17 April 2010

Starry nights all night. The Masterpieces go hardcore.

| johnboy
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[First filed: Apr 15, 2010 @ 9:29]

All night, starry nights

I’ve been gagging to see the masterpieces exhibition at the National Gallery, but its runaway popularity has turned me off so far.

But in a grand finale the exhibition is staying open all through the night this Saturday.

And we’ve got 5 adult double passes to give away for the midnight to 6am slot! (RiotACT in no way endorses getting loaded in Kingston and puking on a Cezanne, the Pol Roger Champagne Bar (open till 3am) is where you should get loaded and leave the artwork alone).

This is open to all readers, just leave 25 words or less in the comments why you deserve it more than anyone else. The best 5 entries by 4pm, Friday 16 April 2010 get to collect their tickets from the cloak room.

After long minutes of intense scrutiny the winners are : Neanderthalsis, I Live in Macgregor, Icepoet, Sepi & Malteser.

Congratulations. You’ve been sent and email with some details on how to collect your tickets (unless you didn’t get it in which case it’s a lesson in keeping in your contact details updated. You should contact us through the site if that is the case)

The media release reads as follows:

National Gallery of Australia invites visitors to Spend the Night with the Masters: an exclusive overnight viewing of Masterpieces from Paris
FINAL WEEKEND: Saturday 17 – Sunday 18 April

In response to the overwhelming demand for Masterpieces from Paris, the National Gallery of Australia is offering an overnight viewing of the exhibition on Saturday 17 April, 2010.

Spend the Night with the Masters will run from 9pm on Saturday 17 April to 8am on Sunday 18 April, offering visitors a final chance to see the exhibition before it travels to Tokyo. The exhibition will close at 5pm on Sunday 18 April as the most successful exhibition ever held in Australia.

“This is the first time an exhibition at the National Gallery of Australia has been open through the night. Indeed, the Gallery will be open for 32 hours straight on the final weekend of the Masterpieces from Paris exhibition,” said Director Ron Radford AM, National Gallery of Australia.

Spend the Night with the Masters will feature overnight viewing of the exhibition, live music and entertainment, the Champagne Pol Roger bar, a Gallery foyer bar and a live broadcast nationally on ABC radio. Limited tickets will be sold for each evening session ensuring visitors can experience these masterpieces without the crowds.

Musicians from the ANU School of Music, including the Racheal Thoms Quartet and the Liam Budge Quartet, will be performing in the Gallery spaces. There will also be a performance of the minimalist master work by Terry Reily In C by other musicians from the School of Music.

ABC Local Radio’s overnight master, Rod Quinn, will be broadcasting live from the Gallery from 2am to 6am. There will also be prizes from the exhibition shop awarded to people wearing the best pyjamas.

The Pol Roger Sculpture Garden Bar will be open from 5pm to 10pm on Saturday evening, with an additional bar open in the Gallery foyer from 10pm to 3am.

On Sunday morning, visitors will be able to wake up with the masters, with breakfast options available in the National Gallery of Australia cafe from 7am to 10am. There will also be warm beverages and refreshments available for purchase from the coffee cart located outside the Gallery’s main entrance from midnight to 11am.

Tickets to Spend the Night with the Masters will be for timed entry sessions, with limited tickets available to ensure no queuing for these sessions.

Tickets are on sale now via Ticketek: Ticketek.com.au or 132 849*

Group discount 10 or more | 1300 364 001* (*transaction fees from $3.95 apply)

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Hells_Bells749:43 am 20 Apr 10

Fascinating.

I knew staring at it something was amiss with that pic being Starry Night but mine was hidden behind a few books (it’s only small my copy) on my shelf (cause the frame needs tweaking before it goes on a wall) and I just went and cleared it and looked and it says on the bottom Starry Night by Van Gogh, but it is a more swirly rendition than this pictured one, way different. I’m good at being a dill pickle!

Must be time to give my shelf a clean off or get bf onto frame fixing.

Holden Caulfield11:09 pm 19 Apr 10

Yeah, trap for young players that one, it’s the water lillies and Blue Poles that are the fakes.

Holden Caulfield said :

Some pretty bug clues there to forewarn you that Starry night was never going to be part of this exhibition.

Kinda got that idea while waiting idly chatting with others in the queue, that they’re from a museum in Paris that is being refurbished, and so the paintings were allowed to go walk-abouts around the globe for a year or so.

Neither did I know WHERE each of the paintings’ home are and didn’t know that the Nat. Gallery of Aus owned Claude Monet’s [/Haystacks (Midday)/]. I was trying to convince my peers that it is a replica, up until the moment a Nat. Gallery staff member told me I was wrong!

