Every Wednesday night, the
Art Gallery of New South Wales stays open late so that people can visit after work. A terrific alternative to the normal pub or restaurant mid-week outing, Art After Hours includes a revolving line-up of events and makes a great way to celebrate conquering hump day.
The first reason to schedule a visit to Art After Hours is to see the gallery's current exhibitions. With crowds three-deep for blockbuster shows like
Picasso: masterpieces from the Musée National Picasso, Paris, visiting in the evening makes much more sense for those who like to see their masterpieces unobstructed. The gallery's permanent collection is also open and its corridors are often extremely quiet, allowing you to fully appreciate the artworks on display.
Free films are another part of Art After Hours and are held downstairs in the
Domain Theatre on lower level 3. Presented by Robert Herbert, the gallery's chief film curator, the films include cinema classics, important documentaries, shorts and experimental films. Tickets are issued one hour before the films start – which is usually around 7pm.
Also part of the program,
The ArtBar, down the escalators on Level 1, hosts free musical events. As with the films, the musical performances tend to be related to the current exhibitions – albeit with sometimes tenuous links. For the Picasso exhibition, for example, there's Spanish and French music – homage to Picasso's birthplace and his later life in Paris. You can come and go as you please and even have a glass of wine while you are watching the bands.
Talks and gallery tours are some of the best reasons to visit Art After Hours. In addition to lectures by senior curators at the gallery, celebrity talks – by people as diverse as John Bell, Malcolm Turnbull and Tony Bilson – draw big crowds. Australian artists like Reg Mombassa, Sam Leach and Archibald prize winner Ben Quilty, also sometimes stop by to share their thoughts on the art world.
Also popular are the free guided tours of the gallery. These tours last for an hour and are a great way to learn more about what's displayed in the gallery. Guides are knowledgeable and give perspectives on the works without a whole heap of arty mumbo jumbo.
The Art Gallery of NSW is located on Art Gallery Road. The best way to get there from town is to walk through the grounds of Sydney Hospital and then across The Domain. On Wednesdays, there is a free bus that runs between the gallery and Martin Place every 15 minutes from 7pm until after the last film. To see what's on this week, check out the website
here.
