Archive for the 'New Acquisitions' Category

The Big Trousers has a new friend

Published on June 3, 2013 by Charles Pickett in Architecture, Architecture and Urban Design, Design and Designers, New Acquisitions and Object of the week. 0 Comments Tags: , , , , , , , .
CCTV model

Powerhouse Museum collection: Architectural model, China Central TV Headquarters, designed by Rem Koolhaas and Ole Scheeren of OMA, ECADI, Arup, England, made by Micromodel, Beijing, China, 2004-2008. Gift of Arup Sydney.

Thanks to Arup Sydney we acquired a model of the China Central TV headquarters in Beijing. Designed by Rem Koolhaas and OMA, its a sophisticated and controversial attempt to reinvent the office tower. Architects, journos and others have debated its pros and cons at length.

But in Beijing they can’t be fussed with that. To taxi-drivers, commuters and all manner of smarty-pants, Rem’s masterpiece is just the Big Trousers.

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Sirius on the Rocks

Published on May 8, 2013 by Charles Pickett in Architecture, Architecture and Urban Design, Design and Designers, New Acquisitions, Object of the week, Sydney and Urban development. 0 Comments Tags: , , , , , , , , , , , , , , .
Sirius

Sirius apartments, watercolour and ink on board. PHM collection 2013/36/1 Gift of the family of Jack and Jean Nagle.

We have just acquired this watercolour elevation of the Sirius public housing apartments in the Rocks.  Most architects’ elevations use a street level viewpoint – this bird’s eye view is different and striking.

Sirius was built to rehouse public tenants displaced during the controversial redevelopment of the Rocks during the 1960s and 1970s. Eventually building work in the Rocks was halted by union Green Bans and resident opposition. In 1975 the Sydney Cove Redevelopment Authority agreed to suspend most of its development plans and rehouse displaced public housing tenants in new public housing.
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Mystery Beatles object

Published on October 17, 2012 by Peter Cox in leisure, Music, Mystery Object, New Acquisitions, Object of the week and Performing Arts. 1 Comment Tags: , , .
2012/50/1 Shop display, mechanical, The Beatles, wood / metal, maker unknown, Sydney, New South Wales, Australia, 1963-1964. Collection: Powerhouse Museum.

2012/50/1 Shop display, mechanical, The Beatles, wood / metal, maker unknown, Sydney, New South Wales, Australia, 1963-1964. Collection: Powerhouse Museum.

The Museum has started to develop a new exhibition about the Beatles’ 1964 tour of Australia. We recently acquired an unusual object from around that time. Does anybody know where it originated?
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How to make a stained glass window, Handel-style

Published on July 18, 2012 by Melanie Pitkin in Architecture and Urban Design, Art, Collections, Design and Designers, Furniture and Interiors, New Acquisitions and Object of the week. 0 Comments Tags: , , , , , , , , , , , , , .
Studio of Philip Handel

Studio of Philip Handel, 2012. Photography © Powerhouse Museum, all rights reserved.

Picture a large stained glass window inside a cathedral. You see a variety of colours – perhaps a contrast of red and blue, long slivers of yellow, or a striking sea of white. A pattern emerges, changing your interpretation of the window. At first you notice a figure in the centre of the window, which you perceive to be the image of Christ. Then more figures emerge, so you begin to piece together a narrative, reading the window as you would a novel. Now you are lost in the story, in the intricacies of light and colour, in private thought and reverie.

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New Aquisitions

Published on January 18, 2011 by Erika Taylor in New Acquisitions. 0 Comments Tags: , , .

Many people don’t realise that our curators actively acquire objects for the Museum’s collection. We are going to start featuring our recent acqusitions on the blog. I hope you enjoy them!

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Poster by Anne Zahalka. Collection: Powerhouse Museum

Photograph by Charles Pickett, Powerhouse Museum.

Photograph by Charles Pickett, Powerhouse Museum.

This poster is one of several created for Anne Zahalka’s exhibition Homeground!, which was displayed on four Newtown hotels during May 2010.

The poster is significant partly because it results from a collaboration with the Powerhouse Museum. Anne Zahalka first approached the Powerhouse in 2004 with the idea of creating contemporary photographic versions of the pub advertising paintings which adorned the exteriors of NSW hotels from the 1930s to the 1960s. The Powerhouse holds the largest collection of these paintings. The collection formed Anne’s main source material.

(written by Charles Pickett)