Perth Institute of Contemporary Arts (PICA) is a contemporary visual and performance arts venue located in a

heritage-listed This list is of heritage registers, inventories of cultural properties, natural and man-made, tangible and intangible, movable and immovable, that are deemed to be of sufficient heritage value to be separately identified and recorded. In many ...

building in

Perth Perth is the capital and largest city of the Australian state of Western Australia. It is the fourth most populous city in Australia and Oceania, with a population of 2.1 million (80% of the state) living in Greater Perth in 2020. Perth is ...

, Western Australia.

History

1896–1959: Schools

The building at 53

James Street, Northbridge James Street is a street which serves the Perth suburbs Perth and Northbridge. It is the main east-west road in the centre of Northbridge. A section of the eastern end of the street has been closed and modified as the James Street Mall in ...

, which dates from 1896, was for 40 years the Perth Boys' and Girls' School (one of several schools known collectively as Perth Central School). The Perth Central School was developed principally between 1877 and 1914. It amalgamated the Infants' School, Perth Boys' School, Perth Girls' School, Manual Training School and Normal School on the one site between

Roe Roe ( ) or hard roe is the fully ripe internal egg masses in the ovaries, or the released external egg masses, of fish and certain marine animals such as shrimp, scallop, sea urchins and squid. As a seafood, roe is used both as a cooked in ...

and James Streets. On 22 May 1895, the contract to construct Perth Boys' and Girls' Schools building in James Street was awarded to William Atkins for the sum of 10,452 pounds. Soon after the contract was awarded, the plans were altered to include an extra eight classrooms, however only six of these were constructed at the time. On 18 January 1897, the new Perth Boys' and Girls' School building, which had been completed a few months earlier, was officially opened by

Edward Wittenoom Sir Edward Horne Wittenoom KCMG (12 February 1854 – 5 March 1936) was an Australian politician who served intermittently in the Legislative Council of Western Australia between 1883 and 1934, including as President of the Legislative Counc ...

, the Minister for Education. The first headmaster was Rooney. The Education Department Report for the year 1896, stated: "The new Central Boys' and Girls' Schools, which had been in the course of erection on the reserve in James Street, Perth, for some nine or ten months, were completed at the end of the year. ... The buildings provide accommodation for 500 boys on the ground floor and 500 girls on the upper floor." The construction of the Boys' School was the largest project undertaken for the Education Department in the 1890s. In April 1900, further additions to the Perth Boys' and Girls' Schools building were completed. The additions included two classrooms: one for the boys and one for the girls, each designed to house seventy-five children. In September 1936, the new Perth Girls' School opened in

East Perth East or Orient is one of the four cardinal directions or points of the compass. It is the opposite direction from west and is the direction from which the Sunrise, Sun rises on the Earth. Etymology As in other languages, the word is formed from ...

and the entire building was used by the Boys' School. In 1947, the Perth Boys' School became the Perth Boys' High School. During the 1950s, residential development in the inner city decreased as land values increased and the growth of the suburbs displaced inner city living.

1959: Re-use

In 1959, the Perth Boys' High School closed and the Perth Technical College moved into the buildings. The building was known as the James Street Annexe. In the following years, a number of minor changes were made to the building, including electrical connections and installation of gas heating.

1988: Heritage listing

The former Perth Boys and Girls School building was classified by the

National Trust The National Trust, formally the National Trust for Places of Historic Interest or Natural Beauty, is a charity and membership organisation for heritage conservation in England, Wales and Northern Ireland. In Scotland, there is a separate and ...

(WA) on 3 July 1978, and entered into the Register of the National Estate by the

Australian Heritage Commission The Australian Heritage Commission (AHC), was the Australian federal government authority established in 1975 by the ''Australian Heritage Commission Act 1975'' as the first body to manage natural and cultural heritage in Australia until its de ...

on 21 October 1980. It was permanently entered on to the State Register of Heritage Places on 24 March 2000.

1988: Refurbishment and conversion

In July 1988, the successor of Perth Technical College,

TAFE Technical and further education or simply TAFE (), is the common name in English-speaking countries in Oceania for vocational education, as a subset of tertiary education. TAFE institutions provide a wide range of predominantly vocational cours ...

, vacated the building and it became the Perth Institute of Contemporary Arts (PICA). Plans to refurbish the building were drawn up by Donaldson and Warn. In 1991, the building was refurbished according to revised plans. On 8 November 1991 the building was officially opened as PICA. In 1992 Donaldson and Warn were awarded a commendation for their work on the PICA building by the WA chapter of the

Royal Australian Institute of Architects (United we advance architecture) , predecessor = , merged = , successor = , formation = , extinction = , status = Professional body; members association , headquarters = L1/41 Exhibition St, Melbourne , leader_title = CEO , leader_ ...

in the category of conservation/recycled buildings. In 1996, PICA used the building for a variety of purposes including: a cafe, performing space, gallery space and administration space.

