HOTA Gallery: ARM Architecture

摘要

The claim that the new $60.5 million gallery at the Home of the Arts (HOTA) unapologetically reflects the "bold and brash" personality of the Gold Coast originated in the media releases timed for its opening on 8 May and was taken up in the echolalia of news cycles. Of course, the Gold Coast is more than beaches, theme parks and real estate speculation. It's also Pentecostal mega-churches, a hotspot of domestic violence, a suburban hinterland that threatens dwindling koala habitat, and a home to two universities. But if the city exceeds the superlatives used to sell it as a tourist destination, is its new gallery likewise more nuanced than its facade and marketing copy suggest? An alternative story is in circulation about the design, by the Melbourne-based ARM Architecture. From a collection of more than 4,400 works of art, HOTA gallerists selected William Robinson's The Rainforest (1990) as a piece representative of the gallery's locale, history and aspirations. It was to become a touchstone for the evolving design. Awarded the 1990 Wynne Prize for landscape painting, The Rainforest employs longstanding High Victorian traditions. At the time of its creation, the work was out of step with contemporary art, and Robinson's vision of the forest feels even more nostalgic 30 years later. Moreover, it's a piece that is not especially representative of the collection. An extraordinary 46 percent of HOTA's collection is produced by women, and there is also a significant body of work by Indigenous Australians. Much of the collection has been amassed through strategic purchase of emerging local artists, a point reinforced at the opening show of commissions from local artists across a range of media. The Rainforest, on the other hand, was an expensive purchase - much debated by members of the public and within the Gold Coast City Council - by a well-established artist.