Braidwood Museum and Historical Society have been scanning the national and international press researching curatorial trends drawing crowds to blockbuster exhibitions and ringing the cash registers in their retail shops.
Subscribe now for unlimited access.
$0/
(min cost $0)
or signup to continue reading
With the Canberra Museum and Gallery mounting the exhibition “X-rated: the sex industry in the ACT” (runs until 20 September) and the National Gallery offering nude art tours of its latest blockbuster exhibition ‘James Turrell’, the Historical Society has decided that it’s time to get on trend.
The Huffington Post * reported last Thursday that; “The National Gallery recently joined the surprisingly long list of museums who've begun catering to the nudist and naturist communities. The Leopold Museum in Austria has hosted nude art tours. So has the El Segundo Museum of Art in California. So it shouldn't be all too shocking that, in conjunction with its exhibition, "James Turrell: a retrospective," the NGA recruited Melbourne-based Curator to host three 50-person nude tours of the show next month -- all of which sold out in one day.”
As Braidwood will not be hosting any Heritage Parade this year, the Museum will be hosting a ‘Heritage night in the buff’ on Friday 1st May. The one night only event will be part of NSW Heritage Week and is not only for the young, but all ages are encouraged to attend. A special exhibition of Body Art will be mounted in the museum’s upstairs hall for the night.
The Museum chairwoman said that “part of our heritage is living heritage, and we would like to bring our Museum in the 21st Century with a contemporary investigation of the ‘body of art/ art of the body’ bilaterality. We would particularly like to see a display of local living tattoo art and body piercings” she added. “We know there are a lot of ex-service men and women in the Braidwood district and they tend to have more international tattoos which we would like to document for posterity.”
The committee hopes to raise funds for the museum by offering nude studio photography portraits on archival paper for just $50 on the night, and will have a tattoo artist from Queanbeyan on the premises set up for consultations. The Museum will make available a booklet of Braidwood Heritage Tattoos based on 19th century wallpaper stencils for punters to select from. A percentage of the fee will be donated to the Museum, and as a cultural institution the donation will be tax deductible.
The event will be advertised in Canberra and naturists from the Bungendore Society are expected to attend. Situated right next door to the Braidwood Hotel, the haunt of the trendy young style setters of the district, the Museum will also be offering cocktails (certainly not cleanskins) and a sausage sizzle to draw in visitors. “It's about time some of those regulars at the front bar started showing a bit more interest in the Museum as their civic duty” said the Chairwoman.
So pop in and see what’s hanging in the museum. Special heaters will be installed and lighting will be dimmed a little to suit the ambience of the evening which will be accompanied by soothing music by Bananarama.
Bookings for the Braidwood Museum event can be made at the Bendigo Bank or at the Museum door on the evening. If the NGA’s experience is anything to go on then you’d better be quick to book. If sold out another themed exhibition and participatory event will be held in the spring.
*‘Australian Museum Is Giving Naked Fans What They Want -- Nude Art Tours’, The Huffington Post, By Katherine Brooks 25/03/2015.
