Brisbane's cultural power base

By BERNARD ORSMAN

The Brisbane Powerhouse is the most hip of contemporary performing arts centres in Australia, with a raw energy drawing sighs of envy from Sydney and Melbourne.

Sydney does have the Powerhouse Museum but in Brisbane the old powerhouse that once generated power to run Brisbane's trams has been transformed by the city council to generate an alternative arts scene.

The Powerhouse stands high on a bend in the Brisbane River at trendy New Farm alongside a lovely park and Federation-style houses. The building was an example of early 20th-century industrial architecture supplying electricity for the city tramway systems for many years. It then lay derelict for another 16 years, attracting squatters whose graffiti, or "aerosol art" as it is known, has been been kept to acknowledge another chapter in the story.

The council took on the building as a millennium project costing $19 million to house two multi-configurational theatres of 200 and 400 seats, a restaurant, cafe, gallery, function rooms and rehearsal and storage space. As many original features as possible have been kept, fusing past with present.

Interactive and playful art works showcase the building. The funkiest of these is an enormous metal shoe by artist Julie Rrap on the turbine wall elevator shaft that is activated by a sensor stretching the foot out and tapping a beat.

The Powerhouse opened in May last year to rapturous reviews and buzzing to a dynamic programme of contemporary dance, drama, film, hybrid works, visual arts and even a rock'n'roll circus. Prices do not break the bank.

The site is also the venue of a monthly "farmer's market" - another huge success, so much so that you need to get there early before the fresh produce sells out.

* The programme for the Powerhouse is on the website Brisbane Power House or by e-mail, info@brisbanepower house.org