A silver gelatin dry plate glass negative in landscape format.

Country Always

Caring for Country

A Corner of the Empire

The Garden Palace

Sepia photograph of the Technological Museum and a cow in the foreground

The Holding Pen

The Agricultural Hall

Sepia photograph of the Technological College and Museum in Broken Hill

Regional Networks

Across New South Wales

A Museum of Doing

Technological Museum

Black and white photograph of man walking through eucalyptus plantation

Expanding Stories

Evolution of the Castle Hill site from botanical research station to Museum Discovery Centre

Colour photograph of red corrugated iron building from a high vantage point

Transforming the Tramsheds

Powerhouse Stage 1 and the Harwood Building

A Symbol in Time

Sydney Observatory

Powerhouse Museum, Stage 2 exterior from high angle, city skyline in background

Ongoing Transformations

Powerhouse Ultimo

Blurred image from film with museum object number

Applied Arts and Sciences

Defining the terms in the 21st century

Cityscape at night with tall building in forefront

Powerhouse Renewal

Two people standing next to a cow in a field of cows.

Powerhouse Food: Producers

Across Western Sydney24 Aug 2024 — 25 Jul 2025

We Rise

Blak Powerhouse

A tall rocket with a long trail of burning fuel lifts off from a launchpad at Cape Canaveral.

Powerhouse-1 Mission Launch to the ISS

An initiative of the Powerhouse: Future Space program

Photofields

Across Sydney6—7 Dec

Exoskeleton

Powerhouse Parramatta

A woman stands on stage in front of a large audience. She has her left hand raised in the air and a microphone in her right hand. The audience are holding their phones up recording the woman.

Blak Powerhouse

Powerhouse x We Are Warriors

Slider thumb2023

Program

Koyaanisqatsi

Name: Koyaanisqatsi
Start: 2023-09-16T07:30:00.000Z
End: 2023-09-16T09:00:00.000Z
Location: Golden Age Cinema

Tag iconScreening

when

Ended 16 Sept 2023

where

Golden Age Cinema

Godfrey Reggio’s Koyaanisqatsi was a sensation when it was released in 1983. The first work of The Qatsi Trilogy, this cult film wordlessly surveys the rapidly changing built environment in an astonishing audio-visual collage created by director/cinematographer Ron Fricke and composer Philip Glass. It shuttles viewers from one jaw-dropping vision to the next, contrasting beautiful images of untouched nature with scenes depicting humanity’s increasing dependence on technology. Koyaanisqatsi’s unorthodox cinematic style (including hypnotic time-lapse photography) shows us our changing world from an array of awe-inspiring and confronting angles.

‘Everything now exists in technology to the point where technology is the new and comprehensive host of the nature of life.’

Godfrey Reggio

Artist

Godfrey Reggio is a pioneer of experimental and poetic cinema renowned for The Qatsi Trilogy, including Koyaanisqatsi, a collection of audio-visual essays that chronicle the destructive impact of the modern world on the natural environment. Reggio, who spent 14 years in silence and prayer while studying to be a monk, has a history of service to the environment and communities including youth street gangs and underprivileged people. He is in the initial stages of production on a new film, working with a narrative structure for the first time. The film will explore the negative impact of consumerism and fundamentalism on the world. He lives in Santa Fe, New Mexico, and is a frequent lecturer on philosophy, technology and film.

Koyaanisqatsi has won multiple accolades including the Audience Awards at the São Paulo International Film Festival (1984) and the Warsaw International Film Festival (1988), and a Cinema Eye Legacy Award in the US (2020). Reggio’s incredible career was recognised in 2022 with a Lifetime Achievement Award at Santa Fe International Film Festival.