A life-size television set,a mural celebrating an Indigenous Sydney Mardi Gras pioneer,a neon light installation inspired by the Rainbow Serpent,and a program of musical performances are all part of the festival’s plans to breathe creative life into White Bay.
Unveilingnext year’s program,Biennale’s co-curator Inti Guerrero,says the building’s history-soaked walls,made White Bay a particularly theatrical backdrop for the Biennale,Sydney’s largest celebration of contemporary art.
“Exhibitions are more than just a sum of what is inside them,” Guerrero says. “This building is much more interesting[than Tate Modern] because there are these leftovers of the archaeology of the carbon era that play in the space in artistic ways.”
More than $100 million has been invested in White Bay’s restoration and remediation to rid it of asbestos,lead dust,and pigeon droppings,and replace rusting metalwork and broken glass.
Unlike Tate Modern - the world-leading museum repurposed from a power station on the banks of the Thames River - White Bay bears signs of its working life before it was shuttered in 1983.
The building retains its coal conveyor,one of four boilers,hoppers,and one of four original steam turbines.
The Boiler House rises eight storeys and the Turbine Hall six storeys. Internally,White Bay is about one and a half times the size of the Queen Victoria Building and larger than Tate Modern itself.