By Jossie Warnant

Next Wednesday will see the opening of The University of Sydney’s eagerly anticipated Chau Chak Wing Museum. The $42 million museum spans over 8000 square metres and five levels to consolidate the University’s Nicholson, Macleay and Art Collections.

“What this does is provide an opportunity for unified conservation, unified collection, management and all of the modern museum practices,” says Head of Public Engagement at the Chau Chak Wing Museum, Craig Barker.

While the collection materials are not new, 70 per cent of the materials were previously hidden away in storage, meaning visitors will be able to view items that have not been on public display for 20 years.

Along with the new items on display, the museum will feature some of its most well-known items. Home to the largest collection of Ancient Egyptian antiquities in Australia, the museum’s mummies will now be displayed in a custom-built space that will utilise digital technology to give viewers a peek into the interior of the mummified remains.

Coffin of the scribe Padiashaikhet. Thebes, Egypt, 25th Dynasty (725-700 BC)

The museum will also present a series of new contemporary art installations, the first being Daniel Boyd’s Pediment/Impediment. Located in the Penelope gallery, the artwork projects light onto classic 19th Century plaster casts to reflect on the colonisation and decolonisation of art.

The museum will have a strong focus on First Nations art, with the largest temporary gallery space featuring the Gululu dhuwala djalkiri exhibition, which displays artworks that represent hundreds of years of art by Yolŋu artists from Arnhem Land.

“It's a lovely demonstration of continuity of culture with land and continuity of tradition,” says Barker.

The museum will not feature an Indigenous gallery, like many traditional museums, but will instead scatter pieces of Indigenous art across the museum. The opening and ongoing exhibition, titled Ambassadors will weave an Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander response to the museum’s artefacts throughout the space.

“It's that sense of no matter where you go in the gallery there's a local, Indigenous Australian response. And that's exciting,” says Barker.

The Chau Chak Wing museum will not shy away from discussions around ethical issues of museum collecting. With both the Nicholson and Macleay collections dating back to the 1800s Barker says that, like with any historical museum, there is a “cultural complexity” to the collection that must be acknowledged.

“It's about not just displaying the objects, but rethinking about the types of questions we ask of them. And part of that is a process of democratising museums,” says Barker.

Bringing together elements of art, history, science and culture, the museum aims to be a multidisciplinary space for learning. The museum features three ‘object studios’ where tutorials and learning workshops will take place. There are also plans to build subjects and research projects around particular objects within the museum, to provide students with the opportunity to immerse themselves in the collection.

While the University’s museums have traditionally had links with archaeology, history and art students, Barker says that he is excited to broaden and extend the museum’s reach to include students from faculties such as medicine, business and mathematics.

The museum’s curators have also incorporated the history of the previous collections into the new museum. Original cabinets from the Macleay museum have been transported to the new museum and the three original collections will keep their names.

“We've made sure that the identity of those collections has been maintained,” says Barker.

The Chau Chak Wing museum represents a collection of historic material that spans hundreds of years in the making, finally united in a purpose built space which will be open for students and the broader public to enjoy.

The museum will open next Wednesday 18 November. Bookings are required.

Sneak Peek: Chau Chak Wing Museum