Queensland Art Gallery Presscuttings Book 9 : Construction of the cultural centre, 1977-1981

THEWEEKEND AUS'[IWIAN MAGAZINE I ust cop this - be seen - not visitors, but also nbltors. i m afar, from a top of bullillng, within a street - vle,;,Hprovide no 1. The view of n cnn urovlde a real f size 11.nd sculp• give a city a real · om close-up, and y below ,- which icwtng acl'OSli a retch or water. cs cnn boast such ong ,Kong la 'the e.seen, and Syd– s such a view, but face divided ·into . I had always BrtsMne lacked until J turned ~ and saw as co111• ,c a view of a city ·UP 1111 IU~ pc)IIBI• p;lne. means that this the exact anti– Sydney's Opera the one Is to be m afar as a mon– .object Itself. The vldes a thousand n giant sculpture, s the entire sky– vas. c many years, of fore It Is known m which of the more successful ity, though l,he ouse at compnrn– . cost almost ex- actly twice as much for less tl)an half the facutttes, 'Unfortunately, the · most successful will' almost cer– tainly be the Opera House because, as the advertising ln~ustry knows so well, It Is thf external appearance of a product that sells. And fe11f products come In more dramatic form, and In such setting. But that said, there Is no doubt Brisbane Is getting much, much more for Its money than either Sydney or "delalde. · A Cultural Centre with a view from every theatre foye,r, the museum, the art gallery, the auditorium, the restaurant, the llbrarY- all . opening out over the river to the city and an aspect · that catches fully the bril– liant Brisbane winter sun. It Is a labyrinthine com– plex connected by tunnels with glass domes, walk– ways, underground roads and overhead passages past high glass walls which makes the Opera House small and the Festlvnl cen– tre In Adelaide more like a waiting room. . It Is so massive, In fact, that the only question Is will there be enough Inter– ested people in Queensland to fill It up? For there Is Just a tinge of an uncul– tured government In this saying: to the Influential few: "You want culture? · tlon of the nation's way of OK well cop this." life." Certainly everyone will Inside the bulldlng It was come for a look-see once a great refllef to rtnd that word gets around what's In the harsh office-block lines store - and the viewing of of the exterior had been art ls, I am sure, about to created by giant sandblas- . become a popular pastime _ ted concrete planter boxes In Brisbane because It ls - Inside and out - at every the Art Gallery which Is level. These are being sown perhaps the outstanding with gardens and hanging feature. vines to take advantage 'of• I got this preview of corn• the sub-tropical look that· Ing attractions by tagging Brisbane should use more along when Sir David often, and will certainly Muir, the Cultural Trust soften the present stark Chairman, showed State look. Treasurer and Deputy Pre- mier, Dr Liew. Edwards, The entrance to the art where all his money was gallery Is as spectacular ns going. the outside Is mundane - a Sir David Immediately giant high hall with sun- showed why he Is the pub- light shining at various an- lie servant Queensland's gles through Y-shaped politicians have always concrete beams down on a chosen to entrust with wide waterway through the their touchiest tasks when, middle of the bulldlng, al- Dr Edwards - Investing most surrounded by no less tens of mllllons a year In than 14 art galleries at var- thls project - came face to lous levels. face an old wooden and tin out of this long pool, I am shed across the road bear• assured, trees more than Ing the sign: "Cultural 20-feet hlgh.· w111 grow to- autos. Repaints $250." wards the natural sunlight. In case Dr Edwards The water mall, as it Is should think - If ever so called, wlll begin as a briefly - that thL, had any- waterfall to diminish traf- thlng to do with either the fie noise. It ls supposed to museum or the Art Oat- serve'"as an orientation for lery, Sir David pointed It the gallery viewer", as the out nnd said, tactfully: "It brochures put It - presum- docsn't take long for local ably they mean Its straight businessmen to catch on course past nll galleries cn- __ t1__ 1a,..t_c_u_l_tu_r_e_1_s_t_h_e_re_fl_e_c_•__ a_bles thi: viewer. to wo~~ . out where he ls ·In the maze of art. The floor of the giant hnll and foyer Is paved with Im– ported travertine stone, but In the white-walled gal– leries this gives way to In– laid wood about a .metre from the walls - so that the break In floor material provides a psychological bnrrler to the viewer lo kceµ him or her from get– ting too close. The first gallery Is a huge white room for the Austra– lian collection - and my first thought was that per– hap.~ some lovely old city building could have been preserved to provide such a space. But then there Is the gallery for the decorative arts and then one for the European collection - and exits and entries to other galleries begin to become a matter of chance rather than choice and It Is easy to see that no building exist– Ing In Brisbane would have been remotely big enough to hold all these galleries, without going Into high– rise. The biggest gallery of all ls set In a huge hall which can be locked off from everYthlng else - the Tem– porary Exhibition gallery. The Idea Is that It can be closed and set-up with vi– siting exhibitions without affecting the other galler– ies, and opened , occasion– ally like a Jewel box. Further on there Is the Sculpture gallery ·which opens up Into a large court– yard, and al.together the gallery provides seven times the display space that ls now available In Brisbane. But gigantic as the art gallery ls, It Is only a part of this complex. And It Is really when moving from one section to another that the adventure begins. To reach the rlverfront restaurant we zipped down a tunnel with three clear domes above to allow light for the plants Inside, and came out next to some– thing I dldri't even know was planned - a 450-scat auditorium already almost complete right on the riv– er's· edge for banquets, musical entertainment, weddings receptions and any other functions which •n-111 • 1 -· e. would like a great .setting · and a stage. Adjacent ls the 120-seat restaurant whlrlt, with two private dining rooms and the vte.wof the city, should prove the most popular In town when It opens In September. · The Lyric Theatre ls all concrete and scaffolding now, but It Is already obvl• ous that there wlll be two circles about the rising stalls and that no one Js more than five rows from · their scat when they get In• side. This theatre will take most of the shows - par– ticularly ballet anp opel'I\ - which have been held In the .small Her Majesty's Theatre. It ·can hold the same number. as Her Ma– jesty's or, at the push of a button, be reduced from 1500 to 1000 or expanded to 2000, The 2000-seat Concert Hall next door Is already etched out In Its shoebox shape In concrete.The now concrete orchestra pit seems huge - said to be able to bold 100 musicians, with another 100 on staae If need be and room for large choirs above both sides of the stage. There Is also a 200-seat experimental theatre ..:. and the foyer areas of all three theatres lntem\lngle and are part of a huge se– ries of open walk areas ·fooklng over the river and up at the city. · More 1ana 1s ownea next door and a new Dl'llma Theatre Is expected to be built In the future. · . I left the Incomplete con• crete-man's modem ver– sion of atone convinced that, for once, I was wrong.· ,It will be a beauty-despite· the fact that tap-dancing has been abandoned as an art. My overriding memory,. besides the view of the city, Is of the great unlimited space In the Art Gallery, which will open In March next year. · The complex will be, something most Australi– ans will want to see, despite Its mundane exterior. And not a bnnana In the place: