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Science Gallery Melbourne is redefining the role of museums by merging science, art, and creativity to inspire meaningful change. Its groundbreaking exhibitions tackle pressing global issues through interactive installations and creative environmental solutions.
What Makes Science Gallery Melbourne’s Architecture Sustainable?
Science Gallery Melbourne is housed within Melbourne Connect, an innovation precinct designed by Woods Bagot Architects. The building holds a six-star green rating, featuring Melbourne’s largest rooftop solar array, on-site rainwater collection, and geothermal energy research facilities. These systems reduce carbon emissions, conserve water, and enhance energy efficiency, exemplifying climate resilience while minimizing the gallery’s environmental footprint.
Designing for reuse
The gallery’s flexible interior, designed by Head of Curatorial Tilly Boleyn, includes movable walls and adaptive exhibition spaces. This flexibility supports creative and sustainable curatorial practices. For example, the exhibition Mental features curtains made from recycled fabric scraps, creating an immersive and eco-conscious environment. A related case explores designing exhibitions around reused materials.
Youth-led programming
Young people aged 15-25 are central to Science Gallery Melbourne’s mission, with over 500 participants engaging through initiatives like the Sci Curious group and curatorial panels. Their input has directly influenced exhibitions such as Disposable, which explored creative responses to the global waste crisis. This inclusive approach ensures programming remains relevant, dynamic, and impactful. A related project focuses on giving teenagers a voice on climate change.
Which Pioneering Projects Showcase Sustainability at the Gallery?
The gallery fosters interdisciplinary collaborations that push the boundaries of sustainability. Notable projects include Uron, a urine-powered energy system developed with artist Gaspar Bebe and Professor Peter Scales, sparking conversations about sustainable waste management. Another standout is Pollution Pods, an atmospheric installation simulating polluted environments worldwide, raising awareness about air pollution and encouraging environmental advocacy.
How Does the Gallery Integrate Indigenous Knowledge and Art?
The Disposable exhibition also featured First Nations artists Marie Clarke and Mitch Marney, who created a giant eel trap from river reeds. Community members participated in constructing the installation, fostering discussions about sustainability and traditional ecological practices. This initiative symbolized environmental stewardship while promoting cross-cultural dialogue.
What’s Next for Science Gallery Melbourne’s Climate Advocacy?
Future initiatives include the youth-led climate symposium Hot and Bothered, focusing on climate advocacy skills, interdisciplinary solutions, and policy engagement. By merging science, design, and creativity, Science Gallery Melbourne continues to challenge conventions and inspire global change.
At Science Gallery Melbourne, sustainability runs through both the space and the conversations it supports. Movable walls and reused fabrics sit alongside projects developed with young people, artists and researchers. For another museum, the useful starting point is to connect these decisions early: who helps shape the programme, what materials the exhibition needs, and how the making process becomes part of the story visitors encounter. The examples here describe that approach rather than measure its effect on later behaviour.
This article is based on the presentation, "The Art and Science of a Greener Gallery", by Dr Ryan Jefferies and Tilly Boleyn at the Green Museums Summit 2022 organised by MuseumNext.
