One of Australia’s most anticipated museum projects, Powerhouse Parramatta, will finally open its doors to the public on 7 November. Organisers have announced that the site will be open 9am to 9pm seven days a week—and 24 hours a day for “residents” such as artists and researchers staying on site.
Touted as a cultural “crown jewel” for western Sydney and located 20km from the city in Parramatta, the A$915 million institution has been 12 years in the making. When completed it will be the largest museum ever built in the state of New South Wales.
The project has its roots in the Museum of Applied Arts and Sciences that was founded in Sydney in 1879. Its move west to a major new building is happening as part of a New South Wales Government drive to spread the arts and culture budget more equitably across the city.
During a site visit in June, during which artisans were still abseiling down the building’s vast steel exoskeleton, Powerhouse’s chief executive officer Lisa Havilah told The Art Newspaper that Powerhouse Parramatta will be full of life around the clock.
The 30,000 sq. m. building incorporates 30 residential apartments where scientists, artists and researchers can live and work on site for up to three months. At any one time, 60 school children will sleep in the museum’s student accommodation for two nights while undertaking curriculum-aligned learning.
“Every night there will be 90 to 95 people staying,” Havilah said.“It makes it a 24-hour precinct. There’s no precedent that I know of.”
From outer space to Westfield shopping centres
Powerhouse will be free entry, but a paid ticket will be required for one of the institution’s five inaugural exhibitions, Task Eternal. Lenders to this exhibition, focused on humanity’s explorations of outer space, include Nasa, the Smithsonian and the British Museum.
Speaking to the disorientating experience of being in space, the American artist James Turrell has created an immersive work for Task Eternal titled Shangri La (Over the Hump).
According to media material issued by the Powerhouse, Turrell’s work will “envelop visitors and the entire space in cycles of changing, saturated colours that break down boundaries and perceptions of place and time”.
The exhibition will also showcase objects such as rocket engines, space debris and spacesuits.
The Mall, another of the five inaugural exhibitions, “examines the shopping centre as one of the most influential forms of architecture in modern life”. It will trace western shopping history from the 19th century arcade to AI-driven commercial systems.
“(Australian businessman) Frank Lowy inventing Westfield [shopping centre company] in Blacktown less than 10 minutes from here has really impacted how people experience the world,” Havilah said during the site tour.
The archive of Austrian-born American architect Victor Gruen, who came to despise the way his shopping mall ideas were implemented in the US, will also be on view in The Mall.
Powerhouse Parramatta is expected to attract two million visitors in its first year, Havilah said. “The real intention of the project is about providing direct access to world-class arts and culture to the fastest growing, most diverse communities in Australia,” she added.
Numerous controversies have accompanied the Powerhouse’s construction. Australian museum industry veterans have predicted it will be an entertainment precinct rather than a museum. Instances of alleged overspending on parties and “artistic associates” have hit the headlines. And the destruction of an historic building called Willow Grove which stood in the way of the development caused National Trust outrage.
When The Art Newspaper asked about these matters via email, Havilah responded: “The Powerhouse is undergoing the most transformational period in its history.
“We are committed to delivering a project that will redefine the museum experience, an institution with world-class facilities for learning and discovery of the Powerhouse Collection and significant loans from around the world.
“When we open our doors on Saturday 7 November, our vision is that the visitors see themselves reflected in a museum that has been shaped by the community it serves.”
The state government describes Powerhouse Parramatta as its largest cultural investment since the Sydney Opera House in 1973. It follows the opening of the new Naala Badu building, formerly known as Sydney Modern, at the Art Gallery of New South Wales in December 2022.