Adrián Villar Rojas: The End of Imagination at the Art Gallery of NSW

Adrián Villar Rojas is known for his large-scale, context-specific sculptural installations, rich in their research and world-building magic. The End of Imagination, open now at the Art Gallery of NSW and running until mid-2023, adds to the Argentinian artist’s body of site-specific work that’s both imposing and fragile, and that explores the conditions of a humanity at risk.

The End of Imagination is also the inaugural exhibition to take place in the Art Gallery of NSW’s The Tank: a disused oil tank and once-hidden subterranean relic of World War II that’s been mindfully restored by Tokyo-based architecture firm SANAA as part of the broader Sydney Modern project.

“The Tank is itself a document of human conflict,” Villar Rojas said in a recent interview with the gallery’s head curator of international art, Justin Paton. “Take the Louvre in Paris, or the Arsenale in Venice – these too were places of confrontation and struggle. But these histories are often forgotten and rewritten when the space is repurposed for art. And so, like with all of my projects, I see this work as an avatar for my own doubts – and those of others – about the highly western, colonial project of the museum and its apparent function to save, gather and present culture.”

The End of Imagination is free to visit, but timed-entry tickets are required and are available to book either in person at the gallery or online (Note: the space is dark with moving and flashing lights, large objects and is a high-sensory experience. Children must be accompanied by adults at all times).

This article is produced by Broadsheet in partnership with the Art Gallery of NSW.