Sydney’s museums and art precincts announce reopenings

Sydney’s Powerhouse Museum and art precinct, Carriageworks, have announced their respective reopenings as Monday 11th October and Wednesday 3rd November 2021.

The Powerhouse reopens with five new exhibitions spanning photography, design, music, ceramics and applied arts, the exhibitions showcase the Powerhouse’s world-class collection alongside new artist commissions.

Opening exhibitions include Eucalyptusdom, a major exhibition reckoning with our cultural history and ever-changing relationship with the gum tree. The exhibition presents over 400 objects from the Powerhouse Collection alongside 17 newly commissioned works by creative practitioners working across the fields of design, architecture, film, applied arts and performance. Taking its title from a 1930s text by Edward F Swain, one of Australia’s earliest conservationists, Eucalyptusdom also reveals the Powerhouse Museum’s unique and longstanding relationship with the eucalypt.

Robert Rosen: Glitterati, the largest survey of the work of one of Australia’s foremost fashion and social photographers, will traverse Rosen’s expansive back catalogue documenting four decades of glittering parties, concerts, fashion events and nightclubs across Australia, London and Europe.

Electric Keys will survey the journey of electric keyboards and the instrument's contribution to music, presenting mechanical instruments dating from the 17th Century alongside the Museum’s recently-acquired collection of mid-20th century models and a collection of significant synthesisers.

Graphic Identities will present work by eight celebrated 20th century designers including Gordon Andrews, Douglas Annand and Frances Burke, charting pivotal moments in the history of Australian design and exploring the role of visual communication in shaping Australia’s cultural identity.

Clay Dynasty will chart 50 years of studio ceramic practice in Australia with over 400 works from 160 Australian artists. The exhibition will be the first to open in the Museum’s reimagined Turbine Hall.

Carriageworks, Sydney’s contemporary multi-arts precinct, will reopen to the public on Wednesday 3rd November, with award-winning Kamilaroi/Gamilaraay artist Dennis Golding’s exhibition The Future is Here. Later in the month, visitors will be offered free access to visual art exhibitions by leading Australian artists, with the unveiling of a major site-specific work by celebrated Worimi artist Dean Cross, a new video installation by acclaimed photographer and video artist Cherine Fahd commissioned and presented in partnership with Performance Space, and the return of the SOUTHEAST Aboriginal Arts Markets online. Carriageworks will also welcome back Sydney Dance Company’s New Breed, supported by The Balnaves Foundation, which showcases bold new work by emerging choreographers.

Image top: Powerhouse’s Eucalyptusdom; image above: (L to R): Artist Dennis Golding at Carriageworks. Image: Zan Wimberley. Courtesy Carriageworks; Artist Cherine Fahd, Ecdysis, 2019-2021, video still. Courtesy Carriageworks and Performance Space; and Artist Dean Cross in his studio at the Clothing Store, Carriageworks, 2021. Image: Zan Wimberly. Courtesy Carriageworks;

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