artists in the Museums program. Unlike
other Art Projects, it gave little or no opportunity for local artists and students to meet with or
work alongside the artist. Instead, in a trend increasingly common for successful international
artists with major exhibition demands, LeWitts assistant, Sachiko Cho, travelled from New York
to oversee the installation of the work.47 The project did, however, have a significant impact on
the career of curator Nicholas Baume. He moved to the US in 1998 as curator at the Wadsworth
Atheneum. He again worked with LeWitt on an exhibition in 2001 entitled Sol LeWitt: Incomplete
Open Cubes.48 Then, on his appointment as Director and Chief Curator of Public Art Fund in
2011, Baume curated the first outdoor career survey, SOL LEWITT: Structures, 1965-2006,
presenting twenty-seven works from the artists modular, serial, geometric and irregular structure
43
See above p. 173.
44
See Baume, Sol LeWitt, 1998.
45
Forbat, 40 Years, 2009, p. 176.
46
Charles Green, Sol LeWitt, Art/ Text, no. 63, Nov 1998 Jan 1999, p. 82-83.
47
See Forbat, 40 Years, 2009, p. 176. LeWitt travelled to Sydney to see the finished result.
Baume (ed.), 2001. Sol LeWitt: Incomplete Open Cubes, Wadsworth Atheneum Museum of Art, with essays by Nicholas Baume,
Jonathan Flatley, and Pamela M. Lee.
48
212
Sol LeWitt (1998)

left: Wall drawing #824 (1997), centre: Wall drawing #825 (1997), right: Wall drawing #870 (1997)
Installation view, Museum of Contemporary Art (1998)
Photo: Paul Green
Forbat (ed), 40 Years, 2009, p. 178.
213
Vanessa Beecroft
214
series in City Hall Park, New York.49 Both were substantial international presentations of an
artist who had played a major role in the artistic history and development of both New York and
Sydney. Baumes early association with the artist through Kaldor Art Projects provided him with
an important initial introduction. It was no longer possible for a contemporary curator or
collector to simply approach directly an artist of LeWitts standing and exhibition record for a
possible exhibition. The contemporary art world had become an ever more formal place,
governed by a clear, though unwritten, set of protocols and rules.
VANESSA BEECROFT
Reflecting Kaldors ongoing interest in performance, and the impact of the spectacular in
biennale exhibitions, JKAPs next project was Vanessa Beecrofts VB40 (1999), staged at the
Museum of Contemporary Art in 1999.50 Featuring a configuration of naked and near-naked
women, dressed in underwear, cherry red tights, and designer heels, the two and a half hour
performances in the MCAs historic Art Deco Centennial Hall continued Beecrofts elaboration
on the codes of fashion, consumerism, and the objectifying gaze. Again, this project brought a
leading international artist to Australia, but, again, the work appeared only subtly different from
other works by the same artist presented in many previous biennales and museum exhibitions.
Between 1993 and 1999, the year of Kaldors Project, Beecroft had presented her work at many
leading European and American public and commercial galleries, museums, and luxury designer
stores such as Miu Miu, in New York.51 JKAPs VB40 performance was very similar to
Beecrofts performance VB28 (1997), at the Venice Biennale, which had also featured performers
dressed in designer sandals, camouflage tights, and white bras. For Beecrofts Show, VB35 (1998)
49 Public Art Fund, SOL LEWITT: Structures, 1965-2006, City Hall Park, New York, May 24 December 2, 2011. See Sol LeWitt,
Public Art Fund http://sollewitt.publicartfund.org/, accessed May 10, 2012.
50 Vanessa Beecroft, VB40, Sydney, 2, 4 & 5 August, Museum of Contemporary Art. See Forbat, 40 Years, 2009, pp. 185 191.
The title of the work denotes the number of performances presented by the artist as part of an ongoing series. Kaldors was 40th
in this series. For a discussion of the rise of biennales, large-scale immersive installations and the spectacular, see p. 77.
51 Projects/performances included VB8, P.S.1; VB13 Play/Replica, Basel Art Fair, June 1 (1995); VB16, Deitch Projects, New
York, January 11 (1996); VB21, Performance, Galleria Massimo De Carlo, June 20 (1996) VB22, Miu Miu Store, Exhibition:
Shopping, September (1996); VB23, Ludwig Museum (1997); VB25, Stedelijk, van Abbemuseum, Eindhoven (1997); VB28, XLVII
Venice Biennale, Future, Past, Present, June 13 (1997); VB35, Show (1998), The Solomon R. Guggenheim Museum, New York. See
Vanessa Beecroft website for full details, http://www.vanessabeecroft.com/frameset.html, accessed October 13, 2011. Public
Art Fund worked with Beecroft in the year after Kaldors Project, staging VB 42 in 2000 as an off-site component of the Whitney
Museum of American Arts 2000 Biennial Exhibition.51
214

Photo: Giasco Bertoli
Forbat (ed), 40 Years, 2009, p. 190.
215
Vanessa Beecroft
216
at the Solomon Guggenheim Museum, New York, fifteen model-thin women dressed in Gucci
bikinis and stilettos were presented, alongside five other naked women. The performance was
the most expensive Beecroft had staged.52 The one-night performance was prominently
reviewed.53 Roberta Smith, reviewing the show for the New York Times, noted that if Beecrofts
earlier Venice Biennale performance (VB28, 1997) resulted in a Hey, sailor raunchiness, the
combination of a big budget, attractive models and designer goods in the upper Fifth Avenue
venue made this one decidedly tonier.54 With its relative modesty and focus on designer
fashion, VB40 echoed earlier performances such as VB35 (1998) presented at the Guggenheim.
It lacked the shock or the critical edge of some of her other works that brought issues such as
female objectification, viewer participation, and the relationship to luxury fashion labels and
contemporary art into more stark relief.55
JKAPs commission lacked the shock value of some of Beecrofts earlier performances. It did,
however, present a spectacle more commonly seen in overseas biennale for a local audience. But
for artists and art professionals alike, cheaper flights and increased international travel meant that
many had already seen Beecrofts work. Nevertheless, like other projects previously presented by
JKAP, Beecrofts project at the MCA enabled Kaldor to show work by a leading international
artist to a wide Australian audience. Beecrofts VB 40, with its critique of the beauty industry and
luxury fashion labels was a voyeuristic performance that consciously excluded the viewer. It
remains the only JKAP project that has presented the work of a solo female artist.
52
Roberta Smith, Standing and staring, yet aiming for empowerment, New York Times, May 6, 1998, Vol. 147, Issue 51149, p. E2.
53 See Wayne Koestenbaum, Bikini Brief, Artforum, Vol. 36, No. 10, Summer 1998, p. 23; Smith, Standing and staring, New York
Times, 1998, p. E2.
54
Smith, Standing and staring, New York Times, 1998, p. E2.
55 See for example VB32 (1997), presented at the Stdisches Museum Abteiber, Mnchengladback, where performers were
dressed in white underwear, platform shoes, and red nails; VB33 (1997), presented at the ICA London, in which performers were
dressed in black tops and shoes, and were naked from the waist down; or VB34 (1998), presented at the Moderna Museet,,
Stockholm, in which stilettos, Stetson hats, and an American flag presented stark contrast to the nude pantyhose and partial dress.
Images featured on Vanessa Beecroft website for full details, http://www.vanessabeecroft.com/frameset.html, accessed October
13, 2011.
216
UGO RONDINONE
In 2003, Kaldor Art Projects presented Swiss-born, New York-based artist Ugo Rondinones
large illuminated sign on the roof of the MCA. Our Magic Hour (2003) appeared alongside the
artists work in Sydney and Melbourne art museum exhibitions.56 The same year, Kaldors
foundation was renamed Art Projects Incorporated (for this project only).
In Sydney, the illuminated sign was shown alongside a substantial exhibition of Rondinones
works at the MCA. The exhibition included a diverse range of Rondinones art: target paintings;
an installation of framed photographic prints; videos (both on monitors and as an installation); an
installation of mirror and sound (later gifted to AGNSW and installed in the first exhibition in
the John Kaldor Family Galleries in 2011); and a number of the artists lifelike clown sculptures.57
Of the eleven works presented as part of the MCA exhibition, many of them large installations,
eight were drawn from private collections.58 The project evolved from Kaldors personal interest
in collecting Rondinones work. Kaldor had first seen the artists work presented as part of New
Yorks major art fair for commercial galleries, the Armory show.59 From that point, he and
Milgrom had acquired a number of significant works by the artist. Many of these were featured
in the MCA exhibition. Rondinones MCA exhibition, drawn largely from Kaldor and Milgroms
separate collections, revealed the interrelated ties between the patron as a collector and past
board member, and the public art museum. Both the MCA Rondinone exhibition and temporary
Art Project could be read as a generous extension of Kaldor and Milgroms personal collecting
interests and private patronage, which the museums then publicly endorsed and benefited from.
With the increasing sophistication and worldliness of art audiences in Australia, the value of
showing Art Projects within the broader context of an artists work had become an important
consideration. Elizabeth Ann Macgregor, the Director of the MCA, noted in her foreword that
56 Ugo Rondinone: OUR MAGIC HOUR, 25 June 31 August 2003, Museum of Contemporary Art, Sydney, curator Russell Storer.
Russell, Storer, Ugo Rondinone: OUR MAGIC HOUR, (ex. cat.), Museum of Contemporary Art, Sydney, 2003. Clockwork for Oracle,
28 January 7 March 2004, Australian Centre for Contemporary Art, Melbourne, curator Juliana Engberg. The Melbourne
project was an initiative of Kaldor Art Projects with the support of Naomi Milgrom and John Kaldor.
57
For details and titles, see Storer, Ugo Rondinone, MCA, 2003, p. 24.
58 Of the eleven works drawn collectively from Kaldor and Milgroms collections, Kaldor subsequently gifted three of his works
by Rondinone that were shown at the MCA. Rondinones What do you want (2002), a large wall, mirror and sound piece; No. 210
(SIEBTERJULIZEITAUSENDUNDNULL) (2000), a target painting; and If there were anywhere but desert, Wednesday (2000), one of
Rondinones clown series now form part of AGNSW, John Kaldor Family Collection. See Tunnicliffe, John Kaldor Family
Collection, 2011, pp. 314 326.
59
Moore, The Quiet Pioneer, Apollo, 2011, p. 30.
217
Ugo Rondinone
218

Photo: Nick Bowers
Forbat (ed), 40 Years, 2009, p. 194.
218

Installation views, MCA, Sydney
Photo: Nick Bowers
Forbat (ed), 40 Years, 2009, p. 194.
Kaldor had approached the Museum with a proposal to present a project. This had coincided
with the Museums own interest in the artist.60 It also coincided with the interests in Melbourne
of ACCA Artistic Director, Juliana Engberg. She had previously invited Rondinone to Australia
to present work as part of her Melbourne International Biennale exhibition in 1999, Signs of
Life,61when she showed Rondinones video works and a mixed media installation.62 Her essay on
the artist referred to an earlier illuminated sign, Cry me a River (1997), featuring the rainbow
colours of gay rights and words from Julie Londons song of the same name. Kaldors project in
2003 gave Engberg the impetus to work with Rondinone again, presenting a substantial
exhibition of the artists work for the first time in the new ACCA space.63 However, rather than
showcasing works drawn predominantly from private collections available in Australia, Engberg
chose to contextualize certain key works with new works made specifically for the Melbourne
exhibition. The Melbourne exhibition further revealed the range and variety of Rondinones art,
which lent itself equally to private collections and large-scale art museum and biennial shows.
For Melbournes Rondinone show, Clockwork for Oracle (2004), Engberg included three works
from the private collections that had been shown in Sydney which represented key motifs in
Rondinones work: the clown, the target and the window.64 The exhibition showed the disparate
nature of Rondinones art, using photography, video, installations, painting, sculpture and sound.
For ACCAs exhibition, Rondinone created TWENTYFOURHOURS (2004), a massive
sculptural X that stretched from floor to ceiling, effectively punctuating the gallery space. The
sound of regular long inhalations and exhalations emanated from the form, offering an organic
dimension to the minimalist inspired darkened stained wood form. In the same gallery, a series
of twelve cast black rubber masks of MOONRISE (2003) melded popular cultural references
with art historical precedent. Each of the masks signified a month in the lunar calendar, as the
title of the work suggested, though their shapes and forms were reminiscent of the wooden
reproduction flea market versions of early 20th century African masks on which they were based.
Their rubberized material, however, owed more to the black leather and latex of S & M fetish
60
Storer, Ugo Rondinone, MCA, 2003, p. 25.
61
Engberg, Signs of Life, 1999, p. 15.
62 Ugo Rondinone, Shadow of falling stars (1999), wooden wall, speakers, sound, coloured plexiglass; Still Smoking, Part 3 (1998), 4
videos. Engberg, Signs of Life, 1999, p. 223.
63
ACCA moved to a new, purpose designed building by Melbourne architects Wood Marsh in 2002.
For details of work, see Juliana Engberg, Clockwork for Oracle, (ex. cat.), Australian Centre for Contemporary Art, Melbourne,
2003, p. 35.
64
219
Ugo Rondinone
220
Ugo Rondinone, Clockwork for oracle (2003)

Installation views, Australian Centre for Contemporary Art, Melbourne
Photo: John Brash
Forbat (ed), 40 Years, 2009, p. 201.
220
objects and forms. Rondinones clown sculpture, ghoulishly propped up in the corner of one of
the galleries, a target painting, and large photographic installation were also included from the
MCA exhibition. Clockwork for Oracle (2004), a new immersive video installation, was added for
Melbourne. The exhibition reflected the breadth of Rondinones practice in a way that the
Sydney exhibition did not. Rondinones illuminated sign, Our Magic Hour (2003), was not
installed in Melbourne as part of the exhibition. Projected freight and installation costs made it
prohibitive.65 However, in 2008, the work, first presented as a temporary Art Project on the
MCAs roofline, was permanently installed on the roof of Milgroms ARJ Sussan Groups
company headquarters in inner-city Richmond. Its prime location made it a visible beacon of art
philanthropy illuminated and reflected in the Yarra River at night.
The programming of Australias two kunsthalles the MCA in Sydney and ACCA in Melbourne
revealed the ambitions of both organisations to showcase Australian contemporary artists in an
international context.66 Both did this through an ambitious program of solo Australian and
international artist shows and large group exhibitions. With limited government funds and
sponsorship available, new forms of support and funding for exhibitions were always being
sought. A Kaldor Art Project and generous loan of a significant number of works from private
collectors was one way of presenting works by international artists for which freight to Australia
would be significant. However, the profile of KAP was limited. The Rondinone exhibitions
formed part of a larger art museum or gallery exhibition program. They were not particularly
distinctive from other projects by those institutions.67 Ironically, the permanently installed Our
Magic Hour (2003) in Melbourne may ultimately become an iconic symbol like the advertising
neons such as the Vinegar Skipping Girl in Richmond, or the Nylex clock in Cremorne, although
few in Melbourne would be able to name its artist.
65
The author was curator at ACCA between 2002-2007, although she did not work on this exhibition.
The MCA is not technically a kunsthalle, as it has a permanent collection. However, its ambitious exhibition program functions
in the same way.
66
The MCA opened in 1991, while ACCAs new purpose built gallery, designed by Wood Marsh, opened in Southbank in 2002.
ACCAs new space offered substantially larger gallery spaces than its previous home, which had been located in a small Victorian
cottage in the Domain.
67
221
The Kaldor collection and Kaldor Art projects
222
THE KALDOR COLLECTION AND KALDOR ART PROJECTS

In 2003, the Art Gallery of South Australia mounted an exhibition, Journey to Now: John Kaldor Art
Projects and Collection, which press releases hyperbolically described as the single most important
collection of cutting edge contemporary art today.68 The exhibition was curated by Adam Free,
curator of European Paintings and Sculpture at AGSA. Free had previously catalogued Kaldors
private collection and suggested the idea for the exhibition.69 Over seventy works were shown
from Kaldors collection, including works associated with some of the ten public Art Projects.70
The exhibition particularly highlighted Christos Wrapped Coast (1969) and Koons giant floral
Puppy (1995).71 The pay exhibition enabled the Gallery to present major works by international
artists working in the Pop Art, Minimalist and Conceptual styles. It also enabled Kaldor to
integrate his private activities as a collector with the public recognition of the better-known John
Kaldor Art Projects presented since 1969. Patrick McDonald, writing for the local Adelaide
newspaper, The Advertiser, noted that the presentation of Kaldors collection at a state art museum
was part of a wider spate of exhibitions around the country that raised the profile of Australian
art patrons.72 It was hoped that these individuals would in turn become high-profile benefactors.
The exhibition consolidated Kaldors relationship with another state gallery. It also provided a
public institutional imprimatur from another state gallery as to the quality of Kaldors personal
collection.
Between 1990 and 2003, Kaldor Art Projects substantially increased the public profile of Kaldors
personal collection. The Koons, LeWitt and Rondinone projects all coincided with exhibitions at
public institutions that included a number of works from Kaldors collection. The period
concluded with the AGSA exhibition featuring the Kaldor collection itself, Journey to Now: John
Kaldor Art Projects and Collection. This was the second major survey exhibition drawn from
Kaldors collection in a state art museum. These exhibitions, and the tantilising possibility of
68
Journey to Now: John Kaldor Art Projects and Collection, AGSA, 18 April 6 July 2003.
69 ABC Radio National, The Collector: John Kaldor, interview with Mairie Nicholson, John Kaldor, Christo and Jeanne-Claude,
Sunday June 1, 2003, ABC Radio National website, http://www.abc.net.au/rn/legacy/programs/sunmorn/stories/s868236.htm,
70
See Adam Free, Journey To Now, John Kaldor Art Projects and Collection, (ex. cat.), Art Gallery of South Australia, 2003.
71
Free, Journey To Now, 2003.
72
Patrick McDonald, Patrons treasures could make us all richer, The Advertiser, April 29, 2003.
222
subsequent bequests, marked the increasingly close links between Kaldor as private collector and
the public art institutions.
223
224
Barry McGee, The stars were aligned (2004)

Installation view, Metropolitan Meat Market, Melbourne
Photo: Garry Sommerfield
Forbat (ed), 40 Years, 2009, p. 194.
224
Kaldor and New Institutionalism (2004-2012)
CHAPTER SEVEN:
KALDOR AND NEW
INSTITUTIONALISM (2004-2012)
Between 2004-2012, KAP became increasingly professionalised. It also started to focus on
projects that responded more specifically to their sites. It can be argued that both
professionalism and site specificity reflected similar developments in other international not-forprofit foundations that had occurred in the preceding years.
ORGANISATIONAL CHANGES
In 2004 the private foundation Art Projects Incorporated changed its name again to Kaldor Art
Projects (2004-2008), a move that reflected its shift in legal status. The organization applied to
be added to the Commonwealths Register of Cultural Organisations, which entitled it to receive
tax deductible donations, both from Kaldor and the public.1 Kaldor suggested that at this point
a more disciplined approach was required. 2 Kaldor noted that he now aimed to present two art
projects a year plus an education project.3 A new focus on education brought him in line with
the educational activities of other not-for-profit foundations and organisations, who had also
followed the established example of art museums in this area. The change of the foundations
name from John Kaldor Art Projects to Kaldor Art Projects also indicated a desire for change. It
suggested a conscious move away from the individual, by dropping Kaldors Christian name, to
the creation of a brand. Where Kaldor Fabrics had been in the business of fabric and design,
Kaldor Art Projects was in the business of a globalized contemporary art. However, unlike other
international foundations of this kind, Kaldor appointed neither an artistic director nor a curator
for the Foundation. KAP, and its choice of artists, remained inextricably linked with its creator.
KAP expanded its website to provide a better understanding of the complete history of the
Foundations past projects. Whilst Kaldor Art Projects may have been only subtly different from
projects presented by art organisations and museums as part of ongoing exhibition programs, the
website attempted to frame the Kaldor projects as an historic and evolving series that matched
the development of contemporary art in Australia. More significantly, it made visually seductive
1 Baume, The Artist as Model, in 40 Years, 2009, p. 47. For details of the Commonwealths Register of Cultural Organisations,
see Register of Cultural Organisations 1991, http://www.arts.gov.au/roco , accessed April 6, 2012.
2
Kaldor was referring specifically to the number of projects per year. Baume, The Artist as Model, in 40 Years, 2009, p. 47.
Baume, The Artist as Model, in 40 Years, 2009, p. 47.
225
Organisational changes
226
images from earlier projects, that a younger generation may not even know, instantly accessible
around the world for a global audience.
The expanded website made the developing educational focus of Kaldor Art Projects activities
more visible. MOVE was initiated in 2005 to provide a collection of video art for secondary
schools to screen and study outside the museum environment.4 Kaldor noted that he initiated
the MOVE project as a direct result of his involvement with the affiliated educational programs
of Australias Venice Biennale program in 2005, of which he was Commissioner.5 For the first
pilot program, Kaldor Art Projects worked with the New South Wales Department of Education
and four Sydney secondary schools, whilst artists agreed to have their works made accessible a
special education edition.6 Video works were drawn from existing work in the John Kaldor
Family Collection, and included international artists Paul Pfeiffer, Saskia Olde Wolbers and
Thomas Demand, and Australians including TV Moore and Daniel Crooks.7 Adam Free, who
had worked with Kaldor on the AGSW exhibition in 2003, co-ordinated the project. He noted
that feedback received from the pilot program influenced the final program,8 though what form
this took was unclear. Subsequently, twelve artworks were commissioned over a three-year
period. Artists included Daniel Crooks, John Tonkin, Todd McMillan, TV Moore and Grant
Stevens in the first program; Shaun Gladwell, Daniel von Sturmer and Patricia Piccinini in the
second; and The Kingpins, Jess MacNeil, Tracey Moffatt and David Rosetzky in the third. The
Kaldor Public Art Projects board identified expanding the resource as a key element in realizing
the organisations educational goals, extending to regional areas and beyond New South Wales.9
In 2008, the program was expanded to South Australia and Victoria, and by the end of 2009 had
Free in Forbat, 40 Years, 2009, p. 273.
5 Conversation with John Kaldor, Sydney, Monday June 23, 2008. In 2005, twenty curators were sent to Venice. Emerging
curators were paired with senior Australian curators. Kaldor noted that they played a vital ambassadorial role promoting
Australian art during the professional preview of the Olympics of the art world and that they would provide guided tours of
the Venice Biennale for a key group of Australian supporters. See Australia Council, Professional Development at Venice
Biennale 2007, 31 October 2007, The Australia Council,
http://www.australiacouncil.gov.au/resources/reports_and_publications/artforms/visual_arts/venice_biennale_2005, accessed
September 12, 2012. The Australia Council also commissioned a three-part essay series on Australian visual arts in the lead up to
the 2005 Venice Biennale, written by Claire Doherty, Richard Grayson and Juliana Engberg. See Australia Council Venice
Biennale 2005 Essay Series, website,
http://www.australiacouncil.gov.au/resources/reports_and_publications/artforms/visual_arts/venice_biennale_2005, accessed
September 12, 2012. In 2007, the curatorial mentorships were expanded to include arts educator mentorships.
6
Schools included Dulwich Hill, Fairfield, Killara and Freshwater.
226
reached over 1400 high schools across these states.10 Without some sort of qualitative appraisal
system with which to judge the program, it is easy for feedback to appear anecdotal and selfendorsing. While it may have been an important initiative in keeping with wider art education
trends, it was impossible to judge the success or impact of the project.
MOVE enabled KAP to expand its audience beyond those attending art galleries and related
events: moving out of the gallery and into high schools, the video programs were a resource for
teachers to use with the next generation of potential gallery-goers. Education and public
programs had been highly, and successfully, developed in art museums and galleries both
internationally and in Australia. Examples such as the Gallery of Modern Art (GOMA) and
Queensland Art Gallery (QAG), Brisbanes programmes for temporary exhibitions such as the
Asia Pacific Triennial, extended notions of the role that education could play as part of an
integrated exhibition brief; while international examples such as the Tate Modern, London, and
New Yorks Museum of Modern Art were both leaders in this field.11 Kaldor would have been
familiar with both given his membership of international committees of both institutions.12 As
part of a biennale exhibition, education was also a well-established and integral element of the
curatorial frame.13 The educational component of KAPs activities invited comparisons with
international institutions. It also further differentiated KAPs activities from many other
Australian private foundations set up in the 1980s and 1990s that functioned as grant giving
foundations, supporting other not-for-profit or charitable organisations, but that did not initiate
10
11 GOMA commissioned specific interactive artworks by exhibiting artists as part of an extended education program. The APT
website noted, The highly acclaimed Kids APT program, initiated in 1999, features commissioned interactive artworks by
exhibiting artists. Kids APT is an integral part of the exhibition series, aiming to engage young visitors with the ideas and work of
contemporary artists from across the region. Other features of Kids APT include a publishing program, workshops and Kids
APT on Tour, extending artists projects to regional and remote Queensland. Asia Pacific Triennial of Contemporary Art, URL:
http://www.qagoma.qld.gov.au/exhibitions/apt, accessed November 14, 2012. The role of education and public programs more
widely had been the focus of much research and in the UK and US. See E. Hooper-Greenhill, Museums and the Interpretation of
Visual Culture, London, Routledge, 2000; E. Hooper-Greenhill, Museums and Education: Purpose, Pedagogy and Performance, London,
Routledge, 2007. For a discussion of the role of education and public programs in contemporary art museums, using the Tate
Modern as a case study, see Esther Sayers, Investigating the Impact of Contrasting Paradigms of Knowledge on the
Emancipatory Aims of Gallery Programmes for Young People, International Journal of Art and Design Education, Vol. 30, Issue. 3,
October 2011, pp. 409-420. Myer also noted the importance of educational programs. See Rupert Myer, Educating for Art and
Society, Art Monthly Australia, No. 227, Mar 2010, pp. 24-25.
Australia Council website, http://www.australiacouncil.gov.au/news/items/pre2010/australian_commissioner_for_2007_venice_biennale, accessed April 12, 2012.
12
13
See above p. 79, p. 154.
227
International trends to site-specificity
228
or manage contemporary art projects themselves.14 The educational program also provided a
platform for Kaldor Art Projects to work with Australian and female artists, who had not been
featured by KAP, given its historic focus on international contemporary art, and its maledominated choice of artists. The paucity of projects by female artists had become more evident
as the expanded KAP website detailed all projects from KAPs inception in 1969.
INTERNATIONAL TRENDS TO SITE-SPECIFICITY

