Samstag is exhibition ready
by Michèle Nardelli
South
Australia’s new public art gallery is not only the second largest in
the state but it offers a completely new experience for local and
visiting art lovers. The Anne & Gordon Samstag Museum of Art is an
elegant contemporary space in the heart of UniSA’s City West campus.
A focus of the new Hawke Building, when it opens on October 12, the Samstag Museum will offer an exciting calendar of exhibitions of mostly Australian contemporary art, with an emphasis on SA artists and new media.
Designed by award winning architect, John Wardle in association with Hassell, the museum features three galleries over two levels, all constructed to exacting modern standards and with the capacity to exhibit large scale works.
Gallery Director Erica Green said there are vital underlying technologies that are important for the daily operation of the art museum.
"Securing top class exhibitions can be reliant on a range of important factors from security and climate control, through to having the technological and structural capacity to accommodate the displays," Green said.
"The Samstag Museum has been carefully designed so that we can meet some pretty rigorous standards."
Key features include a special air conditioning and humidity control system designed to be highly efficient and environmentally friendly, and specifically designed for the SA climate.
The ceiling has been reinforced to support 50kg/m², with single hanging points able to support up to 1000kg in the concrete beams.
There is also a six tonne dock leveller for unloading exhibition crates, with a special loading and unloading airlock and a large pivot door which would enable the equivalent of a car and caravan to enter the gallery space.
"This means we have so much more opportunity to present a range of works that other galleries would find prohibitive," Green said.
And with the growth of multimedia technologies in the art world, the Samstag Museum is fully equipped to take on some of the most innovative new media exhibitions.
"The gallery is HDMI (High-Definition Multimedia Interface) wired – the latest interface for audiovisual equipment such as high-definition television and home theatre systems. It has the capacity to carry a bandwidth of five gigabytes per second, all in a single cable that resembles a simple USB."
Green said all that technology is neatly disguised with data, power and rigging points all located in concealed ceiling and floor points.
And clean open space is a feature of the gallery.
The downstairs space is a pristine 300 square metres without a single supporting column. The 500 square metres of timber flooring is recycled Australian ironbark, specially sprung and reinforced to support heavy loads.
"It will be wonderful for the state to have this extra gallery space and I think visitors will find the Samstag Museum an exciting addition to the SA art scene."