Dubbed the \u201cOpera House of western Sydney\u201d, Powerhouse Parramatta\u2019s white lattice exoskeleton, composed from 1,300 individual pieces and wrapping 30,000 sq metres of interior space, has already become a familiar landmark.<\/p>\n
Even better known, perhaps, is the project\u2019s controversial history<\/a>. Since the Parramatta outpost was announced in 2014, a vocal group of dissenters led by former staff and trustees has lamented what they see as the neglect of the museum\u2019s Ultimo site in favour of a new infrastructure project, and what they say is a shift away from the museum\u2019s core business towards contemporary art and events.<\/p>\n The eye-watering price tag \u2013 $915m, in an era of funding precarity for the arts \u2013 has also come under scrutiny, culminating in a New South Wales Treasury investigation into allegations over the museum\u2019s governance and procurement practices. In late August, 10 weeks from the scheduled opening, CEO Lisa Havilah was stood down while the investigation unfolded.<\/p>\n Task Eternal is the Powerhouse Parramatta\u2019s flagship opening exhibition \u2013 a celebration of flight and space travel. Photograph: Blake Sharp-Wiggins\/The Guardian<\/p>\n When the major new venue opens to the public on Saturday, the big question will be: was it worth it? What will it bring to Parramatta \u2013 and will it be enough to bring the rest of Sydney, and the rest of Australia, out west?<\/p>\n Powerhouse is sweetening the pot with a 23-day opening festival of performances, parties, talks, screenings and workshops, with 65% of the program free. When Guardian Australia visited last week, the space was crowded with installation crew in hi-vis, hard hats and steel-capped boots. But even with its exhibitions in various states of readiness, it was hard not to be dazzled.<\/p>\n Dizzying spectacles and a sense of calm<\/p>\n The steel exoskeleton that has been such a prominent addition to Parramatta\u2019s skyline is more than decorative. Encasing two towers, and built from 12,000 tonnes of steel, it\u2019s what allows the building to boast massive column-free exhibition spaces up to 18m in height, including the largest in Australia.<\/p>\n But at first encounter, perhaps the most striking thing about the Moreau Kusunoki and Genton-designed building is the sense of calm it evokes. This is a building that is constantly calling you to slow down, take a breath and look beyond its architecture to the city, landscape and Parramatta River below.<\/p>\n \u2018This is a building that is constantly calling you to slow down, take a breath and look beyond.\u2019 Photograph: Blake Sharp-Wiggins\/The Guardian<\/p>\n The glass facade and abundance of natural light is complemented by an airy colour palette, all creams, white and light greys \u2013 including interior walls covered in a pale, textured render made from 600,000 crushed oyster shells, locally and sustainably sourced. Wide corridors flanking the exhibition spaces are lined with chairs and lounges that invite you to pause and take in the view.<\/p>\n This peace is particularly necessary given the dizzying spectacles of Powerhouse Parramatta\u2019s five opening exhibitions \u2013 including a tribute to space and flight; a celebration of the shopping mall; a kids\u2019 exhibition themed around the dark; and a showcase of British designer Es Devlin \u2013 which otherwise risk sensory overload.<\/p>\n Coups de th\u00e9\u00e2tre abound: secret doorways and dramatic reveals; a mirror maze; a copse of Christmas firs; a massive replica meteorite taking up an entire exhibition space. There\u2019s a recreation of the historic Roselands shopping mall fountain; a restored 1920s elevator transporting visitors with access needs between exhibition floors; and a rainbow-hued walk-in installation by American light artist James Turrell at the top of a tower.<\/p>\n The historic Roselands shopping mall fountain has been recreated for the Mall exhibition. Photograph: Blake Sharp-Wiggins\/The Guardian<\/p>\n Throughout the spaces, museum objects (more than 1,600 from the 500,000-strong collection, supplemented by around as many loans) jostle with specially commissioned artworks, lavishly designed displays and interactive exhibits. The exhibitions are fuelled by wonder, spectacle and nostalgia \u2013 and are hard to resist.<\/p>\n Planes, engines, rockets \u2013 and a James Turrell<\/p>\n Task Eternal<\/a> is Powerhouse Parramatta\u2019s flagship opening exhibition \u2013 and the only one that adults will have to pay an entry fee for ($30\/$20 concession; 16 and unders get in free). A celebration of flight and space travel, it takes over the museum\u2019s main hall: 2,000 sq metres with 18-metre-high ceilings, bringing together objects from the Powerhouse collection as well as loans, commissions and literary texts \u2013 including excerpts from US science fiction author Ted Chiang<\/a>, whose short story Tower of Babylon inspired the exhibition\u2019s structure, including a zigzagging tower which visitors ascend and descend.