C*Town Conservatory
The artHITects (Gary Carsley and Renjie 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 Renjie 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 supporting new and commissioned artworks.
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 Campbelltown Art Centre’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.
On display at Campbelltown Arts Centre: 28 April 2026 - 21 June 2026
Creative Team
Lead Artists: The artHITects (Gary Carsley and Renjie Teoh)
Technicians: Nicci Bedson, James Lesjak-atton, Jenny Reynolds, Jules Trudeau
Project Director and Curator: Adam Porter
Curatorial Support: Tyrra Sandberg
Production Lead: Frank Mainoo
Marketing and Communications: Donna Vo and Ellen Formby
With special thanks to Aunty Glenda Chalker
Image courtesy of the Artists.
The ArtHITects (Gary Carsley and Renjie Teoh). Photo courtesy of the artists.
The ArtHITects (Gary Carsley and Renjie Teoh
Established in 2018 by Gary Carsley and Renjie Teoh as a dialogue between art and architecture enacted across the geographies and cultures of the Asia-Pacific. The artHITects (artist Gary Carsley and architect Ren Jie Teoh), reinterpret building and gardening typologies to confabulate large scale, immersive environments as the confluence of their diasporic Chinese and European Cultural Backgrounds and their contrasting generational and cultural backgrounds.
Campbelltown Arts Centre. Photo by Nikki To.
About Campbelltown Arts Centre
Located on Dharawal land in the heart of South West Sydney, Campbelltown Arts Centre (CAC) is a leading cultural facility of Campbelltown City Council. CAC is recognised for its quality and innovative programming where collaboration is central to the way it works with artists, communities, and partners to present new work that tells relevant stories, challenges perceptions and amplifies diverse perspectives.
We respect and embrace diverse cultural practices and knowledge, take risks and encourage experimentation. Committed to nurturing the next generation of artists, we embed skills development, facilitate creative pathways and encourage bold and innovative work.
We advocate for artists and the creative sector in Western Sydney, fostering contemporary creative practices through multidisciplinary programs. We embed creativity in unexpected places expanding our engagement with audiences and communities, locally, nationally and internationally.
Campbelltown Arts Centre is proudly owned by the people of Campbelltown. A cultural facility of Campbelltown City Council, assisted by the NSW Government through Create NSW. Campbelltown Arts Centre receives support from the Neilson Foundation and the Packer Family Foundation.