Holden Caulfield2:13 pm 19 Apr 10

Jivrashia said :

Guys…

Starry Night is one of my favourite painting, and unfortunately I was dismayed to not see it at the National Gallery this time round.

The Starry Night over Rhone , displayed at the Nat Gallery was okay too, but… To each his own I guess.

Erm, did you actually look at any of the promo material? Even the graphic in this RA post uses the Rhone painting.

Moreover, the painting you prefer is on display in New York, according to the Wiki link you gave.

And, once again, the actual title of this exhibition is “Masterpieces from Paris: Van Gogh, Gaugin, Cezanne and beyond – post-impressionism from the Musee D’Orsay“.

Some pretty bug clues there to forewarn you that Starry night was never going to be part of this exhibition.

Guys…

Starry Night is one of my favourite painting, and unfortunately I was dismayed to not see it at the National Gallery this time round.

The Starry Night over Rhone , displayed at the Nat Gallery was okay too, but… To each his own I guess.

Hells_Bells748:08 am 17 Apr 10

I’m very pleased you won Icepoet. That’s a once in a lifetime achievement for sure.

Woo hoo! Who would have thought that exactly 31 years after I was born (4.34am on April 18th) I’d be checking out the Masterpieces from Paris.

Thanks so much everyone at RiotACT!

Hells_Bells746:12 pm 16 Apr 10

Well, as it seems I didn’t win, I will have to make do with the Starry Night print (at least it’s framed) in my room, still!

But who cares – I’m no longer a picketer. Yay!

Well done to the winners and I enjoyed all the posts.

georgesgenitals6:03 pm 16 Apr 10

Congratulations winners!

The Winners have been chosen so check the email account linked to your RiotACT logon.

Which is a good reason to make sure the email account you used to register with RiotACT is up to date and still valid!

I guess I didn’t win 🙁

I’m jealous! Who won so I can judge you… and well, hate you.

P.S. If you’ve seen the ‘White’ paintings in the gallery and thought, Hmmm, that’s a bit crap, then have a listen to Martin Pearson’s classic take on them. Go here: http://www.folktrax.com/folktrax3/PEA003.php and scroll down to the MP3 link to ‘The Black Painting’. Priceless. The introduction (which is not on the site) is even funnier.

Gungahlin Al said :

We don’t ‘deserve’ to win the tickets anymore than anyone else. Gave up on the queues once. Resigned to the kids and us missing out.

You should try. Afternoons are actually the best because soooo many people have given up and gone home. Try it just a couple of hours before the thing shuts (but your tickets online in advance, though). Well worth it.

I’ve been with my son’s school group and we may have allegedly (or not) been able to be shepherded through the gift shop and in the back way. Maybe/maybe not.

ALL of the Gallery staff from the reception staff to the education personnel were absolute marvels of customer service and informative to a fault at their place and their pictures. Delightful.

Me, I don’t know good art, I just know what I like. So while the presentation and the pictures are superb, I just can’t appreciate them as much as most of the population. That gene was reserved for music and soccer!

But do pull out all the stops because it really is the chance of a lifetime if art’s your thang.

My only numpty disappointment was that some works are (understandably) behind glass, making it hard to fully appreciate the piece.

Disclaimer: hav’ nae read all of the above so stop me if it’s all or part or mostly be said before.

Actually, I’ve just checked my schedule and it seems that I have an opening at 3:35 am that night! Who wouldda thought!?

Hells_Bells742:42 pm 16 Apr 10

I didn’t go for the same reason as you. It’s my birthday dinner Saturday night, pick me and I can piss my boyfriend off afterwards 🙂

I spent all my money on lawyers, spiritual fulfillment and that bottomless pit called “business”. Plus overnight is the only time I’m not working!

I won’t even try to compete with the poetry so here is my bid for 1 (one) ticket:

My partner is a budding artist and would love to go. We haven’t been able to afford it. Kitten season has been bad this year 🙁

go JB go, it’s worth the wait. not as good as actually being in musee d’orsay but i won’t skite about that.

OpenYourMind11:14 pm 15 Apr 10

Don’t mean to be too pernickity, but do people realise that the painting pictured isn’t the arguably more famous ‘The Starry Night’, but ‘Starry Night Over the Rhone’?

Starry starry night,
floating in waning moonshine –
drunk civil servants.

Pastels, cream and grey
bright spots of vivid orange –
cheap champagne thrown up.

I would really like to go and see the paintings as I’m a fan, I only have copies on my walls,
thank you.

Slaving for Kevin.
Will finish work 3am.
Is it still open?

grunge_hippy8:05 pm 15 Apr 10

pick me so I can go after going to the beerfest and pretend to be all cultured like and stuff.

