Coronavirus: Art Gallery of South Australia first to reopen next month

Artist Judith Wright with her dramatic installation called Tales of Enchantment, showing at the 2020 Adelaide Biennial of Australian Art: Monster Theatres. Picture: Roy VanDerVeg

Adelaide’s grand cultural institutions on North Terrace are to be the first in the country to reopen after COVID-19, with the Art Gallery of South Australia planning to welcome visitors from June 8.

AGSA director Rhana Devenport says the gallery has been given dispensation from the Marshall government to allow more than 20 people inside, as the state relaxes its lockdown measures.

The AGSA will have been closed for 10 weeks for the coronavirus lockdown: it was the last of the major state galleries to close and is the first to announce an opening date.

Neighbouring institutions the South Australian Museum and the State Library also are planning to reopen on June 8.

Devenport says she is working closely with the other organisations and with the state government to ensure proper social distancing measures are in place, but these details are yet to be finalised. The reopening will be limited and phased in over time.

The gallery has extended its headline exhibition of contemporary Australian art, which opened in early March and was forced to close early due to the lockdown. The 2020 Adelaide Biennial of Australian Art: Monster Theatres will remain on display until August 2.

The acclaimed Tarnanthi festival of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Art is due to open as planned in October, although the exhibition may be modified if state borders remain closed.

Devenport says she is delighted to soon be able to welcome visitors back to the gallery but she is aware that people will be cautious about emerging from the lockdown.

“We are very keen to offer the safest and most rewarding experience for our visitors,” she says.