Heide Museum of Modern Art 2010 Annual Report

3. Chairman & Director's Report
3. CHAIRMAN &
DIRECTOR’S REPORT
2010 was period in which Heide Museum
of Modern Art operated as a fully
integrated business and site due to the
completion in 2009 of all major capital
works. The Museum repositioned the
Heide Collection as a significant asset
accessible to the public; maximized
revenue through commercial operations;
and realised ambitious and critically
acclaimed exhibitions and publications
with increased national and international
activities in exhibition programming.
Throughout 2010 Heide researched
and delivered a range of outstanding
exhibitions, publications, and education
and public programs that addressed
the core business of the Museum: to
present and interpret Heide’s nationally
significant collection, and wide-ranging
modern and contemporary visual cultures.
The Museum’s programs are detailed
in this report. Of particular note was
the Museum’s demonstrated capacity
to increase international content in
its programming through two diverse
exhibitions that brought artists into
dialogue with each other and activated a
viewing audience: Simryn Gill: Gathering, and
Up Close: Carol Jerrems with Larry Clark, Nan
Golding and William Yang were two largescale
exhibitions that reassessed the ways
in which artists contribute fundamentally
to, and reveal the social, political and
material structures of their immediate
environments and communities.
After three years closure and many
months of planning Heide I, the original
home of John and Sunday Reed, was
reopened to the public in March.
Heide Museum of Modern Art
2010 Annual Report
Redefining the purpose and functionality
of Heide I was part of a broader plan also
incorporating change to the function of
Heide II to consolidate the identity of the
Museum and provide greater public access
to the riches of its Collection. In response
to strong public interest in the history of
Heide I and its inhabitants, Heide senior
management and staff used the threeyear
closure of the house to determine
the optimum purpose of this historically
important site, and to undertake essential
overdue building maintenance.
Curatorial and collection management
staff conducted in-depth research
into daily life at Heide including the
development of the property and gardens,
and the Reeds’ contribution to Melbourne’s
cultural history. They completed extensive
foundational work on the organisation of
the Heide Archive: an ongoing project to
consolidate and expand the significant
holdings of documentary material related
to the interwoven social and art histories of
Heide during the Reeds’ residence, archival
material specific to artists of the Heide
circle, and more recent documents about
the Museum including its collection and
exhibition programs. Housed in Heide I, the
Archive will be augmented with original
documents, photographs and oral histories
as they come to light.
To enhance the visitor experience of
this iconic destination through a more
authentic representation of the Reeds’
unique vision for their home and gardens,
the Heide I house has been returned to the
Reeds’ original French Provincial-inspired
aesthetic of the 1940s, a highpoint in the
property’s history. The refurbishment
3