By ERWIN CHLANDA
Of the two NT government art galleries in the making, one is making news: The one in Darwin, because construction is under way.
At the opposite end of the Territory, and of government attention, there is no news about the Alice Springs “national” Aboriginal gallery because its senior director, Tracy Puklowski, is not able, not willing, not permitted, not whatever to answer media questions.
The latest news about the $130m project was an exclusive by the Alice Springs News about fundraising and the delay of the project till 2028.
In Darwin the excavation for the Northern Territory Art Gallery (pictured) is now completed and sub-structure works will start this month on the $88m project, employing 192 workers to date.
When asked what stage the so-called National Aboriginal Art Gallery in Alice Springs has reached Ms Puklowski said: “Put your question in an email.”
And so we emailed at 11.58am yesterday: “Hi Tracy, what stage has the development of the National Aboriginal Art Gallery in Alice Springs reached?”
At 3:34pm we received a text from Ms Puklowski: “Please contact TFHC media.”
We did and got a reply from Corporate Communications, Territory Families, Housing and Communities at 8:15am today: “We will get back to you before end of day tomorrow.”
That’s tomorrow, Wednesday, two full days after we asked Ms Puklowski a pretty simple question.
The inconclusive website of the Alice Springs project was of little help while NT Government gushed about the Darwin one: “The Territory Labor Government is transforming our CBD into a green, welcoming and interactive destination for locals and visitors to enjoy and explore,” Eva Lawler, Minister for Infrastructure, Planning and Logistics, announced breathlessly.
“Local Territory company Sitzler is leading the entire $145m project to deliver the Civic and State Square precinct. This includes the Art Gallery, Central Heart, public art and water features.
“The construction of the Northern Territory Art Gallery will be complete in 2025 – three years before the Alice one, by the government’s own admission.
“Other projects within the Civic and State Square development are progressing well with the design tender to redevelop Liberty Square to be awarded in the coming weeks,” says Minister Lawler.
“The Northern Territory Art Gallery will be a state-of-the-art piece of infrastructure featuring large galleries with high ceilings, a grand foyer, dedicated community spaces and so much more.”
A statement about the “national” gallery in Alice Springs by Gerard Vaughan, co-chairman of the “forthcoming” institution’s reference group, is contained in a two minute seven second online video, bereft of detail: “From day one (what day is that going to be?) we can have the greatest masterpieces brought together (which ones and from where?) in one place and have some of the best displays that could ever be put together anywhere right here in Alice Springs.” Louvre, move over!
The “full design services to enable the construction” of the Alice gallery is still a work in progress, at a cost of $7.2m, by the Brisbane office of the international firm BVN Architecture in collaboration with the local firm Susan Dugdale & Associates.
Right now would be a good time to be giving a glimpse of where the project stands to the people paying for it – the public – before the design is locked in, especially since the mishandling of the development so far has become legend.
In fact the tender details process tells part of the story of woe: The tender was started in April 2021, closed in June 2021, and was accepted in March 2022, almost a year later.
(Google our extensive coverage over the six years the project has been in development.)