Half of permanent collection,around 600 objects including a valuable still life by Margaret Olley,have arrived at the former records office for repair and conservation.
Suati Rojas tends to Margaret Olley’s Kitchen Cupboard on the ground floor of the Registrar General’s Building.Steven Siewert
Most of the artworks are considered restorable to display condition. Damage has been assessed by conservators to include staining,cracking and flaking of oil paints,warping of backing boards and mould growth.
In the case of Olley’sKitchen Cupboard, which was completely submerged,moisture has penetrated the surface varnish. This has caused blanching,or whitening of the original colour,and it’s the delicate job of conservator Suati Rojas to remove the varnish.
The three-storey,Neo-Gothic-faced building which overlooks St Mary’s Cathedral once stored the births,deaths and marriages records of the state,then land titles.
Not only has it recently become the headquarters of conservation efforts,its offices have been temporarily let to 12 cultural organisations as shared administration,collaboration and rehearsal spaces.
Earlier this monthThe Sydney Morning Herald disclosed that work had begun. The former Lord Mayor Lucy Turnbull had previously suggested it could be turned into a decorative arts museum.
Danielle O’Keefe inside new rehearsal space that is as “rare as hen’s teeth”.Steven Siewert
NSW Premier Dominic Perrottet,who will tour the building Friday morning,said repurposing the former records office was part of a broader plan to transform Macquarie Street into a vibrant cultural precinct.
“Many historical buildings in the heart of Sydney are overlooked and unappreciated and this is a chance to breathe new life into them,” he said.
Do Ho Suh’s Staircase III.Supplied
Arts minister Ben Franklin said using the landmark building to restore the water-damaged collection would allow for their return to Lismore more quickly,while at the same time providing essential accommodation for creatives.
The move comes as the government announced it had helped secure acclaimed South Korean-born artist Do Ho Suh for his first major solo exhibition at the Museum of Contemporary Art.
Suh will spearhead the 2022-23 International Art Series,with Minister for Investment Stuart Ayres predicting the summer blockbuster opening October 28 will draw interstate and overseas visitors and cement the city’s status as the nation’s cultural capital.
“Do Ho Suh is one of the world’s most acclaimed artists,known for evocative and visually striking large-scale sculptures and architectural installations,” Ayres said.
Inspired by his peripatetic life living between South Korea and New York,the large translucent hand-sewn fabric installations upturn notions of architecture,space and home,while giving form to ideas about migration,transience and shifting identities.
Restoration work underway using deionised water as cleaner.Steven Siewert
Museum of Contemporary Art director Suzanne Cotter said Suh had been an “indelible and eloquent presence for contemporary art for over three decades”. “His work speaks to who we are as individuals and as part of the different collective situations that constitute society.”
Tenants of the Registrar General’s Building now include Australian Haydn Ensemble,the Sydney Writers’ Room,Monkey Baa Theatre and The House that Dan Built,a not-for-profit that assists women and girls from regional and remote NSW become songwriters and performers.
Before moving in,The House that Dan Built was running its Toy Choir for 10-to-18-year-olds and its choral ensemble from the basement of a Potts Point home.
“Rehearsal space is rarer than hen’s teeth and it’s expensive,” said its founder and director Danielle O’Keefe. “Particularly with singing and trying to keep everyone COVID safe,the size of the rehearsal space had been incredibly difficult to find.”
The tenancies are due to end this year by which time Julian Bickersteth from International Conservation Services expects much of the Lismore restoration work to be complete.
It’s not the first time that the conservation team has attempted to tackle flood damage but they feel a weight of public responsibility. “We are wanting to ensure that this bit of Lismore gets returned to Lismore in as best condition as we can,and we’ve saved as much as we can,” Bickersteth said.
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