Playing catchup

I was aware of several exhibitions that interested me in some way and their end-dates got me off my butt to see a few.  I don't always manage it!  First up, the Stromlo Observatory exhibition at CMAG.  It was just a little thing and spread over the full life of Stromlo and for the general public so not too interesting for me in the end.  I've got a long-term interest in astronomy and even did volunteer work there on a telescope that was destroyed in the fire of Jan 2003.  Glad I got in there in time.  Our team was involved with dark matter studies, Machos and Wimps, advised by Brian Schmidt and others and even involved in the discovery an early extra-Solar planet (no.9?).  Another wonder opportunity available to Canberrans, at least in earlier times.  There was a larger exhibition at CMAG on Italo-Canberra architect Enrico Taglietti but I just got a few minutes before the gallery closed.  Then the 1970s exhibition at the National Library, especially focussed on 1975, called 1975 : Living in the Seventies.  A big year!  It was mainly photos but covered the Whitlam dismissal, land rights, feminism (feat. Anne Summers Damned whores and God's police), music of course and flared jeans, Cyclone Tracey and just days later the Tasman Bridge collapse, Medibank, North Vietnam taking Saigon, various international revolts, East Timor, Mozambique, etc.  But then I queried a schoolkid about the dismissal a day-or-so later and she had no idea.  So be it.  We all remember what we live through.  And the final biggie, the NGA exhibition Cézanne to Giacometti : Highlights from Museum Berggruen.  Now it's not a favourite period for me (I prefer old style esp. Renaissance) but I enjoyed this.  Some major works from this Berlin gallery merged with a string of NGA works and grouped and ordered to display relationships and influences.  Suffice to quote their description: "The avant-garde visions of Paul Cézanne, Pablo Picasso, Georges Braque, Henri Matisse, Paul Klee and Alberto Giacometti shaped twentieth-century modern art in Europe. Australian artists such as Russell Drysdale, Grace Cossington Smith, John Passmore and Dorrit Black brought their ideas and style back to Australia, transforming Australian art in parallel. / Bringing together over 80 works from the Berggruen collection with over 75 works from the National Gallery’s collection, this exhibition illustrates how social connection and networks acted as driving forces during the development of international and Australian Modernism."  More convincing than I'd expected.

Various exhibitions around Canberra mid-Sept 2025.