C*Town Conservatory: The ArtHITects (Gary Carsley and Ren Jie Teoh)

C*Town Conservatory reimagines the history and architecture of the conservatory — once a symbol of aristocratic prestige and colonial exploitation of the natural world — as a contemporary, inclusive space for community, reflection, and creative exchange.

Confabulated by The ArtHITects (Gary Carsley and Ren Jie Teoh), this immersive installation transforms the glass-walled foyer of Campbelltown Arts Centre into a fantastical, illusionistic environment reflecting on its 20-year history of commissioning artwork. Linking the black box of the performance space to the white cube of the gallery spaces, the C*Town Conservatory acknowledges the role of this unique nexus in the programming of Campbelltown Arts Centre ahead of its forthcoming capital expansion.

Drawing on the conservatory’s traditions of wonder and contemplation, the project embeds the history of the CAC’s diverse cross-media programming into ornamental QR codes, evoking breeze-block patterns of Australian suburbia and global architectural traditions.

Audiences are invited to scan the QR codes embedded in the artwork to discover and learn about the commissioned programs at Campbelltown Arts Centre dating back to 2005.