Battle of Midway - empty or full

This is my contribution to the Weekend in Black and White community.

MCA - New wing takes flight

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The new wing of the Museum of Contemporary Art (MCA) was opened/launched today. This is not a review, as such, because I have not walked it thoroughly yet, nor taken in ANY of its offerings. That will have to wait until Easter, I suspect. This post is more a view of its location.

I went to see the recent Picasso exhibition at that other place, you know, the one up the road that is not in competition with this gallery, nor this with that! And I did not like the Picasso on first sight. So I had to see it three times. I suspect this building will grow on me like that as well.


See that art-deco brown building sitting there pretending it hasn't just been gazumped? That is the original part of the MCA, to which the new wing is attached, sorta like a baby eagle in a nest, inelegantly. Certainly the George Street facade - which I have spared you - looks like an egg has been cracked on it. That art-deco building - originally housing the Maritime Services Board - was designed in the 1930s but was not completed until 1952. It replaced the convict era Commissariat which was unceremoniously demolished in 1937.

See the people up on that 4th floor outdoor area? Let's nip up there and see what THEY can see.

Museum of Contemporary Art (MCA)

The MCA is building a new wing and, as the expression goes, you have to crack an egg to make an omelette. Situated in an art-deco building designed in the '30s in a prime position on the western shores of Sydney Cove (SC is the water, Circular Quay is the land), the detritus is encroaching upon well-trodden public walking space.

Here are three aspects: the boardwalk looking to the north; looking along the western foreshore towards the bridge with the roof of a ferry wharf in the foreground; and, looking due west to the MCA itself. All photographs taken from Cahill Walk about 9am.