The Murray Arts Museum Albury's COVID-19 contingency exhibition 20:20, organised in just months, has officially launched. It's an ambitious collection of original works in response to the year's exceptional challenges.
It's also an exercise in nurturing Australian talent.
MAMA curator Michael Moran said, with the onset of COVID-19 in March, the exhibition schedule was in doubt.
"Where possible we take opportunities to support artists and those who make this sector possible," he said.
Exhibitions were normally planned three to four years ahead, Mr Moran said, but for 20:20 the artists were "all commissioned in late March at the start of the lockdown" amid "some pretty quick programming decisions".
With 20 artists from across the country working with different restrictions, flexibility was essential for the exhibition to succeed.
"We built this commissioning program from a point of uncertainty, which enables us a bit of flexibility," Mr Moran said.
"We've all been working together in interesting and new ways.
"You can't be too precious about it".
MAMA 20:20 is the museum's largest exhibition to date, Mr Moran said, encompassing the entire gallery space.
But the museum had remained open throughout the installation, which made it an exercise in strategy — closing one space while opening another.
"Our creative sectors have struggled," Mr Moran said.
"We think of our colleagues who run cinemas, who can't put on their concerts, their gigs as well as theatre productions."
Creativity amid the chaos
A lot of themes run through the exhibition's works, but Mr Moran said many of them shared a message about "keeping on".
He said the works addressed topics ranging from climate and last summer's horror bushfires, to disease, distance and dislocation from places, family, and friends.
The exhibition gave the artists a valuable opportunity to spend time "living and working during these pretty challenging times and weird moments".
Many artists, Mr Moran said, faced financial hardship because their primary incomes were from work in hospitality or at universities.
A "huge part" of the summer program, Mr Moran said, was considering how best to "act as a responsible, caring and nurturing organisation that can support artists".
"They're the lifeblood of what we do," he said.
Celebration during difficult times
"It's a privilege and an honour to be part of it," artist Robert Hirschmann, who is featured in the exhibition, said.
He said the variation of art made 20:20 "remarkable".
"People can interact with it and people can talk about it and people can feed off it and people can be inspired by it," Mr Hirschmann said.
Mr Moran said the exhibition allowed people "a small moment of reflection and celebration" in "a pretty difficult period".
