Big Power Talks

Are you ... into art history?

If so, we'd love you to share your passion by delivering a short public presentation (a "floor talk") at the Chau Chak Wing Museum! 

If you enjoy public speaking, or are interested in working in galleries or museums, this is a great chance to hone your skills, and interact directly with museum objects and curators, as well as the art-going public. Plus, you get paid! 

This opportunity is only open to University of Sydney undergraduate and postgraduate students. You can apply until midnight 18 August 2025.

What would I be signing up for?

If your application is successful, you will be required to deliver a 10 minute talk in front of an artwork from one of the exhibitions below, followed by 5-10 minutes of questions and discussion. 

We are seeking students to deliver floor talks on the following dates:

• Wednesday, 17 September, 12:30pm - 1:30pm
• Wednesday, 24 September, 12:30pm - 1:30pm
• Wednesday, 8 October, 12:30pm - 1:30pm
• Wednesday, 15 October, 12:30pm - 1:30pm

Not sure how to prepare for or deliver a floor talk? Don't worry, we'll train you!

Floor talkers will be required to attend a short training session about how to deliver a floor talk, run by curators and art historians from the discipline of art history and the Chau Chak Wing Museum.

And I get paid?

Yes! We will pay you a speaker fee of $50.

These talks are supported by The Power Institute, the discipline of Art History and the Chau Chak Wing Museum.

Click here to apply!

The exhibitions

The floor talks will focus on two exhibitions, both centering around JW Power, an artist and philanthropist who gave The Power Institute its name. 

JW Power: Art, war and the avant-garde

The Sydney-born painter J.W. Power is Australia's most accomplished artist of the inter-war years. In London and Paris in the 1920s and '30s, his unique blend of cubism, surrealism and abstraction found an audience in the heart of the avant-garde.

In the first comprehensive survey of his work, this exhibition chronologically follows Power's development through portraiture, landscape, figures, still-life and abstraction.

Link to the exhibition website.

Big Power energy

Since its founding in 1967, the Power Collection has been inspirational for generations of Australasian artists. In the University of Sydney's 175th anniversary year we have invited 14 artists to each select a work from the Power Collection and to reflect on their choice. 

This exhibition takes inspiration from the visionary bequest of J.W. Power, by focusing on works that are either physically monumental or conceptually bold. Many of the works have not been displayed for more than 30 years, and some are returning favourites.

Link to the exhibition website.