Hidden treasures and stories from our collection
Showbag and contents, A Team Collection, 1983: Powerhouse Museum
Going to an Easter show is almost a childhood rite of passage for Sydneysiders. Apart from looking at a variety of animals, agricultural pavilions, side shows and competitions like wood chopping there was always the draw of the Show Bag Pavilion. Selecting which show bag, the lolly or TV show based one (or if you were lucky a couple of show bags) was part of the day’s excitement.
Continue reading ‘Sydney Royal Easter Show’
Museum of Old and New Art, Hobart, 2011
The alarm was set for 5:00am but the rain outside, and five hours sleep, did little to renew the enthusiasm so confidently expressed when Nick’s initially suggested we fly to Tasmania for the day to visit the Museum of Old and New Art ‘MONA’ in Hobart. Four others from the Powerhouse Museum’s Digital and Emerging Tech team were going and that combined with the non-refundable flight and my partner’s ‘you will be going’ looks ensured that somehow by 6.30 I was in line to get on the plane to visit David Walsh’s privately owned museum.
One of the main reasons for the visit was to look at how this museum has integrated handheld technologies into as its core function for interpreting the space, instead of using labels. Another was to look at how Walsh’s personal vision and complete control of the space influenced the kinds of objects selected and the way they were displayed.
We arrived by cab from the airport before the museum had opened and rather than queue up we wandered around the grounds. The first thing that struck me was how from the outside the project looked almost like a military fortress embedded in hillside above the Derwent River. From the outside its all concrete, rusty metal, and vast slabs of sandstone facing off against the suburban homes and family lives that surround it. This seems to reflect the confrontational nature of much of the collection housed in the darkened halls beneath, and its owners delight in challenging the norms and poking a finger into our collective brain matter.
However iconoclasm isn’t a question here for ironically MONA seems to have achieved what many state and federally run institutions find so difficult – it has populist appeal. The displays may be sexually explicit, violent, irreverent, and controversial but more importantly they are, almost without exception, NOT BORING.
What you are in for is made clear from the very beginning of the visit when you are receive your personal i-phone for the tour from the friendly front of house staff. One of the first things you notice after logging in is two buttons on the bottom which gives you information about the objects. One is called ‘gonzo’ and if clicked gives and brief account of how the object was purchased or a visitors or artists impression of the object. The second, with the graphic of a penis, is titled ‘art wank’ and clicking this gives you a detailed account of the object, the artist etc. From personal experience I am almost certain that this sentiment, if not vocalised by visitors to art museums, was often what they actually thought about the kinds of text usually provided. Even better was seeing how many of the mainly elderly audience were happy to read an ‘art wank’ and I couldn’t help feeling they were probably reading more than when it was presented in a more formal way.
One thing I wasn’t so keen on was the set of buttons, which effectively replaced the ‘like’ button concept from Facebook with ‘Love’ or ‘Hate’. I thought these were a bit constrictive as many of the works didn’t conjure up those kind of extremes of emotion in me. But then again the sentiments were quite in keeping with Walsh’s overall feeling his collection was indeed pushing the boundaries, and were extreme.
So where was I – that’s right we’re at the reception area, with I-phone, hand poised to press LOVE or HATE, and feeling like I’m about to take a Dante-esque trip in this high tech lift though the bedrock to some subliminal realms below.
Lift, Museum of Old and New Art, Hobart, 2011
This first thing that strikes you when you step out of the lift is the Egyptian scale of the space carved out of the rock. It’s like being it some kind of futurist movie set, walkways above a high tech bar which are a precursor to a series of dark recesses and corridors going off in different directions. This is where you really start to get to grips with the tour guide you have in your hand. Press the pink ‘O’ and it gives you your location and lists the artworks nearby. It also allows you to enter your email address at this point and this will record the objects you visit (although this did appear to be linked to whether you actually ‘loved’ or ‘hated’ an object rather than just stood in front of it) and – this was pretty cool – sent the list with pictures though to your email for after your trip. It even lists the objects you didn’t see for another visit – all of which is a great help right now as I write this post.
