The NT Government has announced that it’s going to deliver on its commitment to build the Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Art Gallery of Australia (ATSIAGA) in Mparntwe (Alice Springs), with 50% of the design now complete.

If that sounds just a tad half-hearted, recall that the saga goes back to 2017, there have been arguments with the town council, many and various Aboriginal TOs, various advisory committees, and finally between the former ALP and current CLP governments. With almost her first decision on forming government last year, Chief Minister Leah Finocchiaro stopped the project, while insisting that the gallery would still be “world class”, but that its $149-million budget wouldn’t have been sufficient to build the previous Labor government’s proposed “giant brown monstrosity”.

Now, CLP Minister for Logistics and Infrastructure, Bill Yan, has clarified that “Labor mismanaged this project from day one. What started as a $50 million commitment under Labor spiralled to more than $300 million before the CLP stepped in, took control, and re-scoped the gallery to deliver a project that’s affordable, achievable and world-class. This gallery will be a world-class cultural landmark that celebrates the world’s oldest living cultures, while driving jobs, tourism, and economic growth for Alice Springs”.

So, sharing the town’s Anzac Oval with the footy (a CLP priority) the redesigned Gallery will include:

• A three-storey, 4,000sqm building, including 1,300sqm of exhibition space for major touring and international exhibitions on land subject to flooding (say the planning doicuments)
• Public café and community forecourt with seating and landscaping.
• Specialist facilities, including a secure loading dock, conservation and registration spaces, and staff areas.
• Significant parking upgrades, including secure car park for the Over 50’s community with four additional spaces, 89 gallery car spaces plus four disability spaces, a new northern car park for Anzac Oval with 79 spaces and five caravan bays.

Although such an emphasis on car parking may seem odd, Minister Yan assures us that the CLP Government’s co-investment will transform Alice Springs into a national cultural hub while generating real economic and social benefits. “ATSIAGA is about more than art; it’s about jobs, private investment, cultural tourism, and strengthening our national identity. It will empower Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander voices through co-curation with artists and communities and position the Northern Territory as a global leader in showcasing First Nations culture”.

A development consent application was submitted (to whom, I wonder?) this month and is on public exhibition, with construction expected to take 18 to 24 months, and the gallery anticipated to open in late 2027.

View the ATSIAGA design and flythrough here.

A few questions arose from the Minister’s announcement. Like, what is 50% of a design, when pictures show the whole thing? And, with no mention of the designers, I wondered what had happened to BVN Architecture, the Sydney firm responsible for much ranging from the Sydney Olympic Stadium to the city’s trouble new Fish Market, and ATSIAGA’s original design. Oddly, BVN don’t seem to mention this project on their website. And may not have been wholly enthused about the Chief Minister’s condemnation of their “giant brown monstrosity”. And the new half-design looks nothing like the original.

But the NT Government’s answer is that, “The design for ATSIAGA is being completed by (local builders) Sitzler and BVN Architecture. The original design consultants were maintained to take advantage of over two years’ worth of consultation and workshops with local Indigenous stakeholder groups. The lessons learnt from these consultations regarding materiality, cultural safety and design have informed the redesign of the Gallery”.

But, “The design and scale of the ATSIAGA had to be revised to ensure the project is delivered within the allocated budget. The redesign sees a reduction in floor space from 7000 square metres to 4000 square metres. This has been achieved by removing ancillary spaces which are not core to the gallery function, with the actual reduction in gallery exhibition space being less than 100 square metres”.

Which just leaves unresolved the various staff appointments (including the NGA’s Kelli Cole) of the past and the need to develop a cultural policy for a building that, after all, has no actual art. And then there’s the remote possibility that the once-promised $80m of Federal funds might be removed as a result of the changed circumstances. Federal Labor MP Marion Scrymgour has threatened, “The whole point of why the federal government bought into this with the $80 million was that it was going to be an institution that we could all feel proud of,” she told the ABC.

Well, the NT Government’s proud that they’ve cut the costs while maintaining the project as “a world-class cultural landmark”.

Here’s how it looked last November.