Powerhouse Parramatta Opens as Biggest Cultural Project Since
Powerhouse Parramatta opened to the public on Saturday after four years of construction. The $915 million museum in western Sydney houses more than 3,000 objects and launched with five major exhibitions, alongside talks, shows and workshops planned during a 23-day opening festival.
Powerhouse Parramatta opened to the public in western Sydney on Saturday, becoming the biggest cultural project since the Sydney Opera House. The $915 million museum brings science, engineering, art and culture together on the site of an old car park beside a river.
Four years of construction and more than 4,000 workers went into the project. Its collection includes more than 3,000 objects, including works on loan from overseas collections.
Five major exhibitions anchor the opening program, spread across more than 18,000 square metres of exhibition space. Talks, shows and workshops are scheduled throughout a 23-day opening festival.
The museum is also intended as an educational hub for school students, with a focus on encouraging interest in science and engineering. NSW Arts Minister John Graham said the institution aimed to make arts and culture more accessible to communities in the western suburbs.
“We know that this will inspire not just creatives but also scientists and engineers of the future,” Graham said.
Among the exhibitions, The Mall uses a two-storey arcade-style setting to trace the changing design of shopping centers across Western Sydney. It connects the history of shopping spaces with fashion, design and technology.
Overflow turns to the state’s saltwater and freshwater systems. Led by First Nations filmmakers and organizations, the exhibition considers Indigenous knowledge in protecting endangered species, mitigating floods and reviving language.
Filmmaker and Kamilaroi man Ivan Sen contributes work on a wide screen, sharing how First Nations organizations bring knowledge together to shape cultural connections with water.
British artist Es Devlin’s The Turning is an immersive, five-part exhibition featuring mirrors, films, interactive drawing spaces and 3D cityscapes. Devlin said visitors take an active role in completing the works.
“You are a performer in these works — the works aren't complete until you arrive,” she said.
The Dark, designed specifically for children, is kept from camera view and reimagines bedtime stories through a crystal tunnel and a gateway to a land of giants. It includes more than 800 objects, among them items loaned by children from across Western Sydney.
Another exhibition, Task Eternal, fills the museum’s largest gallery with aircraft suspended overhead, small rockets made by university students and plane turbines. The 2,200-square-metre space contains more than 600 objects focused on aviation and space exploration.
Australia’s first female astronaut, Katherine Bennell-Pegg, said she was excited to see the exhibition take shape. “I've been geeking out at this exhibition,” she said.
