Coronavirus: No escaping dread themes in Art Gallery of SA’s monster-led recovery

Now that the Art Gallery of SA is making plans to reopen, the Monster Theatres exhibitio­n may strike visitors as even more weirdly familiar.

Rhana Devenport with Mikala Dwyer’s sculptures. Picture: Roy Van Der Vegt

When the Art Gallery of South Australia closed its doors because of the coronavirus in March, it was forced to pull the curtain on an eerily prescient exhibition that aimed to make visible the anxieties of our time.

Now that it is making plans to reopen, the Monster Theatres exhibitio­n may strike visitors as even more weirdly familiar.

The entrance vestibule is bedecked with artist Mikala Dwyer’s soft sculptures that look like PPE gear from a biohazard apocalypse.

AGSA director Rhana Devenport said she was thrilled the ­gallery would reopen on June 8, and that many more people would be able to see Monster Theatres, the theme of the 2020 Adelaide ­Biennial of Australian Art.

The AGSA will have been locked down for 10 weeks: it was the last of the major state galleries to empty itself of visitors, on March 25, and likely will be the first to welcome them back. Neighbouring institutions on North Terrace — the South Australian Museum and the State ­Library — also are planning a June 8 reopening.

Devenport said the AGSA was working with the state government to put in place necessary safety and social-distancing measures in the exhibition areas.

The reopening will be staged over time, and limits will remain on numbers in the gallery cafe and other public areas.

Devenport said she expected some people would be fearful of visiti­ng public places again as the lockdown was relaxed.

“The government is very keen for us to open safely, and we are keen to offer the safest and most rewarding experience,” she said.

Monster Theatres is a group exhibitio­n involving 24 artists who address dread themes of racism, environmental catastrophe, surveillance and the supernatural.

The exhibition, on show until August 2, includes Judith Wright’s phantasmagorical installation Tales of Enchantment, Karla Dickens’s carnivalesque sideshow of racist stereotypes, and a 9m moving robot by Stelarc.

Devenport said the gallery was working towards the Tarnanthi festival of contemporary indigenous art that is due to open in Oct­obe­r, but many other galleries will continue to be hamstrung as travel restrictions limit their ability to plan touring exhibitions.

“State borders and international borders are closed, so major international exhibitions are all delayed, and programming is a big issue for all of the state art mus­eums,” Devenport said.