Spanning 30,000 sqm with a budget of $AUS 915 million ($US 641 million), Powerhouse Parramatta is one of the world’s most significant museum projects to open in 2026.
- Australia’s largest public investment in cultural development since Sydney Opera House.
- Opening exhibitions include Task Eternal, one of the most ambitious aerospace exhibitions ever staged – including loans from NASA, MIT, Smithsonian, British Museum, Science Museum London, Australian Space Agency and James Turrell’s monumental immersive work Shangri La.
Powerhouse Parramatta, one of the world’s most significant new museum projects and the largest cultural development in Australia since the Sydney Opera House, will open its doors to the public on Saturday 7 November 2026, presenting five ground-breaking exhibitions that place Powerhouse at the forefront of contemporary museum practice.
Situated on the banks of the Parramatta River, Powerhouse Parramatta, with an $AUS 915 million budget including $AUS 75 million philanthropic contribution, is the first state cultural organisation in Western Sydney, one of Australia’s fastest growing and most diverse regions representing communities from over 170 countries. At 30,000 sqm it has been designed by Franco-Japanese architects Moreau Kusunoki (Lead Designer), Australian architects Genton (Local Architect) and Arup.
Powerhouse Parramatta will showcase Australian and global innovations in science, technology, engineering, art and design, presenting over 3,000 objects, including 1,600 drawn from the vast Powerhouse Collection as well as loans from major national and international collections. The opening programme will feature more than 45 new commissions spanning 14 countries and includes seven unique Community Commissions supporting First Nations practices.
Details of three of the opening exhibitions featuring some of the biggest names in the creative industries are revealed today. The full exhibition and opening festival programme will be announced soon.
Announced today are:
Task Eternal
Designed by OPEN Architecture
Tracing humanity’s enduring quest to defy gravity, take flight, and journey into the sky, Task Eternal is one of the most ambitious aerospace exhibitions ever staged. Drawing inspiration from Ted Chiang’s celebrated science fiction story The Tower of Babylon, from First Nations sky knowledges and early aviation to cutting-edge aerospace innovations, this monumental exhibition features over 850 objects with loans from institutions including NASA, the Smithsonian National Air and Space Museum, the British Museum, MIT, and the Australian Space Agency. Highlights include the ‘black box’ flight recorder, an Australian innovation designed to record aircraft data and James Turrell’s monumental immersive work, Shangri La (Over the Hump) (2026), which will envelop visitors and the entire space in cycles of changing, saturated colours that breakdown boundaries and perceptions of place and time.
The Mall
Designed and curated in collaboration with OMA/AMO
The Mall examines the shopping centre as one of the most influential forms of architecture in modern life. A reimagining of retail reality, The Mall will look at the history and evolution of shopping malls and the stories they hold, reflecting on the changing rituals of retail and the role shopping centres play in civic life. Unfolding in parts and featuring over 560 objects from the Powerhouse Collection alongside international loans and 18 multidisciplinary new commissions, the exhibition will reveal the interconnected systems that have transformed retail culture. Among the exhibits are the archive of celebrated architect Victor Gruen who pioneered the design of shopping malls in America; a display highlighting Australian brands emerged from beaches, skate parks, and city streets that have shaped local identity; a major co-commission with M+ in Hong Kong to the South Korean artist Ayoung Kim; loans from the archives of major international brands including Levi, Nike, Patagonia, Speedo, and Woolworths; and a contemporary reimagining by Vert Design of Southwest Sydney’s Roselands Raindrop Fountain.
The Dark
Designers: Kip Williams and Elizabeth Gadsby
The Dark defies the conventions of exhibition for children. Developed with the internationally acclaimed Australian theatre director Kip Williams and artist/designer Elizabeth Gadsby, the exhibition is enclosed in the form of a vast meteorite emitting a fractured glow in a room without light, is inspired by a cast of a meteorite that is part of the Powerhouse Collection. Young visitors are asked to test the limits of their perception. The Dark is an experiment in unlearning, a radical proposal for how young people might be engaged: not as passive audiences, but as explorers of difficult knowledge.
Powerhouse Parramatta has been conceived as a dynamic cultural precinct – a space for major festivals, events and public programmes that reflect and amplify the energy of Western Sydney. Each of the museum’s seven Presentation Spaces are unique and distinct, their layouts adapted for a dynamic programme of exhibitions engaging audiences with contemporary ideas and innovation. With dedicated retail spaces, cafes and restaurants, and specialist facilities including the Lang Walker Family Academy, a world first in residential learning enabling 10,000 students to stay at the Powerhouse every year, the Vitocco Family Kitchen, bringing together leading chefs and food producers to share the histories and cultures of food alongside the science and technology of food systems, a rooftop observatory and productive Indigenous garden, and residential apartments to accommodate up to 30 international and national researchers, academics and leaders from industry and community, enabling collaborations with the Powerhouse to develop and deliver new projects.
Powerhouse is the largest museum group in Australia with four locations across Sydney. With its origins in the Museum of Applied Arts and Science founded in 1879, it sits at the intersection of art, design, science, and technology. Custodian to over half a million objects of national and international significance, it is considered one of the finest and most diverse collections in Australia. Powerhouse Parramatta forms part of an AU$1.3 billion infrastructure renewal programme, which includes the renewal of the iconic Powerhouse in Ultimo, expanded research and public facilities at Powerhouse Castle Hill, and the ongoing heritage restoration of Sydney Observatory.
Powerhouse CEO, Lisa Havliah, said: “Powerhouse Parramatta is a museum built for the future, where local knowledge meets global perspectives. We are thrilled to be opening our doors this November with five world-class exhibitions and a programme that is as bold and diverse as the communities it serves.”
Powerhouse Parramatta is funded by the NSW Government, delivered by Infrastructure NSW, constructed by Lendlease and is being realised through the generosity, support and collaborations of foundations, agencies, businesses and individuals for the benefit of NSW communities and the world.
Visit Powerhouse Parramatta for more information.
