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What Is Joondakammer, Joondalup’s “First Museum” Artwork?

Joondakammer is artist Perdita Phillips’s museum-inspired artwork for Joondalup, featuring regional specimens, sound and video. Its library display was reported in August 2024; its current location is unconfirmed.

By ThatPainter Team 3 min read
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Joondakammer is a commissioned artwork by Western Australian artist Dr Perdita Phillips—not the opening of a conventional museum building. The City of Joondalup called it the city’s “first museum” when it announced the work on 1 August 2024, describing a cabinet of regional curiosities designed to address the perceived absence of a museum.

What is Joondakammer?

Joondakammer: A cabinet of curiosity for Joondalup is a 2024 mixed-media artwork by Dr Perdita Phillips. It followed her selection for the City of Joondalup’s major Visual Arts Commission in 2022; the City’s art collection page lists it as a 2022–24 commission work. The City announced the artwork on 1 August 2024. (City announcement; City art collection)

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The City says Phillips proposed the work after learning Joondalup had no museum and wanting to respond to that missing public resource. The title and contents draw on the Wunderkammer tradition: early museums’ cabinets of curiosity that brought specimens and unusual objects together in one place.

Why did the City call it Joondalup’s first museum?

The City’s announcement said Joondalup “now has its first museum,” and Phillips described the work as “a true museum for Joondalup.” Those phrases express the City’s and artist’s framing of the artwork: the official account presents a commissioned, museum-inspired artwork intended to address the perceived absence of a museum, not the establishment of a conventional museum institution.

Joondakammer is part of the City’s art collection, which the City says dates to its inception in 1998 and focuses primarily on contemporary Western Australian artists. The collection page describes a range of media, including sculpture, painting, textiles, ceramics, video, photography and installation. It reports more than 290 artworks valued at more than $1.2 million, and describes a biennial $20,000 Visual Arts Commission for Western Australian artists. That is general program context; the City’s 2024 announcement does not state the fee paid for this specific commission.

Mayor Albert Jacob said the work offers insight into Joondalup’s ecologies and identity. He described it as “an enticing and sophisticated insight into the ecologies of Joondalup” and a “significant and unique addition to the City of Joondalup art collection.”

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What is inside the cabinet?

The wooden cabinet has abalone-shell inlays and contains specimens found in the Joondalup region, including pinecones, nuts, feathers, bones and soil. Phillips said she sought materials that were already dead and could safely be taken from the ground. She also collects plastic and other discarded objects during walks, bringing human-made traces into the work’s gathering of local material.

The installation also includes sound and video. The City says the sounds can be heard only once or twice in a 24-hour period. Phillips described them as the voices of local animals trying to engage a viewer “through the locked doors of the cabinet.”

Where was Joondakammer displayed?

The City reported that Joondakammer was on display on the lower level of Joondalup Library when it announced the work on 1 August 2024. PerthNow repeated that location in a report dated 4 August 2024. The available City collection listing does not give a current location or visitor access details, so the 2024 library notice does not establish where the artwork can be seen now. Check with the City of Joondalup before making a visit.

PerthNow also reported a one-off artist talk scheduled for 13 August 2024 at the library. That event date has passed.

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