Go behind the scenes at PICA during the City of Perth’s Boorloo Heritage Festival to see an iconic heritage building located in the heart of the Perth Cultural Centre. Originally opened in 1897 as the Government School (later Perth Boys’ School), the Perth Institute of Contemporary Arts (PICA) took up residence in 1991.

Located on Goologoolup, a chain of freshwater lakes and wetlands in the Northbridge area, this site has a rich past, having functioned as a technical college and the home of artist-run initiative Praxis.
 
As part of Boorloo Heritage Festival participate in Swampland City, a free painting workshop with artist J.D. Penangke where you’ll collectively design and visualise a culturally-friendly city in a swampland. Hear more about the history of the Cultural Centre site with Penangke and PICA’s archives with Lisa Liebetrau.

Commissioned by PICA to paint a mural for the building’s updated entrance artist J.D. Penangke’s artwork Yandilup titled after the Noongar name of the low-lying wetlands where PICA is located builds on Penangke’s extensive portfolio of murals and public art across Boorloo (Perth). 

In 2021, Lisa Liebetrau undertook an artist residency at PICA where she delved into the PICA archives. During her research, Liebetrau discovered a wealth of information, memories and images of the early activities of artist groups and organisations that helped establish PICA, including Praxis and Artist Regional Exchange (ARX). Liebetrau will use these archives to shed light on Perth’s art history, and how it has shaped and influenced the present day.