As I wrote in the first post in this thread, if these were normal times QAGOMA would get 30% of its visitors from interstate and internationally. So, since Queensland's borders are now set to open on December 1, and barring another outbreak, attendance at 'The Motorcycle' has the potential not to suffer much at all from what it would have been in a normal year. As the first major exhibition created specifically with the post-covid world in mind, there's even reason to believe this might be the right exhibition at the right time to exceed expectations.
Of course, the situations we face are different, but in the U.S. an estimated one-third of all museums remain closed because of covid. The financial loss of nearly a year's income thus far means some of them are being forced to sell off parts of their collections to survive and, even with that, not all of them are expected to ever reopen.
For most major museums, a successful "summer blockbuster" exhibition provides the operating income for the remaining three-quarters of the year. Given how dire the Australian situation looked in March-April and again in July-August, museum directors who thought they were preparing for the worst by curtailing activities are now unprepared for their big summer season.
Creating a blockbuster art or design exhibition requires a few years, not a few months, to scour the world and secure the necessary international loans, so it's not something that could be done starting when the Australian situation began to look hopeful at the end of August. For example, the exhibition this time last year at the National Gallery of Australia was of two major European artists, entitled 'Matisse & Picasso', that
"brings together masterpieces from collections across the world and includes paintings that will be on display in Australia for the first time." In contrast, this year it's 'Australian Women Artists 1900 to Now' with works
"Drawn from the National Gallery’s collection and loans from across Australia." Clearly, this year's exhibition was
not years in the making, nor does it have the potential to draw the same number of visitors as last year's.
For what it's worth, despite all the uncertainty, stress and hard work since the world changed in March, Ultan Guilfoyle and I are both very pleased that QAGOMA's Director, Chris Saines, never wavered in his vision to have this exhibition open as planned on 28 November. Given how it all worked out, he is quite pleased as well. Opening is now just a few days away.