Basement level entry, MONA, Hobart, 2011
Then its time to set off on the journey and make your way back to the surface. One of the other things you quickly notice is how dark everything is. This one feature makes a tremendous difference to the entire experience and is one which I couldn’t help but feel has the potential to transform any museum.
The other thing I noticed at this point was that although visitors can take photos without a flash the Mona handheld did not have a camera. And even though I tried juggling using my own phone camera, it limited the way I could capture my experience. So bring a good camera if you are serious about documenting your visit.
I guess this will mean having three pieces of tech to carry around which does seem a little unnecessary. Perhaps it would be nice if the MONA phone had a camera so at least you could take some happy snaps and load these into your museum experience to send to your email.
So what about the work? The great thing as I have said was it was interesting NOT BORING, stuff moved, was well lit and even when potentially boring stuff (like pieces of flint) were displayed they were arranged in interesting artistic patterns. Again I think museums could do a lot here in simply looking at how objects are arranged or combined can potentially create a new level of interest. I also liked the way ‘all roads led to Rome’ there were no dead ends or cul-de-sacs to escape from. A great example of this was after looking at the skinned kitty and the hanging wax horse (PXIII by Berlinde De Bruyckere) I rounded the corner to be confronted with a black wall which on closer inspection opened when I pushed on it and brought me back to the main corridor. Interesting, exciting and relies on humans exploring rather than being directed.
Another example of this was the opaque white cube, Queen (A Portrait of Madonna) by Candice Breitz, which was in the centre of the displays on one level. From the outside I could see shadows moving inside and walked around it wondering what was going on when I came upon a door. On opening it and walking inside I was confronted by a bright wall of TV’s which contrasted strongly with the outside ambience, even more jarring was the Capella voices, mostly not very good, singing Madonna hits, kinda in time, but the longer I stayed the more embarrassed I felt watching them.
One of my favourite objects Artifact, by Gregory Barsamian, was a huge metal head lying on its side at the top of some stairs. But it was the flashing light coming from inside that attracted my attention and in this case curiosity was rewarded with a stunning stroboscopic light show inside the coil of wires lining the interior of the head.
I won’t go on to list all the great stuff at the museum as my advice is to see and experience it for yourself. This is a great experience and I’d like to congratulate David for making this one of the more successful and expensive examples of entrepreneurship in the cultural sector. By the time we made our way back to the surface hours has gone by, our group of five had met, wandered off, got lost, bumped into each other at video screenings, seen each other from afar on stairways going to other unknown places and eventually sat down to discuss the experience at lunch.
Overall I liked the way the lines were blurred between art, architecture and the more traditional museum objects, albeit weird and eccentric ones. No thematic schema, no one way to view the works, lots of accident and serendipity, no text, and dark catacombs of walkways and stairs and stone making for an experience I hope other museums embrace. My five hours sleep was rapidly catching up on me as the five of us made our way to Hobart airport and back to Sydney. I can barely remember the plane trip and journey home but I think we all agreed it was a day-trip to remember. Thanks Mr. Earnshaw.
Lynne, Nicholas, Estee and Carlos, Hobart, 2011
My name is Sally Inchbold-Busby and I have had a very rewarding year working on an oral history project at the Tamworth Powerstation Museum (TPM) as recipient of the 2011 Powerhouse Museum’s Movable Heritage Fellowship. I used my experience in Tamworth to complete my final internship for my Master’s Degree in Museum Studies at the University of Sydney.
Tamworth has a remarkable industrial history. In 1888, Tamworth became the first town in the southern hemisphere to have its streets lit by a power station owned and operated by a municipal council. To celebrate the Centenary of electric street lighting in 1988, a group of electricity industry employees created Australia’s first all-electric museum. Today visitors can see a nationally significant collection that includes a working replica of the original power plant and an amazing collection of photographs, industry apparatus, light globes and electrical appliances spanning from early development to the 1960s.
