One of Australia’s biggest public art programs has been abruptly cancelled, leaving an artist’s project in limbo after 18 months of work.
In May, Australian sculptor Alex Seton was told his planned installation for Sydney’s Hyde Park Barracks, a UNESCO World Heritage Site built two centuries ago to house convicts, had been scrapped. After sharing the news in a instagram post, the artist also revealed that the entire Hyde Park Barracks annual art commission program had been quietly phased out by the government, despite being funded until 2025.
“Artists don’t often share losses, but I thought this one had bigger implications and I’m sad for all of us,” Seton wrote.
From Seton’s post, representatives of the History Museums of New South Wales (MHNSW), a newly formed statutory society that oversees historic sites across the eastern Australian state, clarified that the arts program was not being canceled but simply “suspended pending the outcome of an independent review of MHNSW’s go-live approach,” according to the Sydney Morning Herald. “No decision has been made regarding the 2025 artistic commission or the program as a whole,” explained a spokesperson for MHNSW.
MHNSW further noted that Seton’s project was scrapped after an “internal reassessment of priorities and processes” and that the artist had been compensated for his work to date. Citing “sources familiar with the decision,” the morning herald reported that the cost of the artwork – reportedly $530,000 – was the main factor behind the decision.
Called for the prestigious Hyde Park Barracks commission in 2022, Seton intended to erect a moat around the historic building, turning it into something of an island. The aim, according to the artist, was to reflect on the legacy of British colonialism and the ideas that made it possible.
“We are not an island, but the concept of Australia as an island has supported the doctrine of ‘terra nullius’, used to justify the dispossession of indigenous peoples, promote Australia as a penal colony, then as the promise of escape from existing power structures to migrants around the world,” the sculptor said.
Seton’s project was the fifth commissioned for the annual art program, which launched in 2020. Wiradjuri and Kamilaroi artist Jonathan Jones created the inaugural installation that year, filling the barracks courtyard with shaped stones of emu feet. Works by Fiona Hall, Daniel Crooks and Angela Tiatia and Tony Albert followed in 2021, 2022 and 2023, respectively.
In 2021, the NSW state government allocated $2 million in funding for the Hyde Park Barracks arts program – a pool of money meant to last until 2025. But since then the agency that overlooks the museum has undergone many changes.
In November 2022, Sydney Living Museums, a statutory corporation which formerly oversaw Hyde Park Barracks, was rebranded as MHSNW. The following January, the organization announced that State Librarian John Vallance would be named interim CEO, “while recruiting for the permanent position [was] expanded to allow for deeper and broader global executive search,” according to a report by ArtsHub.
But the hiring of Vallance, who sat on the panel interviewing replacement candidates while serving as interim CEO, proved controversial among MHNSW leaders and the arts community they served. Two board members resigned from the organization because of this.
Canceling Seton’s project and suspending the arts program at Hyde Park Barracks was one of Vallance’s last acts before being replaced by new permanent CEO Mary Darwell in May. For many, the move left more questions than answers.
“For the sector, the news raises concerns about the professional and fair treatment of artists, and questions about the destination of funding,” said Penelope Benton, executive director of the National Visual Arts Association and member of the board of administration of the MHNSW. ArtsHub.
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