Globally, the international profile of a temporary site-specific project depended increasingly on
its relationship to its site. The art world was now globalized. News of ephemeral works spread
quickly, and they were rapidly re-presented around the world. The rise of social networks such as
twitter and facebook, and image-sharing web-based networks such as Flickr and You Tube,
facilitated the amateur exchange of these images and experiences. The growth of biennale events
and foundations dedicated to presenting these works accelerated these trends. Maintaining a
leading position at the forefront of contemporary art has always depended on presenting
distinctive unique works. A work that responded to its site might be subsequently repeated
elsewhere, but its context and physical location would never be the same again.15 This rendered
the viewing-experience of the temporary work wholly unique.16
With the proliferation of large-scale ephemeral works, artists working in this manner, and venues
to present them, commissioning not-for-profit foundations and organisations such as Artangel
paid more attention to the relationship between artwork and site.17 Critical writings supported
this trend, as Miwon Kwons One place after another: site-specific art and locational identity (2004) became
a seminal text on the subject. 18 The critical framing of site in the 1990s had enabled a greater
understanding of its role in curatorial practice by agencies such as Artangel, which in turn
In Australia, Charitable Trusts were well established as a form of grant-giving. Prescribed Private Funds (PPFs) were
established by the Australian Government on 30 June 2001. A comprehensive history and definition of PPFs can be found on the
Philanthropy Australia website, www.philanthropy.org.au/ppfs/index.hjtm, accessed July 20, 2008. Artangel described their
project supporters as Angels, which included charitable trusts and foundations, and private individuals. KPAP similarly listed
financial supporters for all projects in publications and website.
14
15
See above p. 16.
16
See above p. 18.
See above p. 49; other foundations presenting works with strong response to site included PAF p. 54; Creative Time p. 56;
Trussardi Foundation p. 62; T BA 21 p. 72; and a number of works presented by foundations in conjunction with biennale events
see above p. 83.
17
18
See above p. 16.
228
enabled an increased likelihood that their projects would be seen as unique experiences,
unrepeatable elsewhere. Apart from the works by Christo and Jeanne-Claude in 1969 and 1990,
and those of LeWitt and Long in 1977, none of KAPs projects had been particularly responsive
to their site. All the other works had been presented in substantially similar form with
substantially similar effects somewhere else before KAP presented them and they were usually
then presented at other locations again. With the growth of Australian institutions, the Art
Projects partnership with art museums and galleries was not clearly differentiated from the
institutions own exhibition programs.
For these temporary works to gain traction within an increasingly prolific art world, high quality
images and a prominent web profile were also required.19 In contrast to the aesthetic of early
documentary photography of performances and happenings in the late 1960s and early 1970s,20
photographs of these later site-specific installations often appeared as theatrically staged as some
of the works themselves.
BARRY MCGEE
Perhaps for these reasons, and paralleling the approach of other foundations presenting
ephemeral works, from 2004 onwards, KAP paid increasing attention to the relationship between
work and site. For example, much was made of the historic Meat Market venue for West-Coast
American graffiti artist Barry McGees project in Melbourne in 2004. Robert Nelson, reviewing
the work for The Age, grandiosely described the work as having radically redefined this morbidly
ceremonial space.21 Kaldor had previously acquired work by the artist, which had been included
in the exhibition of Kaldors collection, Journey to Now (2003) at AGSA. The Melbourne project,
The stars were aligned (2004),22 was a sprawling installation of piles and stacks of derelict
materials and objects, upturned mini-vans, tagged with a checkerboard patterning of geometric
designs and urban figures and shapes. It was shown at the historic Metropolitan Meat Market
building in North Melbourne, with its cavernous interior, bluestone cobbled flooring and thick
19
See for example Artangels website for Horns Library of Water (2007) discussed above p. 51; or One Day Sculpture (2008), p. 76.
20 See for example the photographic images of performances by Chris Burden, Vito Acconci, and later, the interventions of
Gordon Matta-Clark.
21
Robert Nelson, Barry McGee, Kaldor Projects, The Age, November 24, 2004.
22
Barry McGee, The stars were aligned , Water wall mural, 28 October 5 December, 2004.
229
Barry McGee
230
wooden beams. Despite the publicity, the Meat Market work was not particularly dependent on
its site. In 2005, the KAP installation was restaged at Deitch Projects in New York, in a similar
configuration of painting, video and upturned cars.23 Whilst reviews of the work discussed the
integration of graffiti and outsider art into the gallery space, no mention was made of Kaldors
2004 project, or an Australian link.24
A second McGee work, presented at the same time at the NGV, provided the institutional
imprimatur for the offsite Meat Market project. Whether it was part of the KAP project or was
simply presented at the same time was not clear, as Nelson noted in his 2004 newspaper review
of the project.25 Water wall mural (2004) was a temporary drawing on the large semi-circular glass
window of the NGV that fronts St Kilda Road. This work was tailored to the peculiar features
of the water wall site. However, it really re-presented many of the techniques used in an earlier
water-wall painting by American artist Keith Haring in 1984.26 Haring had been bought to
Australia by John Buckley, founding director of the Australian Centre for Contemporary Art.
Buckley had seen Harings signature white crayon works on disused black advertising panels in
Manhattans subway stations on a visit to New York.27 Haring painted a mural on the NGV
Water Wall, another on the AGNSWs forecourt, and other impromptu works at sites around
Melbourne including the Collingwood Technical College (Collingwood TAFE). For the NGV,
Harings graffiti-style painting featured a dynamic field of flying saucers, dancing figures, blocky
dogs, and his signature motif the radiant child, all painted to a soundtrack of American hip
hop music.28 The work brightened the imposing, fortress entrance of the institution, but damage
to the window caused by a member of the public overnight closed the installation after only two
days.29 Twenty years later, McGees characteristic style enlivened the same Water Wall in an
approach that fused Mexican muralists with street art. It was reminiscent of graffiti art of the
23
McGee, One More Thing (2005), Deitch Projects, New York.
24 See McGee, Deitch Projects (2005). Jonathan T.D. Neil,, In View Barry McGee: One More Thing, Modern Painters, October
2005, pp. 114-5; Dominic Johnson, Review Barry McGee, Frieze Magazine, September 2005, p. 134.
25
Nelson, Barry McGee, The Age, 2004.
For details of the work see Ted Gott, Fragile Memories: Keith Haring and the water window Mural at the National Gallery of
Victoria in Art Bulletin of Victoria, Vol. 43. Melbourne, National Gallery of Victoria, 2004, p. 8.
26
27 Hannah Mathews, Fade to grey: On the future of Keith Harings Collingwood mural, Art & Australia, Vol. 48. No 4, Winter
2011, p. 618.
28
Murray, The NGV Story, 2011, p. 129.
29
Murray, The NGV Story, 2011, p. 129-130.
230
Barry McGee, Water wall mural (2004)

Installation view, National Gallery of Victoria, Melbourne
Photo: Predrag Cancar
Forbat (ed), 40 Years, 2009, p. 215.
231
Barry McGee
232
1970s and 1980s. Featuring his trademark icon, a male caricature with sagging eyes and a
bemused expression, in another form of visually compelling social critique, McGees temporary
form of art museum graffiti recalled the homeless, transient people that he had encountered
while working on the street in the US.
However, the context for the McGee Art Project in 2004 was radically different from Harings
twenty years earlier. Where Harings mural remained publically visible on the exterior faade of
the old Collingwood Technical College, surrounded by Housing Commission apartments and
industry, the indoor setting of Melbournes Meat Market lacked a wider visibility and the
community reach of Harings earlier work, while the NGV setting gave it an institutional
character.30 McGees project lacked the social and political impact of Harings socially engaged
art.
Nor did either of McGees projects have the institutional impact of earlier Kaldor projects
presented at the NGV, such as Harald Szeemanns exhibition or Gilbert & Georges Singing
Sculpture (1972). Like many of the KAP projects, McGee had an international profile and
exhibition history.31 While articles regularly noted McGees early activities as a graffiti artist, like
many artists of his generation he was the product of an art school education, graduating from San
Francisco Art School in 1991.32 While his early work may have been developed on the street, he
rapidly moved into galleries and exhibition shows. He worked with the Deste Foundation Centre
for Contemporary Art, Athens, the Prada Foundation, Milan, and the Dakis Joannou Collection,
Athens. All reflected the close links between the contemporary collections of the patrons and
the public exhibitions and projects. Kaldors decision to invite him to make a project placed
30 For the significance of Harings mural both at the NGV and on the faade of the Collingwood TAFE, see Mathews, Fade to
Grey, Art & Australia, 2011; Hannah Mathews (ed.), Catterpillars and Computers: Keith Haring in Australia, Australian Centre for
Contemporary Art, 2012.
31 Solo exhibitions included Installation , Center for the Arts Yerba Buena Gardens, San Francisco (1994), Regards, Walker Art
Center, Minneapolis (1998); The Buddy Sytem, Deitch Projects, New York (1999); Hoss, Rice University Art Gallery, Houston
(1999); UCLA Hammer Museum, Los Angeles (2000); Modern Art, London (2004); Prada Foundation, Milan (2004), Rose Art
Museum, Brandeis University Boston (2004). Prior to 1998, McGees work was largely included in group exhibitions presented by
commercial galleries and project spaces. In 1998 he was included in Art from Around the Bay, San Francisco Museum of Modern
Art, and from that point he achieved a wider international profile. In 2001, he was included in Szeemanns Venice Biennale
(2001), and in the same year, Un Art Populaire, Foundation Cartier pour lart contemporain, Paris (2001); Holdfast, Barry McGee &
Margaret Kilgallen, Deste Foundation Centre for Contemporary Art, Athens (2002); the Liverpool Biennale, Liverpool (2002);
Prada Foundation, Milan (2002); and Monument to Now, the Dakis Joannou Collection, Athens (2004). For details see Cheim &
Read gallery website, http://www.cheimread.com/artists/barry-mcgee/?view=bio, accessed June 30, 2012.
32 Tessa DeCarlo, The Latest Tagger to be Tagged for Success, The New York Times, July 11, 2004; Neil, In View Barry McGee,
Modern Painters, 2005; Johnson, Review Barry McGee, Frieze 2005; Smith, Roberta, Urban Outsider Artists Evoke Societys
Margins, The New York Times, Wednesday August 3, 2005.
232
KAP within that lineage of private support. McGees work simply manifested the latest trend in
collectable art, albeit art of a more alternative nature. An Artforum article on McGee in 2008
titled Market Index Barry McGee reflected the collector-driven interest in McGees practice.33
The choice of McGee, therefore, was relatively safe, as Kaldor followed in the footsteps of other
internationally recognized collectors and foundations.
URS FISCHER
From 2007, KAP presented projects by artists who were far more internationally recognized than
McGee. Projects were presented more regularly, and from this date, KAP presented two projects
each year.
For Cockatoo Island Installation (2007), Urs Fischer used the historic island site of Cockatoo Island
at the centre of Sydney Harbour, a site that was to be used to enormous effect in ChristovBakargievs Sydney Biennale in the following year.34 A twenty minute ferry ride from Sydneys
Circular Quay, the island was familiar to Kaldor as it is overlooked by the nearby suburb of
Woolwich, where Kaldors family home is located. The islands rich history of convict penal
settlement, ship-building yards and remand centre for delinquent girls gave the project a unique
context and site. For this work, Fischers conspicuously low-tech cast sculptural assemblages
responded to the psychogeography of buildings and sites on the island.35 The six-part mixed
media installation included a sinuous white fibreglass form that hovered in the courtyard of the
old sandstone prison. Inside, plaster-cast hands of the artist, a skeleton carved from Styrofoam
boxes, and a pink upturned head inhabited interior rooms. Kaldor now said that he wanted
artists to work directly with the challenging locations that are typically Australian, differentiating
KAP projects from those of art museums.36 However, rather than engaging directly with the site
and its history, Fischer used buildings and interiors as large frames in which to house the work.
33 See Michelle Kuo, Market Index Barry McGee, Atforum, April 2008, pp. 338 339. The article included images of the 2004
project. It also It also reproduced Untitled (2005), a work featuring McGees iconic sad faced man painted onto sixty-eight glass
bottles tied together and installed on the wall by wire, a work subsequently acquired by Kaldors wife, Naomi Milgrom.
34
Urs Fischer, Cockatoo Island installation, Sydney, 20 April 3 June, 2007.
Kaldor Art Projects, Urs Fischer Notes. See AGNSW website,

http://archive.artgallery.nsw.gov.au/exhibitions/archived/2010/kaldor_projects/projects/2007_urs_fischer/index.html,
accessed May 19, 2012.
35
36
Gina Fairley, Urs Fischer: a surprising twist on Cockatoo Island, Sydney, Art Monthly Australia, July No. 201, 2007, p. 29.
233
Urs Fischer
234
Urs Fischer, Cockatoo Island installation (2007)

Cockatoo Island, Sydney
Photo: Jenny Hare
Forbat (ed), 40 Years, 2009, p. 225.
234
As Fairley noted, his use of the historic site was as a stage-set and did not directly engage with its
history or architecture.37
This no doubt contributed in part to the underwhelming nature of the work. Kaldors personal
antipathy to the artist may well have also played a part in a project that did not reach its full
potential, and left little trace either locally or within the artists oeuvre. 38 Whilst the sites unusual
architecture and history provided a unique context for the installed objects, the lack of contextual
significance, the very remoteness of the location and reliance on ferry timetables ensured that it
remained an experience for the dedicated and knowledgeable art follower rather than any
accidental passer-by.
Fischers project with KAP did not receive the critical acclaim or public response generated by
earlier Kaldor Art Projects. The paucity of commentary did not reflect any lack of international
interest in the artists work.39 For example, Fischers project Jet Set Lady (2005), presented by the
Fondazione Nicola Trussardi in 2005 at the Istituto dei Ciechi (Blind Institute) in Milan, was
critically received and widely discussed in art journals including Flash Art, Artforum and the more
popular Vanity Fair.40 Gioni continued to develop an association with Fischer, with a large-scale
exhibition of his work at the New Museum, New York, in 2009.41 Key elements from the 2005
Trussardi project were showcased again when Gioni curated the exhibition project 8 in 2010.42
As part of the Arsenale show at the Venice Biennale in 2011, Fischers large sculptural figures of
wax with lit wick, which gradually dissolved into a pool of melted wax, were given central
position.43 These figures included a full-scale wax rendition of Giovanni Bolognas Rape of the
37
Fairley, Urs Fischer, Art Monthly Australia, 2007, p. 29.
In a public program event held at the AGNSW in 2011, a conversation between Capon and Kaldor, Kaldor noted his dislike of
the artist. Capon asked, I dont think you have ever bought a work of art from an artist who you dont like. Kaldor: Thats not
true. I like most artists whose work I acquired.. I couldnt stand Urs Fischer. Edmund Capon and John Kaldor, In
conversation, podcast, AGNSW public programs, May 21, 2011.
38
For biographical details, see Urs Fischer website, http://www.ursfischer.com/pages/biography, accessed May 12, 2011. Solo
exhibitions included ICI, London (2000); Stedelijk Museum Bureau Amsterdam (2000); Contemporary Fine Arts, Berlin (2002);
Modern Institute, Glasgow (2002); Santa Monica Museum of Art, California (2002); Centre Pompidou (2004); Camden Arts
Centre (2005); Museum Boijmans Van Beuningen, Rotterdam (2006).
39
40 Filippo Romeo, Urs Fischer: Fondazione Nicola Trussardi, Artforum, September 2005; Flash Art Italia, n.a., Urs Fischer: da
vedere, Flash Art Italia, April-May, 2005, p. 57; Bonami, Francesco, Larte a sorpresa firmata, Vanity Fair, April 28, 2005, p. 150.
Urs Fischer: Marguerite de Ponty, (2009-2010), first large-scale solo exhibition of the artists work in an American museum,
presented over the second, third and fourth floors of the New Museum. Organised by Massimiliano Gioni, Director of Special
Exhibitions. See New Museum exhibition details, http://www.newmuseum.org/exhibitions/417, accessed March 20, 2012.
41
42
See above p 67.
43
Bice Curiger, ILLUMInations, 54th Venice Biennale, 2011.
235
Gregor Schneider
236
Sabine Women (1583), in characteristic Greco-Roman sculptural form; a standard office chair
based on one found in the artists studio; and a suited and bespectacled man, eerily similar to the
international bankers and art dealers frequenting the Biennale vernissage.44
GREGOR SCHNEIDER
Gregor Schneider presented 21 Beach cells (2007) on Sydneys iconic Bondi Beach in September of
the same year as Fischers installation.45 Its location was far more publically, and visibly sited.
The work formed part of the artists ongoing interest in psychological torture and military
detention, such as Americas use of Guantanamo Bay.46 The geometrically structured metal cages
also referred to Australias own recent history of refugee detention centres. Smee explained the
piece in relation to Schneiders earlier art in his review in The Australian newspaper.47 However,
for a wider passing public, the greatest impact was the uncanny juxtaposition of bikini-clad
bathers lounging on the artworks blue inflatable lilos and beach umbrellas in cages. Images in
newspapers, web-based google images or Flickr, located the work within Australias cultural
stereotype of beaches and bikinis.48 There was little notice paid to a more complex reading of the
black, bin-liner bundles in the corners of the cages, nor much analysis of the artists political
intent. A wider public appeared to view Schneiders consciously political work as anything but
political.49 Ironically, the work regained its political implications when it was subsequently
installed at Herzliya, Arcadia Beach, Israel, in 2009. 50
44 Urs Fischer, full-scale replica of Giambolognas Rape of the Sabine Women (2011); Untitled (2011); and Untitled (Rudolf Stingel
(2011).
45
Gregor Schneider, 21 beach cells, Bondi Beach, Sydney, 28 September 21 October 2007.
See for example Schneiders Weisse Folter (White torture) (2007), which explored aspects of confinement, disorientation and
created a strong sense of unease in the viewer.
46
47
Sebastian Smee, Captive audience, Weekend Australian Review, 20 21 October 2007, p. 19.
48 See for example Louise Schwartzkoff, Prison bake at Bondis arresting development, Sydney Morning Herald, September 29,
2007;Zimbio website,
http://www.zimbio.com/pictures/dcYvycg7mVs/Gregor+Schneider+Bondi+Beach+Art+Installation/FU2UIeb4qqm (Image,
Getty Image News), accessed April 21, 2012.
49
See below p. 273
50 The work was installed at Accadia Beach, Herzilya, Israel, 13 20 June (2009), with the support of Kaldor Art Projects. See
AGNSW online archive,
http://archive.artgallery.nsw.gov.au/exhibitions/archived/2010/kaldor_projects/projects/2007_gregor_schneider/index.html,
236
Gregor Schneider, 21 beach cells (2007)

Installation view, Bondi Beach, Sydney
Photo: Gregor Schneider
Forbat (ed), 40 Years, 2009, p. 237.
237
Gregor Schneider
238
At the time of the KPAP project, Schneiders international reputation made him one of the
worlds most recognized installation artists. 51 Schneiders work recalled Schwitters Merzbau
(1933), a seminal work for the development of contemporary installation art. 52 Schwitters
Dadaist re-working of the interior of his own house between 1923 and 1937 only ended with his
escape from Nazi Europe, and the work was subsequently destroyed. Schneiders immersive
environments were also psychologically disturbing and ambitiously scaled and detailed. For Totes
Haus ur (1985 1997), Schneider obsessively reconfigured his parents house over a twelve-year
period. Located in the picturesque German Rhine town of Rheydt, it resulted in an increasingly
complex series of labyrinthine rooms and spaces, which were both claustrophobic and created a
sense of profound unease in the viewer.53 In 2001, Schneider represented Germany as part of
the 49th Venice Biennale, transforming Albert Speers classically proportioned and nationalistically
imposing architectural pavilion into a series of complex rooms and dead-ends, for which he was
awarded a Golden Lion award for best national participation.54 In the autumn of 2004, Artangel,
the London-based not-for-profit foundation, presented Schneiders Die Familie Schneider (2004).55
Two adjacent terrace houses in Londons Whitechapel were opened by appointment only. Two
visitors at a time entered a terrace house alone. Schneider explored repression, reproduction and
repetition, employing actors and the creation of disturbingly familiar working-class domestic
interiors. The viewing experience was theatrical and shockingly disquieting. The work achieved
national and international critical acclaim.56
Schneiders projects had not been without controversy. Invited to participate in Rosa Martinezs
curated exhibition Always a Little Further (2005) for the 51st Venice Biennale in the Arsenale,
Schneider proposed Cube Venice, a large, black, geometric sculptural form, approximately 14
metres square. Draped in black muslin, and anchored to the ground in St Marks Square, the
51
See Bishop, Installation Art, 2005, pp. 42-44; Daniel Birnbaum, Interiority Complex, Artforum, Vol. 38, No. 10, Summer 2000.
52
See Bishop, Installation Art, 2005, pp. 40-42.
For a discussion of the work, and its location in a global exhibition context, see Birnbaum, Interiority Complex, Artforum,
2000.
53
54 For a discussion of Schneiders Dead House Ur, Venice Biennale (2001) see Birnbaum, Groans of Venice, Artforum, 2001;
Loock, Ulrich, Gregor Schneider: The dead House ur, Parkett 63, 2001, pp. 138-151. See above p. 80.
Artangel website, http://www.artangel.org.uk/projects/2004/die_familie_schneider, accessed October 21, 2011. For a

discussion of Artangels temporary installations see p. 46.
55
See Adrian Searle, Broken Homes, The Guardian, October 5, 2004, http://www.guardian.co.uk/culture/2004/oct/05/2,
accessed October 21, 2011; Dan Fox, Die Familie Schneider, Frieze Magazine, Issue 88, February 2005,
http://www.frieze.com/issue/article/die_familie_schneider/, accessed October 21, 2011.
56
238
iconic location of the floating city, the work was to be based on the proportions of the sacred
Kaaba in Mecca, Islams site of religious pilgrimage. Authorities subsequently banned the work,
citing both aesthetic and security concerns.57 The Biennales exhibition short guide included a
black square in place of Schneiders censored work.58 Schneider subsequently printed an Englishlanguage book on the project, its title Cubes: Art in the Age of Global Terrorism, reflecting the
political nature of the project.59 However, he denied the provocation in his artwork, stating that
it was a way to illustrate the deep connection between both cultures.60 To be presented in St
Marks square, with its architectural history of Moorish architectural features intersecting with
Renaissance European styles, the works monumental black cube would have recalled Kasmir
Malevichs black squares, and minimalist sculpture of the 1970s.61 The work was later proposed
for presentation in Berlin, which was also not permitted. Its ultimate installation outside the
Hamburger Kunsthalle as part of an exhibition honouring Malevich in 2007 reflected the
potential for the work to be read beyond a political frame. The political potency of Schneiders
works was best illustrated by his April 2007 installation Weisse folter (White torture) at the
Kunstsammlung NordrheinWestfalen, K21, in Dsseldorf.62 The works title, which refers to a
type of psychological torture that leaves no physical trace on the body, its disorientating interior
space, and use of techniques more commonly associated with twenty-first century warfare and
torture, were modeled on the US armys Camp V at Guantanamo Bay, Cuba.
Like Christo and Jeanne-Claudes Wrapped Coast (1969), site played an integral part in Schneiders
Sydney 21 beach cells (2007). Perhaps for this reason Christov-Bakargievs essay for the 2009
retrospective of 40 years of KPAP focused on Schneiders 21 beach cells (2007) alongside Christo
57 The work could have offended Muslim visitors, Deutsche Welle (DW), 2005, accessed via DW website,
http://www.dw.de/dw/article/0,,1616159,00.html, November 19, 2008. See also R. Jay Magill, Jr., A Cube, Like Meccas,
Becomes a Pilgrim, New York Times, April 15, 2007, http://www.nytimes.com/2007/04/15/arts/design/15magi.html?_r=0,
accessed October 12, 2011.
58 51st International Art Exhibition, La Biennale di Venezia, Short Guide, 2005, p. 35. The Experience of Art, Director, Maria de
Corral; Always a Little Further, Director, Rosa Martinez. Schneiders work was proposed as part of Rosa Martinezs exhibition in
the Arsenale.
59 See Gregor Schneider, Eugene Blume, Amine Haase, Cubes: Art in the Age of Global Terrorism, Charta, 2006; Peter Schiering,
Cube, documentary film presented on German television channel ZDF, March 24, 2007.
60
Magill, A Cube, Like Meccas, New York Times, 2007.
61 See Kasmir Malevich, Black Square (1915), oil on canvas, State Russian Museum, St Petersburg; or large sculptural installations
of American minimalist sculptor Robert Morris.
62 Helen Hughes, PhD candidate, University of Melbourne, discussed Schneiders the use of intentional shock tactics and
questionable ethics in relation to this work. Helen Hughes, A Phenomenology of Aftermath: Gregor Schneider's Weisse Fotler
(2007), (unpublished paper), AAANZ conference, together <> apart, Sydney, July 2012.
239
Gregor Schneider
240
and Jeanne-Claudes Wrapped Coast (1969).63 Christov-Bakargiev wrote about the visual and
participatory aspects of Schneiders project, which she may well have seen when visiting Australia
to prepare for the Sydney Biennale she curated in 2008. She analysed how the experience of
visiting a temporary artwork first-hand must differ from any understanding gained from images
and documentary material, a fact well established in the literature on the topic. She made a
compelling argument for the historical significance of site-specific temporary projects, but she
did not enter into the strength of one work over another. Nevertheless, by discussing
Schneiders work alongside Christos seminal work of 1969, she implied that Schneiders work on
Bondi Beach had a comparable artistic weight.
Whilst Christov-Bakargievs essay brought her international endorsement to KAP, she did not
provide a nuanced explanation of the political, cultural and public impact of Schnieders work in
Australia. By contrast with many of Schneiders other works, 21 Beach cells (2007) has not become
a cultural reference point for the issues to which the work alluded. Other works at the time in
Australia were far more effective in penetrating public consciousness. When Schneiders 21 Beach
Cells (2007) was presented in Sydney, the city had recently staged the Asia Pacific Economic
Cooperation meeting (APEC). 64 The security barriers and two-metre high cyclone fences that
lined most of the citys central streets attracted national and international attention when the
political comedians and satirists, The Chaser, walked through multiple security checkpoints with
one in their midst dressed as Osama bin Laden.65 The event drew widespread attention to antiterrorism measures, whilst associations of the kind generated by Schneiders KPAP went
relatively unremarked. Coverage of Schnieders project was scant. Schneiders talk for Sydneys
College of Fine Arts was attended by no more than sixty-five people.66 For an artist of this
international standing, the number was small. As William Wright noted in his Art and Australia
article of Autumn 2008, it is almost unimaginable that a celebrated contemporary European
63
Christov-Bakargiev in Forbat, 40 Years, 2009, pp. 32-35.
64
Asia Pacific Economic Cooperation (APEC), Sydney, 8-9 September 2007.
See for example YouTube coverage of the event as televised on Channel 7,

