In a city saturated with screens and endless scrolls, a single Polaroid photograph can still feel like magic. This August, Singaporean contemporary artist Suzann Victor is inviting Sydneysiders to rediscover that analogue wonder — and in the process, rewire the way they see the world.
Her two-part workshop, Rewired, runs as a free drop-in series inside Kaldor Hall at the Art Gallery of New South Wales on three Wednesday evenings: 19 August, 2 September and 9 September 2026, from 6pm to 8pm. No bookings, no experience, no cost. Just show up with curiosity.
Victor, one of Singapore’s leading contemporary artists, is known for immersive installations that probe memory, perception and belonging. Her mesmerising work Sea lantern II (2025) is currently glowing in the gallery’s free exhibition And Still I Rise, and the workshop draws directly from its methodology. Using Polaroid cameras and a series of playful prompts, participants are guided to reinterpret familiar surroundings — a corridor, a shadow, a stranger’s gesture — in ways that deliberately break habitual seeing.
The Art Gallery of NSW describes the workshop as an opportunity “to ‘rewire’ habitual ways of seeing and thinking, opening new pathways for creativity and imagination.” You don’t need to know anything about contemporary art. If anything, knowing less might help.
All materials are provided, and the format is genuinely open. You can arrive any time between 6pm and 8pm and stay for as long as you like. Children are welcome, though those under 12 must have an adult alongside. The gallery’s Naala Nura building, where Kaldor Hall is located, is fully accessible, with standard features including wheelchair access, though visitors should note one elevator is temporarily out of service until October 2026.
If you’ve never stepped inside an art gallery, this is your low-stakes invitation. The Rewired workshop is the kind of hands-on experience that sidesteps the sometimes intimidating air of major ticketed shows. It’s free, it’s tactile, and it puts you in conversation with a living artist rather than just observing from a distance. For comparison, a standard guided tour will walk you through the exhibition, but here you’ll be making the work yourself — a Polaroid print that might just capture a version of Sydney you’d normally walk right past.
After the workshop, wander into the adjoining galleries to see And Still I Rise, also free, where Sea lantern II and other works by artists like Victor explore resilience and cultural narrative. The exhibition runs until 10 January 2027, so there’s no rush, but the workshop dates are deliberately limited: only three evenings across the exhibition’s run. Wednesday nights at the gallery are particularly good, as the building stays open until 10pm, giving you time to browse the shop or take in the harbour views from the Domain afterwards.
Getting there is simple if you leave the car behind. The Domain is a 15-minute walk from the city centre, with Martin Place and St James stations the nearest rail hubs. On-site parking is limited, and the walk through the parklands is part of the experience.
Related to This Story
Art Gallery of New South Wales
Major public art museum on Gadigal Country in Sydney’s Domain, comprising two buildings (Naala Nura and Naala Badu). It houses extensive Australian, Asian and international collections, welcomes over one million visitors annually, and offers extensive free public programs including artist-led workshops.
A reminder: you don’t need a ticket, and you won’t find a booking link. Just turn up at Kaldor Hall on one of the three dates. If you arrive at 7pm and the room is buzzing, that’s part of the design. The only rule is that under-12s bring a grown-up. And if you leave with a Polaroid in your pocket that reveals something you’d walked past a hundred times without noticing — well, that’s the rewiring doing its quiet work.