From the window of his office, the Art Gallery of New South Wales director, Michael Brand, looks out on the sprawling new $344m gallery he spent the past decade trying to build, shepherding it through backlash, budgets, a $100m philanthropy drive and a global pandemic.
But now the gallery – known widely as Sydney Modern, though officially it still has not been named – has made it through its first summer. And Brand is feeling optimistic.
