Art Gallery of WA director Colin Walker unveils ambitious plans for the ‘most modern’ gallery in the world

Art Gallery of WA director Colin Walker wants to build the “most modern” art museum in the world — and he’s hoping the State Government and private benefactors will stump up $851 million for his vision. “I’m a greedy bugger,” the Liverpudlian laughed as he outlined his ambitious plans for a state-of-the-art sibling for the existing brutalist institution, which opened in 1979. Initially an interim appointment before being announced as AGWA director in March 2020, Mr Walker hopes work will start on the new contemporary gallery during his next five-year stint, which officially begins in March next year. The arts boss has a few sites in mind — the frontrunner being in, or on top of, the Urban Orchard in the Perth Cultural Centre. He wants to enlist WA architects to design a stunning addition to the city skyline that would likely cost double the $400m spent redeveloping WA Museum Boola Bardip. Walker compared his plans to the National Gallery of Victoria’s continuing extension project The Fox: NGV Contemporary, priced at $850 million. “If we could do $851 million, then I’ll do something better than them,” he said. “If given the opportunity, I will build the most visited cultural institution or venue that WA has ever had. “It will be the most modern in the world,” Mr Walker continued. “It will be immersive, it will include Australia’s best children’s gallery. “It will have all these fantastic things,” he added. “And it will have more space.” If built, the new art museum would give Mr Walker room to display more of the State Art Collection’s 18,700 works, including 2480 paintings, representing 5500 artists from 130 different countries. One of the few headaches during his first five years at AGWA, which saw record attendances, were complaints over the removal from the permanent display of Australian colonial-era masterpieces from the likes of Frederick McCubbin, Tom Roberts, Arthur Streeton and Charles Conder. Two years ago, Mr Walker decided that no works should be on permanent display to give the stale cultural institution a shake-up. Art lovers complained they should be able to see McCubbin’s iconic 1889 oil painting Down on His Luck, which was part of the dis/possession exhibition from August 2022 to March 2023. While he acknowledged the frustration felt by some visitors, Mr Walker is staunch in his belief that AGWA had to engage new audiences. Groundbreaking exhibitions during his directorship, such as current smash hit TIME RONE, The View From Here survey of WA contemporary artists, BlakLight’s six-week focus on Indigenous works, Japanese artist Yoshitomo Nara’s Australian solo debut and The West Australian Pulse showcase of Year 12 students, have transformed visitor demographics and shook off any perceptions of AGWA being an elitist institution. The first three months of this financial year have been the best attended on record, with overall visitation numbers up 60 per cent on pre-COVID levels. “Fifty per cent of our audience is under 34,” Mr Walker revealed, adding that when he took over as director the majority of visitors were 55 years or older. “We haven’t lost anyone, it’s all been a rising tide,” he added. “The numbers across every age group are higher but most of the people we’ve brought in have been young.” Mr Walker said the bumper attendances prove that “people are very much getting what they want, but not everybody will get to see the thing they maybe wanted to see”. As for those feeling down on their luck that they might not see Down On His Luck, the director said people will still experience great art. “Tommy May, an indigenous artist from the Kimberley, is as influential an artist as McCubbin ever was,” he said. “Showing things on permanent display is a model that’s been done for years and has failed to re-engage anybody.” No museum in the world can show more than a few per cent of its entire collection, he explained. Given the gallery has a net floor space of around 5000sqm, Mr Walker estimated he can show no more than three per cent of the collection in a year. “We have a smaller footprint than the Museum of Contemporary Art (in Sydney), which has 5000 works and I’ve got 18,700,” he explained. Even the biggest galleries on the planet, such as The Hermitage in St Petersburg and The Louvre in Paris, struggle to display one per cent of their massive archives. “It’s the best job in the world in many ways,” Mr Walker said, “but it’s also an endlessly frustrating one in that you can’t please everyone.” AGWA is currently digitising the State Art Collection, funded with $500,000 from an overseas donor who wishes to remain anonymous and another $500,000 through general fundraising. The gallery hopes to complete this process within the next three years to become the first major gallery in Australia to fully digitise its collection.