The broad aim of my project is to research and collect the oral histories behind the key objects within the museum’s collections. A further outcome is the development of a publication to provide public access to previously undocumented information. I am working with Sandra McMahon who is TPM Manager and Director of the Tamworth Regional Gallery under the auspices of the Tamworth Regional Council. My brief is to develop a handbook that will take the reader through the museum’s narrative while telling the story of the Tamworth’s electricity industry – the idea being to draw out the social aspects of the story to complement the museum’s strong technical base.
During the first half of the year I set myself the task of selecting twenty-five objects on which to base the story and my oral history research. This was not an easy task as there are so many fascinating objects in the many collections at the museum. I spent considerable time getting to know the collections and the people who work with them. Because I am interested in early steam engines, I decided to focus the first part of the story on the development of the 1888 power station. From there I selected objects that represented the technological and social changes brought about by the introduction of electricity.
1888 power plant - John Fowler engine and boiler set with replica Crompton dynamo: Image: courtesy Tamworth Powerstation Museum
Throughout the year I have worked closely with the museum’s team of volunteers, who as former employees of the industry have some great stories and a wealth of information to pass on. I have interviewed nine people who have provided insight into what it was like to work in the power station and the importance of the industry to Tamworth. The stories I have heard and will include in my publication are moving, dramatic and entertaining. Here is an excerpt from an interview with Mal Crocker recalling peak load times at the power station in the early 1950s.
I witnessed a power generation overload which was quite exciting. The engine room where the turbines were housed would vibrate at times of peak loading. Most winter mornings around 8.00am when the industry had started for the day, all the offices and shops would have their lights on. In the homes it was breakfast time which meant the jug, toaster, stove and the radiator were all drawing power at once. This was peak load time when all the machinery was operating at high demand. The engines would settle down as the morning progressed but the power station really did rock.”
I have also learnt a lot of new things. For example; As mentioned above I know why the power station shuddered on cold winter mornings and that Hotpoint irons got their name when the maker’s wife said the heat needed to focus on the tip.
Hotpoint iron display stand, 1950s; Image courtesy of Tamworth Powerstation Museum
Through the Movable Heritage Fellowship I have been able to put into practice the understandings I gained from my studies. I have pursued my personal interest in industrial heritage while producing a publication that will be useful to the museum and its visitors. It has been particularly satisfying to develop my own project and follow it through to completion. Throughout I have been supported by the Powerhouse Museum and my colleagues in Tamworth. The development of working relationships has been very important to the success of my project. I have met some wonderful characters and have enjoyed many cups of tea. My project is due for completion later this year and I am currently working on its design. I can’t wait to see the finished product, a publication called ‘The Night The Lights Went On’.#
The Powerhouse Movable Heritage Fellowship for 2012 is now accepting applications from continuing students who would like to undertake a research project on an object or group of objects in a community museum, historical society or other collecting institution. The Fellow will receive $5,000 and spend a minimum of one week at the Powerhouse Museum working with a supervisor.
# A handbook that will take the reader through the museum’s narrative while telling the story of Tamworth’s electricity industry is being launched by Powerhouse Museum energy curator, Debbie Rudder on November 9th, 2011 in Tamworth at the Powerstation Museum.
Mirath in Mind logo designed by M K Graphics
Community outreach and engagement is a core responsibility of any museum. This is what helps us to bridge social and cultural divides, develop greater tolerance and understanding, facilitate new connections and relationships with one another and expand our way of seeing.
The Powerhouse Museum has a long tradition of working together with communities, from our collections and exhibitions (see for example, Beirut to Baghdad: communities, collecting and culture, Our new home Meie uus kodu: Estonian – Australian stories and Ties with Tradition: Macedonian Aprons, among many others) to public programs, affiliated societies, regional services and online presence. One of these communities I have been strongly involved with is the Arab and Lebanese community (especially in Sydney and Melbourne) for two important projects. The first is an upcoming exhibition on contemporary Islamic women’s fashion in Australia (more of which will be revealed in the coming months) and the second, which I would like to share with you in this blog post, is an independent external organisation, Mirath in Mind, of which I am a representative committee member for the Museum.