<\/p>\n Hero items include delicate sketches by Leonardo da Vinci; a bumarang (boomerang) \u2013 an example of ingenious Indigenous aerodynamic design \u2013 collected from Burramatta\/Parramatta in the early 19th century; a \u201cboilerplate\u201d (or testing model) Apollo command module from the 1960s; and the spacesuit worn by Leonard Nimoy\u2019s Spock in Star Trek.<\/p>\n A spacesuit from the film Aliens worn by John Hurt\u2019s character is among others featured in Task Eternal. Photograph: Blake Sharp-Wiggins\/The Guardian<\/p>\n Aircraft from different eras, including the ingenious 19th-century flying rigs of Australian aviation pioneer Lawrence Hargrave, take pride of place. There is an entire room full of engines, and lots of rockets too, including a Skylark research rocket deployed at Woomera in the 70s, and a fully functional retro Rocket Playground from the 1960s.<\/p>\n Among the many stunning artworks, the star exhibit \u2013 at the top of the tower \u2013 is a perception-testing \u201cganzfeld\u201d installation by US light artist James Turrell, accessible for those who bought a special Turrell-inclusive ticket ($40 for adults, $10 for kids). Eight viewers at a time are invited into a room with curved walls and a shifting cycle of coloured light, which induces the kind of disorientation experienced by pilots in certain altitudes and atmospheres.<\/p>\n Task Eternal is overwhelming in its scope and visual magnificence. It\u2019s also a little discombobulating. Rather than chronology, it is structured around four \u201cacts\u201d exploring not only the history and technology of air and space travel, but our \u201ccultural relationship with the sky\u201d and \u201cthe human compulsion to ascend, leave Earth and return\u201d. It zigzags between eras, topics and modes of storytelling; between science, engineering, design and art.<\/p>\n A massive sculpture by Torlarp Larpjaroensook, inspired by the Voyager 1 space probe. Photograph: Blake Sharp-Wiggins\/The Guardian<\/p>\n It also works hard to shed the western, patriarchal and colonial narratives around space and flight, and to weave in lesser-known histories and perspectives, including First Nations technologies and cosmologies. This doesn\u2019t make for a smooth, coherent journey; though time, attention to wall texts and repeat visits may yield the kind of rich experience it aims for.<\/p>\n A secret playground that\u2019s sure to be a hit<\/p>\n The Mall<\/a>, a tribute to the social, cultural and design history of shopping centres, was only partially installed a week ahead of opening, but looks to be similarly maximalist. The Dark<\/a>, the Powerhouse\u2019s exhibition for children aged 4 to 12 set in a massive replica meteorite more than 22m long, will be an absolute hit \u2013 and not just because it\u2019s top secret: no photographs are allowed, and visitors will have to bag their smartphones before entering.<\/p>\n The Mall exhibition pays tribute to the history of shopping centres in Parramatta and beyond. Photograph: Blake Sharp-Wiggins\/The Guardian<\/p>\n We are allowed to describe how it works though: visitors enter via a dark, narrow tunnel followed by a series of glowing chambers, lined and stuffed with more than 800 objects, including sparkling minerals, retro toys, ancient artefacts and modern treasures (including the first item the museum collected, in 1882: a jar of peas<\/a>). Part playground, part discovery trail, items are arranged from toddler to adult height, and there are enough hidden delights and nostalgic treats to thaw the most frosty heart \u2013 including animations drawing on First Nations creation stories, and the museum\u2019s most Googled object: a heart-emblazoned shirt<\/a> worn by Leonardo DiCaprio in Baz Luhrmann\u2019s Romeo + Juliet<\/a>. There\u2019s not much narrative here, and some might grumble that it is light on science and learning, but museums desperately need to attract young audiences \u2013 and this might do the trick.<\/p>\n The calmest of the opening exhibits, titled Overflow, is an installation on the eastern building\u2019s third floor: a 16-metre high-definition LED display of short films by director Ivan Sen, featuring breathtaking footage, each spotlighting one of seven Indigenous organisations from NSW who care for water, country and community.<\/p>\n In front of the screen is a shallow pool with water that laps with the tides of the river. Visitors are encouraged to take their shoes off and get their feet wet; there\u2019s a sensorial magic about being 30m high, with your feet in the water and the sky on either side of you.