Pioneering Spaces

Lotterywest Boorloo Heritage Festival

Pioneering Spaces is an augmented reality experience developed for the Lotterywest Boorloo Heritage Festival, presented by the City of Perth at Gallery Central. The work brings four of Perth's most important mid-century gallerists - Elizabeth Blair Barber, Rie Heymans, Rose Skinner and Cherry Lewis - back into the exhibition as life-size figures within the gallery space, standing once again alongside the artists and artworks they helped champion.

Elizabeth Blair Barber's chapter of the Pioneering Spaces AR experience, showing her life-size standing figure alongside AR information panels on Cremorne Gallery, the artists she championed, and her enduring influence
Rie Heymans's chapter of the Pioneering Spaces AR experience, showing her life-size standing figure alongside AR panels on the Old Fire Station Gallery, the artists she supported, and her lasting legacy
Rose Skinner's chapter of the Pioneering Spaces AR experience, showing her life-size standing figure alongside AR panels on Skinner Galleries, her curatorial vision, and her pioneering legacy
Cherry Lewis's chapter of the Pioneering Spaces AR experience, showing her life-size standing figure alongside AR panels on Lister Gallery, the artists she nurtured, and her lasting impact on Perth's commercial art scene

The Exhibition

Between the 1950s and 1980s, when the art world was still overwhelmingly male-dominated, four women helped reshape Perth's cultural landscape. More than gallerists, they were community-builders, advocates and tastemakers, creating spaces for artists whose work would help define Western Australian art for generations. Pioneering Spaces celebrates their legacy through the artists they championed, and the cultural shift they helped make possible.

Install view of the Pioneering Spaces exhibition at Gallery Central, showing the Elizabeth Blair Barber panel being mounted
Halftone portrait of Elizabeth Blair Barber, founder of Cremorne Gallery (1968–1979)
Elizabeth Blair Barber — Cremorne Gallery, Hay Street, 1968–1979
Halftone portrait of Rie Heymans, founder of the Old Fire Station Gallery (1968–1986)
Rie Heymans — Old Fire Station Gallery, Leederville, 1968–1986
Halftone portrait of Rose Skinner, founder of Skinner Galleries (1958–1976)
Rose Skinner — Skinner Galleries, Mount Street, 1958–1976
Halftone portrait of Cherry Lewis, founder of Lister Gallery (1971–1994)
Cherry Lewis — Lister Gallery, St George's Terrace, 1971–1994

Presence

At the centre of the experience, each of the four gallerists is brought back into the room through Augmented Reality. Rather than presenting them as images on a screen, AR allows them to appear life-size, creating a stronger sense of presence, intimacy and connection.

Each AR piece is anchored by a moving image of the gallerist, surrounded spatially by biographical details, archival photographs and contextual material that help tell their story. The result is an experience that feels less like looking at documentation, and more like standing in the presence of the people who shaped it.

Elizabeth Blair Barber
Rie Heymans
Rose Skinner
Cherry Lewis

Responsible AI Use

As the use of generative AI in cultural and archival contexts continues to evolve, we believe responsible practice begins with consultation, consent and care. For Pioneering Spaces, generative AI was used to extend archival portraits of the four gallerists with subtle ambient motion, helping create a stronger sense of presence within the AR experience.

Working with the City of Perth, we sought approval from the families and estates connected to each gallerist and the archival materials. This ensured each woman's likeness was represented respectfully and appropriately, with the necessary permissions in place before the work was presented in the gallery.

At Home

Always looking to extend the value of a site-specific experience, we designed Pioneering Spaces to live beyond Gallery Central. Visitors can save the AR content to revisit on their own device, or share it with friends and family who were unable to attend in person.

This at-home approach extends the exhibition beyond its physical run, allowing each gallerist's story to continue as a digital asset for education, marketing and story telling.

Get in touch