I Have Seen the Future & It Is Australia

The Telegaph’s Richard Dorment is high on Australian art, artists the country’s art infrastructure:

I’ve just come back from a tour of Australia’s museum and art galleries, and as well as seeing talented artists whose work I hadn’t known before, I found an energy and optimism among the curators, collectors and dealers there that reminded me of London in the good old days.

With huge mineral resources, a strong dollar and economic ties to Asia, Australia has survived the economic downturn a lot better than we have. In fact, the place is booming. Since art always follows money, just you watch: contemporary art in Australia is going to be the next big thing.

One of the visible signs of the renaissance taking place down under is the new Museum of Contemporary Art in Sydney. In some ways Sydney’s MCA is Australia’s equivalent to Tate Modern, though London didn’t have a museum of modern art until 2000, whereas the MCA has been on its site in the historic centre of Sydney on the harbour on a stretch of water across from the Opera House since 1989.

Museum of Contemporary Art in Sydney: can you guess where the next big thing will be? (Telegraph)