Video and images

To give you a glimpse – and a bird’s eye view – of work behind the hoardings, the Gallery is producing a series of photos, videos and timelapse clips. Take a look! We’re capturing the construction of the new building through cameras installed at key vantage points around the site.

Museum in 30 seconds 

Three years of construction of our new building captured in 30 seconds through cameras installed at key vantage points around the site.

Stairway to art 

In a behind-the-scenes video follow the journey of the spiral steel staircase that links our new building with the oil tank. Follow this immense 20-tonne architectural feature from fabrication to installation by Richard Crookes Constructions into a forest of 20th-century concrete pillars, deep inside the spectacular oil tank gallery. This vast underground space, a former World War II fuel tank, is one of Sydney’s hidden treasures and will be accessible to the public for the first time when the Art Gallery’s expansion opens in late 2022.

Two years of construction in less than a minute

Our vision for the Sydney Modern Project is to transform the Art Gallery of New South Wales into an art museum campus that connects people seamlessly with art, architecture and landscape. Today, you can see that vision becoming a reality as our stunning new building takes shape in this special place overlooking Sydney Harbour, on Gadigal Country.

One year of construction in less than a minute

In November 2020, we marked a major milestone for the Sydney Modern Project with one year of construction completed. Despite 2020 presenting some unprecedented challenges, Richard Crookes Constructions made great progress and building continued on schedule. Some of the key milestones achieved include completion of bulk demolition, excavation and piling works, high-voltage electrical diversions, establishment of two tower cranes on site, and entering the ‘build phase’ of the project with the concrete foundations, formwork and structural steel starting to take shape. To give you a glimpse of the work going on behind the hoarding, here’s the first year of construction captured by timelapse video.

Watch our building take shape

In September 2020 we marked an exciting construction milestone for the Art Gallery of NSW expansion – the Sydney Modern Project – as concrete foundations began to be poured for our new building designed by Pritzker Prize-winning architects SANAA.

To give you a glimpse – and a bird’s eye view – of the work behind the hoarding, the Gallery has produced the first in a series of short timelapse videos. Take a look! We’re capturing the build through cameras installed at key vantage points around the site, and we look forward to regularly sharing highlights with you.

Image gallery

Our Pritzker Prize-winning architects, SANAA, have created a series of images to visualise our expanded Art Gallery, with a new building and public art garden next to our much-loved existing building. The Sydney Modern Project will transform the way visitors engage with art and ideas, providing greater opportunities to learn, create and discover. The expansion project – which will almost double exhibition space – opens to the public on 3 December 2022.