Once symbols of consumer decline, Australia’s abandoned shopping centres – from Perth to Parramatta – are finding second lives as pop-up galleries, rehearsal rooms and performance spaces, driven by visionary artists and collectives.
Globally, obsolete malls are being reimagined as cultural venues. In Singapore, the Peace Centre temporarily hosted a vibrant mix of graffiti exhibitions, performances, thrift markets, workshops and musical events before demolition.
In the US and Canada, buzz surrounds abandoned shopping centre art projects and immersive experiences across near-vacant retail spaces. A former Macy’s department store in downtown West Palm Beach has been transformed into Culture Lab – a 10,200-square metre contemporary art venue featuring installations by artists such as Jennifer Steinkamp and Stephen Vitiello, reopening the space as a public cultural destination.
Back home, many of Australia’s defunct centres – from Sydney’s Campbelltown to Perth’s Carillon City – are ripe for transformation.
Australia’s hidden arts venues
Carillon City in Perth closed in 2021, but its large atrium has since been activated through art. For the Perth Festival 2024, it was temporarily transformed into an indoor wetland with immersive installations. Later that year, the Strange Festival activated multiple stories with ambitious visual art, followed in 2025 by exhibitions linked to the Lotterywest Boorloo Heritage Festival.
Most recently, the Perth Institute of Contemporary Arts announced it will be showing its Hatched exhibition at Forrest Chase in the Perth CBD. The massive space is surrounded by retail, placing art graduates in the middle of the city centre.
Across the country, multiple sites could theoretically make the same leap into arts venues. Campbelltown’s Brands on Sale centre, deserted since 2010, drew attention when its interior was shared on TikTok, revealing remnants of Apple accessories and dusty storefronts. While slated for housing redevelopment, it hints at untapped creative potential for short‑term cultural use. The Hunter Street Mall in Newcastle similarly has potential.
In Brisbane, the Anywhere Theatre Festival showcases local independent theatre in a diverse range of venues, including disused industrial lots in the city’s suburbs.
Of course, creating arts venues is easier said than done. Challenges include overcoming bureaucratic inertia, securing short‑term insurance and compliance coverage, and managing stigma around ‘dead’ spaces. Yet the rewards – activating underused real estate, supporting emerging artists and building vibrancy – make the model compelling.
