Curatorial and installation crews race against the clock inside the colossal, column-free exhibition halls of the Moreau Kusunoki and Genton–designed Powerhouse Parramatta.
asserted
crews → race → Parramatta
Amid the tangle of loose cabling, bare walls, empty vitrines and objects under dust covers, it is difficult to imagine that any of the five main galleries will be ready in time for the ribbon-cutting on November 7.
asserted
any → imagine → November
Out on the terrace, an array of cutouts depicting endangered birds sits clustered beside an egg-shaped sound shell, where a tradesman works from a basket on a long crane arm.
asserted
tradesman → depict → arm
Ground-floor kitchen staff at the upcoming restaurant, Simara, review freshly printed menus before their first service, while 300 front-of-house recruits move through the corridors for final orientation.
asserted
recruits → review → orientation
Four days later, the hard hats and hi-vis have vanished.
asserted
hats → vanish → ?
The sound stage backdrop is fully assembled, and members of the choir and dancers are arriving on Saturday for rehearsals.
asserted
members → assemble → rehearsals
The ladders and scissor lifts are pulled back, though the construction fencing will remain in place for another week.
asserted
fencing → pull → week
Guest services’ hosts dressed in coordinated grey uniforms and necklaced with hot pink “how can I help” lanyards wait to greet the first visitors as a digital commission plays on a 24-metre-long screen in an empty lobby.
asserted
commission → dress → lobby
Some 3000 arrivals are expected over the next several hours; the families and friends of 3000 workers, subcontractors and staff invited for the first dry run of western Sydney’s only designated state-significant cultural institution.
asserted
families → expect → institution
A decade of bitter political acrimony that has shadowed the billion-dollar project is all but forgotten in a rush of civic and professional pride by those who have most sweated the outcome.
asserted
who → shadow → outcome
“A dress rehearsal is critical,” says interim CEO Abbie Galvin.
asserted
Galvin → say → ?
“It allows us the time to put the building through its paces, and weed out all about problem.
asserted
It → allow → problem
If anything is going to go wrong, we want it to happen now so we can troubleshoot and resolve it and have it ready for the public.”
asserted
it → go → public
At Saturday’s walk-through, the Beadle-Mandelberg family from Belrose get their first taste of the museum’s marquee aerospace showcase, Task Eternal, an exhibition in four acts which houses the museum’s biggest item a 8400-kilogram F1 rocket from Woomera.
asserted
which → get → Woomera
Baxter, 6, gives the rocket-ship playground slide a couple of tries.
asserted
Baxter → give → tries
He’s taken with the stack of planes showing the evolution of flight and the 20 spacesuits and screen-used costumes from Alien, The Martian and Star Trek detailing how our obsession with space and flight has influenced so much in contemporary culture.
asserted
obsession → take → culture
He and sister Arabella, 8, linger in the room featuring Thai artist Torlarp Larpjaroensook’s kinetic sculpture inspired by the Voyager 1 space probe.
asserted
He → linger → probe
The distortions of reflecting ceiling and floor mirrors fascinate the siblings.
asserted
distortions → reflect → siblings
The glass-encased Burramattagal Boomerang, an object created in Parramatta, held by the British Museum in London and returned to Parramatta for this exhibition, is the first and last object visitors will see.
asserted
visitors → encase → exhibition
The 10 larrakitj (hollow-log coffins) drawn from the Powerhouse Collection, also draws admiration of mum Natalya Mandelberg, whose father was a photographer at the Ultimo museum before it was shuttered in 2024 for rebuilding.
asserted
it → draw → rebuilding
“The scale of it is just impressive,” Matthew Beadle said.
asserted
Beadle → say → it
“It’s beautifully designed.
asserted
It → design → ?
No matter where you look there is an interesting shadow or reflection, or you see an exhibit you’ve just walked through from a different perspective, like the jet engines where you get to see the whole ‘under the hood’, so to speak.”
asserted
you → look → hood
Spectacle is one thing, says Galvin.
asserted
Galvin → say → ?
“That will be what makes people return.”
Upstairs of Task Eternal is The Mall, a deep-dive into the phenomenon of the shopping centre and Frank Lowy’s invention of Westfield which is more likely to divide opinions.
asserted
which → make → opinions
In the western wing, children venture through tunnels of glowing minerals inside a mock giant meteorite into a recreated childhood bedroom before clambering across a mock windowsill into an indoor Christmas pine forest.
asserted
children → venture → forest
Visitors are asked to surrender their smartphones into pouches upon entry – a strict condition of admission designed to preserve a sense of mystery and purely sensory engagement.
asserted
Visitors → ask → mystery
The Dark, which turns the idea of darkness as a place of nightmares upside down, is made specifically for children aged four to 12 but will engage young teens.
asserted
which → turn → teens
In the First Nations exhibition Overflow, adults and children are welcome to shuck shoes and socks to paddle through a shallow sandstone pond.
asserted
adults → shuck → pond
Set within the only gallery offering direct vistas over the Parramatta River and close-up views of the building’s muscular lattice exoskeleton, the space provides rare stillness.
asserted
space → Set → stillness
Filmmaker Ivan Sen documented seven communities across NSW as they care for water country, the screen images reflected in pond water with its levels shifting subtlety with the river tides.
asserted
levels → document → tides
The drop from a viewing platform to the floor of Overflow will be closely watched as well as any trails of wet footprints and discarded shoes in case they raise trip or slip hazards.
asserted
they → view → hazards
The exhibition’s design versus function has recently been a point of reflection inside the museum, as has the number of collection objects on display.
asserted
number → have → display
From the moment of its 2015 announcement 11 years ago, the idea to headquarter the Powerhouse in Parramatta has been squeezed by two opposing forces: the ambitions and cultural claims of Sydney’s second CBD versus the wisdom and expense of splitting it from its repurposed home at Ultimo.
uncertain
idea → headquarter → Ultimo
More than 400 museum staff have worked over the past three years developing and delivering the five opening exhibitions.
asserted
staff → work → exhibitions
Staff have acutely felt the intense scrutiny.
asserted
Staff → feel → scrutiny
It’s a relief for many to see the finish line so close, but there are nerves, too.
asserted
line → ’ → many
Except for the families’ look and see, no media is permitted inside for the dry run which is a practical test of audio visuals and interactives, installation of labels, signage and way finding.
asserted
which → see → labels
Given the headlines, and like the new Sydney Metro line, the museum says it wants space to deal with any teething troubles and the staff to enjoy the product of their efforts without scrutiny.
asserted
staff → give → scrutiny
The Beadle-Mandelburgs say they haven’t followed the controversies anyway.
asserted
they → say → controversies
…and 18 more, not listed.
The Aporia
