Art world's easy rider

By PENELOPE BIEDER

Dr Rodney Wilson is suddenly and silently in the room. Casually elegant in a fine-knit charcoal sweater, his discreet self-assurance suggests a man on top of his game. At 57, and looking a decade younger, he is an appealing combination of refined scholar and entrepreneurial businessman.

He has always been passionate about the arts, but then he can be just as enthusiastic looking over a spreadsheet - or the huge plans for the second stage of redevelopment at the Auckland War Memorial Museum, where he is director. And for good reason. In May the Government came to the museum's 150th birthday party with a grant of $26.5 million over five years, enabling the redevelopment to proceed.

Wilson's greatest passion may just be for Auckland and its people, and that's why he is still here despite the rumoured numerous attempts by northern hemisphere establishments to lure him away.

Even with Dame Cheryll Sotheran's job at Te Papa coming free he is adamant. "It's definitely not my intention to go to Te Papa - not at all," he says. "In fact I'll send out an email to museum staff now to tell them I'm staying."

"What I like especially about working here is the museum's ability to connect with all people," he says. "Museums do give meaning to people's lives regardless of their culture and ethnicity."

Since Wilson arrived at the museum eight years ago he has acquired a reputation for riding both his motorbike - a BMW Cruiser that he rides to work most days - and his staff hard. People, including those who worked alongside him at the Auckland City Art Gallery, say he is a highly focused, demanding boss. On the other hand, he gets results.

Wilson and Dutch-born wife Hilly (they met while Wilson was doing a doctorate in art history in the Netherlands) both ride thousands of miles on their bikes, seeing as much of New Zealand as they can. They are trying to figure out a way to bring their new Dalmatian dog, Dallas, along for the ride.

Their two sons are in Europe for the time being: Leon, 28, works for an advertising agency in London. Marc, 32, is married to a Dane (there are two granddaughters) and is a design architect in Copenhagen.

When Wilson took over the museum in 1994 it had an old-fashioned, fuddy-duddy reputation. Renewal plans had already been drafted, but well before Stage 1 of the refurbishment was completed in 1999 it became clear that more was needed. So in 1995, Stage 2 was born.

On Mother's Day this year the Government announced that it would be contributing half the funds needed for the $52.7 million project.

"I knew there was a long history of underfunding that needed to be addressed," says Wilson. "But it's still a courageous decision by the Government in view of all the claims on the Government purse. And I'm pleased that the Opposition has supported this move too."

Wilson was also thrilled to get support from the Historic Places Trust for architect Noel Lane's new design.

Museum funding has long been a contentious issue - a battle Wilson has had to fight time and again. He has long pointed out "the huge funding discrepancy" between his place in Auckland and "our place" in Wellington. (The Auckland Museum survives on half the government funding of Te Papa and less than half the staff.)

Yet despite Auckland's lean operation, Wilson and his team had to satisfy the Government that they could raise the balance of $23.5 million over the next few years, with no drain on local councils. They succeeded. Auckland's councils already pay $13 million a year between them for the museum's operational and depreciation costs.

While they won't be contributing to the capital costs of the new project, they have promised to pay an extra $3 million a year once it is completed.

That is is a huge relief to, and a victory for, Wilson. "They've agreed to that in perpetuity - it's generous and yet realistic," he says.

L ISTEN to the whirr of figures, funding, depreciation, projections and critical paths and it's obvious Wilson is completely at home in the world of finance. Hasn't everything he has touched turned to gold? He sighs happily and laughs.

"My Midas years, I guess, were those intoxicating years at the Art Gallery. Then anything seemed possible. The big exhibitions we had were all successful. Everything I touched then did indeed turn to gold."

For seven years until the end of 1987 Wilson was in charge at the Auckland City Art Gallery, where he oversaw major rebuilding of the Wellesley St wing, a new block at the back by Albert Park and design work on the Kitchener St frontage.

During this time his gallery exhibited the stone army from China and welcomed Leonardo da Vinci, Canaletto, and, most famously, Claude Monet to its walls. The Monet exhibition became a cultural phenomenon and that rarest of things in New Zealand - a must-see arts event. Some 176,000 people visited.

In 1988 he went to the National Gallery of Victoria in Melbourne, where he was involved in master planning, some of which is bearing fruit only now. But his time in the most prestigious arts job in Australasia ended in controversy and headlines after just 10 months. After the gallery's trustees failed to provide him with housing as promised in his contract, he resigned.

