The Nicholson Museum: Australia’s oldest University museum
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Museums, theatres and galleries
History buffs and culture connoisseurs are spoiled for choice
Mad for mummies? Intrigued by invertebrates? Or just plain preoccupied with performance? Here at the University of Sydney, we live and breathe the best in international and local culture and history.
Our cultural community is made up of theatres, museums and galleries exhibiting the city’s best in art, history and performance.
Located on the fringe of the Sydney CBD, our venues and attractions on our Camperdown/Darlington campus attract patrons and visitors from all over the world.
In 2020 the University will open its new museum HQ, the Chau Chak Wing Museum. It will showcase collections from the Nicholson Museum, the Macleay Museum and the University Art Gallery and other cultural highlights from the University's extensive collections.
In the meantime, the Nicholson Museum – home to the largest collection of antiquities in the Southern Hemisphere – is still open to the general public. You can find it in the University's historic Quadrangle. Admission is free.
Get involved and volunteer
If history isn’t your thing, leap into live entertainment, spanning comedy, drama, music and dance. We encourage schools to take advantage of our education programs and guided tours. But we don’t just want you to visit; we want you to stay. Volunteer to work with our curators. Donate to support a smorgasbord of culture. Or take your culture craving to the next level with studies in museums, heritage, and performance.
Take your pick
We’re open five days a week, and even some Saturdays.
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Explore ancient cities
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The Seymour Centre: champions of Sydney culture for over three decades
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Verge Gallery: a creative space for dynamic and innovative exhibitions, in the heart of our main campus
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Tin Sheds Gallery: a showcase for the role of architecture, design and planning in contemporary society
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Footbridge Gallery: an urban gallery to showcase dynamic and experimental digital artists. Find out more below. Contact us to contribute.
Footbridge Gallery in focus
Footbridge Gallery is a digital placemaking space for cultural and creative use, embedded in the physical environment of the University of Sydney.
It is a hub for showcasing dynamic, experimental creative content by artists. This gallery establishes the University as a pioneer for the emerging model of urban galleries elsewhere around the globe.
The gallery comprises the Footbridge Plaza – the area leading up to Parramatta Road’s footbridge – and provides a literal and metaphorical link between the community and learning and research at the University.
A multidisciplinary enterprise between the Sydney School of Architecture, Design and Planning and Campus Infrastructure Services, the Footbridge Gallery brings together the work of many communities – students, staff, alumni, creatives and residents in adjacent areas.
The gallery welcomes anyone who feels a sense of place and belonging on Cadigal lands that have been a gathering and journeying place for Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people for thousands of years.
The Footbridge Gallery currently offers three main 'living lab' spaces, as well as a stage for performances.
The Dash Wall
The Dash Wall is a fully programmable low-resolution LED media facade on the wall of the Holme Building. The system running the facade is based on software and hardware platforms taught to our students in the Master of Interaction Design and Electronic Arts and our design computing degrees.
Flicks On Bricks
Flicks on Bricks is a projection-based show of short videos including digital artworks, data visualisations and other material highlighting student and staff work.
Moodulation
Moodulation is an audio-based installation converting the noise of Parramatta Road into sounds of waves and birds. This is enabled by a new timber stage installed at the back of the Footbridge Plaza space and equipped with outdoor speakers.
The Footbridge Stage
The Footbridge Stage is a timber stage equipped with high-quality speakers, facing the grassed area outside the Old Geology Lecture Theatre.
The Footbridge Gallery welcomes your suggestions for events and projects. Please feel free to contact us if you'd like to participate.
Nicholson Museum
Open to the general public Monday to Friday, 10am – 4.30pm and the first Saturday of each month, 12 – 4pm. Admission is free.
