White Rabbit Gallery is a state-of-the-art temple to contemporary Chinese art, hidden in a converted knitting factory on a backstreet of the certified-cool suburb of Chippendale. This self-funded, non-profit gallery was co-founded by billionaire philanthropist Judith Neilson in 2009, to share her epic collection of 21st century Chinese art with the public. Nowadays, it can claim to house one of the largest collections of contemporary Chinese art in the world.
The gallery hosts two exhibitions a year, each running for approximately five months – and yes, entry is always free. These exhibitions consume all four floors of the gallery, and tap into the perspectives of the exhibiting artists to explore fascinating, eerie and challenging themes.
White Rabbit also houses a gift shop full of cheap, cheerful and colourful gifts, and a tea house on the ground floor that serves pots of novel herbal blends, along steaming plates of dumplings, under a canopy of bird cages. The gallery closes for at least a few weeks between exhibitions, which is usually in May and November each year.
How to get to White Rabbit Gallery
White Rabbit is located behind the plant-covered Central Park building, just a short ten-minute walk from both Redfern and Central train stations, as well as the Railway Square bus terminal.
The gallery doesn’t provide parking, but if you’re set on driving, there is metered two-hour street parking in the Chippendale area. Alternatively, Broadway Shopping Centre (and its carpark) is a ten-minute walk from the gallery.
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