The thing to know about Elizabeth Ann Macgregor, director of Sydney’s Museum of Contemporary Art from 1999 to 2021, is that she is Scottish. There is nothing genteel, reticent, or measured about her. Her directness and feisty personality infuse everything, including her recently published memoir.
This account of her time at the MCA is a vivid, readable story. It settles some scores, and suggests audacity can triumph over grey men, bureaucrats, and other enemies of contemporary art. The subtitle could easily be Making a Nuisance and Smashing Through .
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