Electric Arts
ORIGINALLY PUBLISHED IN THE HERALD ON SUNDAY (March 2009)
Jehan Casinader visits the grand old electricity plant that is powering Brisbane’s cultural scene
For almost three decades, it was a decrepit, unused electricity plant, languishing by the Brisbane River. Once known as the New Farm Powerhouse, the building had supplied energy to the city’s tram network and suburbs. It was the grand old dame of the industrial age, but after the coal-fired plant was decommissioned in 1971, the Powerhouse quickly absorbed a rather curious identity.
Vagrants and squatters moved in, and turned the empty, cavernous rooms into shelters. Avant-garde artists used the walls and floors as canvases. While army corps used the facilities for training drills, boisterous rave parties came and went. In fact, it was only in the mid-1990s that the Brisbane City Council realised the heritage value of the building and reacquired it. The council then faced an exquisite dilemma: what to do with a building with such an eclectic, varied history?
They decided to transform the grotty old monolith into a sassy, sophisticated arts centre, which would engage and excite Brisbane’s locals and out-of-towners alike. Multi-purpose spaces are usually versatile enough, but often they seem homogenous too. The challenge for Brisbane’s arts community was to breathe new life into the Powerhouse without sacrificing its rich past.
The place needed a good clean-up, of course, but the building’s character was already obvious to the naked eye. Inside, generations of street kids had narrated their own history on the brick walls, in all hues and tones of graffiti colour. The exposed, spray-painted brick is still in tact. The graffiti has not been painted over. It’s displayed as an authentic part of the building’s past.
There is no gloss or polyurethane to be seen inside the building. Large theatres and rehearsal spaces are designed in a rugged, industrial style. There are stages and chill-out spaces where, most nights a week, crowds gather for intimate performances by obscure comedy acts and emerging bands. Suspended near the roof is one of the only pieces of the power station’s original equipment that wasn’t trashed during the ‘in-between’ years: a crane to lift the turbines.
Having been in business for almost eight years, the Powerhouse is giving Brisbane’s arts scene a lift too. The venue takes small, high-risk shows that the larger ‘mainstream’ venues aren’t keen on. Brisbane’s arts scene has suffered a tyranny of distance: its theatres, galleries and arts schools have often kept to their own turf. Now, they’re using the Powerhouse as a meeting point.
The Powerhouse hosts ‘serious’ events like cabaret festivals, alongside lighter events like a recent synchronised dance-off to Michael Jackson’s zombie hit Thriller. It’s all about making culture accessible and unthreatening to those of us who aren’t arty types. There is free music and comedy on Sundays, and weekend farmers’ markets twice a month in the spacious riverbank area. Indonesian, African and Pacific festivals have added flavour to the New Farm community.
Now that the Powerhouse has won over Brisbanites it is reaching out to overseas visitors. Most Kiwis go to Sydney or Melbourne for big gigs and theatrical extravaganzas like Phantom and Priscilla. But he Powerhouse is helping to promote Brisbane as a creative destination. The city is also home to the Queensland Performing Arts Centre and a popular Gallery of Modern Art.
The Powerhouse has a reputation for being unpretentious, but now it is developing an upmarket image. The eateries within the complex, Alto and Watt, are classy. Manager Andrew Ross says he is working hard to keep the Powerhouse “real”, and wants to introduce a more casual restaurant. The Powerhouse’s ticket prices are affordable, and some experiences are free.
Of all the stories about the Powerhouse’s history, the yarn that stands out is a recent one. A merchant banker came to visit the venue and pointed out the graffiti he had bestowed upon in his youth, as a street kid. No one is quite sure whether this story is true, or whether it’s an urban myth that neatly illustrates the Powerhouse’s story. What is certain is that this piece of overlooked architecture is now at the centre of Brisbane’s gradual transformation to a cultural capital.
