Powerhouse Parramatta has announced details of the full opening exhibition program to be unveiled to the public when the new museum opens on Saturday 7 November 2026.
From engineering feats, spectacular spaces for children, cutting-edge artistic commissions and scientific stories, to a First Nations-led exhibition grounded in the living principles of Water Country and the first major Australian exhibition of the celebrated British artist Es Devlin, Powerhouse Parramatta’s opening exhibition program has something for everyone.
The opening program will make world-class culture accessible to all. Four of the five opening exhibitions will be free, with Task Eternal ticketed for adults and free for visitors under 16. The first five exhibitions will showcase more than 3,000 objects, with more than 1,600 from the Powerhouse Collection and loaned objects sourced from collections around the world.
“Powerhouse Parramatta is a once-in-a-generation project. When it opens this November, Powerhouse Parramatta will bring extraordinary stories, ideas and experiences to the heart of Western Sydney,” said Minister for the Arts, John Graham. “Visitors can spend hours exploring the exhibitions, immersing themselves in science, engineering, design, visual arts and special cultural artefacts – largely for free.”
The full opening exhibition program includes:
The Dark: An immersive exhibition created for children aged 4 – 12 years old. Developed in collaboration with creatives Kip Williams, Elizabeth Gadsby and Marg Horwell, The Dark is a bedroom, a crystal tunnel, a forest, and a gateway to a land of giants. It is magical with many things to be discovered one by one.
Featuring over 800 objects, including items from the Australian Museum mineral collection, newly commissioned First Nations animations and treasures loaned by children from all over Western Sydney who shared their special objects and stories reflecting on the times they’ve met The Dark.
Es Devlin: The Turning is an exhibition of five major works by British artist Es Devlin whose genre-defying work ranges from sculpture to film, architecture, language and performance. Her work immerses audiences into atmospheric environments that draw on Earth’s vast biodiversity and our collective imaginations. Exhibiting in Australia for the first time, visitors can explore her work in five immersive installations:
- Forest of Us – a mirror maze drawing on the striking symmetries between the bronchial trees within our lungs and the trees in our environment;
- Memory Palace – an immersive 3D chronological landscape mapping pivotal shifts in human perspective across 75 millennia;
- Screenshare – a hybrid cinema and installation presenting sketches made by Devlin over the past 35 years;
- hand-drawn studies of flora and fauna in Redraw the Edges of Yourself; and
- Collective Portrait – a collaborative, evolving installation where audiences are invited to draw portraits of a stranger.
Overflow: A First Nations-led exhibition grounded in the living principles of Water Country, working with seven Aboriginal organisations to consider the importance and care of salt and freshwater systems throughout NSW. These stories are brought to life through the cinematic lens of acclaimed filmmaker and Kamilaroi man Ivan Sen.
The installation captures community projects spanning species protection, flood mitigation, sustainable and commercial fishing, water monitoring, language revitalisation and cultural water rights from Baramadagal Community; Gamay Rangers; The Goondee Aboriginal Museum and Keeping Place; Jagun Alliance; Joonga Land and Water Aboriginal Land Corporation; Moogalin Performing Arts; and Naru Aboriginal Corporation.
Task Eternal: One of the most ambitious aerospace exhibitions ever staged will explore the intersection of design, innovation and technology and trace humanity’s quest to defy gravity, take flight and journey into the sky. Task Eternal takes its inspiration from highly acclaimed American science fiction writer Ted Chiang’s short story The Tower of Babylon and is designed by acclaimed Beijing studio OPEN Architecture.
The exhibition presents more than 850 objects, including over 320 objects on loan from 120 Australian and international lenders. Highlights will include:
- the historic Qantas Avro 504k aircraft;
- original drawings of flying machines by Leonardo da Vinci, loaned from Biblioteca Ambrosiana, Italy;
- a NASA Moon rock, the largest collected during the Apollo missions;
- an extraordinary survey of suits spanning industry, science fiction and pop culture; and
- a new immersive light work by American artist James Turrell.
The Mall: Designed and curated in collaboration with world-renowned architecture firm OMA/AMO, the exhibition examines the history, evolution and cultural significance of the shopping mall, exploring Australian and global innovation across architecture, design, technology, engineering and fashion.
Highlights will include the archive of Austrian-American architect and urban planner Victor Gruen, displayed publicly for the first time, the iconic Levi’s 501 jeans worn by Apple co-founder Steve Jobs, early designs for the first barcode, an autonomous ballet of warehouse robots by Japanese artist yang02, developed with KNAPP and a contemporary reimagining of Southwest Sydney’s Roselands Raindrop Fountain by industrial design studio Vert.
The $915 million project includes the building and delivery of Powerhouse Parramatta; a new collection storage facility at Castle Hill; and the digitisation and preservation of over 371,000 objects in the Powerhouse Collection.
Powerhouse Parramatta will redefine how museums connect with community, industry and learning. As Western Sydney’s first NSW cultural institution, it will be a place that celebrates the creativity, ambition and diversity of our communities, connecting local stories and knowledge with international innovation,” said Powerhouse Chief Executive, Lisa Havilah.
“These five foundational exhibitions place audiences at the heart of the museum, bringing to life stories of technology, creativity and excellence. Together, they reflect our ambition to create a museum that amplifies community, creates new opportunities and helps define the future.”
“We are deeply grateful to our patrons for their visionary support and for joining us on the journey to create one of the world’s great new museums. We can’t wait to open the doors this November,” said Havilah.
Powerhouse Parramatta opens to the public on Saturday 7 November 2026. For more information and full program, visit: www.powerhouse.com.au for details.
Images: Es Devlin, Forest of Us (installation view at Superblue Miami) – photo by Andrea Mora | Goondee Still, Overflow Film by Ivan Sen, 2026 – Courtesy of Powerhouse | James Turrell, Shangri La (Over the Hump), 2026. “Immersive Light” Installation View, Long Museum West Bund, Shanghai, 2017. Photographers: Yang Jiaxi, Zhu Zhe. Shangri La (Over the Hump), 2026 Ganzfeld built space, programmed LED light sequence, site- specific iteration – Courtesy Long Museum, Shanghai | Apollo Command Module boilerplate #1224, low carbon boiler-plate steel, zinc paint, designed and specified by NASA, manufactured by North American Aviation, Los Angeles, USA, 1967. Transferred from NASA to the Smithsonian National Air and Space Museum – Courtesy of Smithsonian National Air and Space Museum