Spoon-bending “feats” of telekinesis and illusion are the inspiration for a new commission at the Museum of Contemporary Art, as the gallery heroes contemporary sculpture on the harbour and tackles a multimillion-dollar operating deficit.
Los Angeles-based Australian artist Ricky Swallow was fascinated by Uri Geller’s so-called mind tricks as a young boy growing up in pre-internet Melbourne, and has created four warped large-scale stainless-steel spoon sculptures for the MCA’s terrace that appear to have been put through the same mind wash.
“I felt like Uri Geller was on an endless world tour with that trick,” Swallow notes. “I remember trying to bend spoons, having seen it demonstrated by Uri Geller on TV. ”
Ricky Swallow with his giant teaspoons at the Museum of Contemporary Art. Credit: Steven Siewert
Swallow’s Bent Forms #1–#4, scaled-up wax prints of actual teaspoons, are the first in a series of prominent sculptural commissions to be installed at the MCA over the next six months, the biggest being the inaugural Neil Balnaves Tallawoladah Lawn Commission to be unveiled late September in honour of the late arts philanthropist.
A work by British contemporary sculptor Thomas J. Price will be the first of three to be showcased over three years on the museum’s prominent harbour-side verge.
The details come as the MCA revealed a $2 million operating deficit for 2024. The loss, which it says is covered by cash reserves, has been attributed to the ongoing impact of the global economic downturn and rising costs of wages, energy, exhibition freight and construction. In January, it introduced admission fees for the first time in 25 years.
According to its latest financial results, the MCA is now self-generating about 85 per cent of its revenue from corporate partners, patrons and commercial activities, including a new-look gala fundraiser, the MCA Artists Ball, which raised more than $1.1 million.
Cost-cutting would continue throughout this year, said MCA chair Lorraine Tarabay, as its revenue measures move the gallery closer to a balanced budget by the end of the year, with the full impact to be felt in 2026.
Spoon mimics bridge in Swallow’s mind-bending sculptural work.Credit: Steven Siewert