Museum of Contemporary Art, Sydney

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

This article is about Museum of Contemporary Art, Sydney. For other Museums named Museum of Contemporary Art, see Museum of Contemporary Art.

Circular Quay entrance

The Museum of Contemporary Art (abbreviated MCA) in Sydney, Australia is an Australian museum solely dedicated to exhibiting, interpreting and collecting contemporary art, both from across Australia and around the world. Housed in the Art Deco-style former Maritime Services Board Building on the eastern edge of Circular Quay, the MCA is one of the youngest of the chief cultural venues in Australia's largest city.

[edit] History

The MCA was established to fulfil the museum aspect of the vision of Australian expatriate artist John Power (1881–1943), who bequeathed his personal fortune to the University of Sydney to inform and educate Australians in the contemporary visual arts.

With the relocation of the Maritime Services Board (MSB) to larger premises in 1989, the former MSB Building was gifted by the NSW State Government to the Museum of Contemporary Art. 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 Thorpe/John Holland Interiors and in November 1991 the Museum of Contemporary Art officially opened.