Another newbie posting for the tickets 🙂 Apologies to all for the terrible attempt at poetry:

I was in Paris, but the masterpieces were gone,
Where I had left, they would adorn.
Missing them here, I would have to mourn.

georgesgenitals6:45 pm 15 Apr 10

Give me the tickets, so I can onsell them for a profit. Why anyone would wnat to see a photo of some starts is beyond me.

What I didn’t understand was parents who had taken their kids only to have them sit on the floor in the middle of the gallery and play with their Nintendo DS!?!?!

Our six year old would dearly love a “Intendo DS” but this is why she is not getting one. Today on a drive from Weston Ck to Belconnen she spontaneously launched into “I spy with my little eye…” on our way up the parkway.

I am not going to enter the comp, although I would dearly love to see the exhibition a third time. The woman in the white dress (2nd painting on the right as you enter) is my favourite I would happily stare at it from midnight to 6am!

I’d love to see Masterpieces from Paris,
but it’s really hard to afford,
It’d be a truly spectacular experience,
to which I would certainly applaud!

Pick me since as a tight bottomed newbie non-subscriber I can’t enter the comp for the free tickets to the beer festival. Therefore weekend=boring.

Starry Starry Night
Paints its palette blue and gray
But stand in the queue; no bloody way!
Id go anytime but in the day
If only I win the ticket here!!

Pick me because I’m not a newbie logging in just to win tickets! 😉
Plus I’d like to take the boyfriend along and subject him to a bit of culture.

Having realised I blew way past the word limit in my first post, I have to claim that I either intend the application for both myself and wife, or, as replacement application,

I would quite like to go.

Gungahlin Al2:25 pm 15 Apr 10

We don’t ‘deserve’ to win the tickets anymore than anyone else. Gave up on the queues once. Resigned to the kids and us missing out.

I can’t compete with Sepi’s poem; love it! I will make an attempt however …

Tried once to go already
But didn’t see a trick
My kids were painful and annoying
And the crowds were far too thick.

Pick me!

Would love this!!! I work during the week and at night on weekends. 4am is actually the optimal time for me to take the missus!

I wanna get in my Van
Gogh see Starry Nights
and Gau Guin and Go Guin
and Go Guin…..
but I ain’t got the Monet!

I don’t want to win these tickets as I’ve already seen the exhibition – and it’s well worth it, I thought they were all interesting pieces for different reasons. But for those who still want to go, the tip is to buy an annual membership. It’s not much more expensive than buying an exhibition ticket, the exhibition entry is included in membership cost, you get a discount on hire of the audio guide, entry to the Members Lounge (a cafe exclusively for members), and NO STANDING IN LINES. Love that 🙂

It’s well worth the visit and the wait in the queue. Even at the fiendishly early hour of 6am it would be worth it for this night owl.

I would like to take my agoraphobic friend who would love to see this exhibition but without as many people to freak them out.

Truthfully, I would seriously LOVE to go, but I can’t justify buying the tickets as I have a bunch of filthy bills that take priority.

I went to this ages ago… Some of it was pretty good but there was a lot of filler works in ther IMO.

However it was good to see Starry Night and some others that I had only ever seen in text books up close and personal.

What I didn’t understand was parents who had taken their kids only to have them sit on the floor in the middle of the gallery and play with their Nintendo DS!?!?!

Morons.

Clown Killer11:26 am 15 Apr 10

In December I visted the Musee D’Orsay only to find out that all the bloody good stuff was here in Canberra – it’s payback time!

It’s my birthday on Sunday. What a lovely birthday present it would be to see the masterpieces.

I live in Macgregor11:19 am 15 Apr 10

Need this! 4 kids and my crazy job means dear wife deserves TLC and this will help. Will also arrange childcare for sleeping kids. Easy!

neanderthalsis11:11 am 15 Apr 10

Because Mrs Neanderthalsis and I really, really, really, really, really, really, really, really, really, really, really, really, really, really, really, really, really want to go.

My bid – I’ve been too slack/busy to go see them up until now, and expect to be working late over the next several nights, so the ability to leave work Saturday night at midnight and slip over there would be great. Plus, I like free stuff, and talking pretentiously about art I know little about.

I’d love to win because I can’t find tickets for sale on Ticketek! But seriously, it’s a once in a lifetime experience for most Canberrans.

Pommy bastard10:46 am 15 Apr 10

I should be awarded the tickets. I am RiotAct’s premier critic, (of everything.) You deserve to be blessed with my critique of the show.

Good luck everyone! I’ve already been (Starry Night is incredible!) but I don’t qualify for the free tickets anyway because my comment is twenty-six words long 🙂

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