1798–1942: Prior history of site The Museum of Contemporary Art Australia is located south of the landing spot of the
First Fleet. The site originally housed
two Commissariat Stores, built using convict labour. The
state government assumed control of the Commissariat Stores in 1901 and leased them to commercial tenants. In 1937, the Circular Quay Planning Committee, which had originally recommended the buildings be demolished to provide parkland, changed its mind and called for them to be replaced with a new office for the
Maritime Services Board (MSB), After site clearance construction was halted in late 1940 since restrictions resulting from the onset of
World War II made continued work impossible.
1943–1991: Power Gallery of Contemporary Art The MCA's roots are in the 1943
will of Australian expatriate artist
JW Power (1881–1943), the first Australian-born painter to experiment with
Cubism. Independently wealthy from his previous medical career, he specified that upon his wife's death, his personal fortune, mostly stock worth
£A2 million (
A$ today), was to go to his
alma mater, the
University of Sydney, with the express purpose of informing and educating Australians in the contemporary visual arts. It was to be used specifically for "museums and other places for the purpose ... of suitably housing the works purchased so as to bring the people of Australia in more direct touch with the latest art developments in other countries." When Powell's wife died in 1961, the bequest was made public; she also willed most of her husband's works to the university. At the time it was the largest monetary bequest ever made to any Australian university or arts organisation. Four years later the university's senate voted to create the
Power Institute of Fine Arts as a beginning of fulfilling Power's wishes. It was opened in 1975 as just a performing arts venue. This collection of artworks took the form of the 'Power Gallery of Contemporary Art', a traveling collection without a permanent address. Between John Power's death and the eventual establishment of the museum, the collection was mainly housed in the University of Sydney's
Fisher Library during the 1970s. It was exhibited in the Madsen Building on campus between 1980 and 1989. Funded by the University of Sydney and the Power Bequest, restoration, and refurbishment of the building commenced in 1990 under the direction of Andrew Anderson of
Peddle Thorp/
John Holland Interiors, and the following year the Museum of Contemporary Art, Sydney, officially opened. Those early years in the museum's own space were difficult. The university agreed to help fund the museum's initial costs but did not make any commitment to the long term, as it was expected that the museum would eventually become financially independent. To that end an admission fee was charged; it did not make up for the shortfall as the university began phasing out its support, and the local and national media began expressing concern for the museum's future. Newspaper stories called attention to the paucity of visitors and called the museum "a place for wankers". The building's former offices had been renovated into a more open space with movable walls to accommodate exhibition requirements, with some rooms left intact as archival spaces. The inadequacy of the renovated MSB building as a gallery space, including circulation and accessibility issues, prompted plans for further renovations. The Japanese architectural studio
SANAA won, but its plans were abandoned after site investigations revealed
the archaeological remains of a colonial dockyard beneath the museum's car park. having just enough money to make payroll for a few weeks, Macgregor had previously held the same post at the
Ikon Gallery, a major contemporary art museum also housed in a repurposed heritage-listed building in
Birmingham. Shortly after taking over, to encourage more visitation, she eliminated the $12 of the building's total $53 million cost. It was constructed in a
Cubist architectural style, appearing as a series of overlapping white, black, and brown boxes that contrasts with the main building. A portion of the new wing opened with an exhibit of work by
Rafael Lozano-Hemmer in December 2011; The wing added in floor space,
Artist Profile, much more enthusiastic about the addition, which it said "successfully fuses the old with the new by forging innovative ways through which audiences can interact with and understand the work on offer", used similar language. But both they and Farrelly thought that the entrance might have been better located at the MSB building's centre rather than the junction between the new and old wings. told Marshall at a debate that the MCA building should have been demolished, as the SANAA plan had proposed, so the museum could start afresh: "There was a one in 500-year opportunity to do a great building at Circular Quay." Marshall allowed that if he could have demolished the MCA building, he would have. and just as the fires were finally being extinguished the
COVID-19 pandemic began. The Australian government limited all non-essential indoor gatherings to a hundred people, including staff; the MCA complied with the order by severely limiting attendance. By May all galleries and museums in the country were closed indefinitely. In the absence of foot traffic, Macgregor estimated, 40 per cent of the museum's funding was lost instantly, which she said made "our much-lauded funding mix" problematic, as the MCA relies on government support for only a quarter of its budget, unlike other institutions for which it constitutes the majority of funding. The museum relied at first on its donor base, which Macgregor said was very willing to let it use the money they had contributed with other purposes in mind for the more basic purpose of keeping the museum running. Because of that reliance on private funding, later the MCA was able to tap the government
JobKeeper program to keep staff on the payroll, which helped it avoid some "truly horrible" scenarios such as the
voluntary administration that
Carriageworks, elsewhere in Sydney, had been forced into by then as the pandemic dried up its revenue stream, When Macgregor learned that many of the children at schools in West Sydney the museum had been doing outreach to did not have Internet access at home, she reached out to
The Daily Telegraph, and the museum staff wound up producing the creative activities section for the paper's
Hibernate supplement for the duration of the lockdowns. During this break, the museum's leadership changed. In July 2020, Lorraine Tarabay, another investment banker and contemporary art collector, took over the chair of the board from Mordant, who remains involved with the museum as its international ambassador. Artist
Danie Mellor also joined the 11-member board, which already included
Qantas head
Alan Joyce,
Carnival Australia head
Ann Sherry and other prominent individuals from the art and business worlds. In February 2021 the museum opened a major rehang of its permanent collection on the second floor, and in October the entire museum was able to reopen, albeit with strict health protocols required by the state in place, not only the previous capacity restrictions but mask requirements throughout the building and
proof of vaccination required for all visitors over 16. Exhibitions by
Richard Bell and
Doug Aitken greeted those museumgoers who returned. Within her first year as chair, Tarabay oversaw the hiring process for a new director when Macgregor stepped down in March 2021 after 22 years at the MCA to return to Scotland and spend more time with her family.
Melbourne native Suzanne Cotter, was hired to replace Macgregor in July 2021. Cotter had previously been director of the
MUDAM in
Luxembourg and the
Serralves Foundation Museum of Contemporary Art in
Portugal. Macgregor stayed in the position through October; Cotter formally assumed responsibilities in January 2022. ==Governance==