Built form

The PICA building was designed in the Federation Free Classical style. The exterior features prominent decorative elements but, overall, displays a degree of restraint appropriate to a serious academic institution. The physical evidence confirms that main boys' and girls' entries were given particular emphasis in their level of detailing, but that the building was clearly designed to be seen in the round. The external walls are constructed of face brick in

stretcher bond Brickwork is masonry produced by a bricklayer, using bricks and mortar. Typically, rows of bricks called ''courses'' are laid on top of one another to build up a structure such as a brick wall. Bricks may be differentiated from blocks by siz ...

, with a random stone

plinth A pedestal (from French ''piédestal'', Italian ''piedistallo'' 'foot of a stall') or plinth is a support at the bottom of a statue, vase, column, or certain altars. Smaller pedestals, especially if round in shape, may be called socles. In c ...

below ground floor level. On the northern side of the building the stone plinth is below the present street level. The decorative detailing is focused along the eaves and around the entry porches and window openings. The building has a

corrugated iron Corrugated galvanised iron or steel, colloquially corrugated iron (near universal), wriggly tin (taken from UK military slang), pailing (in Caribbean English), corrugated sheet metal (in North America) and occasionally abbreviated CGI is a bu ...

, hipped roof with a raised section over the central gallery space. There are wide eaves with timber slats to all sides. The corrugated iron roof has been reclad and no

chimney A chimney is an architectural ventilation structure made of masonry, clay or metal that isolates hot toxic exhaust gases or smoke produced by a boiler, stove, furnace, incinerator, or fireplace from human living areas. Chimneys are typic ...

s or roof vents are visible, but the majority of the

downpipe A downspout, waterspout, downpipe, drain spout, drainpipe, roof drain pipe,Francis Joseph Patry 1974. Roof Drain ArrangementUnited States Patent 3909412< or leader is a

The current interiors have a blend of original detailing with clearly contrasting modern adaptations and fixtures dating from the early 1990s conversion of the building to a contemporary arts centre. Some of the key features of the recent works include: the introduction of direct access to the ground floor of James Street; a large new reception area off this entry; a functional timber and steel stair within the reception area; large plain openings through former classroom walls; the creation of an open, ground floor performance space at the western end; the use of exposed steel trusses to support the gallery over the performance space; and the creation of a cafe within two former ground floor classrooms at the north-eastern corner of the building.

PICA

The Perth Institute of Contemporary Arts (PICA) is housed in the building at 53

. It began operating from the James Street building in 1988 with the main aim of promoting

contemporary art Contemporary art is the art of today, produced in the second half of the 20th century or in the 21st century. Contemporary artists work in a globally influenced, culturally diverse, and technologically advancing world. Their art is a dynamic com ...

(visual, performing or mixed) in Western Australia. PICA is a member of the advocacy organisation

Contemporary Art Organisations Australia The Institute of Modern Art (IMA) is a public art gallery located in the Judith Wright Arts Centre in the Brisbane inner-city suburb of Fortitude Valley, which features contemporary artworks and showcases emerging artists in a series of group an ...

Programs

PICA operates a year-round program of exhibitions, performances, and screenings, and offers a public education program. The "Hatched" program comprises residencies for emerging artists. One such artist is

Noongar The Noongar (, also spelt Noongah, Nyungar , Nyoongar, Nyoongah, Nyungah, Nyugah, and Yunga ) are Aboriginal Australian peoples who live in the south-west corner of Western Australia, from Geraldton on the west coast to Esperance on the so ...

art student Ilona McGuire, who created a

drone Drone most commonly refers to: * Drone (bee), a male bee, from an unfertilized egg * Unmanned aerial vehicle * Unmanned surface vehicle, watercraft * Unmanned underwater vehicle or underwater drone Drone, drones or The Drones may also refer to: ...

light show, ''Moombaki'' for the 2021 Fremantle Biennale, attracting thousands of visitors.

References

External links

* * {{Authority control Art museums and galleries in Western Australia Culture in Perth, Western Australia Tourist attractions in Perth, Western Australia Landmarks in Perth, Western Australia Defunct schools in Western Australia Educational institutions established in 1896 Arts centres in Australia Perth Cultural Centre State Register of Heritage Places in the City of Perth 1896 establishments in Australia