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5M6M_aWD7dw, accessed April 28, 2012. See also Reuters, Comedy TV team penetrates
tight APEC security, http://uk.reuters.com/article/2007/09/06/uk-apec-protest-chaser-idUKSYD27051320070906, accessed
April 28, 2012.
65
66
William Wright, Utopia, Dystopia: Schneiders reminder, Art & Australia, Vol. 43, No. 5, Autumn 2008, p. 469.
240
artist could come to Australia to produce a major installation work on one of our most popular
and populous public sites and go largely unnoticed.67
ORGANISATIONAL VISIBILITY
In the five years from 2008-2012, Kaldors projects became substantially more institutional. He
established an international Curatorial Advisory Group, and a management board of well-known
Australian philanthropists and business people. In keeping with its international focus, and a
desire to mark out its status in the international sphere of not-for-profit organisations engaged in
public art, in 2008, Kaldor Art Projects underwent a further name change and became Kaldor
Public Art Projects (KPAP). The move, John Kaldor stated, more accurately reflect[ed] our
activities.68 The inclusion of the word Public brought its title in line with other not-for-profit
foundations, such as New Yorks Public Art Fund, which also included the term in their name.
Public Art has been the subject of substantial scholarship, and the inclusion of the term in
KPAPs name firmly located its activities within this realm.69
Achieving international recognition was not easy for an organization in a country that is not
central to a Euro-American-centric artworld and does not have the cultural cachet of an exotic
Third-World nation either. However, KAPs long-lived reputation as a not-for-profit foundation
involved with temporary, often site-specific art projects by international artists from Europe and
America differentiated it from many other private foundations that presented permanent sitespecific contemporary art, or that evolved into permanent private art museum,70 albeit in exotic
locations. An expanded and relaunched website with more images, links to texts, and other
related material, further consolidated KAPs position.
67
Wright, Utopia, Dystopia, Art & Australia, 2008.
68
Baume, The Artist as Model, in Forbat, 40 Years, 2009, p. 47.
For an introduction to Public Art, see Kraus Knight, Public Art, 2008; Finkelpearl, Dialogues in public art, 2000. Richard Serras
Tilted Arc, and its subsequent removal, was widely used to discuss the wider issues of public art. See for example Gregg M.
Horowitz, Public art/public space: The spectacle of the Tilted Arc, Journal of Aesthetics & Art Criticism, Winter 94, Vol. 54 Issue 1,
p8; and Andrea Blum, From the Other Side: Public Artists on Public Art, Art Journal, Vol. 48 Issue 4, December 1989, p336.
Installation art, of the kind presented by Artangel, PAF, KPAP, and others from the 1990s substantially redefined previous
understandings of public art: see above p.11.
69
See above p. 88 for a discussion of destination art presented by foundations such as the Benesse Foundation, Naoshima,
Japan; Instituto Inhotim, Brazil; the Gibbs Farm, New Zealand; and the Museum of Old and New Art (MONA), Tasmania.
70
241
242
ORGANISATIONAL PROFESSIONALISATION
In 2008, KPAP also set up a much more professional and international advisory structure. It
consolidated its links with global contemporary art professionals and patrons and supporters
through the appointment of a Curatorial Advisory Group and Management Board. The strategic
appointment of key individuals to these positions professionalised what had previously been an
organization directed by one individual, with sole responsibility for each invitation to artists.
Curatorial Advisory Group

The advice of the Curatorial Advisory Group reflected newer critical thinking and knowledge of
contemporary art. It also reflected the increasing power of the international, or uber curator,71
whose role had arguably supplanted the pivotal role of the dealer and critic in the 1960s to
1980s.72 The Curatorial Advisory Group provided stronger curatorial links with artistic directors
and curators of international stature and position, who could provide wider contacts, greater
international credibility regarding the choice of artists, and act as international ambassadors for
the activities of KPAP. Kaldors dependence on international experts could also be seen in an
alternative light, reflecting a need for external validation of the Art Projects that had echoes of
Smiths provincialism problem, though the contemporary art world was now a very different
place. In his Preface for the 40 Years publication of 2009, Kaldor said that the members of the
Curatorial Advisory Group keep us abreast of the latest developments in contemporary art and
introduce us to artists whose projects will break new ground in Australia.73 Whilst in the past,
this role may have been undertaken informally through conversations with gallerists such as
Ileana Sonnabend, Leo Castelli, Anthony dOffay, and with key artists, formalizing this process
reflected shifts in the artworld since the early days of John Kaldor Art Projects.
71
See above p. 6.
For a historical comparison, see Alexander Alberros discussion of the influential role of dealer Seth Siegelaub, in Conceptual Art,
2003: see also above p. 44. For a discussion of the decline of the critic, and assumption of that role by curators and artists - often
through the development of exhibitions - see Alex Farquharson, Is the Pen Still Mightier?, Frieze, No. 92, 2005, pp. 118-119; Jan
Verwoert, This is Not an exhibition, in Nina Mntmann, Art and Its Institutions, 2006, p. 136; and Luke Morgan, Australian Art
Criticism and its Discontents', The La Trobe University Essay, Australian Book Review, No. 279, March 2006, pp. 9-14.
72
73
Kaldor in Forbat, 40 Years, 2009, p. 21.
242
The new governance structure followed the model of a number of other international
organisations of this kind.74 The contemporary art industry had become increasingly
professionalised, and advisory structures of this nature proliferated, giving independent advice
free from the financial conflicts often associated with interest of commercial gallery directors and
other interested parties.
For KPAP, the inclusion of leading arts professionals bestowed prestige, whilst for the curators,
it gave them a closer working relationship with potential supporters of future projects. The
association with international curators also reduced the perception that one individual was
driving the artistic decision-making process of the not-for-profit Foundation. At the same time it
enabled Kaldor Public Art Projects to retain the association with the history and significance of
projects and collection of the previous years.
The Curatorial Advisory Group was composed of prominent contemporary art professionals,
each of whom was based overseas. Nicholas Baume was the only Australian, though he had been
living in America since leaving the Museum of Contemporary Art (MCA), Sydney in 1998.75 An
internationally recognized curator of contemporary art, Baume was the Chief Curator at the
Institute of Contemporary Art, Boston from 2003 2009, and then the Director and Chief
Curator of New Yorks Public Art Fund in September 2009.76 He had a long history with John
Kaldor. He grew up as a close neighbour to the Kaldor family in Sydney and acknowledges
Kaldors influence on his own interest in contemporary art.77 Kaldor often likened Baume to a
fifth son.78 He was curator of the Kaldor collection and of John Kaldor Art Projects from
1988 to 1992, during which time he organised the exhibition of Christos sculptures and
wrappings held at the AGNSW in 1990. Baume was appointed curator at the MCA in 1993, and
curated From Christo and Jeanne-Claude to Jeff Koons: John Kaldor Art Projects and Collection at that
institution in 1995, which coincided with the Kaldor Public Art Project by Jeff Koons, Puppy
(1995).79
74
For example, the advisory board for the Fondazione Nicola Trussardi discussed above p. 61.
75 Also Curator at the Wadsworth Atheneum, Hartford, Connecticut, 1998 2003. Public Art Fund website, staff profiles,
http://www.publicartfund.org/pafweb/about/staff_and_board.html, accessed August 2, 2011.
76
Public Art Fund, http://www.publicartfund.org/pafweb/about/staff_and_board.html, accessed August 22, 2011.
77
Baume, Artist as Model in Forbat, 40 Years, 2009, p. 43; and Baume, From Christo and Jeanne-Claude, 1995, p. 87.
78
Kaldor introduction in Baume, From Christo and Jeanne-Claude, 1995, p. 7.
79
Curators note, Baume, From Christo and Jeanne-Claude, 1995, p. 87.
243
244
Another member of the Curatorial Advisory Group was Jessica Morgan, Curator of
Contemporary Art, Tate Modern, London.80 As well as bringing her expertise from one of the
worlds leading contemporary art museums, Morgan also had extensive experience working in
America, where the role of the private philanthropist is well established. Before moving to Tate
Modern, she was the Chief Curator at the Institute of Contemporary Art, Boston, a role that
Nicholas Baume took over from her in 2003.
The Curatorial Advisory Group also included Carolyn Christov-Bakargiev, whose experience
encompassed Senior Curator of Exhibitions at P.S.1 in New York; Chief Curator and Interim
Director at the Castello di Rivoli, Turin, from 2002 2009; and then Artistic Director of the 16th
Biennale of Sydney in 2008, of which Kaldor was a Board Member.81 She was then appointed
Artistic Director of documenta 13 in 2012, the most significant exhibition of contemporary art in
the world.82 She was very familiar with the role and impact of private foundations in creating
site-specific works. Christov-Bakargiev had included Janet Cardiff and George Bures Millers
large-scale sound installation, The Murder of Crows (2008), as part of her 2008 Biennale of Sydney
at Sydneys Pier 2/3, a work that had been commissioned by Thyssen-Bornemisza Art
Contemporary, Vienna.83 Christov-Bakargiev had worked closely with these artists in the past,
curating a major exhibition of their work for P.S. 1, Contemporary Art Center in 2001, which
toured to venues in Canada and Italy. The exhibition was accompanied by a comprehensive
catalogue featuring an extended essay by the curator on the artists work.84 Notification that
Cardiff and Miller had been awarded La Biennale di Venezia Special Award, or Golden Lion, and
the Benesse Prize in 2005 was also made by Christov-Bakargiev, for their project representing
80 Forbat, 40 Years, 2009, p. 291. Morgan joined the Tate in 2002, and curated numerous group and solo exhibitions including John
Baldessari (2009), Martin Kippenberger (2006), and the Unilever Commission in 2006 and 2008 working with artists Carsten Hller and
Dominique Gonzalez-Foerster respectively. Morgan was appointed the Daskalopoulos Curator, International Art, at the Tate
Modern in September 2010. E-flux, September 26, 2010.
81 Christov-Bakargiev was Chief Curator at the Castello di Rivoli Museum of Contemporary Art in Turin from 2002 to 2008 and
interim director of the museum in 2009. From 1999 to 2001 she was Senior Curator of Exhibitions at P.S.1 Contemporary Art
Center a MoMA Affiliate. See Biennale Foundation website for details,
http://www.biennialfoundation.org/biennials/documenta/, accessed January 9, 2012. See also Biennale of Sydney, 2008, p. 302
for Board Members.
82
See Biennale Foundation website, http://www.biennialfoundation.org/biennials/documenta/, accessed January 9, 2012.
83 The installation in Sydney also was made possible with the generous support of the Canada Council for the Arts, the Biennale
of Sydney and Bowers & Wilkins Speakers. The presentation of the work was also supported by Andrew and Cathy Cameron.
Biennale of Sydney 2008 website, http://www.bos2008.com/app/biennale/artist/23, accessed September 29, 2011.
See Christov-Bakargiev, Janet Cardiff (ex. cat.), 2001, P.S. 1. Published to accompany the exhibition organized by P.S. 1
Contemporary Art Center, Long Island City, N.Y., October 14, 2001-January 2002. Touring venues: Muse d'art contemporain de
Montral, Montreal, Quebec (May 23-September 8, 2002); Palazzo delle esposizioni, Rome, Italy (November 13, 2002-January 30,
2003).
84
244
Canada, The Paradise Institute (2005) as part of the Venice Biennale that year.85 ChristovBakargievs Sydney Biennale also included William Kentridges performance on Cockatoo Island,
I am not me, the horse is not mine (2008) which was financially supported by John Kaldor and Naomi
Milgrom Kaldor.86
The fourth member of the Curatorial Advisory Group was Klaus Biesenbach, Director of P.S.1
Contemporary Art Centre, New York and Chief Curator, Department of Media and Performance
Art, Museum of Modern Art, New York. Biesenbach is one of a younger generation of EuroAmerican transnationals, equally at home in the art society pages as in the museum.87 Beginning
his career in a post-wall Berlin, Biesenbach founded Kunst-Werke (KW) Institute for
Contemporary Art in that city in 1991, as well as the Berlin Biennale in 1996. He retained the
role as Founding Director at both entities. Moving to New York, he held the positions of Chief
Curatorial Advisor at P.S.1 and Chief Curatorial Advisor at Large at MoMA prior to his
appointment as Director of P.S. 1 in 2009, succeeding their Founding Director Alanna Heiss.88
In 2010, he curated Marina Abramovi: the Artist is Present (2010), and William Kentridge: five themes
(2010) for MoMA, two of the most highly regarded exhibitions of that year.89 For AGNSWs
publication John Kaldor Family Collection in 2011, Biesenbach contributed an essay contextualizing
the history and significance of performance art in Kaldors private collection.90
Vincente Todoli was appointed the fifth member of the Curatorial Advisory Group in 2012.91
From 1986 to 1988 Todoli was chief curator of IVAM, The Valencia Institute for Modern Art,
Spain, and from 1989 to 1996, he was the Artistic Director of that institute. From 1996 to 2002
85 Lars Mller and Martina Mullis (eds.), Insular insight, Where art and Architecture Conspire with Nature, Naoshima, Teshima, Inujima, Lars
Mller Publishers, Baden, Switzerland, 2011, p. 102.
Biennale of Sydney Annual Report 2008 acknowledged that the Kentridge project was made possible through the generous
support of John Kaldor AM and Maomi Milgrom Kaldor.
http://www.bos2008.com/files/16th_biennale_of_sydney_report_2008.pdf, accessed September 29, 2011.
86
87
See for example Scene and Herd, Artforum.
See MoMA P.S.1 news, http://momaps1.org/news/view/48/ ; and MOMA website, http://momaps1.org/news/view/48/,

88
89 See David Ebony, Marina Abramovi: an interview, Art in America, May 5, 2009; Dan Fox, Ten Notes on Marina Abramovis
The Artist is Present, Frieze blog, May 4, 2010; Artinfo, n.a., Basel Stripped Bare: Sean Kelly's Booth Will Re-Stage Marina
Abramovi's Classic Nude Gateway Performance, Artinfo, April 18, 2012. http://www.artinfo.com/news/story/799803/baselstripped-bare-sean-kellys-booth-will-re-stage-marina-abramovics-classic-nude-gateway-performance, accessed May 7, 2012; Linda
Yablonsky, Last Supper, Artforum diary, June 6, 2010. Bisenbach also featured in the documentary film, Marina Abramovi: The
Artist is Present (2012) directed by Matthew Akers, about the staging of the MoMA retrospective in 2010.
90
Biesenbach, Performance, in Tunnicliffe, John Kaldor Family Collection, 2011, pp. 34 - 39.
91
KPAP website, http://kaldorartprojects.org.au/about/our-team, accessed April 12, 2012.
245
246
he was the Director of the Museum of Contemporary Art Fundao De Serralves in Porto,
Portugal; and in 2003 he was appointed Director of the Tate Modern, London (2003 2010).92
He was well placed to bring a strong European perspective to Kaldors curatorial advisory board.
Board
While the Curatorial Advisory Group consisted of European and American-based international
curators, the Board was composed largely of Melbourne and Sydney business people and
philanthropists. Most were already well connected to international contemporary art institutions.
The Boards Chair was Rupert Myer. An art collector and philanthropist, Myer had held
numerous positions in leading Australian cultural institutions. These included his role as a
Council Member of the National Gallery of Australia (which he chaired from 2005 to 2012), a
Trustee of the National Gallery of Victoria (1997-2002) and Board Member of the MCA (Myer
was appointed on 18 May 1997, the same date that Kaldor was appointed to the MCA Board).93
He had chaired the Contemporary Visual Arts and Craft Inquiry, known as the Myer Report, in
2002.94 Like Kaldor, Myer had been a member of the Tate International Council.95 He was also
Chair of the Myer Family Company and Vice President of the Myer Foundation, one of
Australias leading philanthropic foundations.
Other board members included businesswoman Jillian Broadbent AO; actor and TV and film
producer, Santo Cilauro; a partner with the accountant ant firm Deloittes, Craig Holland; Kaldor
himself; businessman, Mark Nelson;96 and businesswoman, Naomi Milgrom, Kaldors wife. As
sole owner, the Executive Chair and CEO of the Sussan Group, Naomi Milgrom had overseen
the expansion of her fashion group to become one of Australias largest privately held retailers.97
She sat on numerous philanthropic boards, such as the Howard Florey Institute, (a leading
Fondazione Mario Merz, http://fondazionemerz.org/en/fondazione/comitato-scientifico/vicente-todolivicente-todoli/,

92
93
MCA Annual Report 1997.
94
For a full biography, see National Gallery of Australia press release, 2005, http://nga.gov.au/ABOUTUS/press/chairman.cfm.
Mr and Mrs Rupert Myer were listed as Members of the International Council for the Tate Gallery, The Tate Report 20022004.
95
96 Executive Chairman and Director of Research of Caledonia (Private) Investments Pty Ltd.; Director of The Caledonia
Foundation; Nelson had over 24 years experience working in the Australian investment and equity markets. Nelson was also
Trustee of the Art Gallery of New South Wales and a Director of Art Exhibitions Australia Limited. Caledonia online website,
http://www.caledonia.com.au/info/SolutionPages/MarkNelson.aspx?MenuNodeID=16, Accessed August 2, 2011.
97
The Suzanne group was made up of fashion labels Sussan, Suzanne Grae and Sportsgirl.
246
Melbourne-based medical research institute), and was former Chair of the LOreal Fashion
Festival.98 Milgrom was also a significant collector of contemporary art in her own right, a
passion which had been recognized publically through appointments to the boards of a number
of Melbournes leading contemporary art and public galleries including Chair of the Australian
Centre for Contemporary Art, and as a Trustee of the National Gallery of Victoria.99 Whilst
Kaldor had acknowledged Milgrom for reinvigorating his interest in working with artists, she was
also credited with encouraging her husband to donate two hundred contemporary works from
his collection worth between $35 million and $40 million to the AGNSW in May [2011].100
The KPAP Management Board was composed of high profile Australian business people and
philanthropists, each very successful individually, with a visible public presence. Each was
equipped to financially support initiatives of Kaldor Public Art Projects, and to connect the
organization to others in financial or decision-making positions, able to support ambitious
contemporary art projects by international artists.101
Staff
The management staff and resources of KAP (as it was known in 2007), while professional, were
not dedicated to KAP alone. In 2008, I visited the Essential Art Services offices in Botany,
Sydney, where the archival material for Kaldor Art Projects was then located.102 At that stage,
Kaldor Art Projects appeared to be a small operation solely driven by John Kaldor who made all
artistic decisions. Whilst Adam Free was substantially involved, there appeared to be no full-time
For details of other board appointments, Monash University Alumni website, http://www.monash.edu.au/alumni/prominentalumni/naomi-milgrom.html. Accessed August 2, 2011.
98
99 Milgrom was Chair of the Australian Centre for Contemporary Art (ACCA) from 2004 2011. She resigned as Chair of ACCA
to take up a position as Trustee on the Council for Trustees for the National Gallery of Victoria in July 2011, a position she had
previously held in 2003-4. Milgrom is daughter of well-known business people and philanthropists Marcus Besen AO and Eva
Besen AO, founders of the Tarrawarra Museum of Art, in the Yarra Valley, Victoria. In October 2011, a newspaper article in The
Age indicated that Milgrom would be the next Chair of the NGV Trustees commencing in April 2012 on the retirement of Alan
Myers QC. See State Government of Victoria, Fresh perspectives on the arts with new board members, Thursday, 21 July 2011;
Raymond Gill, Fresh face to usher in new era for the NGV, The Age, October 11, 2011. However, Bruce Parncutt was ultimately
appointed in October 2012: see Mathew Dunckley and John Stensholt, Banker tapped for NGV boards chair, The Australian
Financial Review, October 9, 2012; John Stensholt, Bruce Parncutt next NGV council president, The Australian Financial Review,
October 10, 2012.
100
See Gill, Fresh face, The Age, 2011.
For Project 25, Thomas Demand (2012) the partners included Penelope Seidler, Richard Weinberg and Monica Saunders
Weinberg, and the Yulgilbar Foundation (a Myer Family Foundation). See JKAP list of supporters,
http://kaldorartprojects.org.au/connect/supporters, accessed August 12, 2012. Project partners for Project 20, Stephen Vitiello,
included Geoff and Vicki Ainsworth, Mark and Louise Nelson, Ray Wilson.
101
102
Kaldor Art Projects Archive, May 1, 2008.
247
248
staff working permanently in the Botany offices. Expertise was bought in on a project-by-project
basis, coordinated by Free. This was not unusual: project organisations of this sort routinely
expand and contract as temporary staff are required nearer to a projects realisation. The
organization appeared to function through a small group of specialized staff who juggled their
work for Kaldor Art Projects with other professional responsibilities, some related to and others
independent of John Kaldors collecting and patronage activities.
Kaldor described his staff as a small dedicated team of collaborators to help realize the
projects.103 Kaldor Public Art Projects list of staff included Director John Kaldor; Consultant
Jennifer Lindsay; curators Charlotte Day and Adam Free; Project manager Alison Guthrie;
Curatorial research & publications manager Sophie Forbat; Financial officer Louise Merhi;
Executive assistant Elizabeth Flynn; IT consultant Robin Stern; Service staff Ron Clark and
Daniel Barnacoat; and Event management Daniel Raux-Copin.104 Few amongst this group
appeared to be committed full-time to KPAP. For example, the curator, Charlotte Day, was also
Associate Curator at the Australian Centre for Contemporary Art. She worked as a curator of
independent projects such as the Tarrawarra Biennial (2008), and was co-curator of the 2010
Adelaide Biennial of Australian Art. She was also co-curator of another significant collection of
art, the Michael Buxton Collection of Contemporary Australian Art.105 Day first worked with
Kaldor when he was Commissioner of the Australian pavilion for the Venice Biennale in 2005
and then again in 2007, as Curator of Ricky Swallows exhibition in the Australian Pavilion, This
time another year (2005), and as Project Curator for Callum Mortons Valhallah (2007), one of the
three projects for the 2007 Australian pavilion projects.106 In 2008, she was also project curator
for the Kaldor project with Martin Boyce.107
103
104
Forbat, 40 Years, 2009, p. 291.
105 Art Institute website, University of Melbourne, Interrogating Art Curatorship in Australia, Curatorship symposium, Friday 12
and Saturday 13 March, 2010. Speakers biography: Charlotte Day;
http://www.artinstitute.unimelb.edu.au/__data/assets/pdf_file/0007/279340/Curatorship-symposium-program.pdf, Accessed
online, August 2, 2011
Callum Morton, Valhalla, Palazzo Zenobio, Palazzo Zenobio, one of three projects representing the official Australian Pavilion
projects), 52nd Venice Biennale, Italy (2007).
106
Project curator, Charlotte Day. Martin Boyce, We are shipwrecked and landlocked (2008), Old Melbourne Gaol, Melbourne, 22
October 30 November, 2008. RMIT presented the project as a collaboration with KPAP. The Old Melbourne Gaol courtyard
now forms part of the city campus (RMIT University Alumni Courtyard). RMIT University, Martin Boyce Project Exhibition,
http://emedia.rmit.edu.au/kaldor/boyce, accessed August 22, 2011.
107
248
Similarly, Sydney-based Adam Free combined his work as a freelance curator, critic and
consultant with curatorial work for Kaldor Art Projects.108 His involvement with John Kaldor
began when he catalogued Kaldors private collection.109 As Curator of European Paintings and
Sculptures at the Art Gallery of South Australia, he curated the exhibition Journey to now: John
Kaldor art projects and collection (2003) drawn from Kaldors personal art collection.110 With expertise
in online interfaces, Free oversaw the development of the comprehensive website for Kaldor Art
Projects and the educational MOVE video program. He also worked as the project curator for a
number of Art Projects.
Alison Guthrie was listed as project manager for KPAP. She had worked with Kaldor since
2000, when she and Kaldor established Essential Art Services, a Sydney based art storage,
handling, transportation and collection management business. A key part of their business was
managing, storing and transporting Kaldors own personal collection. Following the sale of the
business to King & Wilson in 2010, Guthrie remained in the Sydney office as a member of the
Essential Art Services staff.111
Sophie Forbat, editor of the 2009 Kaldor publication, was responsible for curatorial research and
publications manager. Previously, she had worked at the Biennale of Sydney, under Artistic
Director, Carolyn Christov Bakargiev. She was curatorial research manager for the 16th Biennale
of Sydney (2008) and was managing editor of the catalogue and guide.112
As these biographies illustrate, there was a web of relationships between those working on KAP,
Kaldors collection, Kaldors other activities (principally as Australian Commissioner for the
Venice Biennale 2005 and 2007, and Board Member of the Biennale of Sydney), and the
108 Free appeared as one of the three directors of art.net.au, an online directory of galleries, artists, services and museums in
Australia, New Zealand and the Pacific. All works appearing on the website were for sale. Art.net.au,
http://www.art.net.au/about.asp, accessed August 1, 2011. Prior to setting up the online website, Free was Curator of European
Paintings & Sculptures, Art Gallery of South Australia, Adelaide, and a former head of paintings department, Sothebys Sydney.
109
ABC Radio National, The Collector: John Kaldor, 2003.
110 Art Gallery of South Australia, 2003. Kaldor was the keynote speaker at the Art Gallery of South Australias launch of their
new contemporary collectors initiative, June 11. 2003.
In 2010, the business was sold to Andrew Wilson, an executive of Melbourne-based King & Wilson transporters, who were
keen to consolidate their move into the art handling side of the transport business. FIDI Focus, 2010.
111
112 Forbat had previously worked as administrative assistant on the 14th Biennale of Sydney curated by Isobel Carlos, Reason and
emotion (2004); program coordinator for the 15th Biennale of Sydney curated by Charles Merewether, Zones of Contact (2006);
followed by her experience working with Christov Bakargiev as curatorial research and publications manager, BOS 2008. Forbat,
40 Years, 2009, p. 293.
249
250
members of the Curatorial Advisory Group.113 This was little different from the many other
overlapping relationships in the Australian and the international art world.
GIFT OF THE JOHN KALDOR FAMILY COLLECTION

