Pestorius Sweeney House
Pestorius Sweeney House, vintage photograph, 1965.
History
The Pestorius Sweeney House was designed in 1965 by the Brisbane architect Geoffrey Pestorius (1930-1968), for his brother-in-law Robert Sweeney. The two-level brick construction is a fine example of post-war domestic architecture in the International Style, its blocky 'minimal' form a unique synthesis of influences including the Bauhaus teachings of Mies van der Rohe, the Californian modernism of Neutra and Eames, traditional Japanese house and garden design, and the pioneering local architecture of Hayes & Scott. The house received a commendation for lighting from the Queensland Chapter of the Royal Australian Institute of Architects. Since 1999 it has been the site for a wide variety of art, architecture and music projects initiated by David Pestorius, the architect's son.
Location
The Pestorius Sweeney House is located in the inner Brisbane suburb of Hamilton, on the corner of Crescent Road and Eblin Drive. To get there by public transport, catch Bus No. 300 from stop No. 24 in the city (cnr. Adelaide/Edward St), or stop 229 in Fortitude Valley (cnr. Wickham/Brunswick St), alighting at stop No. 16 (cnr. Crescent Rd/Kingsford-Smith Drv). The bus ride should take about 15 minutes. Alternatively, catch a CityCat ferry to Bretts Wharf. The ride on the CityCat from the Southbank takes about 40 minutes, but it's well worth it if you have the time. Once at Bretts Wharf walk back along Kingsford-Smith Drive to Crescent Road, then up to the house. This should take another 5—10 minutes.
Current Project
31 July - 28 August 2010
Pestorius Sweeney House
39 Eblin Drive, Hamilton, Brisbane
David Pestorius is pleased to announce a new exhibition by Brisbane artist Paul Bai. It is Bai’s fifth one-person show at the Pestorius Sweeney House since 2001 and will focus on the artist’s video production.
The centrepiece of the show is a new work conceived especially for the house: a looping video of a partly cloudy sky projected onto the abundant glazing of the exhibition space with diagonal strips left clear so the viewer can see through. Only visible at night to passers-by in the street, projected space and real space co-exist in a work that playfully engages the blurring of inside and outside, which is perhaps the quintessential feature of the architecture.
The exhibition also includes two other recent video works incorporating table and shelf-like elements. Like the space-related work, they reflect Bai’s interest in spatial opposites and extremes. Often involving a sly humour, these ostensibly simple works have the capacity to activate complex meditations on questions of private and public, site and non-site, here and there, present and future, reality and illusion, art and life. They are themes evident in Bai’s earliest videos, which were first exhibited at the 2003 edition of the Art Forum Berlin and are again presented here. A group of four vignettes, they are, in fact, typical of Bai’s work generally in its tendency to confound expectation and first appearances.
Paul Bai was born in Tianjin, China in 1968. He migrated to Australia in 1988 and graduated from the Queensland College of Art in 1995. Since 1996 Bai has had several one-person exhibitions in Australia and internationally, including at Brisbane’s Institute of Modern Art in 2002 and at the Ausstellungsraum Ursula Werz, Tübingen in 2004 and 2006. Over the years, the artist's work has also featured in a number of group shows, including 1+1+1 at Yuill/Crowley (2004), TURRBAL-JAGERA at the UQ Art Museum (2006), and Primary Views at the Monash University Museum of Art (2008).
The assistance of MAAP Media Bank in the realisation of this exhibition is gratefully acknowledged. For further information, contact David Pestorius on (07) 3262 4870.