White Rabbit Gallery
The White Rabbit Gallery made it on our to-see list early, as one of our Charlotte friends has a connection with the gallery. It is one of the largest collections of contemporary Chinese art, with four floors and a tea house on site. The gallery is walking distance from our apartment and free to the public, so there is really no excuse for us not to go often. However, we barely made it in late July before they closed to rebuild for a new art installation. We enjoyed ourselves so much that we went twice in the last two weeks their refresh. The White Rabbit Gallery reopens on September 10th, so it is on our minds again and we look forward to seeing the new pieces.
The entrance is relatively nondescript on a side-street in the Sydney suburb of Chippendale, very near to Central Park. The Brewery Yard Markets were on the first time we visited, which hosted some interesting boutique stalls and delicious smelling food.
Entering the White Rabbit Gallery, the teahouse is on your left, along with the gift shop area, and off to the right, is a staircase and small hall to the lift. For the previous exhibition the hall has an semi-innteractive piece comprised of motorized buckets on the floor that slowly raise up, before randomly dropping with a loud thud. Much to our surprise (and delight) this did not wake our sleeping baby, and she was very interested in the piece upon waking later in the afternoon.
The works on level one were diverse and colorful, and after two trips to the gallery, it is where we spent the most time. The large cigarette consists of printouts of densely packed city spaces that reflect a growing cancer slowly killing and burning away China. On the left, there was a series of interest photography composites, and an awesome pedal-powered motorcycle. The artist who built the motorcycle bike had really wanted to own a Harley, but knew he would never be able to afford one so he built add-on pieces to his bike so it very nearly resembles a motorcycle. The tilted, wooden capitol building in the background actually extended through the floor to the gallery space above, as you can see in the photos below. It was cool to see the piece from another view point, although I wonder if the hole in the floor/ceiling is a permanent part of the space. It will be interesting to see if it is closed or incorporated into the next exhibit.
We missed the third level on our first visit, but we caught it on our return. While level two had a few items that were, shall we say, less than kid friendly, level 3 was very confronting. There were plenty of signs, but we thought we would call out for those of you who drop by with the whole family.
It is great to have such a nice, free gallery just down the street, and we look forward to exploring the changing exhibitions during our time here. Also, I look forward to trying the dumplings when the White Rabbit Gallery re-opens.