The validation of KPAP through more professionalised governance, curatorial advice and
management was reinforced by the institutional corroboration of Kaldors parallel collecting
activities.114 In 2008, John Kaldor announced the gift of part of his private collection to the
AGNSW as the John Kaldor Family Collection.115 Built up over fifty years, the gift of two
hundred and sixty works was valued at AUD 35 million (USD 29 million) in 2008, and was
according to AGNSWs director Edmund Capon, the most significant single gift of
contemporary art in Australian history.116 Rumors of a significant gift from Kaldor to one of
Australias state museums had been voiced certainly since he had been on the board of the
MCA.117 Naomi Milgrom was credited with encouraging the donation,118 and she may have
assisted Kaldor to conclude the negotiations and decide on AGNSW, determine a name for the
galleries in which part of the collection would always be displayed, and the terms of the gift.
Kaldors gift was matched by further public and private funding totaling $65 million: the NSW
State Labor government of Morris Iemma committed $25.7 million to build a new storehouse for
the Gallery in Sydneys inner west, whilst the Belgiorno-Nettis family gave $4 million to assist
with the conversion of the old storage floor into a vast new exhibition space.119 The 1,500 square
metre exhibition space would be known as the John W. Kaldor Family Gallery for Contemporary
Art.120
113 In 2012, the staff structure evolved again. Bettina Kaldor, John Kaldors daughter, became General Manager, while Sophie
Forbat was appointed Program Manager. Other positions included a Manager of Education, Interpretation and Engagement;
Curatorial and Communications Coordinator; Finance Office, IT Consultant; and Executive Assistant to John Kaldor. See
http://kaldorartprojects.org.au/about/our-team, accessed September 22, 2012.
114
The relationship between KPAP and Kaldors collection is explored in more detail above at p. 104 and p. 222.
115 See for example Perkin, $35 million gift, Australian, 2008: Young, The Great Commissioner, Art & Asia Pacific, 2009; Marr,
A lifes work, Sydney Morning Herald, 2011; Charlotte Day, From private to public domains: Presenting the John Kaldor Family
Gallery, Art & Australia, Vol. 48, No. 4, Winter 2011, pp. 610-615.
116
Young, The Great Commissioner, Art & Asia Pacific, 2009.
This was discussed as one reason why the MCA stored Kaldors collection without charge. Noted in Perkin, $35 million gift,
Australian, 2008.
117
118
Raymond Gill, Fresh face, The Age, 2011; Marr, A lifes work, Sydney Morning Herald, 2011.
119
Marr, A lifes work, Sydney Morning Herald, 2011.
120
Young, The Great Commissioner, Art & Asia Pacific, 2009.
250
John Kaldor Family Collection, AGNSW (2011)

Installation view, L: Ugo Rondinone, what do you want? (2002),
R Ugo Rondinone, If there were anywhere but desert. wednesday (2000)
Art Gallery of New South Wales
Tunnicliffe (ed.), John Kaldor Family Collection, Art Gallery of New South Wales, 2011, p. 325.
251
252
The gift included works by many of the artists whose projects featured in KPAPs history. The
second major display of the John Kaldor Family Collection in AGNSW in 2012 included two
new works by artists who had been involved in previous Kaldor Art Projects. Gregor Schneider,
who had first worked with KPAP in 2007, presented Basement Haus ur (Basement cellar house)
(1985-2012), a re-working of part of his signature work that had achieved international
recognition.121 The project was initiated by John Kaldor and presented in collaboration with the
AGNSW. Richard Longs Stone Line was again restaged at the AGNSW, which had first
presented it in 1977 as JKAP Project 7.122 In 2009, an exhibition documenting the history of the
Art Projects was held at the AGNSW, coinciding with the 40th anniversary of Kaldor Public Art
Projects. Director, Edmund Capon, noted in the media release at the time of opening: 123
For an institution such as ours, with the aspiration to develop and maintain a distinguished
and impressive representation of contemporary art, it would be hard to overestimate the
significance of the gift of the John Kaldor Family Collection, a milestone that happens
once in a century. It will be a transforming experience for the Art Gallery of New South
Wales.
Kaldor observed the link between the collection and the Art Projects, even though he had always
consistently maintained the distinction between the public and private nature of the activities. He
stated:
I have shared my love of contemporary art with the Australian public for more than 40
years through Kaldor Public Art Projects. My collection, on the other hand, has remained
private. Donating it to the Art Gallery of New South Wales is a natural extension of my
aim to share art with the public. It is also my largest-ever art project.124
Writing about the gift in the book published by the AGNSW to coincide with the opening of the
new wing for the John Kaldor Family Collection,125 Klaus Biesenbach and others discussed
121
See above p. 238.
122
See AGNSW Media Release, 2012.
123
AGNSW, Media Release, 2009.
124
AGNSW, Media Release, 2009.
Tunnicliffe, John Kaldor Family Collection, 2011. For example, The formation of much of the John Kaldor Family Collection
occurred concurrently with the commissioning and production of new work through the Kaldor Public Art Projects. Kaldors
private passion, embodied in his art collection, has long been wedded to his role in bringing international artists to Australia to
create public art and making it accessible to a wide audience. Biesenbach in Tunnicliffe, John Kaldor Family Collection, 2011.
125
252
Kaldors public and private art activities in a manner that implied they were inextricably linked.
Biesenbachs roles afforded him a global perspective on the rise of the collector, and the
intertwined nature of public and private activities in contemporary art. Within the critical
literature, this was also widely acknowledged: a 2011 edition of Texte zur Kunste entitled The
Collector specifically focused on the role that the collector played not only in acquiring works of
art, but also in the involvement with, or initiation of, commissions from contemporary artists.126
Launched in time to coincide with the start of the Art Fair season in 2012, the journals focus
signaled the singular shift that had occurred in the role of the private collector of contemporary
art since the 1980s.
The link between Kaldors Art Projects and the gift of the collection was valuable to the
AGNSW. It differentiated the collection from other contemporary art collections both in
Australia and internationally. The institutions desire to incorporate the history of the Art
Projects within the gift enabled AGNSW to embed the history of certain key projects with its
own development as an institution of international standing.127 The collection filled gaps in the
Gallerys own collection, with works that it could not possibly hope to acquire, and more
importantly, it enabled the institution to offer a broader display of art from the early 1960s to the
present day.
Kaldors decision to donate a substantial part of his private collection to a major public
institution differed from many other contemporary art initiatives that instead set up private
museums, both in Australia and internationally.128 He was quizzed by journalists at the time of
the gift about his decision to donate such a substantial part of his personal collection to the
AGNSW rather than opening his own private museum to showcase his collection, a trend that
had become common practice worldwide and a model that Naomi Milgrom-Kaldors own
parents adopted.129 Kaldor emphasized, I havent got the finances for that.130 Milgrom-Kaldors
126
Texte Zur Kunst, The Collectors, Texte Zur Kunst, Issue No. 83, September 2011.
See for example the inclusion of works from AGNSW permanent collection alongside those from the John Kaldor Family
Gift, including examples by Rosslynd Piggott, Christine Borland, Rachel Whiteread and Julie Rrap, Joseph Kosuth, Yves Klein,
Richard Hamilton, Svetlana Kopystiansky and Gerhard Richter. Visit by author, March 29, 2012.
127
128 For example, TarraWarra Museum of Art, Victoria; MONA, Tasmania; White Rabbit, Sydney; Lyon House Museum,
Melbourne. See Jana Hyner (ed.), BMW Art Guide by Independent Collectors, Hatje Cantz, Berlin, 2012, published by BMW luxury
car brand, and which listed some of the most recent examples of international private museums. See above p. 30.
TarraWarra Museum of Art (TWMA) is located in Victorias Yarra Valley, and is described as a privately funded, art museum.
It was a gift to the Australian public by founders Eva and Marc Besen, and showcases works from their private collection
129
253
254
experience as Chair of the Australian Centre for Contemporary Art, a non-collecting kunsthalle in
Melbourne, alongside Kaldors own experience as Chair of the MCA between 19972002, during
which time it was alleged he lent his collection to the MCA in return for free storage,131 gave him
a better understanding of the costs and complexities in commissioning and running a private art
museum.
The collection included an ironic tourist. Appropriately, this was Christos work. The Kaldor
Family Gift to the AGNSW included two wrapped gum tree works that Christo made on John
Kaldors front lawn at the same time as Wrapped Coast in 1969. 132 While the Art Project was
being shown, the larger tree was offered to the Art Gallery of New South Wales for acquisition
with the proviso that they [both works] should be shown together.133 Christo gave the other
tree to Kaldor, no doubt as a momento of the project they had just presented together. It
became a much talked about part of John Kaldors private collection, and appeared in images
documenting its contents. The wrapped eucalypts blocked a doorway in the hall of his family
house in the Sydney suburb of Woolwich, near Hunters Hill.134 The works have now become
part of the mythology surrounding the development of Kaldors collection. As Kaldor has
narrated, when Christos larger wrapped tree was taken to the Gallery and the Board met to
review the gift, the work was rejected out of hand.135 The work was returned to Kaldor,
remaining part of his collection along with the gift of the first tree from Christo to Kaldor. In
1990, when Christo and Jeanne-Claude were invited to Australia to create a second wrapped
project in the vestibule of AGNSW, the accompanying exhibition included the two wrapped
trees.136 Christos Two Wrapped Trees (1969) were presented again in the inaugural display of works
alongside a program of temporary exhibitions. It was established as a company limited by guarantee in October 2000, and is run
as a not-for-profit institution. Launched by the Prime Minister, John Howard in April 2002, it was first shown in temporary
premises at the Metropolitan Meat Market, North Melbourne, then moving to a purpose-built gallery designed by Allan Powell in
2003.
130
131
Perkin, $35 million gift, Australian, 2008; Marr, A lifes work, Sydney Morning Herald, 2011.
132
Their creation was documented by Brian Adams for ABC television, 1969.
133
134
See Thomas, The Art Collectors, Art & Australia, 1971.
135
See installation pictures included in Baume, Christo, 1990; Forbat, 40 Years, 2009, p. 159; and Tunnicliffe, John Kaldor Family
Collection, 2011.
136
254
from the John Kaldor Family Collection at the same gallery as part of the gift to the AGNSW.
Their presence amounted to a final validation of Kaldors Art Projects and his collection.
In 2009, the exhibition 40 Years: Kaldor Public Art Projects was presented at AGNSW, drawn largely
from objects, ephemera and documentation of the KPAP. It was accompanied by a publication
of the same name, commissioned by Kaldor, designed by AGNSW, published by KPAP and
distributed by AGNSW. 137 The extensive publication featured a full-wrap cover adorned with
Harry Shunks signature black and white photographs of Christo and Jeanne-Claudes Wrapped
Coast (1969).138 The catalogue provided a chronological record of each project since 1969,
reproduced archival material and images of the ephemeral projects, and contextualized these with
essays from leading local and international curators who had been involved in the projects.139 Its
tone was justifiably celebratory. It did not, however, offer an objective contextualization of the
Art Projects or KPAPs role within a broader international frame.
In 2011, when the John Kaldor Family Collection was opened at the AGNSW in its newly
refurbished spaces, a second hardcover publication was published by the institution.140 An open
weekend was held on 21 and 22 March 2011 to launch the newly installed galleries, with events
that included keynote talks by leading international and Australian artists, floor talks by Director
Edmund Capon and John Kaldor, and an extensive performance and film program. 141 A further
series of public programs, lectures and events included artists whose work had been presented as
part of KPAP, artists whose works were included in the permanent collection, and visiting
academics and curators of contemporary art. The gift was the subject of numerous newspaper
features, and largely all were extremely positive, as befitted the generous gift.142 Long articles
137
Forbat, 40 Years, 2009.
American photographer Harry Shunk documented many of Christo and Jeanne-Claudes early works. See Bourdon, Christo,
1972. Shunk is most widely known for his photographs of Yves Kleins infamous Leap into the Void (1960), constructed
photographs of the French artist appearing to leap from a second-floor window into thin air.
138
Edmund Capon, Anthony Bond, Carolyn Christov-Bakargiev, Daniel Thomas and John Kaldor in conversation with Nicholas
Baume in Forbat, 40 Years, 2009, pp. 18 43.
139
140
New Contemporary Galleries opened 21 May, 2011. Tunnicliffe, John Kaldor Family Collection, 2011.
For details see AGNSW Media Release, New Contemporary Galleries, John Kaldor Family Collection, Art Gallery of New
South Wales, 2011; KPAP website, and AGNSW website.
141
142 Perkin, $35 million gift, Australian, 2008; Marr, A lifes work, Sydney Morning Herald, 2011. However, McDonald noted that
the collection was muddled: John McDonald, A fine new space for a somewhat muddled collection, Sydney Morning Herald, May
18, 2011; while Hall discussed the gift in terms of other major gifts to state art museums: Doug Hall, Plumbing the depths, The
Financial Review, May 26, 2011.
255
256
were also published in art magazines, including Art & Australia, Apollo, and Frieze.143 The tone
again was celebratory. All noted the relationship between the private collection and the Public
Art Projects over the forty-year period. Any criticism was very gently couched. The art world is
often reluctant to publically debate controversial questions, not least those raised by a gift and its
content. Charlotte Day noted the omissions that the gift revealed when a private collection
became public, such as the lack of women artists, and more significantly the focus on
international over local.144 Groom concluded her piece in Frieze magazine by suggesting that the
focus on 1960s and 1970s Conceptual, Fluxus and Land art in the Kaldor Collection served as a
reminder that the dematerialization of the art object did not necessarily equate with anticommercialisation.145 What had originally been conceived as ephemeral, cheap, reproducible or
unseen, could just as easily now be bought and expensively sold. The presence of Christos
Wrapped Trees (1969), now incorporated into a public gallery through a private bequest, marked
the complete commodification of the uncommodifiable.
These articles did not discuss, however, the potential impact of the gift on the institutions future
ability to continue to expand and develop its contemporary art collecting. All donations and
sponsorship to institutions may and can affect institutional priorities. All institutional priorities,
whether a gift or potential project, are subject to the influence of key stakeholders - from
directors and curatorial staff, to trustees, other donors, and government agency. Generous gifts
such as these can be a catalyst for important change. During times of institutional conservatism
or limited funds, a visionary benefactor has the potential to assist an institution in engaging with
areas that are not part of the exhibition program, such as contemporary art at AGNSW in the
1970s, through a donors ability to donate or attract funding, or influence trustees through the
example of their own successful business enterprises. In contrast, the conditions of a gift or
project may have a significant impact on institutional resources. While it would be easy to say
that these should have been taken into account on acceptance or not of the gift, not all choices
are as black and white. As institutions carefully divide limited acquisition and gallery funds
between different departments, it is often difficult to justify further substantial investment in
143 Charlotte Day, From private to public domains, Art & Australia, 2011; Moore, The Quiet Pioneer, Apollo, 2011; and Amelia
Groom, John Kaldor Family Collection, Frieze, Issue 141, September 2011; Young, The Great Commissioner, Art & Asia
Pacific, 2009.
144
Day, From private to public domains, Art & Australia, 2011, p. 615.
145
Groom, John Kaldor Family Collection, Frieze, 2011.
256
areas already well resourced. The ability to acquire further work in the area of a gift, conditions
of dedicated gallery space, or the need for additional staff must all be taken into account.146
While terms of a gift may in some cases be able to be modified or amended, retrospective
interpretation of legally binding terms should not be assumed.
Given the scale and significance of the gift, a dedicated gallery space in which to present the art
was a requirement of Kaldors bequest to AGNSW. It was to be known as the John Kaldor
Family Gallery. Existing collection storage spaces were used for this purpose. After the first
installation, the galleries were not dedicated to the display of that collection alone, however, and
in subsequent hangs other parts of the permanent collection were shown alongside the Kaldor
gift while works from the Kaldor collection were also presented in other galleries alongside other
contemporary works from the permanent collection. Kaldor noted that he did not wish the
collection to be static, that somehow there should be a chance to add to it, so that its kept up to
date.147 The Kaldor Collections publication divided the gift into specific areas of focus:
including Robert Rauschenberg, Christo, American Minimal and Abstraction, Action and Object,
Pop Art, recent German photography, Bill Viola, video art, and a number of other contemporary
artists.148 Artists who had also presented Art Projects played a prominent role, including Christo,
Nam June Paik, Michael Landy, Jeff Koons, Barry McGee, Bill Viola, Urs Fischer, Gregor
Schneider and Ugo Rondinone.
By 2012, the second hang in the John Kaldor Family Collection gallery included works from the
Kaldor Collection alongside other works from the AGNSWs holdings. The inclusion of women
artists, a greater number of Australian artists both men and women, and a wider range of
Conceptual, Fluxus and performance art from Europe and the USA went some way to telling a
more nuanced history than Kaldors personal collecting interests allowed.149 They remained,
See for example a discussion of the gift of the Joseph Brown collection to the National Gallery of Victoria. Browns donation
to the NGV was made on the condition that the work be held together and in perpetuity. See Ashley Wilson, Galleries friend
and benefactor to the end, Australian, August 27, 2009; Patrick McCaughey, Move would make asset of albatross of generosity,
The Age, January 21, 2006. For a reference to founding director Leon Paroissiens interpretation of John Powers will in
establishing the terms of the MCA, see Joyce Morgan, The Art of Survival: the MCAs fight to stay in the picture, Sydney Morning
Herald, September 11, 2001, p. 20.
146
147
See Tunnicliffe, John Kaldor Family Collection, AGNSW, 2011, p. 4. The gift included work by Australian artists Daniel Crooks,
Shaun Gladwell, TV Moore, Daniel von Sturmer and Christian Capurro.
148
Rosslynd Piggott, La somnambule (The sleepwalker) (199697); Julie Rapp, Body Double (2007); Christine Borland, Winter Garden
(2001). Collection AGNSW.
149
257
Bill Viola
258
however, overwhelmingly Euro-American-centric. While the gift enabled AGNSW to present

significant examples of key artists from the 1960s to the present day, the emphasis of these artists
over others through the sheer number of works, of which a certain number would always be on
display, ensured that certain histories and narratives would remain at the forefront of AGNSWs
institutional framing of the key conceptual, theoretical and art historical shifts that marked the
development of contemporary art.
BILL VIOLA
Reflecting the influence of the Curatorial Advisory Group, projects from 2008 onwards
demonstrated a greater emphasis on artists who had previously presented large-scale site specific
works with other international independent foundations and biennales. Whilst the choice of
artists may have revealed the advice of the curatorial board in presenting a range of artists whose
practices were critically well received, the difficulty remained in how to differentiate KPAPs
projects from those presented as part of institutional programs. Partnering with local biennales
and festivals to present site-specific, temporary projects was one solution to the problem of
achieving prominence amongst a dense offering of contemporary Australian and international art.
In 2008, Kaldor presented the first of two projects with renowned American video artist Bill
Viola, known for his large-scale, immersive video and sound installations.150 Violas large-scale
installations and video works were widely acknowledged as pivotal in the development of video
art. By 1995, when he exhibited in the American Pavilion at the Venice Biennale, Violas work
had already been the subject of three substantial solo catalogues and smaller publications, whilst a
number of his large-scale installations had exerted a powerful presence within the art world.151
Chrissie Iles noted that the Venice exhibition mark[ed] an important moment in the history of
video installation, developing further the ground established by Violas and Garry Hills single
pieces in documenta, both of which were widely considered to be the strongest works in the entire
exhibition.152 Then curator and head of exhibitions at the Museum of Modern Art, Oxford,153
150
Bill Viola, The Tristian Project, St Saviours Church, Redfern, Sydney, 9 April 23 May, 2008.
151
Chrissie Iles, Bill Viola: Venice Biennale 1995, Review, Art Journal, Vol. 54, No. 4, Video Art, Winter, 1995, p. 101.
152
Iles, Bill Viola, Art Journal, 1995, p. 101.
In 2002, the Museum of Modern Art, Oxford, changed its name to Modern Art Oxford (MAO). Its lack of a permanent
collection meant that it was not technically a museum according to current definitions.
153
258
Bill Viola, Fire Woman (2005)

part of the series The Tristan Project (2005)
Installation view, St Saviours Church, Sydney (2008)
Photo: Kira Perov
259
Bill Viola
260
England, Iles went on to become the curator of film and video at the Whitney Museum, New
York, one of the defining institutions for the presentation of work of this kind.154
For Australians, a major survey of Violas work had previously been held at the National Gallery
of Australia in 2005.155 Organised by the J. Paul Getty Museum, Los Angeles, the touring
exhibition had also been shown in London and Madrid. It had presented a definitive and
scholarly exhibition of Violas recent works that included twelve works from The Passions series,
and an all-enveloping environment of sight and sound, Five Angels for the Millennium (2001).
Kaldors project repeated this immersive viewing and sound experience. The location of the
project, however, took Violas work out of the white cube, and into a space laden with historic,
cultural and architectural significance. Two parts of Violas The Tristan Project (2005) were
presented at St Saviours Church, Redfern.156 The location was suggested to Kaldor by author
David Malouf.157 Viola had previously used religious sites as the location for his immersive video
projections.158 St Saviours Church is significant not only for its Romanesque revival style of
architecture, but its connection to the local Aboriginal community. At the same time as Fire
Woman (2005) and Tristans Ascension (2005) were presented as a Kaldor project at St Saviours
Church, AGNSW showed The Fall into Paradise (2005), another video work from The Tristan Project
(2005). The parallel presentations both showed the scope of this significant series and also
reflected the ever closer institutional relationship between Kaldor and the ANGSW. In 2012, the
work was presented again, this time as part of the Melbourne International Arts Festival (MIAF),
alongside an exhibition of Violas The Raft (2004) at the Australian Centre for the Moving Image
(ACMI).159 Like its Sydney installation, The Tristan Project was shown in the historic St Carthages
Catholic Church, Parkville. The works presentation, both in conjunction with ACMI and as part
of MIAF reflected Kaldors new approach. He was staging site-specific temporary work during a
Chrissie Iles biography, Pew Centre for Arts and Culture, http://www.pcah.us/exhibitions/panelists/pei-panelist-2003chrissie-iles/, accessed September 7, 2012.
154
155
Bill Viola: The Passions, 29 July 6 November 2005, NGA.
156
Fire Woman and Tristans Ascension (The Sound of a Mountain Under a Waterfall) (2005).
157
Forbat, 40 Years, 2009, p. 240.
158 The Messenger, Durham Cathedral, England (1996); also shown at the AGNSW in 1999; and Ocean Without a Shore (2007), that
employed the three stone altars of the 15th century Church of San Gallo, Venice, during the Venice Biennale of 2007.
159 Bill Viola, The Raft (2004), Australian Centre for the Moving Image, Melbourne (ACMI), curated by Alessio Cavallaro and Kate
Warren. The work was presented by ACMI and Kaldor Public Art Projects in association with the Melbourne International Arts
Festival.
260
major local arts festival, contributing to the festival visual arts programme, and co-opting their
wider reach of audience.
MARTIN BOYCE, TATZU NISHI AND STEPHEN VITIELLO

The next three projects following Viola all responded very specifically to site and context:
RMITs Alumni Courtyard, the public sculptures outside the AGNSW, and the kilns of the
Sydney Park Brickworks. Martin Boyces Australian project with JKAP, We are shipwrecked and
landlocked (2008), was presented in RMITs Alumni Courtyard, adjoining the Old Melbourne Gaol
in Melbournes CBD.160 Boyce had previously visited Melbourne in 1988, when his work was
included as part of a group exhibition entitled Strolling the art of arcades, boulevards, barricades,
publicity, curated by Max Delany at the Heide Museum of Modern Art. This was part of the
Melbourne Festival.161 Boyce had also earlier worked outdoors, on a site-specific temporary work
as part of the Mnster Sculpture Project 07. Like his Mnster project, entitled We are still and reflective
(2007), Boyces KAP drew inspiration from photographs of the cubist-trees created by twin
brothers Jol and Jan Martel for the 1925 Exposition des arts dcoratifs in Paris.162 For Mnster,
Boyce developed these abstract tree forms to create an outdoor floor piece installed on the site of
the premises of the former Mnster zoo. Thirteen pre-formed concrete slabs with bands of brass
were installed in selected gaps to create the words We are still and reflective.163 Boyce described
these as producing a perfect unity of architecture and nature,164 and he talked of them conveying
an idea of a landscape that hovered between a real physical space and an imaginary one.
In Melbourne, the exhibition site played a significant role. The project curator Charlotte Day
noted that Boyce chose the site for its self-contained nature, as well as its openness within the
dense architecture of the city.165 On a previous site visit, she had taken him to visit historic
Project 18: Martin Boyce, We are shipwrecked and landlocked (2008), 22 October 30 November 2008, Old Melbourne Gaol,
Melbourne. Project curator, Charlotte Day.
160
161 Curator, Max Delany, Strolling the art of arcades, boulevards, barricades, publicity, Museum of Modern Art at Heide, 30 October
22 November, 1988. See Melbourne Festival website, http://pandora.nla.gov.au/nphwb/19991201130000/http://www.melbournefestival.com.au/1999/entry_1999.htm, accessed June 3, 2012.
Boyce education pack, KPAP website, http://kaldorartprojects.org.au/project-archive/martin-boyce-2008, accessed June 3,

