BASEMENT HAUS U R: new works added to Kaldor Collection

If you thought you’d wrapped your head around the expansive collection in the AGNSW contemporary galleries, think again. In June, the space is getting a little bit of a revamp, integrating more of the gallery’s international and Australian contemporary collection with the astounding John Kaldor Family Collection. Although the AGNSW has over 4000 pieces in its contemporary art pool, many have rarely been seen due to a lack of space. The latest showing canvasses land art, minimalism, the body and affect, abstraction and the cabinet, representing a broad sweep through numerous significant art-historical movements.

A centrepiece of the new display is Gregor Schneider’s newly commissioned work Basement Haus u r (Basement cellar house) 1985–2012, which reflects Schneider’s intriguing process of painstakingly rebuilding the interior of spaces of houses within the original structure. The uncanny effect created – somewhere between claustrophobia and deja vu – is fascinating, and garnered Schneider the Golden Lion at the Venice Biennale in 2001 for his infamous work Totes Haus u r. In addition to Schneider’s unsettling Basement Haus u r, the gallery is displaying Richard Long’s Stone Line, commissioned as Kaldor Public Art Project 7. Stone Line is 20 metres long, over two metres wide, and was designed in 1977 for the front entrance of the gallery, when it was last displayed. The new collection went on display in early June at AGNSW Contemporary Galleries. (KB)

From Jun 2, AGNSW, Art Gallery Rd, The Domain, free, 1800 679 278, artgallery.nsw.gov.au