Sherman Centre for Culture and Ideas announces Architecture Hub

Founder, Executive and Artistic Director of the Sherman Centre for Culture and Ideas (SCCI), Dr Gene Sherman AM has announced the inaugural SCCI Architecture Hub 2018 with a notable line up of international and local guests.

Dr Sherman says, “After thirty-one years of exhibition making, first at Sherman Galleries (1986–2007) and then at Sherman Contemporary Art Foundation (SCAF) (2008–2017), in 2017 we transitioned to become the Sherman Centre for Culture and Ideas (SCCI).”

“Each year from 2018–2022, SCCI will host two public event programmes across Fashion (April/May) and Architecture (September/October). The hubs provide a forum for deep-dive engagement in these forms of cultural expression within the broader context of contemporary art and culture.”

“Following a sold out inaugural SCCI Fashion Hub in April, we will now celebrate architecture in all its complexity from 12–21 October with a programme for professionals and the general public that continues our work with SCAF and the Fugitive Structures architectural pavilions series.”

SCCI Architecture Hub comprises a rich and diverse 10-day programme of talks, workshops and films.

Themed events include the following:

Architecture Words explores the impact of books and writing on architects and the role of architecture in books: Guests include architects Peter Tonkin (Tonkin Zulaikha Greer), Kerstin Thompson (Kerstin Thompson Architects) and Peter Lonergan (Cracknell & Lonergan Architects); and authors Luke Slattery (Mrs M), Michelle de Kretser (The Life to Come; winner of 2013 Miles Franklin for Questions of Travel) and Vanessa Berry (Mirror Sydney).

Women on Architecture opens up lively discussion on the challenges faced by women architects in a profession with a high level of gender inequality. Guests include architects Penelope Seidler AM (Harry Seidler & Associates), Abbie Galvin (BVN) and Camilla Block (Durbach Block Jaggers). Authors of recent books on the Sydney Opera House spotlight the architectural icon on its 45th anniversary: Helen Pitt (The House), Kristina Olsson (Shell) and Anne Watson (The Poisoned Chalice: Peter Hall and the Sydney Opera House).

For the one-day seminar series, Pavilions, presented with the Australian Institute of Art History (AIAH) and The Art Gallery of NSW (AGNSW) leading experts discuss the cultural phenomenon of the architectural pavilion. Guests include Professor John Macarthur and Dr Susan Holden (University of Queensland), architects James Grose (BVN) and Camilla Block, and Sandra Bender (Executive Director, Activation & Precinct Management, Barangaroo Delivery Authority).

VIP international guest, Sydney Modern architect Ryue Nishizawa, headlines Pavilions, and an exciting new commission of a major pavilion series at Barangaroo will be announced at the event.

In Art & Architecture, architects and artists reflect on the intense process of collaboration on public art commissions; and the trend to “embed” artworks in new buildings and public spaces or project imagery onto the built environment. With Sarah Rees (Curator of Contemporary Art, Sydney Opera House), architects Peter Tonkin (TZG), and John Prentice (Woods Bagot), and artists Janet Laurence and Nicole Foreshew.

This panel session will follow a keynote address by VIP international guest Michael Rakowitz.

Fashion & Architecture delves into fashion/architecture synergies when ‘East meets West’ with a conversation between architects Peter Stutchbury (Peter Stutchbury Architecture) and Olivier Solente (Woods Bagot). Solente admired Stutchbury’s creative sensibilities, and, while art director for Japanese designer Issey Miyake, selected Stutchbury to design Miyake’s summer house.

Other thematic sessions include: The Future of Architecture, Ethical Architecture, Modern Architecture, Library Architecture and a specially curated programme of films on architecture and architects, which will screen throughout the SCCI Architecture Hub.

Venues include SCCI, MAAS, AGNSW, Barangaroo and the Golden Age Cinema.

SCCI’s major partners include Google Arts & Culture, Museum of Applied Arts and Sciences (MAAS), University of Technology, Sydney (UTS), Australian Film, Television and Radio School (AFTRS), and the Barangaroo Delivery Authority (BDA).

Final programme and tickets available from early September.

scci.org.au