2012.
162
163
Skulpture Projekte Munster 07, http://www.skulptur-projekte.de/kuenstler/boyce/, accessed April 13, 2012.
164
Skulpture Projekte Munster 07, http://www.skulptur-projekte.de/kuenstler/boyce/, accessed April 13, 2012.
Australian Centre for Contemporary Art (ACCA), Podcast, An evening with Charlotte Day, ACCA, Wednesday 29 April,
6.30pm, 2009. ACCA website, http://www.accaonline.org.au/soundfiles, accessed March 13, 2012.
165
261
262

Installation view, Old Melbourne Gaol, RMIT University, Melbourne
Photo: Adam Free
Forbat (ed), 40 Years, 2009, p. 259. Boyce
262
locations that included the ballroom in Flinders Street Station, a larger warehouse space in
Melbournes Docklands, the Abbotsford Convent, and the underground Modernist concrete
carpark at the University of Melbourne.166 None was suitable, as the sites purpose and history
was either too dominating, or did not enable the artist to achieve what he wanted. RMITs
Alumni Courtyard already had a history of use as a platform for site-specific temporary artworks
and performances.167 Surrounded by the bluestone walls of what was once part of the Old
Melbourne Gaol, the historic and cultural references of the site added further meaning to the
work. Construction regulations forced the project staff to treat a temporary project in the same
way as a permanent installation. However the relationship of the site to one of Melbournes
leading teaching institutions, the Royal Melbourne Institute of Technology (RMIT), created other
opportunities. Kaldor spoke to RMIT students about the Art Projects, and a Forum was held in
collaboration with RMIT, which featured panelists Martin Boyce; Max Delany, Director, Monash
University Museum of Art (MUMA); artist Callum Morton; Associate Professor SueAnne Ware;
and Professor Elizabeth Grierson.168 Many of RMITs students were involved in the exhibition
as part of their university courses.169 They also worked in a voluntary or paid capacity as
invigilators.170 As with Christo and Jeanne-Claudes Wrapped Coast (1969),171 this direct working
involvement with the project enabled students to develop a sense of ownership in the work, and
a first hand understanding of site-specific installations.
The project was important for Boyce. Boyce developed further outdoor site-specific projects in
the US as a result of the Melbourne Kaldor Project.172 In 2009, he presented No Reflections in
Venices Palazzo Pisani as Scotlands representative for the 2009 Venice Biennale.173 He drew
heavily on the artistic language and motifs developed for his Melbourne installation. Boyce
continued to re-work the form, material and structures derived from the early 1925 exhibition
166ACCA
Podcast, An evening with Charlotte Day, 2009.
167
It had been used by Maudie Palmer, Curator of the Visual Arts Program for the Melbourne Festival in 1997 and 1998.
168
Royal Melbourne Institute of Technology (RMIT), Forum Out of Tme, Wednesday 22 October 2008, RMIT Storey Hall.
169
See RMIT website for details of scholarly outcomes, http://emedia.rmit.edu.au/kaldor/boyce, accessed May 21, 2012.
170
Conversation with artist Susan Jacobs, co-ordinating invigilator for the Art Project, Melbourne, Tuesday October 21, 2008.
171
See above p. 134.
172 Conversation with Charlotte Day, Melbourne, Tuesday October, 21 2008. Also noted by Day, ACCA Podcast, A
conversation with , 2009.
173 No Reflections, curated by Dundee Contemporary arts (DCA), Scottish Presentation at the 53rd International Art Exhibition, La
Biennale di Venezia, 7 June 22 November (2009), Palazzo Pisani, Calle delle Erbe, Cannaregio.
263
264
photographs of the trees, creating an alternative urban landscape replete with discarded benches
and upturned dustbins. Boyce won the prestigious Turner Prize in 2011 based on his solo
exhibition at Galerie Eva Presenhuber, Zurich, and his Venice exhibition in 2009. Even though
these works derived from his Melbourne project, the Turner Prize did not specifically refer to
Boyces 2008 Australian work, presumably because the project was located far from the cultural
centres of the northern hemisphere.
Boyces project with KPAP clearly had a local impact. At a tangible level, the three white tree
elements of We are shipwrecked and landlocked (2008-2010) were eventually gifted to the Queensland
Art Gallery and Gallery of Modern Art, Brisbane (QAG & GOMA) by Kaldor Public Art
Projects, where they were installed as part of the exhibition 21st Century: Art in the First Decade
(2011).174 They remain permanently at GOMA.
Boyces visit also strengthened artists networks. In 2010, the Jane Scally Developing Artist
Award was inaugurated, presented by ACCA and Peter Jopling, in memory of his wife. 175 The
award enabled a young Australian artist to travel internationally, and to be mentored by an
international artist whose work had some relationship to their own. The form of the award built
on the important role that international residencies had played in fostering stronger links with
artists and artistic networks globally. It also offered the means of financial support for the often
conceptually-based, exhibition-driven generation of urban nomad artists, who resided in one
country, but saw the global artworld as their stage.176 In 2010 the inaugural award was given to
Melbourne artists Pat Foster and Jen Berean, who chose to travel to Scotland to study with
Boyce.177 Day had included Foster and Berean in NEW09, an exhibition showcasing new
174 21st Century: Art in the First Decade, 18 December 2010-26 April 2011. See GOMA website,
http://qagoma.qld.gov.au/exhibitions/past/2010/21st_Century/artists/martin_boyce, accessed May 21, 2012.
For details of the award see ACCA website, http://www.accaonline.org.au/JaneScallyArtistAward, accessed January 30, 2012.
A selection panel included Max Delany, Monash University Museum of Art Director; artist Lou Hubbard, ACCA Board member,
Peter Jopling QC; with ACCAs Artistic Director Juliana Engberg as convenor and Chair.
175
The term was used by Charlotte Bydler: see Bydler, The Global Art World, 2004, p. 14, pp. 50-55. The impact of international
residencies on Australian artists is based on my experience as a curator working in Australia and internationally. For a selective
discussion of the role that international residencies and studios have played in the development of contemporary visual arts in
Australia, from a policy and institutional perspective (the voice of the artist is missing), see Anna Waldmann, Australian arts:
Gained in translation?, Art & Australia, Vol. 44, No. 4, Winter 2007, p 495; Rupert Myer, International Promotion of Australian
Art, [online], Art Monthly Australia, No. 215, Nov 2008, pp. 16-18; Judith Blackall, Australian artists in Italy: Residencies and
residents, Chapter 10 in Kent, Bill, Prsman, Ros & Troup, Cynthia, Australians in Italy, Contemporary Lives and Impressions, Monash
University Publishing, 2010.
176
177 ACCA Media Release, The Jane Scally Developing Artist Award, 2010, ACCA website,
http://www.accaonline.org.au/MediaReleaseJaneScallyDevelopingArtistAward, accessed May 21, 2012.
264
Tatzu Nishi, War and peace and in between (2009)

exterior and interior views, Art Gallery of New South Wales, Sydney
featuring Gilbert Bayes, The offerings of peace (1923)
Photo: Rebecca Coates
265
266
commissions by emerging artists held annually at the Australian Centre for Contemporary Art.178
She had also curated Boyces project in Melbourne for KPAP. Her support of the two artists in
their approach to Boyce, to secure his mentorship, reflected the wider international networks of
the 2009 arts community relative to those of 1969 when Kaldor began presenting projects. As
the value of working overseas was increasingly recognized, the support of curators reflected the
extended role of independent and institutional curators. They were now part of a more complex,
and durable, system of artistic professional development.
In 2009, KPAP invited Japanese artist Tatzu Nishi to present one of his signature installations as
JKAP Project 19. Nishi chose to reinvent the two 19th century equestrian sculptures by Gilbert
Bayes, The offerings of peace (1923) and The offerings of war (1923), that flank the entrance to the
AGNSW for his project War and peace and in between (2009). Subverting the historic public
sculptures made of bronze and steel, depicting men of war and symbols of the state on
monumental plinths, Nishi instead constructed rooms around the giant bronze figures, a
domestic living room and bedroom. Accessed by ladders, they offered a unique view of familiar,
or often overlooked, aspects of the Gallerys entrance. Nishis work had been regularly included
in international biennale and art museum projects. In 2012, Nicholas Baume presented
Discovering Columbus for the Public Art Fund, in N.Y.C. Nishis large-scale temporary installation
recontextualised Christopher Columbus by placing him in the middle of a contemporary living
room, six stories above the street. 179 Like Nishis smaller KPAP project, it was a form of largescale sensational installation art that enabled a playful reconsideration of traditional forms of
public sculpture as monument, and revealed the often too familiar aspects of local sites and
architectural settings. Roberta Smith noted that the experience possibly was not surrealist
enough, though it offered wonderful views of the surrounding city, and a disturbing example of
the increasing privatization of public space by the rich and powerful.180 Unlike Nishis
monumental project in the urban heart of New York City, KPAPs project was located in an art
museum context. It did not break new ground with the Sydney presentation.
178
NEW09, ACCA, 17 March - 17 May 2009, curator, Charlotte Day; including artists Jen Berean and Pat Foster.
Tatsuo Nishi: Discovering Columbus, Public Art Fund, September 20-November 18, 2012. The Columbus Monument was
designed by Gaetano Russo and erected in 1892 to commemorate Columbuss first voyage to the Americas. As part of the
project, PAF also oversaw the conservation of the Columbus Monument in association with the New York City Department of
Parks & Recreation.
179
Roberta Smith, At His Penthouse, a Tte--Tte With Columbus, The New York Times, September 21, 2012. Accessed online,
http://www.nytimes.com/2012/09/22/arts/design/tatzu-nishis-discovering-columbus-installation.html, October 11, 2012.
180
266
Stephen Vitiellos project with KPAP reflected another significant trend in contemporary art.
Vitiello is a US artist working in the medium of sound installation. He had created significant
installations in New York City. Kaldors choice reflected a broader interest worldwide towards
sound installation.181 Originally a punk musician, Vitiello was influenced by contemporary artists
in the 1990s when he worked firstly with Nam June Paik, and later with Joan Jonas, Tony Ousler
and others.182 His connection with Nam June Paik, an older artist who was well represented in
Kaldors collection and with whom JKAP had already worked on a 1976 Art Project, may well
have influenced KPAP to choose Vitiello rather than other artists. Vitiello had previously shown
in Australia, in a collaborative work with Julie Mehretu, at the MCA as part of curator Charles
Merewethers 16th Biennale of Sydney Zones of Contact (2006).183 Vitiellos exhibition history was
not extensive.184
The Sound of Red Earth (2010) was the result of sound recordings captured by the artist on field
trips through the Kimberley region of Western Australia.185 Presented in Sydney Park
Brickworks, the historic part-subterranean kilns were enlivened through saturated coloured light
and surrounding multi-channeled sound. Vitiellos use of these well-known, but rarely accessible
buildings, enabled visitors to the work and those using the nearby parks to access history that was
at once familiar but often overlooked. The choice of subject-matter, however, bringing the
outback Australian bush to the city, raised questions about the ability of international artists to
create significant new works in a country in which they had spent relatively little time and whose
understanding of the complexity of context and site may well be limited.186 In a lecture to art
For a discussion of sound art from the mid 1980s, see Alan Licht, Sound Art: Beyond Music, between categories, New York, Rizzoli,
2007; Brandon Labelle, Background Noise: Perspective on Sound Art, New York, Continuum, 2006; and Christopher Cox, About time:
Christopher Cox on Sound Art, Artforum International, Vol. 46, No. 3, November 2007, p. 127. For a discussion on sound art post
1990s, see Seth Kim-Cohen, The Hole Truth, Artforum International, Vol 48, Issue 3, November 2009, pp. 99-100; and for a
discussion of Vitiellos early project undertaken at the World Trade Centre and its subsequent reading post 9/11, see Seth KimCohen, In the Blink of an Ear, toward a non-cochlear sonic art, Continuum, New York and London, 2009, pp. 121-148.
181
See AGNSW Education Kit, Project 20: Stephen Vitiello, http://kaldorartprojects.org.au/project-archive/stephen-vitiello2010, accessed April 12, 2012.
182
183
Charles Merewether, Zones of Contact, 16th Biennale of Sydney (ex. cat.), Sydney, 2006, p. 180-181.
184 Biennale of Sydney catalogue included solo exhibitions at The Project, New York (2005); Apex Art, New York (2002). Group
exhibitions included USF Contemporary Art Museum, Tampa, USA (2005); Digital Studio at the ICA, London, UK (2004);
Sound, The Kitchen, New York, USA (2004); Foundation Cartier por lart contemporain, Paris, France (2003); The Whitney
Biennial, Whitney Museum of American Art, New York, USA (2002). Merewether, 2006, p. 180.
185 The Sound of Red Earth, 12 August 12 September (2010), Sydney Park Brickworks, Sydney. The Birds, 11 August 12
September (2010), AGNSW.
This is a common concern for international artists parachuted into international biennale presenting works that are intended
to respond to site and context.
186
267
268
Stephen Vitiello, The Sound of Red Earth (2010)

Installation view, Sydney Park Brickworks, Sydney
Kaldor Public Art Projects, http://kaldorartprojects.org.au/project-archive/stephen-vitiello-2010, accessed November 21, 2012.
268
students in 2012, Kaldor noted that he had invited Vitiello to work specifically with the unique
Australian bush, which Kaldor had only in recent years come to discover.187 The
soundscapes,whilst evocative, did little to alter perceptions of the historic kilns, or to capture the
countrys uniqueness. In contrast, Vitiellos project created for the New York High Line just
prior to his Australian project, A bell for every minute (2010)188 presented in partnership with
Creative Time and the New York City Department of Parks & Recreation, was an evocative
soundscape of aspects of New York City life so familiar as to be easily missed. He made field
recordings all across New York City, making a sound map that captured the daily life in the busy
metropolis.
Vitiello also presented part of his Kaldor project under the eaves of the AGNSW portico. The
Birds (2010) was a cacophony of Australian native bird song for visitors seated on the Gallery
benches. Its title was from Daphne du Mauriers book of the same name, and Alfred
Hitchcocks disturbing black and white film. From KPAPs perspective, The Birds (2010) located
Vitiellos project at the entrance and exit of the highly visited art institution, and acted as a
means of informing visitors of the other, larger project in a location not normally associated with
contemporary art. From AGNSWs perspective, the project enabled the gallery to present work
by an internationally recognized contemporary artist working within the field of sound art.
Vitiellos performance at AGNSW, working with Australian artist and musician Lawrence
English, was part of the public program series.189 As has been discussed earlier, educational
events, such as lectures and symposia, had become an increasing feature of other not-for-profit
foundations, such as Fondazione Nicola Trussardi in Milan, or Thyssen Bornemisza
Contemporary in Vienna.190 Presented in partnership with the art institutions co-presenting the
187 Victorian College of the Arts (VCA), Art Forum Series #18: John Kaldor, VCA Federation Hall, Tuesday 25 September,
12.30pm.
Stephen Vitiello, A Bell for Every Minute, June 23 (2010) June 20 (2011). See The High Line website,
http://www.thehighline.org/about/public-art/vitiello, accessed April 12, 2012.
188
11 August, 2010, 7.30 pm, Central Court, AGNSW, see KPAP website, http://kaldorartprojects.org.au/event/performanceby-stephen-vitiello-and-lawrence-english, accessed April 12, 2012.
189
See for example the symposia organized in conjunction with T-B A21s Art Pavilion project by Olafur Eliasson and David
Adjaye, Your black horizon (2007), or the lectures presented by Massimiliano Gioni on the Fondazione Nicola Trussardi project by
Paul McCarthy Pig Island (2010). See X-ref to Thyssen Ch 1; and Massimiliano Gioni and Paul McCarthy, Art Basel
Conversations, Premier Artist Talk, Art Basel 41, Podcast and PDF, June 16, 2010,
http://www.artbaselmiamibeach.com/global/show_document.asp?id=aaaaaaaaaaavgev; accessed December 15, 2010;
Massimiliano Gioni and Beatrice Trussardi, Paul McCarthy, public lecture, June 24, 2010, Palazzo Citterio, Milan.
190
269
Santiago Sierra
270
Art Projects, KPAP education and public program events formed a part of broader institutional
educational programs.
SANTIAGO SIERRA
Kaldors twenty-second project was Santiago Sierras 7 forms measuring 600 x 60 x 60 cm constructed
to be held horizontal to a wall (2010), exhibited at Brisbanes Gallery of Modern Art. This was a
work by an artist with a considerable exhibition history in biennales and art museums.191 The
artist hired employees at a minimum wage to hold heavy timber beams on their shoulders for the
duration of each working day. The work presented varying notions of engagement, actively
involving the artist, paid participants, and viewers alike. This project was an extension of earlier
projects, such as Group of persons facing a wall (2002) at the Tate Modern Turbine Hall in 2008. For
this earlier work, Sierra invited homeless women to line up with their face to the wall. For this
they were paid the equivalent of a night at a hostel.192
Sierra intended to create a physical portrait of the labor economy.193 Reminiscent of Atlas, the
classical figure commanded to carry the weight of the world on his shoulders, the actions of these
workers represented for Sierra the social burial of labor. Sierras projects and installations have
been aligned with the term relational aesthetics, coined by Nicolas Bourriard in 1996, and widely
discussed by Bishop and others to describe socially engaged art that aimed to reveal power
structures.194 However, as Bishop noted, Sierras projects were more aesthetic and visually
compelling than many of the projects characterized as socially engaged art.195 Presented in the
See Santiago biography, KOW Berlin website, http://kow-berlin.info/artists/santiago_sierra, accessed April 24, 2012. Solo
exhibitions and projects included the Spanish Pavilion, 50th Venice Biennale, Venice (2003); Kunsthaus Bregenz (2004); National
Museum of Contemporary Art, Bucarest, Galleria Civica di Arte Contemporanea, Trento, Kestnergesellschaft Hannover (2005);
Centro Cultural Matucana, Santiago del Chile (2007); Turbine Hall, Tate Modern, London (2008); Magasin3 Stockholm Konsthall,
Stockholm (2009). Group exhibitions include P.S.1, New York (2002); The 8th Baltic Triennial of International Art, Vilnius
(2002); 26 Bienal de So Paulo, Liverpool Biennial of Contemporary Art (2004); Sharjah International Art Biennial 7, Sharjah; 8e
Biennale de Lyon (2005); 1st Athens Biennial 2007, Athens (2007); XIV Biennale Internazionale di Scultura di Carrara, Carrara
(2010).
191
Biographical details for Sierras KPAP project of 2010 included the Queensland Art Gallery, Brisbane, Australia, however there
was no acknowledgement of Kaldor Public Art Projects.
192
For a discussion of Sierras works, see Bishop, Antagonism and Relational Aesthetics, October, 2004, pp. 70-74.
Kaldor Public Art Projects website, http://kaldorartprojects.org.au/_webapp_1098369/SANTIAGO_SIERRA_2010,

193
194
See above p. 11.
195
See above p. 13.
270
Santiago Sierra, 7 forms measuring 600 x 60 x 60 cm

constructed to be held horizontal to a wall (2010)
Queensland Art Gallery/Gallery of Modern Art, Brisbane
Tunnicliffe (ed.), John Kaldor Family Collection, Art Gallery of New South Wales, 2011, p. 37.
271
Santiago Sierra
272
monolithic spaces of Queenslands Gallery of Modern Art, the massive timber forms of Sierras
project, raised upon the shoulders of the employed participants, owed more to the Minimalist
sculptures of Carl Andre and Donald Judd than a social theory about the erosion of the
distinctions between institutional and social space, and artist and viewer.196
Sierras performances and installations had often dealt with politicized issues of collectivity,
collaboration and direct engagement with specific social groups. Bishop noted in her critique of
relational aesthetics in 2004 that neither the work of Sierra or Thomas Hirschhorn was discussed
in Bourriauds texts of 1998 and 2002.197 Nevertheless, Bourriauds approach could easily be
applied to Sierras focus on relationships between the artist, the participants and the audience
and his introduction of collaborators from explicitly diverse economic backgrounds. Bishop read
Sierras work as a nihilistic reflection on Marxs theory of the exchange value of Labor.198
Presenting work with such an agenda might seem like a bold approach for a private not-for-profit
foundation developed through a successful textile business. However, Sierras art was firmly
embedded within an international biennale and exhibition frame. As Hito Steyerl noted in an
article entitled Politics of Art: Art and the transition to Post-Democracy in the online journal eflux in 2010, a quite absurd, but radical phenomenon, is that radical art is nowadays very often
sponsored by the most predatory banks or arms traders and completely embedded in rhetorics of
city marketing, branding, and social engineering.199 As part of an art museums program, Sierras
project reflected the de-radicalisation of much that was described as political art, while at the
same time reflecting the neo-liberal underpinnings of their financial structures of support. For
GOMA, who had regularly commissioned, showcased and acquired ephemeral, performative and
sound based works as part of its Asia Pacific Triennial exhibitions, that was often of a political
nature,200 Sierras project was immediately recognizable as part of an ongoing engagement with
wider social and political debates.
196
See for example a discussion of Rirkrit Tiravanijas projects in Bishop, Antagonism and Relational Aesthetics, October, 2004.
Both are now routinely cited as leading exponents of Relational Aesthetics. Bishop, Antagonism and Relational Aesthetics,
October, 2004, p. 70.
197
198 Bishop, Antagonism and Relational Aesthetics, October, 2004, p. 71. For an alternative reading of Sierras work, see for
example the review of Sierras exhibition at Deitch Projects, New York: Frances Richard, Santiago Sierra, Artforum online,
07.08.02, accessed online, http://artforum.com/archive/id=3086, April 12, 2012.
199
Hito Steyerl, Politics of Art: Art and the transition to Post-Democracy, e-flux journal #21, December 2010.
The first triennial was presented in 1993. See QAG website, http://qagoma.qld.gov.au/exhibitions/apt, accessed April 12,
2012.
200
272
For KPAP, the association with the state museum located the ephemeral performance within an
overarching program, reducing the risk that the project would get lost in a complex Australian
cultural landscape. Location within GOMAs highly visible, successful and well-attended
program of contemporary Australian and international art gave KPAP access to a large and
diverse audience.201 It extended the awareness of the Art Projects to far wider audience than
those with a specific interest in site-specific, temporary, or performance based art.
Whilst projects such as Sierras could be seen as anti-materialist and politically engaged, creating
particular challenges for the art museums or institutions that exhibited them, independent notfor-profit commissioning organisations working beyond the public gallery space such as Artangel
in London, and SKOR in the Netherlands, were regularly involved in projects of this kind.202
KPAPs presentation of Sierras project reflected the Australian foundations desire to be
considered within this international context. KPAPs presentation of art that was conspicuously
antimarket and socially engaged arguably reflected the influence of the Curatorial Advisory
Group.
As with other projects in this period, Sierras KPAP project was accompanied by a more
extensive series of public lectures, discussions and related educational events. These were held at
the Cervantes Institute, Sydney; the National Gallery of Australia, Canberra, and GOMA,
Brisbane.203 The speakers and participants included Australian indigenous artists Richard Bell
and r e a alongside institutional directors and curators, offering perspectives on the project as
For details of QAG and GOMAs program of exhibitions and events under the directorship of Tony Elwood, including the
establishment of facilities such as the cinematheque and Childrens Art Centre, innovative programming, and an expanded notion
of public programs, see Queensland Art Gallery Annual Report, 2007-08, QAG. Attendance for the period includes 541,226
visitors to QAG and 763,214 visitors to GOMA.
201
202 Jeremy Dellers The Battle of Orgreave, 17 June 2001, could be seen as a further manifestation of what Bishop described as
relational antagonism in Installation, 2005, p. 120, and other texts. A one day re-enactment of a key event from the English
miners strike of 1984, video documentation of the event was filmed by Mike Figgis for a one-hour work, commissioned by
Artangel Media and Channel 4 Television. Thomas Hirschhorns displays, that took the form of impermanent outdoor
monuments dedicated to philosophers, makeshift altars celebrating writers and artists and other displays of objects and
information, were another form of this form of art. Hirschhorn, however, noted that he did not make political art, but rather
made art politically. See Thomas Hirschhorn, Interview with Okwui Enwezor, in James Rondeau and Suzanne Ghez (eds.),
Thomas Hirschhorn: Jumbo Spoons and Big Cake, The Art Institute of Chicago, Chicago, 2000, p. 27.
203 Santiago Sierra in conversation with Christopher Hodges, Director Utopia Art, Sydney; and artist Richard Bell and r e a,
Cervantes Institute, Sydney, Monday 15 November 2010; Santiago Sierra in conversation with Peter Naumann, Head of Public
Programs and Education, Canberra, Fairfax Theatre, National Gallery of Australia, Canberra, Wednesday 17 November;
Santiago Sierra in conversation with Nicholas Chambers, Curator, Contemporary International Art Brisbane, introduced by Tony
Ellwood, Director QAG, GOMA, Brisbane, Saturday 20 November. QAG website,
http://qag.qld.gov.au/exhibitions/past/2010/santiago_sierra, accessed October 11, 2011.
273
274
part of a wider cultural, political, and artistic debate. For KPAP, with little previous history of
involvement with socially engaged art, the work appeared to be an unlikely choice. However,
the associated public program involving Australian artists and critical theorists offered some
attempt at relating the politics of the Art Project to a localized social and political debate, even if
the inclusion of an indigenous perspective via commentary on another international artists work,
rather than art itself, could be perceived as too little too late.
JOHN BALDESSARI AND MICHAEL LANDY

