Big Power Talks #3

Wednesday, 8 October 2025
12:30PM - 1:30PM (AEST)
Chau Chak Wing Museum, University of Sydney
A man looks at an abstract artwork

Big Power Talks is a series of student talks about important modernist and postmodernist works from the J.W. Power and Power Collection.

Ronald Davis, Cube 1, 1971 (installation view), Chau Chak Wing Museum, 2025. Photo by David James.

The third set of Big Power Talks will focus on "Big Power Energy", an exhibition curated by Katrina Liberiou that showcases the University's prestigious Power Collection. For this exhibition, 14 contemporary Australian artists were asked to choose a work from the collection, resulting in a diverse display by historically significant and living artists from across the globe.

Presentations by Maeve Sullivan, Bomi Park and Maia Hjelmar Morgan will help you to better see this diverse array of works, providing insights about the contemporary artists invited to delve into the collection, and the works they have chosen. 

 

About the Exhibition

The Power Collection is a group of artworks that was purchased by the University of Sydney between 1967 and 1989, using funds granted by the artist and philanthropist J.W. Power. 

Since its founding in 1967, the Power Collection has been inspirational for generations of Australasian artists. For this exhibition, the Chau Chak Wing Museum invited 14 artists to each select a work from the Power Collection and to reflect on their choice. 

This exhibition takes inspiration from the visionary bequest of J.W. Power, by focusing on works that are either physically monumental or conceptually bold. Many of the works have not been displayed for more than 30 years, and some are returning favourites.

The selecting artists are Serwah Attafuah, Christopher Bassi, Richard Bell, Megan Cope, Léuli Eshrāgi, Narelle Jubelin, Shivanjani Lal, Lindy Lee, Archie Moore, Ramesh Mario Nithiyendran, Leyla Stevens, Angela Tiatia, Imants Tillers, and Ben Quilty. 

 

Big Power Talks are presented by the Power Institute and the Chau Chak Wing Museum at the University of Sydney.

 

More about the exhibition "Big Power Energy"

People

A photograph of Bomi Park
Bomi Park

Bomi Park majors in Art History and minors in Visual Arts. Passionate about exploring the intersections of art, design, culture, and history through visual storytelling, she aspires to engage in international GLAM opportunities. She is currently a student intern at the Chau Chak Wing Museum gaining hands-on experience in research, curation, and campus loans.

A photograph of Maeve Sullivan
Maeve Sullivan

Maeve Sullivan is a third-year Art History and English student, recently returned from an exchange program at New York University. She currently works as a Gallery Assistant at Ngununggula Regional Gallery and is interning as a Curatorial Assistant at the Chau Chak Wing Museum.

A photograph of Maia Morgan
Maia Hjelmar Morgan

Maia Hjelmar Morgan is in her third year of a Bachelor of Arts degree, with Art History as her major and French and Francophone Studies as her minor. She hopes to find a way to connect her passion for art and her love of languages and travelling in the future.

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