Despite what he then called "a personal disaster", his Midas touch hadn't deserted him. He returned to Auckland unemployed but a week later was hired to start the National Maritime Museum. He was largely credited with getting the museum up and running but left for the Auckland War Memorial Museum shortly after a $150,000 bailout by council and with visitor numbers at only half those anticipated.

"I actually got my first taste for budgets and improvisation at the McDougall Art Gallery in Christchurch in the 70s when we dug out a basement," he says. "In my career I have not been involved with commercial organisations, but I do bring close commercial scrutiny to everything I do. I also hope to bring about a more outward-looking culture at the museum, more progressive and enterprising."

T HE redevelopment will be only the second time the museum, which started out in Princes St, has been extended on its present site, where it has sat since 1929.

Although there was a plan to build a theatre in the central yard in the 50s, it didn't happen.

Instead it became an untidy, underused backyard, while practical things like loading bays for trucks were missing. Big exhibits like the aeroplanes had to be taken to pieces and carried in up the stairs. Now it will be filled in with a four-storey grand atrium topped with a copper dome.

Wilson is also using a storage company to assess storage needs, as most of the museum's precious collections are housed off site, at a location kept secret for security reasons.

Security has become a sore point for Wilson, who has had a couple of high-profile break-ins on his watch. A $65,000 Goldie was taken from the museum's walls in 2000 and last year a replica of a Colombian gold frog was stolen. Now the collection will be more carefully stored.

"The collections are extraordinary partly because our museum was the first cab off the rank," says Wilson. "It's celebrating 150 years of existence this year and it houses a superb long tradition of visionary collecting and excellence.

"We need to look after them. All will come back when Stage 2 is built, and there is room for them all.

"Here are the archives of our entire heritage, and we must come to grips with that idea. History is happening now and the museum needs to have a firm grip on a collective self. After all our mission statement is to be the heart of our community. I can't think of another organisation that more closely takes the pulse of our community.

"To borrow a Maori proverb, we need to go into the future facing backwards. If you don't know who you are you cannot possibly know where you are going."

Construction of the 8500sq m development starts in August this year. If all goes well, the project could be completed in 2004. "The very minimum we'll achieve will be to fit out the basement and two floors by April 2005," Wilson says.

The plans also include an education area, a theatre and a top-floor restaurant and events centre. There will also be a major new entrance and underground parking.

"We're making sure we can be financially prudent right through the project," says Wilson. "Financial fine-tuning right through will mean some things may happen more quickly, especially if we make the right decisions before starting, which I think is the most important part of the process."

Just 400-500sq m of the extra 8900sq m will be for permanent exhibits, but there will be about 900sq m of special exhibition space - an increase of about 40 per cent.

Applied arts (glass, ceramics, textiles, jewellery, musical instruments) will get more space and there will be a Maori workshop and 200sq m of Maori crafts/performance space.

The enormous copper dome edged with wide horizontal and vertical glass will allow natural light to wash down through the upper floors. More daylight will come in from a stunning central glass column. Extensive roof gardens will be built outside the roof-top restaurant, but the external aspect of the museum will remain unchanged. Even the dome will be barely visible.

Standing up on the museum's roof with Wilson one gets an idea of the grand scale of this project - it all feels rather overwhelming. I look over at the man in charge who, after years of long hours, seems quite relaxed about it.

"I've learned not to be such a workaholic now," he explains. "I have pulled back on my hours here, and I'm finding time to walk our Dallas and to ride my motorbike."

Wilson gazes out at the olive-green sweep of Rangitoto. In truth, the work still holds him.

"I'm committed to seeing this through. This is where I belong and frankly I'm singularly fortunate to have always worked in an arena I have loved.

"Okay, maybe I sometimes miss the Art Gallery, but its reach and focus is smaller than this place. Yes, I miss the enigma and contradiction of fine art and why art defies the very audience that seeks to collect it. What I suppose I miss about working with art is the aspect that is inexplicable.

"But I am enriched and inspired by the great affection that Aucklanders and New Zealanders have for their museum. It is also New Zealand's most visited man-made tourist destination. Visiting museums is hardly the negative experience it once may have been, and I know the children of today will be back for more."

And with that, Wilson smiles contentedly and disappears into the heart of the museum as silently as he arrived.

- Additional research by Tim Watkin.