Public participation and a strong conceptual focus were key features of two Kaldor projects in
2011. Your Name in Lights (2011) was a work by American West-Coast conceptual artist, John
Baldessari. Baldessari had been the subject of over two hundred solo exhibitions worldwide,
reflecting the pivotal role he had played in the development of conceptual art since the 1960, and
had considerable influence on younger generations through his teaching at the California
Institute of the Arts (CalArts).204 This was underscored in 2009 when he was awarded the
Golden Lion at the Venice Biennale for lifetime achievement.205 In October the same year, the
largest-ever solo exhibition of Baldessaris work was presented at the Tate Modern, London, an
exhibition jointly organized by the Los Angeles County Museum of Art in Los Angeles and the
Tate Modern, London.206
California Institute of the Arts was founded and created by Walt Disney in the early 1960s, and played a pivotal role in the
development of the West Coast contemporary arts. See Calvin Tomkins, No more Boring Art, New Yorker, 18 October 2010,
Issue 32, pp. 42-48; see also Michael Baers, Michael Asher (1943-2012): Parting Words and Unfinished Works, e-flux journal
#39, November 2012.
204
See Jessica Morgan and Leslie Jones, John Baldessari: pure beauty, (ex. cat.) Los Angeles County Museum of Art, Los Angeles,
Munich, New York, Prestel, 2009.
205
206 John Baldessari Pure Beauty, Tate Modern, 13 October 2009 10 January 2010; Los Angeles County Museum of Art, Los
Angeles, 27 June 12 September, 2010.
274
John Baldessari, Your name in lights (2011)

Australian Museum, Sydney, part of the Sydney Festival
digital illustration
Image: Toby and Pete
Kaldor Public Art Projects: http://kaldorartprojects.org.au/project-archive/john-baldessari-2011, accessed November 21, 2012.
275
276
For an Australian audience, KPAPs project brought a major statesman of American West-Coast
conceptual art to Australia, bringing Baldessaris art to the attention of a younger generation of
artists and students at first hand. In a melding of public spectacle and online technology,
participants whose names had been lodged online could watch them appear for a brief fifteen
seconds in lights on a large-scale illuminated billboard on the faade of the Australian Museums
Williams Street faade. Your Name in Lights (2011) offered a contemporary take on Warhols
fifteen minutes of fame, in a highly public, and publicized social context. It drew on Baldessaris
ongoing interest in Hollywood and film, through his use of imagery and reference to Broadway
spectacles and the cinematic tradition, while playfully engaging with Western societys 21st century
obsession with celebrity and fame.
This was not the first time Baldessari had worked with a private foundation on a site-specific
commission. In 2010, he created The Giacometti Variations for the Fondazione Prada, Milan,
curated by Germano Celant, in a project that fused art with fashion.207 Nine 4.5 metre high resin
and steel sculptures sprayed with bronze, inspired by the Swiss artists emaciated female figures
after whom the project was named, were dressed by Baldessari in an unexpected array of
costumes and accessories. Ranging from Hollywood Marilyn Monroe-esque glamorous pink
satin bows, to Dorothys Wizard of Oz red glitter shoes, they offered an unusual take on luxury
fashion and contemporary art, with Baldessaris signature flourishes of Hollywood glamour and
celebrity obsession.208 KPAPs project with Baldessari in 2010 located KPAPs project firmly
alongside other international projects such as Pradas, creating unique temporary projects with
leading contemporary artists of the time.
For Australian audiences, the work held more popular appeal than critical artistic experience.
The work was presented in conjunction with the Sydney Festival in January 2011. The second
collaboration between KPAP and the Sydney Festival, like Jeff Koons Puppy in 1995, the project
enabled KPAP to attract a wider, and more populist general audience for an installation that was
at once fun and lighthearted, while also presenting the work of a leading international
contemporary art figure. The choice of artist, however, like Koons in 1995, took few risks. Like
Koons, the artist had a vast exhibition history and following, was widely collected by both public
207
On the approach of the Prada Foundation, see above p. 68.
208
See Loredana Mascheroni, John Baldessari at the Prada Foundation, domus, 4 November 2010.
276
and private institutions, and was the subject of extensive writing and criticism within the
artworld. KPAP offered a popular, and arguably populist, public project by a revered and
popular artist. The Summer edition of Art & Australia featured a special cover commission
designed by Baldessari, and, as in the past, it included a lengthy interview between the artist and
editor Michael Fitzgerald.209 International art criticism for the Australian project was scant.
In June 2011, Baldessaris Your Name in Lights was presented for a second time in Amsterdam by
The Stedelijk Museum, together with the Holland Festival.210 The work was installed in
Amsterdams Museumplein, in front of the annex of the Stedelijk Museum that was under
construction. As was the case with Sydney, the work could also be watched online, via a live
stream on a dedicated website. For a museum under construction, Baldessaris large-scale,
inclusive public art project, offered a highly visible form of art by a leading contemporary artist.
The choice of artist also alluded to the institutions history presenting avant-garde and conceptual
art.211 Auspiced as part of a major national festival, it reached a far wider local audience.
However, for an artist of Baldessaris reputation and position within the international artworld,
the project, in either Sydney or Amsterdam, could not hope to reflect the breadth of Baldessaris
art. Nor could it have the same impact on increasingly sophisticated and knowledgeable art
audiences as a major survey exhibition of the artists work, such as Baldessaris exhibition Pure
Beauty (2010), organized by the Tate Modern and Los Angeles County Museum, readily accessible
globally through images, podcasts, extensive website resources, and exhibition catalogues
distributed quickly and cheaply via booksellers online.
Later in 2011, British artist Michael Landy staged the twenty-fourth Kaldor Public Art Project
Acts of Kindness in September October 2011 in central Sydney.212 The work was first conceived
by Landy at the time he produced Break Down (2001), when he was systematically destroying all
his worldly goods. In June 2011, some ten years later, Acts of Kindness was presented to regular
commuters using Londons Green Park Station in June 2011.213 For Sydney, Acts of Kindness
209
Michael Fitzgerald, John Baldessari: Your name in lights, Art & Australia, Vol. 48, No. 2, Summer 2010.
E-flux online, http://www.e-flux.com/announcements/john-baldessaris-your-name-in-lights-at-museumplein-in-amsterdam/,

210
211
See the Stedelijk Museum, Amsterdam website, http://www.stedelijk.nl/en/collection/history, accessed October 2, 2012.
212 Michael Landy, Acts of Kindness, Kaldor Public Art Projects website,
http://kaldorartprojects.org.au/_blog/blog/post/EPISODE_2_NOW_ONLINE_/, accessed September 8, 2011.
213
See Steve Meacham, Creative act of kindness, Sydney Morning Herald, 17 September, 2011.
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278
investigate[d] the meaning of kindness in todays fast-paced world, focusing on the simple
everyday gestures of compassion and generosity that occur throughout the city streets and often
go unnoticed.214 Members of the Sydney public were invited to send in stories of kindness via
email and other social media networks. A thirteen-metre installation in St Martin Place mapped
the Sydney CBD and indicated the location of two hundred stories of kindness. Like KPAP
projects with Sierra (2010) and Baldessari (2011), the work was socially inclusive and
participatory. And like Baldessaris project, the work took place outside of the gallery space.215
Why a project with Landy at this time in his career? Landy was best known as one of the
generation of British artists in the 1990s who became known as the yBa generation. 216 Having
studied at Goldsmiths College London, and included in Damian Hirsts group exhibition Freeze
(1988), the group of young British artists achieved critical fame for their shock tactics, use of
everyday materials, and the quality and newness of certain iconic pieces of their work. Like
many artists in Britain in the 1990s, as Rainbird has noted, Landys work caught the mood of
social change, labor market reform and political ideological debate at the tail end of the Thatcher
era.217 In 1997, Landy was included in Saatchis Sensation exhibition at the Royal Academy of the
Arts, London (1997), alongside other contemporaries of this generation including Damien Hirst,
Garry Hume, Sarah Lucas, Tracey Emin and Gillian Wearing. His most notable and
breakthrough work, however, had been his performance and installation Break Down (February
2001), commissioned by Artangel, in which he made an inventory of everything he owned and
then destroyed it during a fourteen day undertaking in the former C&A department store on
Londons shopping mecca, Oxford Street.218 This work examined notions of value and waste,
Kaldor Public Art Projects website, http://kaldorartprojects.org.au/_webapp_1441197/MICHAEL_LANDY_2011, accessed

September 8, 2011.
214
215
For a discussion of socially engaged participatory art, see above p. 13.
216 See Royal Academy of the Arts, Sensation: Young British Artists from the Saatchi collection, Royal Academy of the Arts, (ex. cat.),
London, 1997; Bernice Murphy (ed.), Pictura Britannica Art from Britain, with essays by Bernice Murphy, Patricia Bickers, Stephen
Snoddy, Tony Bennett, Kobena Mercer, Nikos Papastergiadis, Patrick J. Boylan, (ex. cat.), Museum of Contemporary Art, 1997;
Matthew Collings, Blimey! From Bohemia to Britpop: The London Artworld from Francis Bacon to Damien Hirst, 21 Publishing, London,
1997; Julian Stallabrass, High art lite. British art in the 1990s. Verso, London and New York, 1999.
For a discussion of Landys Scrapheap Services (1995), Tate Gallery Collection, London, see Sean Rainbird, Are we as a Society
Going to Carry on Treating People This Way?, Michael Landys Scrapheap Services, Tate Papers, Tates Online Research Papers,
Spring 2004, http://www.tate.org.uk/research/tatesearch/tatepapers/04sprint/rainbird, accessed May 7, 2012.
217
Michael Landy, Break Down, February 2001, Former C&A Store, Oxford Street, London W1. Landy proposed his project to
Artangel via The Times/Artangel Open, conceived to give artists a unique opportunity to realise unusually ambitious projects. For
the first time Artangel opened the doors for proposals from artists, rather than inviting them individually. Some seven-hundred
proposals were tendered. Break Down was selected by a panel comprising Brian Eno, Rachel Whiteread, Richard Cork and
218
278
human labour and worth in a 21st century Western society. Presented in a high street shop front
of a well-known London department store during a period of rapid economic growth under new
Labor, Landys project questioned his societys increasingly consumerist behavior.
Kaldors association with Landy stemmed from the experience of Break Down (2001). The
publicity surrounding the work, and its subsequent artistic impact, played an important role in
Kaldors decision to invite Landy to make a project in Australia.219 Kaldor reminisced that he
visited Break Down (2001) at eight in the morning, before the work had opened to the public, a
testament to Kaldors tenacity, and his authority as a significant collector and patron of
contemporary art. His parting gift to the artist, a publication on the foundation, Kaldor Art
Projects, and the projects it had presented, was subsequently destroyed once it became part of
Landys possessions.220 Landys project crossed the line between art and life. Produced in part in
response to the market-driven Cool Brittania entrepreneurship of the day, Landys project made
use of the vast commercial space that had become available for use through the economic downturn of the 1990s. For Kaldor, Landys work appeared a perfect fusion of the spectacular and the
every-day, made in direct response to its site and context.
Kaldors experience of Break Down (2001) played a pivotal role in his relationship with Landy,
both as a collector and patron and as instigator and artistic director of Kaldor Art Projects. As
the friendship developed, and Kaldor continued to purchase work by the artist, they began
discussions about Landy making a project in Australia.221 On a number of visits to Australia,
various projects were suggested, though it took ten years from their first meeting to bring the
2011 project to fruition.222 Kaldors persistence reflected his commitment to the artist, which
appeared to be consolidated through a better knowledge over time and acquisition of his work.
Artangel Co-Directors James Lingwood and Michael Morris. The other selected project, also staged in 2001, was The Battle of
Orgreave by Jeremy Deller. Artangel, http://www.artangel.org.uk//projects/2001/break_down/about_the_project/break_down,
See KPAP, Michael Landy and John Kaldor interview, Episode 2, Acts of Kindness, 2011, Kaldor Public Art Projects website,
http://kaldorartprojects.org.au/_blog/blog/post/EPISODE_2_NOW_ONLINE_/, accessed September 8, 2011
219
220
KPAP, Michael Landy and John Kaldor interview, 2011.
221
See KPAP, Michael Landy and John Kaldor interview, 2011.
222 Kaldor describes their relationship as a friendship. Landy accompanied his partner, fellow yBa artist Gillian Wearing, to
Australia at the time of her exhibition Living Proof, October 7 December 3, 2006, at the Australian Centre for Contemporary Art.
See KPAP, Michael Landy and John Kaldor interview, 2011; and Meacham, Creative act of kindness, Sydney Morning Herald,
2011.
279
280
Michael Landy, Acts of Kindness (2011)

detail from Michael Landy's original drawing for Acts of Kindness (2011), showing the lower Martin Place location of his 13-metrelong installation for the project.
Photo: Paul Green
Kaldor Public Art Projects: http://kaldorartprojects.org.au/project-archive/michael-landy, accessed November 21, 2012.
280
It also reflected the desire to present work in Australia by an artist who had achieved major
international acclaim for a project that championed the artists anti-consumerist values, largely
enabled through the support of market led cultural enterprise and private foundations.223
Landy produced significant solo and group exhibitions in the intervening years since Kaldor first
approached him to make a project, including solo exhibitions at The Tate Britain (2004), the
South London Gallery (2010), and Londons National Portrait Gallery (2011).224 His work was
also included in significant group exhibitions including the Fondazione Palazzo Strozzi, Florence
(2008), de Appel, Amsterdam (2008), and Palais de Tokyo, Paris (2010).225 None, however,
achieved the international press or critical response of his early project with Artangel in 2001.
While Landys work continued to explore and develop themes from this early project, his close
association with a particular historic artistic and cultural period made it difficult to read later
works as part of a more contemporary zeitgeist.
Landys project with Kaldor in 2011 was not the first time he had shown in Sydney. Kaldor was
closely associated with this earlier visit and exhibition. In 2007, Landy presented an exhibition at
Sydneys Sherman Galleries, then a commercial gallery, entitled Man in Oxford Street is AutoDestructive.226 It included etchings and drawings from his Nourishment (2002) series, depicting
common weeds gathered from urban spaces, and a body of drawings from the H.2.N.Y. Self
Destroying Work of Art (2006) series, based on sculptor Jean Tinguelys self-destructing machine,
Homage to New York, which the latter constructed in the garden of the Museum of Modern Art in
1960.227 Works from both of these series had been collected by Kaldor, and were subsequently
gifted to the AGNSW.228 They were hung as part of the opening display of work from the John
223 Grants from the Henry Moore Foundation enabled development of Scrapheap Services (1995), whilst Break Down (2001) was a
joint commission by The Times newspaper and Artangel. See Rainbird, Are we as a Society, Tates Online Research Papers, 2004.
Michael Landy, Semi-Detatched, Tate Britain, Duveen Galleries, 18 May 12 December (2004); Michael Landy: Art Bin, South
London Gallery, 29 January 4 March (2010); Michael Landy: Art World Portraits, National Portrait Gallery, 5 February 31 July
(2011).
224
225 XXIV Bienal de So Paulo, So Paulo, Brazil (2002); Bad Behavior, Arts Council Collection touring exhibition from the
Hayward Collection (2004); Art, Price and Value, Fondazione palazzo Strozzi, Florence (2008); To Burn Oneself with Oneself: The
Romantic Damage Show, de Appel, Amsterdam, Netherlands (2008); Fresh Hell, Palais de Tokyo, Paris (2010).
Sherman Galleries, http://www.shermangalleries.com.au/artists/inartists/artist.asp%3Fartist=94&exhibition=163.html,

226
Nourishment, 2003. For details of the Sherman exhibition see Peter Hill, Man in Oxford Street is Auto-destructive: Michael
Landy, Michael Landy, (ex. cat.), Sherman Galleries, July 2007. Accessed online
http://www.shermangalleries.com.au/artists/inartists/exhibitiontext_pop.asp%3Fexhibition=163.html, September 8, 2011.
227
228
See Landy works as part of the John Kaldor Family Collection, Tunnicliffe, John Kaldor Family Collection, 2011.
281
282
Kaldor Family Collection, and featured in the background to Landys videod discussions about
his forthcoming Kaldor Public Art Project.229 Presumably this was intended to acknowledge the
relationship between Kaldors personal collection, and KPAP projects, state art institutions, and
the location of Landys project within the history of KPAP itself. While attracting popular press,
neither project was critically reviewed. 230 The timing of Landys project, his strong association
with an earlier generation of British artists, and the fact that the installation did not break new
ground for Landy himself, meant that the work left little cultural trace.
In 2012, as Britain suffered under Conservative budgetary cuts and the effects of the 2011 global
recession, Landys Acts of Kindness was presented again as the London Underground Project, part
of a series of art projects in the lead-up to the 2012 London Olympic Games. As in Sydney,
commuters were invited to log incidents of kindness that would be used as a form of public art,
commissioned for the top of bus shelters to herald the Olympics. The work was described as
feelgood art; journalists noting that the desire of the artists to cheer people up was at odds with
their past tactics of delighting to shock.231 As Landy noted, the idea for the project came to him
before the global financial crisis.232 It, like other projects presented in early 2012 by artists
including Jeremy Deller, Martin Creed and David Shrigley, were easy to read as a message to
Britain to Keep Calm and Carry On much like the public campaigns devised in Britain during
the Second World War, or those used to later effect by British advertising agency Saatchi &
Saatchi.233 The presentation of a quieter, community based art, such as Landys Acts of Kindness,
gained far greater potency presented in this social climate, and read in a revised economic and
historic light.
229 Kaldor Public Art Project, 2011, Episode 2; and AGNSW You Tube footage of Landys talk, art After Hours, June 2011,
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tq9HDoDLqkc, accessed September 8, 2011.
The work received bylines in a number of local newspapers, and one article, see Meacham, Creative act of kindness, Sydney
Morning Herald, 2011; Bridget Cormack, Landys subversive acts of pure kindness, The Australian, September 23, 2011.
230
Vanessa Thorpe, Feelgood art: the pick-me-up to get us through an age of anxiety, The Guardian online, Saturday 28 January
2012, http://www.guardian.co.uk/artanddesign/2012/jan/28/feelgood-art-age-anxiety, accessed May 7, 2012.
231
232
Thorpe, Feelgood art, The Guardian, 2012.
233
Saatchi & Saatchi developed the campaign Labour isnt working for the British Conservative Party in 1978.
282
THOMAS DEMAND
Thomas Demands The Dailies (2012), KPAPs 25th project, was presented within the Commercial
Travellers Association (CTA) club, Sydney, part of the MLC Centre designed by Australian
architect Harry Seidler in the mid-1970s. Though Demand found the building himself whilst on
a site-visit to Australia, both Harry and Penelope Seidler had been keen supporters of Kaldors
Art Projects since Wrapped Coast (1969).234 Like Kaldor, Seidler had been a vocal advocate for
change in the Australian cultural landscape. Demand noted that he was drawn to the building
not only for its architectural form and late Modernist history, but also because no-one he spoke
to knew its actual function, even though it was in one of Sydney CBDs busiest thoroughfares.235
It was a building that was invisible in plain view, much like the often insignificant or overlooked
objects and moments that Demand captured on film.
Since the 1990s, Demand had been known for his full-scale recreations of environments made
entirely from paper and card, carefully photographed and then later destroyed, so that they
remained only as images.236 Drawing on an accumulated archive of found and discovered images,
often gathered from newspapers and other media sources from every-day life, Demands
photographic image-making was discussed as a form of national self-understanding, and in
relation to the way images can contribute to the collective memory of places and events.237
Demands 2009 exhibition, Nationalgalerie at Neue Nationalgalerie, Berlin, presented work from
the last fifteen years developed from key images of decisive political events and moments that
offered a different vision of this post-war history.238 Other subjects included the American White
House Oval Office, and the control room from the Fukushima Nuclear Plant that workers were
forced to evacuate after the tsunami of March 11, 2011.239 Whilst Demands photographs of
these realistic scenes appeared like veracious images of a particular time and place, closer
234
For Kaldors early involvement with the Seidlers, see above p. 98.
235
Thomas Demand, free public talk, National Gallery of Victoria, 24 March 2012.
236 For a detailed analysis of the significance of photography, and Thomas Demand, see Michael Fried, Why Photography Matters as
Art as Never Before, Yale University Press, 2008.
See for example Udo Kittelman, Foreword: Remembering in the future, in Thomas Demand (ed.), Thomas Demand:
Nationalgalerie, (ex. cat.), Neu Nationalgalerie, Steidl, 2009, n.p..
237
238
Thomas Demand Nationalgalerie at Neue Nationalgalerie, Berlin, 18 September, 2009 - 17 January, 2010.
Demand discussed both these examples in his Melbourne talk, 24 March 2012. Demand, Presidency (2008), a five-part series of
views of the Office Oval of the White House; Control Room (2011), first shown as part of Demands solo exhibition at Matthew
Marks Gallery, New York, May 5 June 23, 2012. See Mathew Marks Gallery website,
http://www.matthewmarks.com/exhibitions/2012-05-05_thomas-demand/, accessed April 28, 2012.
239
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Thomas Demand
284
inspection revealed a subtle manipulation of the original source. Demand highlighted the
insignificant aspect, such as the patternation of ceiling panels that hung in random sculptural
forms from the Fukushima control room ceiling. Photographs of the paper model of the image
revealed subtle imperfections that indicated the photographs artifice. They enabled the viewer to
question the process of cultural mythmaking which framed the original source material.
Demands photographs and films were the subject of numerous large-scale solo international
exhibitions.240 His photographs, method and material were the focus of extensive critical texts,
particularly with respect to the shift of the photographic medium into the broader field of
contemporary art.241 His work was extensively collected, both by public art institutions and
private collectors alike. At the time of Demands KPAP project, at an institutional level in
Australia, his work was included in the permanent collections at the NGV and GOMA, whilst a
work by Demand had recently been donated to the NGA.242 The AGNSW held five works by
Demand as part of the John Kaldor Family Collection.243 Kaldor began collecting Demands
films at a time when there werent many to collect, and his gift to the AGNSW included one of
these film works.244 As Demand noted in his interview with Fitzgerald, from this early
association as a collector, Kaldor went on to suggest the idea of an art project.
Demand had previously worked with other international foundations commissioning site-specific
and temporary art projects. These included his installation and exhibition Processo grottesco (2007),
presented by the Fondazione Prada and shown during the 2007 Venice Biennale.245 In 2011,
Demand again collaborated with the Fondazione Prada on the installation of their inaugural
exhibition at Ca Corner della Regina, their new exhibition space in Venice, which was opened to
240 Solo exhibitions include the Museum of Modern Art, New York (2005); the Serpentine Gallery, London (2006); the Neue
Nationalgalerie, Berlin (2009). Demand has represented Germany at the Venice Biennale and the Bienal de Sao Paolo (2004). He
has been included in Hans Ulrich Obrists Conversation series of interviews with leading contemporary artist published with
Walter Konig, see Hans-Ubrich Obrist & Thomas Demand: The Conversation Series, Vol. 10, Walter Konig, Koln, 2007.
241
See for example Fried, Why Photography Matters, 2008.
242 GOMA, purchased 2008; NGV, acquired 2010; Demand work gifted to the NGA by Rupert Myer, though not listed on the
NGA collection website April 27, 2012.
243
For details of ANGSW collection works see Tunnicliffe, John Kaldor Family Collection, 2011.
244 Kaldor acquired Camera (2007), Recorder (2002), and Rolltreppe/Escalator (2002), which he donated to the AGNSW in 2008 as
part of the John Kaldor Family Collection. See Michael Fitzgerald, The information: The generating art of Thomas Demand,
Art & Australia, Vol. 49, No. 3, Autumn 2012, p. 396.
245
See above p. 85.
284

Harry Seidler, Commercial Travellers Association (CTA)
club, St Martins Place, Sydney
Photo: Rebecca Coates.

