EUCALYPTUSDOM

An exhibition centred around Australia’s relationship to the Eucalyptus, addressing colonial collection legacy with contemporary commissions.

The identity references the titles found within the exhibition objects, early specimen documentation and imaging processes.

Like the Eucalyptusdom exhibition, the book marked an opportunity for the museum to interrogate its own history and identity; exploring its relationship to past and future through ancient objects and new knowledge systems.

Like the Eucalyptusdom exhibition, the book marked an opportunity for the museum to interrogate its own history and identity; exploring its relationship to past and future through ancient objects and new knowledge systems.

Like the Eucalyptusdom exhibition, the book marked an opportunity for the museum to interrogate its own history and identity; exploring its relationship to past and future through ancient objects and new knowledge systems.

Like the Eucalyptusdom exhibition, the book marked an opportunity for the museum to interrogate its own history and identity; exploring its relationship to past and future through ancient objects and new knowledge systems.

Like the Eucalyptusdom exhibition, the book marked an opportunity for the museum to interrogate its own history and identity; exploring its relationship to past and future through ancient objects and new knowledge systems.

Like the Eucalyptusdom exhibition, the book marked an opportunity for the museum to interrogate its own history and identity; exploring its relationship to past and future through ancient objects and new knowledge systems.

Like the Eucalyptusdom exhibition, the book marked an opportunity for the museum to interrogate its own history and identity; exploring its relationship to past and future through ancient objects and new knowledge systems.

Like the Eucalyptusdom exhibition, the book marked an opportunity for the museum to interrogate its own history and identity; exploring its relationship to past and future through ancient objects and new knowledge systems.

The entry wall illuminates the title, exposing power supply like an organic forest floor.

Thematic panels by Ashley Hay guide visitors through different chapters of the exhibition.

Exhibition identity and signage integrates through the experience, realised through screenprinting and illumination across the custom Eucalyptus ply joinery. Object labels recede and project from surfaces, revealing exposed edges consistent with joinery materiality.

A flexible modular system designed by Richard Leplastrier AO, SJB architects, Jack Gillmer and Adam Haddow is adapted to different display conditions throughout the space, becoming the terrain for collection objects and new commissions.

A flexible modular system designed by Richard Leplastrier AO, SJB architects, Jack Gillmer and Adam Haddow is adapted to different display conditions throughout the space, becoming the terrain for collection objects and new commissions.

A flexible modular system designed by Richard Leplastrier AO, SJB architects, Jack Gillmer and Adam Haddow is adapted to different display conditions throughout the space, becoming the terrain for collection objects and new commissions.

A flexible modular system designed by Richard Leplastrier AO, SJB architects, Jack Gillmer and Adam Haddow is adapted to different display conditions throughout the space, becoming the terrain for collection objects and new commissions.

A flexible modular system designed by Richard Leplastrier AO, SJB architects, Jack Gillmer and Adam Haddow is adapted to different display conditions throughout the space, becoming the terrain for collection objects and new commissions.

Opening at the Powerhouse Museum in Sydney in October 2021, Eucalyptudsom reckons with Australia’s cultural history and ever-changing relationship with the gum tree. Over 400 works from the permanent collection and 17 new creative commissions featured in the exhibition curated by Agatha Gothe-Snape and Emily McDaniel.

Studio Ongarato was a collaborator with the creative team for the exhibition, including exhibition designers SJB Architects, Richard Leplastrier and Vania Contreras, soundscape designer Jane Sheldon and lighting designer Nick Schlieper.

The identity emerges from the historical collection of objects; early specimen documentation, annotated manuscripts and elements of naiive classicism from the arts and crafts. Colour becomes a defining contemporary and unifying element, representing both the radical vitality unique to the species and erasure of nature across time. From a singular and holistic identity, layers were explored through the various expressions from campaign, exhibition titles and publication design, each becoming unique experiences of the exhibition and its themes.

The project provides a foundation for a new thinking in museum programming for the Powerhouse, reimagining and questioning past practice through contemporary commissions and collaborative culture

  • Project Scope

    Identity

    Publication

    Campaign

    Digital

    Signage

    Environmental

  • Project Collaborators

    Curators: Sarah Rees, Agatha Gothe-Snape, Emily McDaniel and Nina Earl

  • Exhibition

    Architectural design: Richard Leplastrier AO with Jack Gillmer and Adam Haddow of SJB

    Spatial design: Vania Contreras

    Lighting design: Nick Schlieper

    Sound design and composition: Jane Sheldon

    Public programs: Anne-Louise Dadak, Rebecca Gallo, Amy Prcevich and Hannah Saunders

    Exhibition build: Powerhouse Workshop and Art Services NSW

    Joinery and fabrication: Queen & Crawford

    Commissioned practitioners: Nicole Barakat and the Rohingya Women’s Development Organisation, Dean Cross, Julie Gough, First Nations Fashion and Design, Ashley Hay, Vera Hong, Jonathan Jones and Dr Uncle Stan Grant Snr AM, Nicholas Mangan, Anna May Kirk, Luna Mrozik-Gawler, Jazz Money, Lucy Simpson, Yasmin Smith, Mr Wanambi, Sera Waters, Damien Wright and Bonhula Yunupingu and Justine Youssef

  • Publication

    Head of Publishing: Stephen Todd

    Editor: Sally Rose

    Writers: Ashley Hay and Luna Mrozik Gawler

    Photography: Zan Wimberley, Belinda Christie, Ryan Hernandez, Stuart Humphreys, Marinco Kojdanovski, Jean-Francois Lanzarone, Danica Micallef, Laura Moore, Michael Myers, Natasha Nassenstein, Mark Pokorny, Luc Remond and Linda Warlond

101 COLLINS STREET Placemaking and Signage
101 COLLINS STREET Placemaking and Signage