<\/p>\n Ivan Sen\u2019s films are displayed on a 16-metre screen in an installation that will have water lapping at your feet. Photograph: Blake Sharp-Wiggins\/The Guardian<\/p>\n \u201cWe\u2019re on a flood plain,\u201d says Beau James, director of First Nations for the Powerhouse, gesturing to the Parramatta River out the window. In fact the location of the building was its own controversy for that very reason<\/a>. \u201cThat river has always ebbed and flowed, that\u2019s its natural way of moving. We wanted to honour water.\u201d<\/p>\n As part of the commission, the museum invested an undisclosed amount of money in the organisations featured in Sen\u2019s films. \u201cWe asked them: \u2018What\u2019s something you\u2019ve always really wanted to do but have never been able to get funds for?\u2019\u201d says James.<\/p>\n The funded proposals include tagging marine life in Gamay (Botany Bay); clearing rubbish and mitigating pollution in the Parramatta River; and an initiative for clearing invasive European carp from the Barwon River in Brewarrina.<\/p>\n Es Devlin\u2019s Australian debut<\/p>\n The final exhibition brings together recent works by British designer Es Devlin whose peripatetic career has encompassed theatre, fashion, public art and arena concerts (she has designed tours for Beyonc\u00e9, U2 and Lady Gaga, as well as Olympic ceremonies and Super Bowl half-time shows).<\/p>\n But Powerhouse\u2019s exhibition \u2013 her Australian debut \u2013 sees Devlin in a more poetic and philosophical mode. Made over the last decade (and adjusted here for their Australian debuts), the five works, spread across four main rooms, represent Devlin\u2019s attempts to use participatory art and interactive design to induce shifts of awareness and perspective; and to help rewire our sense of connection to the living world and each other.<\/p>\n Es Devlin\u2019s giant mirror maze takes up 24m x 10.7m of floor space. Photograph: Blake Sharp-Wiggins\/The Guardian<\/p>\n The visual highlight is a giant mirror maze, designed to represent the \u201carterial geometries of lungs and trees\u201d. But the soul of the exhibition is the participatory work Collective Portrait: a room with a 24m table and an equally long, unspooling reel of white paper, with an invitation to sit down on either side of the table for 15 minutes and draw the person opposite you.<\/p>\n The point is not so much the drawing as the silent interpersonal exchange between strangers. \u201cI\u2019ve been practising this around the world, and I\u2019ve found whoever I practise it with, it can be quietly transformational,\u201d says Devlin.<\/p>\n She has also created a sixth, temporary work for the museum\u2019s month-long opening festival: an Australian iteration of her 2022 outdoor work Come Home Again, featuring her own hand-drawn sketches of 244 endangered local species, and choral tributes which will be performed at dusk most nights through November within her illuminated outdoor installation on the Powerhouse\u2019s riverside lawn.<\/p>\n Es Devlin\u2019s Memory Palace. Photograph: Blake Sharp-Wiggins\/The Guardian<\/p>\n \u201cI\u2019m hoping that if we set up the rhythm of these evensong moments over the opening days and weeks, that people will continue to gather here. That it\u2019s like a beacon.\u201d<\/p>\n Devlin, who has exhibited in the world\u2019s top galleries and museums, describes Powerhouse Parramatta as a \u201cmagnificent\u201d building with \u201castounding\u201d opening exhibitions. \u201cThe fact that people are going to not just learn things but feel things and therefore remember what they learned? I think it\u2019s going to make it a destination for people to come from far and wide.\u201d<\/p>\n Powerhouse Parramatta<\/a> opens to the public on Saturday 7 November, with an opening festival from 7-29 November<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Dubbed the \u201cOpera House of western Sydney\u201d, Powerhouse Parramatta\u2019s white lattice exoskeleton, composed from 1,300 individual pieces and…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":907456,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[56],"tags":[228,226,227,229,88],"class_list":["post-907455","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-arts-and-design","tag-arts","tag-arts-and-design","tag-artsanddesign","tag-design","tag-entertainment"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/907455","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=907455"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/907455\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/907456"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=907455"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=907455"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=907455"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}