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The Museum of Contemporary Art Australia is delighted to announce its updated 2020 exhibition program with three new exhibitions displayed across Level 1 and Level 3 galleries. Due to the COVID-19 pandemic, the MCA Australia has shifted its Spring/Summer season to focus on works by Australian artists, providing an opportunity to celebrate the range and diversity of work being produced in Australia.

Opening on 2 October will be a major survey of Australian Chinese artist Lindy Lee. The exhibition titled Lindy Lee: Moon in a Dew Drop, brings together over 70 works from across four decades of the artist’s practice. Curated by the Director of the MCA Australia, Elizabeth Ann Macgregor OBE, the exhibition was initially scheduled to open in July and was postponed due to the Museum’s temporary closure earlier this year.

Supported by Strategic Sponsor the NSW Government’s tourism and major events agency, Destination NSW and Major Partner Telstra, Lindy Lee: Moon in a Dew Drop, is the most comprehensive survey exhibition of the artist’s work to date with significant loans from public and private collections, as well as rarely seen works from the artist’s personal collection. The exhibition begins with Lee’s early photocopy works and wax paintings moving through to recent large-scale installations and sculptures.

Three new major commissions will be presented as part of the MCA Australia’s major survey exhibition: Moonlight Deities, a large-scale immersive artwork comprising of multiple suspended paper sculptures that cast dramatic shadows across the gallery walls; Secret World of a Starlight Ember, is a public sculpture situated on the MCA Australia forecourt at Circular Quay, inspired by the cosmos and covered in thousands of tiny holes the polished steel sculpture is internally illuminated at night creating its own constellation; and Buddhas and Matriarchs and Strange Condensations, are two installations comprising of over 190 sculptures individually created by the artist by hand-pouring molten bronze.

MCA Director, Elizabeth Ann Macgregor OBE, said: “The MCA Australia is renowned for showcasing Australia’s leading contemporary artists, as we developed our program in response to the coronavirus pandemic, we seized the opportunity to celebrate the work of Australian artists this Spring and Summer.”

“I am delighted that the first exhibition the Museum has been able to generate since the lockdown is of the extraordinary artist Lindy Lee. One of Australia’s foremost contemporary artists, Lee’s influential practice draws on her Australian and Chinese heritage. Her work addresses important and timely issues regarding identity, cultural authenticity, as well as history and spirituality.”

Also opening on 2 October are two MCA Collection exhibitions in the Level 1 North and South galleries, both exhibitions drawing from the Museum’s permanent collection of over 4,400 works by Australian artists. Together these two exhibitions present recent acquisitions, as well as works by artists who have participated in past Primavera series.

“The MCA Australia is also delighted to present two exhibitions running concurrently with Lee’s survey. Several artists will be displayed highlighting the broad cross section of contemporary art produced across Australia. These exhibitions have been curated by our brilliant team of assistant curators and provide new ways of viewing the Museum’s Collection,” added Macgregor

Curated by Manya Sellers, Connected: MCA Collection showcases recent acquisitions, some of the works being displayed for the first time. The exhibition of nine artists presents work with a deep connection to place, people or worldviews – drawing on multiple perspectives and cultural traditions from across the country. This exhibition showcases a diversity of material and artistic approaches featuring Indigenous and non-Indigenous artists from the Anangu Pitjantjatjara Yankunytjatjara (APY) lands, East Kimberley, Arnhem Land, Tiwi Islands, Torres Strait, and beyond to Indonesia. Artists include Alick Tipoti, Bob Burruwal, Bede Tungutalum, Jack Nawilil, Jumaadi, Kunmanara Williams, Mabel Juli, Noŋgirrŋa Marawili and Rosalie Gascoigne.

Anywhere but here: MCA Primavera Acquisitions, curated by Stephanie Berlangieri and Lucy Latella, is drawn from the MCA’s Collection of 200 works by artists who have participated in the Primavera series, an annual exhibition which showcases the work of Australian artists aged 35 and under.

The exhibition responds to the social and economic upheaval of the coronavirus (COVID-19) outbreak. It examines the heightening of pre-existing issues within the current crisis and the potential for change. The works in this exhibition address themes of domesticity, interiority and self-isolation, the transformation of urban landscapes and an eventual return to nature, place and community. Highlights include works by Dion Beasley, Hiromi Tango, Keg de Souza, Matthew Griffin, Nell and TV Moore.

The revised 2020 exhibition program is scheduled to open on 2 October after the 22nd Biennale of Sydney: NIRIN closes in early-September. Due to the changes to scheduling, the MCA Australia has postponed the following exhibitions: Sydney International Art Series 2020–21 Doug Aitken curated by Rachel Kent; Primavera curated by Hannah Presley; Level 2 Collection rehang curated by Anneke Jaspers; and the Foyer Wall Commission by Vincent Namatjira OAM.

For more visit: mca.com.au