It is not at all uncommon for heritage sites to be turned into gallery spaces. Melbourne especially has quite a few examples of this, not limited to the likes of Heide and Montsalvat. The Bundoora Homestead too, is a site with significant history. It was once the home of John Matthew Vincent Smith, a prominent figure in the horse racing industry. After buying the property of Bundoora Park, he invited the public to design the homestead. Sydney Herbert Wilson’s distinguished red brick, English Queen Anne design was selected. This homestead was expanded and later used as a repatriation centre for WWI veterans and after the war, was used as a hospital until 1993 when it closed. Most of the surrounding buildings were demolished, and the mansion itself faced the risk of demolition, but was saved by the hard work of historical societies and passionate community members. After being restored, the homestead opened to the public in 2001 as an arts centre. This was of course, a wonderful decision on the part of La Trobe University and the Commonwealth Government, as well as Heritage Victoria. Rather than being bulldozed to give way to commercial spaces, the homestead was repurposed for community use.
So, you may ask, what is wrong with this? If the homestead is being used to help artists launch their careers and inspire the community, surely that must be good for the public? Well, that was my initial thought, before I had visited last week. The first thing my companion and I noted, was the lack of cars that were in the carpark. The place appears oddly deserted, despite it being a sunny Saturday afternoon, the sort of conditions that would encourage most to come out to see an exhibition. Still, I dismissed this, keeping my mind open on what would be inside those red brick walls. Perhaps, I thought, there would be more people inside the building. So in we went.
The interior is just as pleasant as it appears on the outside. Although much of the building was restored to its former glory, the white-walled reception area had been modernised like a commercial gift shop, the shelves well-stocked with books and artwork. It is presented well, with good lighting, which further heightened my expectations of a professional arts centre. We started in the first exhibition space, which is an elegant room, complete with what seems to be original furnishings (such as the fireplace and the chandelier). The exhibition in this space, Corinna Berndt’s jpg Fossils, a video installation, is jarring. I will elaborate on this in part 2.
I started feeling more hopeful when entering the next exhibition space. This housed the Truth Telling Display*, which in contrast to the previous exhibition, is definitely more engaging and informative. It is also the only historical exhibition in the homestead, though a permanent display which certainly helps to provide first time visitors contextual information about the site and its surrounds. Upon first impressions, the wall treatment is quite unorthodox. Rather than using a white cube gallery layout, there is an attempt to replicate or at least reconstruct how the room used to look like; yellow walls with lilac flowers, reminiscent to the wallpaper patterns from the era in which the homestead was built. But as striking as the wall treatment is, it does not detract from the installation. The use of pale blue wall labels for information offsets the brightness of the yellow walls, allowing audiences to read the contextual texts without too much difficulty. Being quite text-heavy, this contrast in wall treatment makes reading less laborious, with a nice combination of images, artwork and videos added to it.
This display also seems to cover the different historical legacies of the area: the colonial-settler history with Smith, and the histories of Wurundjeri Woi-wurrung people who lived in the area long before. There is even information about the flora and fauna in Bundoora, with an enormous, life-size cut out of a kangaroo. The inclusion of such an object in a museum display is simple, but seems to be the sort of thing that would entertain general audiences. Locals particularly would be interested to know about some of the more wacky, yet wonderful things in their area. I was particularly impressed with the story about Dr John F. Cade and his scientific discovery about lithium as a mood stabiliser. So much so, I was tempted to buy a copy of a book on the subject upon exiting. The fact that this display is permanent, is all the more important for Bundoora Homestead, especially as it is in line with the historical significance of the building and provides much-needed background about the homestead and the site. Everything is clear and written well, and by having so many different forms of media presented creates interest in the exhibition. My companion and I regarded this to be the strongest exhibition in the homestead, and we were not alone on this. Looking at the Google Reviews, several positive comments seem to be on the permanent display, but not so much on the temporary art exhibitions. More on that soon.
After we went up the charming wooden staircase, my hopes were dashed once more. Upstairs, three exhibitions occupy the various rooms: Rest time, Female Trouble and Arranging by Chance, all conceptual and following a similar approach to the jpg Fossils exhibition earlier on. All these works deal with contemporary issues, which in itself is fine. Yet, these topics are so far removed from the context in which the works are situated in, it begs the question as to why they are there in the first place. Even if the theme was taken out of the equation, the conceptual appearance of all these exhibitions are a dramatic contrast to the ornate, Victorian furnishings and architecture of the homestead. These works are more likely to be presented in commercial gallery spaces in the inner suburbs of Melbourne, or Gertrude Contemporary. They would even fit in well in an institutional space (Monash, RMIT, VCA to name just a few), because they address the curatorial concepts that would be most familiar to the audiences that frequent these spaces.
The Truth Telling Display is an accessible, engaging exhibition that informs audiences and gently takes them back through time to understand and learn about a place. At the same time, it does not talk down to them, nor treat the audiences like they don’t know anything. So why do the rest of these art exhibitions take on such unfamiliar forms that are intimidating to potential audiences of the space? And, more importantly, how do these exhibitions fulfill the homestead’s purpose of being a place that serves the local community, when the majority of the public cannot connect with them? To do these exhibitions and this review justice, all these will be analysed more in subsequent blog posts.
*Note: Due to cultural protocols, I was unable to provide a photograph of the Truth Telling Display. An image of this can be accessed via the Darebin Arts website, which can be viewed through this link: https://arts.darebin.vic.gov.au/Arts-venues/Bundoora-Homestead-Art-Centre/Exhibitions/Truth-Telling-Space
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