interior view, Commercial Travellers Association club, St
Martins Place, Sydney
Photo: Rebecca Coates.
285
Thomas Demand
286
coincide with the 2011 Venice Biennale.246 Whilst the exhibition included wallpaper conceived by
Demand, extending his interest in a medium first explored as part of his Serpentine Gallery
exhibition in 2006, it also enabled the artist to develop his interest in curating the work and
collections of others.247
For Kaldor, the project further developed his interest in the artist, first reflected in the acquisition
of Demands work. It demonstrated KPAPs ability to interest internationally recognized artists
in presenting often site-specific temporary projects in Australia. Given the close involvement of
artists such as Demand, Landy, Boyce, Nishi, Vitiello and Baldessari with other internationally
recognized private foundations, such as the Fondazione Prada, the Demand project reflected
KPAPs increasingly visible standing in a globalized contemporary artworld.
As with many of Demands previous works, Seidlers CTC building and its location played a
pivotal role. A unique Australian element whether the Australian coastline of Christo and
Jeanne-Claudes Wrapped Coast (1969), the setting of Bondi Beach for Schneiders 21 Beach cells
(2007), or Seidlers particular form of Australian Modernist architecture that Demand employed
differentiated each project from similar works by these artists in other parts of the world.
Demand had previously developed the idea of installations in which to present his photographic
works. For his exhibition at the Neu Nationalgalerie in 2009, Demand hung photographs in
front of curtains that mimicked the interior design of Lily Roth. For his exhibition at the
Serpentine Gallery London in 2006, he collaborated with designers to create an intimate and
domestic feeling to the spaces, presenting photographs on walls hung with William Morris
wallpaper.248 Demands project in Sydney occupied the entire fourth floor of the hotel and was
presented in fifteen of the sixteen bedrooms that radiated out from a central lift and circular
internal corridor. The bedrooms institutional Modernist anonymity particularly appealed to
Demand.249 In an article in Artforum in October 2012, Sylvia Lavin located Demands KPAP
246 For details of the site, exhibition, and history, see Fondazione Prada,
http://www.prada.com/fondazione/cacorner/index.html#en/exib_page, accessed June 12, 2012.
247 Demand discussed this role in his interview with Fitzgerald, The information, Art & Australia, 2012, p. 299. The shows
Demand discussed as having curated included Postcards from the World Beneath: The Collection of Gerhard Stein, Nottingham
Contemporary, 15 April-26 June 2011; and La Carte dApres Nature, Nouveau Muse National de Monaco, 18 September 2010- 22
February 2011.
Thomas Demand, 6 June 20 August 2006. The catalogue included essays by Beatriz Colomina and a conversation between
Alexander Kluge and Thomas Demand.
248
249 Thomas Demand, free public talk, National Gallery of Victoria, 24 March 2012, with introductions by Gerard Vaughan,
Director of the NGV, and Rupert Myer, Chair of KPAP.
286
project within the broader development of contemporary pavilions.250 For Lavin, Demands
project exemplified the shift towards a form of contemporary pavilion in which the art and
architecture had become seamlessly fused.
Like Christo and Jeanne-Claudes Wrapped Coast (1969), Demands work was truly site-specific
and temporal. The building offered a unique experience for viewing this series of Demands
photographs, The Dailies. Demand replaced the flat screen TV the only concession to
modernization in the rooms with one of The Dailies photographs. Each work was chosen for
its relationship with specific architectural details in the room, or visual associations with outside
elements visible from the window.
For the Kaldor Public Art Project, Demand continued his series The Dailies, which he had started
working on three years previously.251 Like earlier work, these images focused on the invisible
spaces of our modern cities: aspects that are often so familiar they become invisible. Cigarette
butts in ashtrays, discarded take-away cups, and Do Not Disturb signs are small and often banal
details that form part of every-day modern life but are often overlooked. Demand constructed
models of such details that he observed and photographed while walking the streets. Like his
other photographs, they formed a series of scenes and associations normally filtered from
consciousness and created memory. By rendering them in card and paper, Demand made the
everyday and familiar both interesting and unsettling, fixing these ephemeral details in our
memory.
The title of the series referred to cinematic and photographic traditions. More specifically, it
referred to the rushes of films: images left over on the cutting room floor after each days editing.
Moving in 2012 to Los Angeles, to a location steeped in the traditions of cinema and film, this
new context no doubt enabled Demand to further develop his interest in cinematic traditions.252
250
Sylvia Lavin, Vanishing Point, the contemporary pavilion, Artforum, 2012.
251 The Dailies was also shown at Sprth Magers, a commercial gallery in London, at the same time as the KPAP project in Sydney.
Waters, 2012. The Telegraph website, http://www.telegraph.co.uk/culture/art/art-reviews/9208678/Thomas-Demand-TheDailies-Spruth-Magers-review.html, accessed April 25, 2012.
252 See Kathy Ryan, A Sneak Peek at Thomas Demands Storm-Tossed Imagination, The New York Times, Thursday October 18,
2012, http://6thfloor.blogs.nytimes.com/2012/05/04/a-sneak-peek-at-thomas-demands-storm-tossed-imagination/, accessed
April 25, 2012
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Thomas Demand
288
In The Dailies Demand continued to explore new developments through his work. He extended
his photographic techniques to use a dye-transfer printing process that employs gelatin to fix dyes
to normal, matt paper.253 The technique is more commonly associated with costly advertising
processes because of the vividness of colour. Demand noted that only a small number of experts
are still able to make these prints.254 Like Tacita Dean, whose 16mm films also explored notions
of time, and with whom Demand shared a studio in Berlin, Demands exploration of obsolete
photographic and cinematic techniques became an integral element of his artistic process.
For the KPAP project, Demand not only presented a series of photographic works on which he
had been working, but also collaborated with others in a form of exhibition-making and
manipulation of narrative. The project extended Demands interest in site-specific installations
that included collaborations with literature, decorative arts, fashion and design.255 As well as their
architectural context, The Dailies (2012) involved two other contributors. Novelist and retired
lawyer, Louis Begley, created a short story about a commercial travellers dream-state visit to the
CTA. Fragments of the story, Gregor in Sydney, were printed and laminated and left in each room
propped up on the desk, replacing the usual hotel instructions left for visitors. Miuccia Prada,
whose private Fondazione Prada had commissioned Demand to make projects in the past,
created a unique scent for each room, which subtly added to the atmosphere of each space.
Demand noted that collaborative aspect playfully acknowledged the location of Seidlers Sydney
building, surrounded by luxury goods stores such as Prada, Bulgari, and the headquarters of
several major banks.256 It also reflected Demands position within the global art world, as an
important artist with whom celebrity writers, architects, designers and creators of luxury goods
willingly worked.
In many ways, the Demand project brought KPAP full circle to its origins. The project worked
with a building designed by Seidler, one of Kaldors early associates and friends. Like Christo
and Jeanne-Claudes Wrapped Coast (1969), it was a truly site specific work with important artist
Demand discussed this process at length in his Melbourne talk, March 24, 2012. Also discussed by Florence Waters, Thomas
Demand: The Dailies, Sprth Magers, review, The Telegraph, 17 April 2012.
253
254
Thomas Demand, Melbourne talk, March 24, 2012.
Demand used wallpaper and domestic design elements as part of his installations at the Serpentine Gallery, London, and at the
first Prada Foundation exhibition in their new gallery space in Venice in 2011. His installation at the Neue Nationalgalerie in
Berlin (2009 2010) employed a complex installation of curtains as a background for his work. See Demand, Thomas Demand,
2009 for details.
255
256
Thomas Demand, Melbourne talk, March 24, 2012.
288
elements that could never be captured again. Like Wrapped Coast (1969), and unlike many of the
intervening projects, it was a significant work for the development of the artists practice. Unlike
Christo and Jeanne-Claude, Demands work did not attract significant public attention, but then
it lacked a spectacular public site, and the contemporary art world was somewhat more crowded.
289
290
290
Conclusions
CHAPTER EIGHT:
CONCLUSIONS
EVOLVING FOCUS OF KPAP AND OTHER FOUNDATIONS

The role of KPAP and other foundations in a global contemporary art world has evolved over
the last forty years. The key periods of KPAPs development all had a different focus. Each was
triggered by broader developments in contemporary art. In each case KPAP wanted to present
experiences that were not otherwise available in Australia, but did so, and adopted different
models, with varying degrees of success. Its wider significance should be evaluated against this
background.
During the period 1969-1977, Kaldor presented a series of projects that explored post-sculptural
practice and performance art. Christo and Jeanne-Claudes Wrapped Coast (1969) became a global
landmark in the emergence of site-specific, ephemeral practice. It, and other projects, had a
substantial impact on the development of Australian contemporary art. Ephemeral artwork,
often outside the gallery, was still a relatively recent phenomenon, and though well understood by
artists and the small artistic community, was largely beyond the experience of wider audiences.
Within an international context, Christo and Jeanne-Claudes Wrapped Coast (1969) formed part of
a broader artistic trend, through the creation of ambitious, sometimes site-specific, temporary
and permanent installations known as Land Art. Many were supported by Dia Art Foundation.
Similarly, Szeemanns exhibition, I want to leave a nice well-done child here (1971) was a groundbreaking exhibition of conceptual art in Australia. Subsequent projects between 1972-1977 with
international artists making or presenting existing works including Gilbert & George, Nam
June Paik, Sol LeWitt and Richard Long while significant, had a declining impact. International
contemporary art was increasingly accessible in Australia through artist-led, and institutional
avenues as Australian public art museums matured.
In the years between 1978-1994, only two projects were presented, each with mixed success.
Kaldor, meanwhile, was focused on the pursuit of other business and participatory activities. He
continued to collect. Overseas, Artangel, Creative Time and the Public Art Fund began
commissioning public art projects in urban contexts that were often demonstrably socially
engaged. Towards the end of this period, these foundations professionalised, moved beyond
their founders, increased the scope of their ambitions, and began to present work that was
increasingly responsive to its site and wider contemporary art trends. Such temporary works
291
Evolving focus of KPAP and other foundations
292
often had lasting impact because they lodged themselves in the cultural memory precisely
because they lacked an ongoing, physical reality.
Between 1995-2004, Kaldor renewed his interest in the Art Projects, which became more publicly
linked with Kaldors own developing personal collection. Several Art Projects were delivered in
conjunction with an art museum exhibition of the artists collectable works, usually drawing on
works from Kaldors, and later Milgroms, personal collection. This created contemporary art
experiences for Australian audiences that differed from both installations offered within the
context of biennales, whose presence in Australia was increasing, and public art museum
exhibitions, also growing in significance and stature as budgets and the ability to borrow works
from a range of different sources grew. Exhibitions drawn from Kaldors personal collection
were shown at state galleries and art museums, such as the exhibition curated by Baume in 1995
at the MCA, and by Free in 2003 at the AGSA. These reinforced the connections between
Kaldors private and public art activities. The entwined public projects and private collection
reflected the rise in status of contemporary art collectors around the world, and the public
awareness of contemporary art. Meanwhile, foundations worldwide were increasingly visible
players in a global contemporary art world, presenting large-scale installations that often became
central to the development of contemporary art. New foundations emerged such as PEER, the
Fondazione Nicola Trussardi, Prada Foundation, and Thyssen Bornemisza Art Contemporary
(T-B A21). Installation art became more important in the evolution of biennales, and coincided
with the development of a new generation of public art spaces, often in disused industrial
buildings, that generated a new form of institutional debate. Both biennales and these new
spaces were well suited to presenting large-scale temporary works. These trends combined as
foundations increasingly presented signature installations in association with biennales.
From 2005, KPAP projects reflected the rising importance of other international foundations
with similar aims. Most KPAP projects presented artists who already had a substantial track
record with these international foundations. In order to strengthen its links with these other
institutions, and reflecting structures that international foundations had generally adopted several
years earlier, KPAP became more professionalised in its processes and developed a Curatorial
Advisory Group. As a result, KPAP focused on artists already well-established and key players in
the global contemporary art world, rather than those who were ahead of the trend. With the
exception of Kaldors first Art Project, Wrapped Coast (1969), within an international context,
KPAP was a follower, not a risk-taker or maker of reputations. Within a local context, KPAPs
initiatives presented a number of international contemporary artists in partnership with other art
292
Conclusions
institutions. The rise of biennales in Australia created other more compelling venues for largescale installations and spectacular artworks. The curatorial themes of successive biennale
exhibitions also enabled a more complex framing of specific contemporary works. Coupled with
the increasing mobility of international art and artists, foundations such as KPAP were no longer
distinctive or essential to large-scale immersive installations and temporary art experiences.
Consequently, KPAP following similar international foundations looked for projects that
more consciously interconnected with sites and contexts. Foundations, including KPAP,
increasingly sought to present projects that would be unique, unrepeatable, and offer a different
experience for those who saw the project. In this they can be seen to have not only facilitated
major ephemeral artworks, but generated many of them. At the same time, educational presence
and online platforms were improved, offering audiences a means of extending their engagement
with the art through different formats and means.
The initiators of foundations presenting temporary installations and site-specific projects had a
variety of motives and influences. As this thesis has demonstrated, some sought political shifts
through socially engaged art. Others, at least in part, saw temporary installations as a vehicle for
culturally-led renewal. All, including JKAP, saw temporary projects and installations as being at
the cutting edge of global contemporary art, and wanted to be associated with these
developments. Many, including Kaldor, both collected art and presented projects, often by the
same artists. For some, presenting art projects by the leading international artists was itself a
form of collecting, which not only made for an enriching quasi-collaborative experience, but also
conferred ever higher social status precisely because the ephemeral, or temporary, nature of these
projects made them far more difficult to collect.
PROFESSIONALIZATION
From its inception in 1969 as John Kaldor Art Projects (JKAP) to its most recent development
as Kaldor Public Art Projects (KPAP) in 2009, this private foundation changed and
professionalised. These shifts were in keeping with increased professionalisation within art
organisations at the time, and the later development of independent not-for-profit organisations
supporting site-specific temporary art projects that developed independently of institutional art
spaces. All developed extremely well-connected advisory boards of international curators and art
professionals. Almost all were fronted by a curator or artistic director with substantial presence
and expertise in a global art world, often with multiple appointments in several countries. This
thesis has shown that John Kaldors role also evolved from project co-ordinator and manager, to
293
294
curator, to a position from 2008 that was no longer hands on,1 but remained analogous,
perhaps, to an artistic director. Unlike other international foundations, however, the founder of
JKAP retained visible responsibility for the key artistic choices of artists and projects.
INSTITUTIONAL POSITIONING OF THE ART PROJECTS

JKAP has been closely aligned with public state art institutions from its inception to the present
day. This was consistent with the practice of other foundations which also aligned themselves
with public art institutions, particularly contemporary art events such as biennales. Many were
also engaged with public art museums, at least through overlapping personnel.
Kaldors first engagement with state galleries came through the agreement that the directors of
the AGNSW and NGV would judge and present the Alcorso-Sekers Sculpture Prize. Kaldors
example was his mentor, Alcorso, whose 1947 Modernage exhibition catalogue featured essays by
the then-director of AGNSW, Hal Missingham.
From the first project in 1969, there was a symbiotic relationship between Australias state art
museums and Kaldors Art Projects. This extended to Kaldor himself and his developing
collection of mostly international contemporary art. Kaldors strongest relationships were with
AGNSW, NGV and the MCA, each of whom provided him with venues to stage art projects.
Kaldor brought to these projects his relationships with leading contemporary artists, often
created by collecting their works, his reputation for staging Art Projects; and his support, all of
which assisted these institutions to present work by leading international artists as part of their
program. KPAP provided the institutions with works and relationships with artists that they
might not have otherwise been able to develop. The Kaldor Art Projects brand itself added to
the cachet of the projects. There was a showmanship and an excitement to early projects, on
which Kaldor consciously built. Not surprisingly, art gallery directors were keen to collaborate
with Kaldors projects.2 For the institutions, contact and connection with a collector and patron
represented links with a wealthy collector, who was a potential donor of funds or work.
AGNSWs acceptance of Kaldors collection, and its construction of a permanent space to
Eg, Peter Laverty, Director of AGNSW 1971 to 1978: Baume, 1995, p. 31.
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Conclusions
exhibit that collection, provided official recognition of the importance of Kaldors contribution
to contemporary art in Australia.
Of course, there was a price. As a result of the projects, a private individual was able to influence
the direction of state art museums exhibition programs. The projects inevitably diverted funds
and staff resources from what might otherwise have been the institutions own priorities.
This thesis has argued that the relationship between these institutions and Kaldor was reinforced
by his personal participation in the institutions themselves. Kaldor was a trustee of the AGNSW
from 1978-1980; a board member of the MCA from 1996 and Chair from 1997-2002;3 a board
member of the Biennale of Sydney from 2000-2008;4 and Commissioner for Australia at the
Venice Biennale in 2005 and 2007. In 2005 he was also a member of the International Council of
the Museum of Modern Art (MoMA), New York, and the Tate Modern in London.5 These
appointments acknowledged the contribution that Kaldor had made to contemporary art through
his public Art Projects, his role as a collector, and also ensured the ongoing working relationship
between the patron and the institution.
As shown in Table 1, the vast majority of KPAPs projects were directly linked to public galleries
and institutions. Of the twenty-five projects to 2012, fourteen were held at a major public
gallery, another five had an associated exhibition at a major public gallery, and three others were
organized in conjunction with public institutions (RMIT University, MIAF, and the Sydney
Festival). Only three projects were truly stand alone with no link to a public institution (Urs
Fischer, Gregor Schneider and Thomas Demand). KPAP had been shown to have a broad
reach. By 2012 (and including the Journey to Now exhibition reviewing the projects in 2003 at the
AGSA), KPAP had worked with a major public gallery in each of the mainland state capitals.
See MCA Annual Reports 1997 and 1998.
Noted in Biennale of Sydney exhibition catalogues.
Australia Council website, http://www.australiacouncil.gov.au/news/items/pre2010/australian_commissioner_for_2007_venice_biennale, accessed April 12, 2012. Membership of these international councils
was highly prestigious, by invitation only, and was taken as a sign of the public service contribution that an individual had made to
the visual arts in their own country. Other Australian members of the International Council of MoMA included Ann Lewis
(1972); Penelope Seidler (1973); and most recently Simon and Catriona Mordant, Chair of the MCA, Sydney, and Commissioner
of the Australian Pavilion for the Venice Biennale, 2011, 2013. For a discussion of Ann Lewiss role, see Leon Paroissien, Ann
Lewis Patron and Collector, Art & Australia, Spring 1996, Vol 34, p. 54-63.
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296
There are discernable patterns in KPAPs institutional partnerships. Not surprisingly, given
Kaldors base in Sydney, fourteen projects involved NSW art institutions, with five projects
involving Victorian public art institutions. Projects between 1969 and 1990 principally involved
the AGNSW and the NGV. Between 1995 and 2003, KPAP collaborated principally with the
MCA, overlapping with Kaldors appointment as Chair of the MCA board between 1997 and
2002. In more recent years, KPAP collaborated less with state art galleries, and more with
festivals. This reflected the global shift towards projects that responded more specifically to
particular sites, which thus tended not to be gallery spaces or art museums. It also reflected a
desire to engage with audiences beyond the specific realm of contemporary art.
These relationships with institutions were valuable to Kaldor in a number of ways. They
increased the status of his projects and his collection, both locally and internationally. They
attracted audiences and conferred status on him in contemporary art circles. Kaldors ability to
place Art Projects in major state art museum programs gave him a certain status when making
connections with artists and institutions globally for future projects. Many of the projects used
spaces that state art museums controlled. And they often contributed in kind or financially to the
projects that appeared under Kaldors name. For Kaldor, institutional participation implicitly
endorsed the artistic value of his Art Projects and effectively canonized the works. Senior art
institution personnel regularly wrote extended essays for publications about Art Projects, often in
their dual capacity as critics for local newspapers or magazines (including those not presented in
the spaces of public institutions). These personnel often became involved in the governance of
KPAP, giving support and informal advice.
Daniel Thomas, Senior Curator and Curator of Australian Art at the time of Gilbert & Georges
project in 1973, was a keen supporter and advocate of both emerging artforms and Kaldors
initiatives. As an institutional curator, and trained art historian, he was well aware of the
changing nature of exhibition-making and the need for the AGNSW to be able to present more
of the notable developments in international contemporary art. He wrote extensively on the first
two John Kaldor Art Projects, those with Christo and Jeanne-Claude (1969) and Harald
Szeemann (1971), and on Gilbert & Georges project in 1973 in his role as Sydney Morning Herald
art critic.6 Thomas also wrote on other projects between 1973-1984. KPAPs Curatorial
6 See Daniel Thomas, Australias most important exhibition, Sydney Morning Herald, 15 July 1967, p. 10; Daniel Thomas,
Thoughts on Christo, Sunday Telegraph, 27 July 1969, p. 115; Daniel Thomas Two New York sculptors In Sydney, Art &
296
Conclusions
Advisory Group included Nicholas Baume, who had been curator of the Kaldor collection
before becoming curator at the MCA from 1993-1998. Many of KPAPs staff had been staff or
freelancers working at public art museums.
Public art institutions were also important in writing the history of KPAP itself, affirming its
place in the official canon of Australian art. Four exhibitions in twenty years at public art
institutions highlighted either Kaldors personal collection or the history of the Art Projects: the
Christo and Jeanne-Claude retrospective at the AGNSW in 1990; the MCAs exhibition in
association with Koons Puppy in 1995; the exhibition at the AGSA, Journey to Now; and the
exhibition at the AGNSW commemorating forty years of KPAP, in conjunction with the
announcement of the substantial gift from Kaldors personal collection in 2009.7 Each of these
exhibitions was accompanied by an exhibition catalogue, published by the Gallery, with essays by
public gallery curators who worked on the shows. Public art museum curators and directors also
wrote articles that focused on Kaldors role as patron and collector. These included articles by
Thomas in Art & Australia and Capon in Vogue Australia.8
The relationship between the institutions and John Kaldor was further consolidated through his
collection. Works from the collection were shown in institutional exhibitions in conjunction with
KPAP projects such as Christo (1990), Koons (1995), Rondinone (2003), Journey from Now (2003),
and 40 Years (2009). The collection was stored by the MCA for many years while Kaldor was on
the board. In 2008, John Kaldor announced the gift of part of his private collection to the
AGNSW, to be known as the John Kaldor Family Collection, in acknowledgement of the tacit
support for the gift from his children, who would otherwise have benefited from the work.9 The
gift included works by all of the artists whose projects feature in KPAPs history. In 2009, an
exhibition documenting the history of the Art Projects was held at the AGNSW, coinciding with
the 40th anniversary of Kaldor Public Art Projects. Its presentation enabled the institution to take
ownership of the history of the Art Projects in Australia, alongside Kaldors gift from his private
Australia, Vol. 7, No. 2, Sept 1969, pp. 124-125; Daniel Thomas Art in Christos wrapping, Sunday Telegraph, 26 October 1969, p.
68; Thomas, Daniel, Rush to Melbourne, Sunday Telegraph, 9 May, 1971, p. 106.
7
See below p. 302.
8 Daniel Thomas, The Art Collectors 10. John Kaldor, Art & Australia, Vol. 8, Issue 4, March 1971, pp. 312 323; Edmund
Capon, John Kaldors passion for, and faith in, contemporary art can move mountains or at least wrap Berlins Reichstag,
Vogue Australia, Dec 1995, pp. 185-86; Edmund Capon and John Kaldor, In conversation, podcast, AGNSW public programs,
May 21, 2011.
9
297
Collecting and KPAP
298
collection of contemporary art. For the AGNSW, it was important that Kaldors Art Projects be
perceived as an integral component of the benefactors gift. Their inclusion differentiated the
collection from any other gift of contemporary art.
COLLECTING AND KPAP

