If you've ever experienced decision fatigue spare a thought for the team behind the powerhouse museum's newest exhibition one-thousand-and-one remarkable objects. For more than two years curators have been combing through the institution's vast collection selecting their favourite bits and pieces. today their hard work is being rewarded the show is finally opening its doors to the public.
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00:00 There aren't many places you can find Indigenous art, wacky costumes, ornate jewellery and
00:07 designer furniture on display side by side.
00:11 But somehow this exhibition makes it all hang together.
00:15 We did want it to be this varied and sparkling and plenty of stuff to tempt people to, "Oh
00:21 what's that through there?" and then go to, "Oh did you see this?" and I think people
00:25 will make return visits to this show.
00:27 There's a lot to see.
00:29 Spread across 25 rooms, the Powerhouse Museum is showcasing 1,001 of its most remarkable
00:36 objects.
00:37 We went through a process where we were pinning objects onto pin boards and looking at how
00:42 they were grouped together and what the connections between the objects were.
00:46 Often you just see two objects that sit next to each other and you find some kind of visual
00:51 linking between them and yet you would have never expected that it would happen because
00:56 these are in different materials, they're from different eras, even from different cultures.
01:00 Among the precious paraphernalia, a strictly ballroom costume, a super-sized kewpie doll
01:06 from the Sydney Olympics, and a recent donation of 19th century jewellery.
01:12 Little bits of history to accommodate every taste.
01:15 There's a lot of eccentricity in this collection.
01:20 It's one of a kind and it's all got a backstory.
01:23 Here's one of my favourites.
01:24 It's a machine that was used to make mousetraps from the 1940s.
01:29 It was made using mostly second-hand parts and for more than 50 years it was part of
01:34 a production line at a mousetrap factory here in Sydney.
01:38 88-year-old head curator Leo Schofield first visited the Powerhouse eight decades ago and
01:44 for him the project carries special significance.
01:47 It bookends a lifetime of association with this museum from the time I was eight to now
01:53 and I just love the place and always found it a sort of place of great wonder.
01:59 A feeling he's now passing on to a new generation of visitors.
02:03 As I wander through this assortment of truly remarkable stuff, I can't help wondering what
02:09 other treasures are hiding in the Powerhouse collection, which has more than half a million
02:13 objects in it.
02:15 And if the rest of it is this much fun to look at, the Powerhouse could have a 1001
02:20 guest exhibition every year for the next 500 years.
02:26 In the meantime, this show will be on until the end of 2023.
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