Australia’s National Gallery Victoria is seeing its outgoing director, Gerard Vaughn, call for a new Contemporary art museum:
“We collect a lot of contemporary art, both Australian, indigenous and non-indigenous, from all around the world, but we do have limited space and I think a museum of contemporary art, under the umbrella of the NGV, as part of the organisation, would be a fantastic thing,” he said.
Dr Vaughan concedes the expansion idea is unlikely to be realised for a number of years, but says planning for the new building should begin now. “We know we’ll have to wait, we’ll have to take our place, but it’s very important the advocacy process goes on,” Dr Vaughan said. “So there’s a real awareness both on the part of the Government and the community as to what is really needed for the future. If this comes, it means that Melbourne is going to have a kind of visual arts museums hub, the likes of which would be very hard to find anywhere in the world.”
