Art Scoping

Episode 37: Michael Brand

November 25, 2020 Maxwell L. Anderson
Art Scoping
Episode 37: Michael Brand
Show Notes

We voyage across the Pacific to Sydney, to speak with Dr. Michael Brand, director of the Art Gallery of New South Wales. We explore his outspoken commitment to indigenous art and artists, the massive and environmentally sensitive expansion of his museum well underway, his views on public support of the arts in both Australia and the U.S., and the challenges of restitution of art with disputed title—from his days as director of the J. Paul Getty Museum to today. He shares his experience in curating a major exhibition of contemporary art that was installed during the pandemic, intended to demystify the field and the process of collecting major works beginning in the late 1960s. We get a little insight into Sydney’s place in the cultural firmament, as distinct from Canberra and Melbourne, and follow his thinking about larger responsibilities facing the directors of the world’s leading museums.