Mirath in Mind is a non-profit organisation committed to celebrating and promoting the art, heritage and culture of the Arab and Lebanese world in Australia. Founded in 2010, Mirath (which means “heritage” in classical Arabic) focuses on a different cultural or artistic legacy each year and in 2011 it is the legendary Lebanese singer, Fairuz.
In case you’ve never heard of Fairuz before, it might be easier to compare her with a mainstream western performer. I would say she has the celebrity status of Madonna in the Middle East, but the elegance, grace and poise of someone more like Celine Dion. In terms of her singing abilities, however, she is unparalleled.
Fairuz was born Nouhad Wadi Haddad on November 21, 1935 in Jabal al Arz, Lebanon. She started singing at an early age, initially hymns and other popular songs of the time for radio (like Ya Zahratan Fi Khayali by Farid al-Atrash and Mawwal by Asmahan), before singing her own songs composed not only, but most famously, by brothers Assi and Mansour Rahbani. Together, they wrote many of Fairuz’s best-loved songs (my personal favourite is “Nassam Alayna”). They also scripted several of her films, including “Bint el-Haras” and “Safar Barlek”.
Fairuz recently performed at the Holland Festival in Amsterdam and some colleagues and I from Mirath were lucky enough to have secured tickets. You see, the Carré Theatre only has a capacity of 1700 and tickets sold out within a day of being advertised! Many travelled from far and wide to Amsterdam just to see Fairuz in concert. They came from Morocco, Palestine, Belgium, Jordan, Egypt, Syria and…Australia! Even though Fairuz performed only a small selection of songs, most of which were from her more recent albums, it was a magical experience and the fervour of the crowd carried over into the streets of Amsterdam until well into the wee hours of the morning! You can get a taste of the atmosphere by having a look at some of the television media coverage here.
Since one of Mirath in Mind’s key objectives is to educate and inspire the younger generations (who have an Arabic background, but not exclusively so) about the cultural icons and legacies of their native past, Mirath has been running a number of educational activities about the life and work of Fairuz. These have been taking place in schools and universities in Sydney and Melbourne where Arabic is a spoken language, among which includes St Charbel’s College Punchbowl, the Holy Spirit College Lakemba, the Holy Saviour School Greenacre, the Antonine College Coburg, the University of Western Sydney and Deakin University.
Chadia Gedeon-Hajjar, President of Mirath in Mind talks to Year 8 and 9 students at the Holy Spirit College Lakemba about Fairuz. Image courtesy of Marie Joseph Abi-Arrage.
This has involved almost 1000 quizzes with students on the previously mentioned films, “Bint el-Haras” (for primary students) and “Safr Barlek” (for high school students), as well as a variety of singing, multimedia, drama, arts and crafts projects more broadly linked to Fairuz’s expansive career. We’ve also been running an essay competition in Universities, as we noticed there is a significant gap in well-researched, academic writing on the topic of Fairuz and the Rahbani brothers. All of this hard work will culminate in an Awards Gala Day ceremony that will take place at the Powerhouse Museum on Monday 21st November (the date of Fairuz’s 76th birthday upon which we will also be launching ‘National Fairuz Day in Australia’). On this day, the top performing students in the quizzes and essays will be awarded while the finalists in the creative and performing arts competitions will compete before a panel of judges for prizes (we’re even staging a ‘Fairuz Idol’!).
We are now starting to think about what other Arab cultural icons we should feature in future Mirath in Mind projects. Perhaps Khalil Gibran, Youssef Chahine or Sabah? What do you think?
If you’d like to find out more about the work of Mirath in Mind, please take a look at our website – www.mirath.org.au. Alternatively, you can contact me – melaniep@phm.gov.au. Please note the Awards Day at the Museum is by invitation only.
While our digitisation project is well underway, with 80% of collection objects currently listed online, there is much more work to be done. Your donation will assist the Powerhouse to add high quality photographs and full background information for the 50% of online objects with incomplete listings.