Kaldors initial collecting was influenced by his early mentors, Sekers and Alcorso. However,
Kaldors collecting and philanthropy was to be more focused. While Kaldors early collecting
interests included a substantial Australian component, his attention rapidly shifted to the
collection of international artists, particularly male artists working with US and European schools
of minimalism and conceptual art. Heiner Friedrich and Philippa (de Menil) Pellizzis support of
American minimal artists such as Donald Judd, and their creation of the Dia Art Foundation
influenced him profoundly.
Kaldor drew a distinction between his collecting and the Art Projects. Collecting, Kaldor stated,
is about the object; projects are about realizing a concept.10 He saw collecting as a more passive
activity. The Art Projects were seen by a wide Australian audience, whilst his private collecting
was (originally at least) largely as a personal pursuit.
But this thesis has argued that the art projects and Kaldors collecting have always been closely
linked, even if Kaldor repeatedly separated them as the public and private sides of his interests
in contemporary art. Kaldor often built a relationship with an artist by collecting his work, which
then led to Kaldor inviting the artist to make an art project. Items from the collection were
sometimes shown to contextualize the projects. The projects themselves contributed to the
significance of his collection as a series of mementos of the projects. Ultimately his collection,
gifted to AGNSW, has assumed even greater value than its constituent parts because of the
historic association with the projects.
Kaldors ambition was that his Art Projects would influence the direction of Australian
contemporary art. As Kaldor wrote in 1984, in his introduction to An Australian Accent, In an
endeavor to play a more active part in the development of art in Australia I have over the past
fifteen years invited leading artists from the United States and Europe to work in Australia and
10 Baume in Forbat, 40 Years, 2009, p. 46. Kaldor drew a similar distinction in the preface to the catalogue for An Australian
Accent (1984).
298
Conclusions
thereby to create an awareness of international contemporary art.11 This public ambition may
have originally motivated Kaldor to try to separate his public and private art activities. The Art
Projects inherently had a more public impact, the potential to profile visiting artists as celebrities,
and (at least early in KPAPs history), a novel format at the cutting edge of international
contemporary art.
The impact of the public projects depended on at least the perception that they were somehow
an objective judgment of important trends in international contemporary art. In reality, of
course, the projects, particularly before the professionalisation of KPAP around 2009, were just
as dependent on Kaldors personal selection of artists as the works in his collection. Indeed,
Kaldors interests as a collector were very similar to his interests in selecting Art Projects. As
Thomas commented in 1971, in a feature article in Art & Australia on John Kaldor, Kaldors
interest in collecting was motivated by the casual, the environmental and the participatory rather
than for the work of art as an independent precious object.12
In fact, there was an enormous overlap between the artists whose work Kaldor acquired for his
collection, and the artists invited by Kaldor to make projects. In 2009, Baume again noted that
artworks were often acquired prior to the initiation of a project.13 Kaldor purchased a small
Package from Christo before the project was initiated in 1969. A similar train of events occurred
with Sol LeWitt, Jeff Koons, Gilbert & George, and others. Kaldors collecting of contemporary
artworks often provided the introduction to artists, subsequently invited to make projects, as well
as introductions to gallerists, institutions and art professionals whose support was vital to the Art
Projects given the symbiosis between KPAP and public institutions.
The collection was often discussed in relation to the projects. The first specifically collectionbased exhibition drawn from Kaldors private collection was shown at the Museum of
Contemporary Art in 1995.14 Baume, the curator of the exhibition and author of the
comprehensive exhibition catalogue text, titled his essay John Kaldor: Public Patron/Private
11
Kaldor, introduction in Thomas, An Australian Accent, 1984.
12
Thomas, The Art Collectors, Art & Australia, 1971, p. 312.
Baume had first explored Kaldors interest in an artist through acquisition of work, which often preceded an Art Projects, in
Baume, From Christo and Jeanne-Claude, 1995, and again in his interview with Kaldor in Forbat, 40 Years, 2009, p. 48.
13
14 From Christo and Jeanne-Claude: John Kaldor Art Projects and Collection, 12 December 1995 to 17 March 1996. Museum of
Contemporary Art, Curator, Nicholas Baume.
299
Collecting and KPAP
300
Collector.15 Documentation of the John Kaldor Art Projects was an important aspect of the
exhibition, which was interwoven with major works from the collection. The relationship was
clear. The exhibition was shown concurrently with Kaldor Art Projects 10th project. Jeff Koons
Puppy (1995) was presented in front of the MCA, in the central Sydney location on Circular Quay.
Although both Kaldor and Baume went to great pains to distinguish the public from the private,
and the art projects from the collection, they were inextricably interlinked.
The second exhibition that presented Kaldors private collection alongside the Public Art
Projects was presented at the Art Gallery of South Australia. Journey to Now, John Kaldor Art
Projects and Collection, was shown at the Art Gallery of South Australia between April July 2003.
Adam Free titled his essay for the exhibition catalogue Collection as Biography.16 In his essay,
Free implicitly suggested that the collection and projects were inextricably linked through the
inclusion of groupings of works that represented some of the ten projects to date presented by
Kaldor Art Projects. The essay reinforced Kaldors position as a major philanthropist and
collector of contemporary international art. Similarly, the exhibition at AGSA included works by
artists with whom Kaldor had already presented projects, or with whom he subsequently made
projects.17 The exhibition also included the work of two Australians: Aleks Danko, who had
been included in both Szeemanns exhibition in 1971 and Baumes 1995 MCA show; and
Aboriginal artists Paddy Bedford and George Tjungarrayi.18 Presumably they were, in part at
least, included in an attempt to rebalance the focus of Kaldors collection on overseas white, male
artists Vanessa Beecroft was the only female artist in the show.
Exhibitions accompanying other projects also drew on Kaldors extensive collection. For the
2003 exhibition of work by Swiss artist Ugo Rondinone at the MCA which accompanied a
Kaldor Art Project on the roof of the Museum, many of the works shown were drawn from the
collections of John Kaldor and Naomi Milgrom. The inclusion of these works enabled the
Museum to present a broad range of the artists diverse work, and enabled audiences to gain a
15
Baume, From Christo and Jeanne-Claude, 1995, pp. 9-79.
16
Free, Journey To Now, 2003, p. 3-5.
17
Thomas Demand, Michael Landy, Bill Viola. For a complete list of artists see Free, Journey to Now, 2003.
Other Australian artists included in the MCA From Christo and Jeanne-Claude (1995) exhibition were Barry Humphries, Mike Parr,
Imants Tillers and Ken Unsworth.
18
300
Conclusions
greater understanding of its breadth. It also reinforced the relationship between Kaldors
collection and the Public Art Projects.
The distinction between public projects and private collecting is also problematic because it is
arguable that the Art Projects themselves amounted to a form of collecting. The distinction
between object and project overlooks the shift in art-making in the mid to late 1960s.
Artworks became increasingly conceptual in nature, with instructional pieces, installation,
performance and large-scale temporary land works all manifestations of the shifting definitions of
the object in contemporary art. Early projects with Christo and Jeanne-Claude, Szeemann,
Gilbert & George, Paik and Moorman, LeWitt and Long all reflected this trend. John Kaldor Art
Projects gave Kaldor a means of creating a virtual historic collection of otherwise non-collectable
art. It is interesting to compare Kaldors Sydney contemporary Franco Belgiorno-Nettis, who
was actively involved in developing the Sydney Biennale in 1973. By contrast, Kaldor created his
own vehicle presenting a program of events where he retained personal artistic control over the
selection of artists and projects. Kaldors adoption of a private foundation model for the
presentation of site-specific art projects in Australia by leading international artists was, in 1969,
ahead of even the Friedrich/de Menil Dia Art Foundation founded in 1974.
Kaldors projects, while obviously distinct from a collection of physical objects, nevertheless
shared many of the features of status-driven collecting. The projects distinguished Kaldor and
his activities from most other contemporary art collectors of the time. Most contemporary
collectors at the time collected physical objects and sometimes commissioned artwork. These
objects often later formed the foundation of private museums in which to present the collection
of work. This bricks and mortar approach is a development of the private museum, in a way
that Kaldors Art Projects are not.
Of course, in the end, Kaldors private collecting became public anyway. In 2008 a substantial
part of Kaldors collection, valued at $35 million, was given to the Art Gallery of New South
Wales on the condition that a new wing was made available for the presentation of the works.
Until the gift to the Art Gallery of New South Wales of the John Kaldor Family Collection was
announced in 2008, Kaldor had maintained his collecting was a private endeavour shared with
301
Historicising KPAP
302
family, friends and occasionally a visiting art group.19 The gift of works that would subsequently
always be on partial display radically altered the private and public history of Kaldors collecting
for an Australian public. As Jean Baudrillard noted in his critique of the value of permanent
collections of public museums, the fixed reserve of the museum is necessary for the functioning
of the sign exchange of paintings. Museums play the role of banks in the political economy of
paintings.20 While auction records of the secondary market may establish the monetary value of
works of art, art museums establish the artistic value of the currency, and in turn, the reputation
and status of the collector and donor.
By the time of Kaldors gift of his private family collection to the AGNSW in 2008, he and
others widely referred to his role as a dedicated collector, supporter and patron of contemporary
art.21 His role as patron became inextricably linked with his role as private collector, both
validated by the public institution.
HISTORICISING KPAP
The image of KPAP as an autonomous entity has been consciously promoted since its early
operations. It was portrayed as an ongoing institution from its early days, and this was
consistently renewed with each new project. Annotated notes on press releases for JKAPs Third
Art Project, with Gilbert & George, reminded Kaldor to mention its status as part of a series.
The work by Miralda, not seen at the time as an Art Project, was retrospectively included as an
Art Project in 2007, and acknowledged as such in the 40 Years exhibition and publication.
Documentation relating to projects such as letters, instructions, Christos fabric swatches, and
other related material was preserved archivally. This material was displayed as part of subsequent
exhibitions.
The history of the Art Projects and their place in the development of contemporary art in
Australia was reinforced by no less than four substantial exhibitions about Kaldors art projects
and collection in public galleries over twenty years, by any measure, extensive recognition for a
19
20
Baudrillard, The Art Auction, in For a Critique of the Political Economy of the Sign, 1981, pp. 112-22.
Kaldor Public Art Projects, http://kaldorartprojects.org.au/about/john-kaldor, acessed August 1, 2011. Terms regularly used
to describe and introduce Kaldor at lectures and events.
21
302
Conclusions
series of nineteen projects when the last of these exhibitions was held in 2009.22 The
publications, sponsored by KPAP, in conjunction with each of these exhibitions dominated the
subsequent perception of KPAP. KPAP was similar to other foundations presenting projects
overseas in publishing the only comprehensive retrospectives of its own work. Artangel, PAF,
Creative Time and the Trussardi Foundation all published extensive publications documenting
the history of their projects. Such publications will inevitably dominate subsequent evaluations
of their activities. Although there was other writing about individual projects, nothing was
written about KPAP as a whole independently of these publications. As a form of advocacy,
they presented an uncritical view of the Art Projects. The early projects, particularly 1969-1977,
were emphasised to historicise KPAPs contribution to the development of contemporary art in
Australia. The authority of this history was reinforced by the involvement of public art
institutions and their curators, in the governance of KPAP, and in exhibiting and writing about
the history itself of the projects and Kaldors collection. Journal articles were often written by
curators involved with KPAP and the Art Projects, such as those by Thomas, Baume and Day.
While they wrote from highly knowledgeable positions within the art world, their involvement
with Kaldor meant that their opinions could be seen as a form of artistic and cultural advocacy
on KPAPs behalf. Included in Australian publications such as Art & Australia, the projects were
firmly embedded within an artistic history of Australia. There was little competition.
LONG TERM IMPACT

There is no doubt that Kaldors first project with Christo and Jeanne-Claude, Wrapped Coast
(1969), had the greatest impact locally and internationally of any KPAP project. It presented a
new work by a groundbreaking international artist team. This Art Project enabled the artists to
successfully realize their first large-scale temporary Wrapping. The images and stories attracted
widespread interest both in Australia and worldwide. No Art Project has ever had such local or
international impact again.
Kaldors subsequent projects between 1970-1977 were significant in developing the local artistic
landscape. They enabled art museums such as AGNSW to increase the number of contemporary
exhibitions and projects they could offer to a growing audience. They brought important and
22
Project 19, Tatzu Nishi (2009) coincided with AGNSWs exhibition 40 Years: Kaldor Public Art Projects.
303
Long term impact
304
exciting works to Australia. However, their international impact was minimal, as the works were
not new, nor did they offer an opportunity to the artists to develop something unrealizable
elsewhere. Gilbert & George presented a work that had already been frequently shown in
Europe, and with the exception of a valedictory presentation at Sonnabend Gallery, New York in
(1991), the artists never presented it again. Szeemanns visit had no lasting international impact,
reflected not only by the fact that he did not include any Australian artists in documenta V the
following year (1971), but also by the small profile it was accorded in Szeemanns definitive
catalogue raisonn. Until the 40 Years publication in 2009, Miraldas project had sunk without a
trace in Australia, though as the publication noted, he was included in documenta VI, Kassel in
1977. It is unlikely that the Kaldor project would have played any part in this, given the
ostensibly private nature of the visit, and its invisible international profile. Projects by Paik and
Moorman, LeWitt and Long, built on already existing international reputations. While interesting
for Australians, and important in Kaldors collection, the Australian visits did little more than act
as another project in already strong biographies of international exhibitions and projects. The
advent of the Sydney Biennale in 1973 also meant that from then on KAP projects were
presented in a radically different context within Australia, with far more competing artists
projects of this nature.
The projects between 1984 and 1994 also had little international impact. An Australian Accent did
not play any pivotal role in the careers of the three artists though they, and subsequent writing,
would have us think differently. Christo and Jeanne-Claudes 1990 exhibition and Art Project
strengthened Kaldors relationship with the artists, and in turn with AGNSW. It reminded
audiences of JKAP, and John Kaldors, central role in the development of the new Australian
cultural landscape through Wrapped Coast (1969). But it was primarily a retrospective view.
Particular projects between 1995-2002 had at least some international impact. Koons Puppy
(1995) came at a time in the artists career when the critical response to his recent work was
divided. The JKAP Art Project enabled the work to be remade using the latest engineering
technology. The feel-good factor and its spectacular appeal to a broader public made it highly
attractive for institutions and public art opportunities, which required this sort of visibility to
justify and compete for further public funding. The work was subsequently acquired by the
Solomon R. Guggenheim Museum and presented in the forecourt of Guggenheim Bilbao, and
then at the iconic Rockerfeller Centre, New York, in 2000.
304
Conclusions
KPAPs projects between 1999 and 2012 were set in an increasingly globalized frame of
international exhibitions and biennales. With more international opportunities available to
leading artists, it was increasingly unlikely that KPAP Projects would play a key role in the
development of any artists practice. Each of the artists presented was already part of an
international network. The projects generally lacked the site-specificity and contextual reading
that had been the hall-mark of JKAPs first project.
Sol LeWitt and Rondinones projects formed part of each artists extensive exhibition biography.
Neither had a lasting international impact. Beecroft was the only Art Project by a female artist
throughout JKAPs whole history. But the Australian project had no discernable international
impact on her subsequent exhibition career. McGees project with Kaldor was subsequently
exhibited at Deitch Projects, New York, but his subsequent work had limited impact.
As shown in Table 2, from McGee on, most KPAP artists had previously presented major works
with other private foundations internationally. Often, these other private foundations projects
were pivotal artworks in the artists ensuing development. Urs Fischer, Gregor Schneider, Bill
Viola, Michael Landy, and Thomas Demand had all made major works for foundations and notfor-profit organisations before their KPAP projects. Generally the KPAP project was not key to
their subsequent artistic development, as other major works and exhibition projects had been.
Martin Boyces project was an exception: it was significant for the artist in developing themes
that were later presented in the exhibition for the critically received Scottish Pavilion at the
Venice Biennale in the following year. However the actual work presented in Australia played no
clear role in his selection and award of the Turner Prize following Venice.
For a private foundation from Australia to have a lasting impact within this global framework, a
project needed to offer something specifically unique that another foundation or context could
not offer. The use of the Commercial Travellers Building in Sydney for Thomas Demands
project offered this difference. While it is too early to tell what influence this work will have on
Demands artistic career in the long run, for KPAP the work seemed to represent a return to the
innovation embodied in Wrapped Coast (1969). Ultimately, however, KPAP has had limited
impact on the development of an international installation art beyond Australias shores.
JKAPs greatest international significance, apart from the initiation of Christo and JeanneClaudes Wrapped Coast (1969), lay in the creation of an alternative philanthropic model that was
neither rooted to a gallery space, nor to one, fixed place of presentation. In this way, JKAP could
modify the requirements, and thus resources, needed for any one artistic project. This model of
305
Conclusion: Exhibition histories
306
alternative philanthropic support for contemporary artists emerged from a context where there
was little public support available either through government funding or institutions for
contemporary art. The Dia Art Foundation in the US represented a similar attempt to devise a
new model to support contemporary art forms. However, Dia eventually evolved into a
collection and permanent gallery space. Its exhibitions and scholarship continues to focus on
specific artists and art historic themes. Kaldors model presaged the later development of notfor-profit organisations, such as Artangel, Public Art Fund, Creative Time, Trussardi, Prada, and
T-B A21.
These foundations were important in presenting many of the ground-breaking temporary
installations in globalized contemporary art. In part, the relationship between new forms of
contemporary art and the private foundations that supported it were causal, in part responsive,
and very often, the relationship was symbiotic. The foundations and not-for-profit organisations
spear-headed the trend towards more site-responsive installations. Facing increasing competition
from biennales, they effectively partnered with them, again producing many of the key works in
globalized contemporary art from 2001-2009. There are signs such as Artangels support for
Horns Library of Water (2007), the Benesse Foundations Art House Projects, part of Art Site
Naoshima, and Instituto Inhotims series of permanent pavilions for contemporary installations
set in a botanical park in a remote part of Brazil that the next original development may be a
further evolution of the idea of Destination art, installations that are responsive to unique and
often remote locations. And again, much of this may be supported by foundations.
CONCLUSION: EXHIBITION HISTORIES

Only recently has it become accepted that exhibition histories are an essential part of art history,
especially since the late 1960s, when artists engagement with space and site became a
fundamental part of their practice. Kaldor Public Art Projects at times played a key role in the
evolution of the artistic landscape in Australia from the late 1960s. This thesis provides the first
independent historical analysis of the evolution of the Art Projects, and their relationship to the
development of contemporary art in a global frame.
As new forms of exhibition-making evolved, through the development of biennale and triennale
in the 1990s, traditional forms of patronage and support for contemporary art also evolved.
Since the 1990s, an unprecedented number of private foundations have been created. They play
a specific role in society, and the motivations for their creation are often as much personal as for
306
Conclusions
the public good. This thesis presents the first definitive analysis of these trends, using KPAP as a
case study. KPAPs role is considered locally, and as part of a global contemporary art world.
Any further research into this developing area can build on the scholarship that has been
presented. It is now necessary to revise our understanding of the role that not-for-profit
foundations have played, and will continue to play, as part of a global contemporary art world.
307
Tables
308
308
Tables
Table 1.
Number
Total
Artist / Project
Year
Gallery space
1 Christo & Jeanne-Claude
1969
2 Harald Szeemann
1971
NGV
3 Gilbert & George
1973
AGNSW, NGV
4 Miralda
1973
AGNSW
5 Moorman + Paik
1976
AGNSW, AGSA
6 Sol LeWitt
1977
AGNSW, NGV
7 Richard Long
1977-78
AGNSW, NGV
8 An Australian Accent
1984-85
AGNSW, AGWA
9 Christo & Jeanne-Claude
Associated
gallery
exhibition
Associated
organisation
NGV
1990
AGNSW, AGWA
10 Jeff Koons
1995-96
MCA
11 Sol LeWitt
1998
MCA
12 Vanessa Beecroft
1999
MCA
13 Ugo Rondinone
2003
MCA
14 Barry McGee
2004
15 Urs Fischer
2007
16 Gregor Schneider
2007
17 Bill Viola
2008
18 Martin Boyce
2008
19 Tatzu Nishi
2009
20 Stephen Vitiello
2010
21 Bill Viola
2010
22 Santiago Sierra
2010
23 John Baldessari
2011
Sydney Festival
24 Michael Landy
2011
Sydney Festival
25 Thomas Demand
2012
NGV
AGNSW
RMIT
AGNSW
AGNSW
ACMI
Melbourne Festival
GOMA
14
309
Tables
310
Table 2
Previous major projects/solo exhibitions
No.
1
2
3
4
5
6
10
11
12
310
Artist /
Project
Christo &
JeanneClaude
(1969)
Public galleries
Stedelijk van Abbemuseum, Eindhoven (1966)
Walker Art Center, Minneapolis, Minnesota
(1966)
Museum of Modern Art, New York (1968)
Kunsthalle Bern (1968)
Live in your head Kunsthalle Bern (1968)
12 environments Kunsthalle Bern (1968)
Performed Singing Scultpure 19 times throughout
Europe (1969-1972)
Sonnabend Gallery, New York (1971)
Szeemann
(1971)
Gilbert &
George
(1973)
Miralda
(1973)
Moorman + Performances widely documented including
Paik
artists arrest for Opera Sextronique (1967),
(1976)
Filmmakers' Cinematheque, New York (1970s)
LeWitt
Szeemann, When attitude becomes form Kunsthalle
(1977)
Bern (1969)
Some Recent American Art, MoMA NY touring
exhibition: NGV, Melbourne; Sydney;
Adelaide; Perth; Auckland (1973-74)
Long
Szeemann, When attitude becomes form Kunsthalle
(1977-8)
Bern (1969)
Dwan Gallery, New York (1970)
Solomon R. Guggenheim Museum, New York
(1971)
MoMA, New York (1972)
An
Australian
Accent
(1984-5)
Imants
Tillers
Barry
Unsworth
Mike Parr
Christo &
JeanneClaude
(1990)
Jeff Koons
(1995-6)
Sol LeWitt
(1988)
Vanessa
Beecroft
Equilibrium, New York (1985)

Luxury and Degradation, New York (1986)
Statuary, NY (1986)
Saatchi Collection, London (1987)
Museum of Contemporary Art, Chicago (1988)
Festival/Biennale
documenta 4 (1968)
Biennale of Paris (1971)

Szeemann festival
Happening & fluxus,
Cologne (1970)
documenta 5 (1972)
Venice Biennale (1975)
Sao Paolo Bienial (1975)

documenta 7 (1982)
Sydney Biennale (1979)
Whitney Biennial (1987)

Munster Sculpture (1987)
VB 8, P.S.1, New York (1995)

VB 13, Basel Art Fair
VB 16, Deitch Projects, New York (1996)
(1995)
VB 21, Galleria Massimo De Carlo, Milan (1996) VB 28, Venice Biennale
VB 22, Miu Miu store, New York (1996)
(1997)
VB 23, Ludwig Museum (1997)
VB 25, Stedelijk, van Abbemuseum, Eindhoven
(1997)
VB 36, Solomon R. Guggenheim Museum, New
York (1997)
Foundation
Tables
13
Ugo
Rondinone
(2003)
14
Barry
McGee
(2004)
15
Urs Fischer
(2007)
16
Gregor
Schneider
(2007)
17
Bill Viola
(2008)
The Passions, NGA (2005)
18
Martin
Boyce
(2008)
Tatzu Nishi
(2009)
Strolling, Heide, Melbourne (1988)
20
Stephen
Vitiello
(2010)
Whitney Biennial, New York (2002)
21
Bill Viola
(2010)
Santiago
Sierra
(2010)
19
22
23
John
Baldessari
(2011)
P.S.1, New York (2000)

Palazzo delle Esposizioni, Rome (2001)
Wurttembergischer Kunstverein, Stuttgart (2002)
Kunsthalle Vienna (2002)
Musee Nationale dArt Moderne, Centre Georges
Pompidou, Paris (2003)
Centre for the Arts Yerba Buena Gardens, San
Francisco (1994)
Walker Art Centre, Minneapolis (1998)
Art from Around the Bay, San Francisco Museum
of Modern Art (1999)
Deitch Projects, New York (1999)
Rice University Art Gallery, Houston (2000)
Dakis Joannou Collection exhibition, Athens
(2002)
UCLA Hammer Museum, Los Angeles (2004)
Modern Art, London (2004)
ICI, London (2000)
Stedelijk Museum Bureau, Amsterdam (2000)
Modern Institute, Glasgow (2002)
Santa Monica Museum of Art, Calif. (2002)
Centre Pompidou, Paris (2004)
Camden Arts Centre, London (2005)
Museum Boijmans, Rotterdam (2006
Totes Haus Ur, Reydt
Turbine Hall, Tate Modern, London (2007)
Signs of Life Melbourne

Biennial (1999)

Foundation
Liverpool Biennial (2002)
Cartier,
Paris (2001)
Prada
Foundation,
Milan (2002)
Deste
Foundation,
Athens
(2004)
Jet Set Lady
Fondazione
Nicola
Trussardi
(2005)
German Pavilion, Venice Die Familie
Biennale (2001)
Schneider,
Artangel
(2005)
US Pavilion, Venice
Biennale (1995)
Durham Cathedral,
Visual Arts UK (1996)
Munster Sculpture
Project (2007)
1st Biennial Seville (2004)
Yokohama Triennale,
Jalapin (2005)
Scape, Christchurch
Biennial (2008)
15th Bienniale of Sydney Foundation
(2006)
Cartier,
Paris (2002)
The High Line
& Creative
Time (2010)
8th Baltic Triennial,
Vilnius (2002)
Spanish Pavilion, Venice
Biennial (2004)
26th Sao Paulo,
Brazil(2005)
Lyon Biennial (2008)
Athens Biennial (2008)
Prada
Foundation,
Milan (2010)
311
Tables
312
24
25
312
Michael
Landy
(2011)
Thomas
Demand
(2012)
Tate Britain, London (2004)

South London Gallery, London (2010)
Palais de Tokyo, Paris (2010)
Museum of Modern Art, New York (2005)
Serpentine Gallery, London (2006)
Neue Nationalgalerie, Berlin (2009)
Ca Corner della Regina, Prada Foundation,
Venice (2011)
Break Down,
Artangel
(2001)
German Pavilion, Venice Fondazione
Biennial (2004)
Prada,
Sao Paolo Biennial (2004)
Venice
(2007)
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The rise of the private art foundation:

A thesis submitted in total fulfillment of the requirements of the degree

Image removed due to copyright

Martin Boyce, We are shipwrecked and landlocked (2008)

the thesis comprises only my original work towards the PhD,

CHAPTER ONE: GLOBAL DEVELOPMENTS

CHAPTER TWO: THE ORIGINS OF JOHN KALDOR ART PROJECTS

CHAPTER THREE: CHRISTO KALDORS FIRST PROJECT (1969)

CHAPTER FOUR: KALDORS EARLY PROJECTS (1971-1977)

CHAPTER FIVE: KALDORS QUIET YEARS (1978-1994)

CHAPTER SIX: KALDORS REVIVAL YEARS (1995-2004)

CHAPTER SEVEN: KALDOR & NEW INSTITUTIONALISM (2004-2012)

CHAPTER EIGHT: CONCLUSIONS

Christo, Wrapped Tree (1969)

Harald Szeemann, I want to leave a nice well-done child here (1971)

Gilbert & George, The Singing Sculpture (1973)

Miralda, Coloured bread (1973)

Sol LeWitt, All two part combinations of arcs (1972-77)

Sol LeWitt, Lines to points on a grid. (1975-77)

Richard Long, Brushwood circle (1977)

Richard Long, Stone line (1977)

An Australian Accent (1984)

Christo and Jeanne-Claude, Wrapped Vestibule (1990)

Jeff Koons, Puppy (1995)

Sol LeWitt (1998)

Vanessa Beecroft, VB40 (1999)

Ugo Rondinone, Our magic hour (2003)

Ugo Rondinone, Our magic hour (2003)

Ugo Rondinone, Clockwork for oracle (2003)

Barry McGee, The stars were aligned (2004)

Barry McGee, Water wall mural (2004)

Urs Fischer, Cockatoo Island installation (2007)

Gregor Schneider, 21 beach cells (2007)

John Kaldor Family Collection, AGNSW (2011)

Bill Viola, Fire Woman (2005)

Martin Boyce, We are shipwrecked and landlocked (2008)

Tatzu Nishi, War and peace and in between (2009)

Stephen Vitiello, The Sound of Red Earth (2010)

Santiago Sierra, 7 forms measuring 600 x 60 x 60 cm (2010)

John Baldessari, Your name in lights (2011)

Michael Landy, Acts of Kindness (2011)

Thomas Demand, The Dailies (2012)

Thomas Demand, The Dailies (2012)

SURVEY OF GLOBALIZATION AND CONTEMPORARY ART

2 The work will henceforth be referred to as Wrapped Coast (1969).

Martin was director of the Muse National dart modern, Paris.

Survey of globalization and contemporary art

Bydler, The Global Art World, 2004.

Belting and Buddensieg, The Global Art World, 2009.

For a discussion of Imants Tillers use of appropriation, see below p. 189.

Survey of globalization and contemporary art

See Anne Ring Petersen, Identity Politics, Third Text, 2012.

Nikos Papastergiadis, Cosmopolitanism and Culture, Polity Press, Cambridge, 2012, p. 9.

Survey of globalization and contemporary art

See below p. 20.

Survey of globalization and contemporary art

See discussion below p. 25.

Survey of globalization and contemporary art

See discussion below p. 27.

Julian Stallabrass, Art Incorporated, 2004, p. 72.

THE RISE OF INSTALLATION ART

The rise of installation art