Why the Google Cultural Institute is a friend not foe of the Sydney Opera House

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This was published 7 years ago

Why the Google Cultural Institute is a friend not foe of the Sydney Opera House

By Andrew Taylor

Ella Fitzgerald is one of many legends who have left their mark on the Sydney Opera House. Unfortunately, the white board on which the renowned jazz singer (and many other performers) signed her autograph has disappeared, says writer and designer Sam Doust. "Either it's going to pop up on eBay or it's hanging on someone's wall as we speak," he says.

But a photograph of Fitzgerald adding her signature in 1978 is one of the items in the Sydney Opera House collection on the Google Cultural Institute.

The photo is contained in the Starts & High Points "exhibit" of the online archive alongside other icons such as Sammy Davis jnr, who performed two shows in the Concert Hall in 1977.

The photos are two of more than 1000 items unearthed by Doust and arranged into 50 sections.

Dame Joan Sutherland performs at the Opera House.

Dame Joan Sutherland performs at the Opera House.

The online archive seeks to cover the Opera House's dramatic history from the squabbles over its design and construction to performance highlights and the location's Indigenous history.

It features photos, animation, architectural drawings, historical documents, interviews and video digitally preserved and presented with brief explanations.

There is a ticket for the lottery that helped fund the building, a sketch by architect Jørn Utzon on a restaurant napkin in 1962, postcards celebrating its opening by the Queen in 1973 and footage of the 40th anniversary concert.

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The archive also features a tour of the Opera House, including performances from soprano Nicole Car and cellist Benjamin Schwartz, captured in 360-degree, panoramic video.

Ella Fitzgerald signs her name at the Opera House.

Ella Fitzgerald signs her name at the Opera House.

The online archive also tells the story of the Opera House building, widely regarded as one of the most important pieces of 20th-century architecture.

But it was also one of the most controversial. Doust's research tells a story of clashing egos that left many bruised and battered for years although Utzon later reconciled with Opera House management.

Jorn Utzon in an image in the Google Cultural Institute Opera House collection.

Jorn Utzon in an image in the Google Cultural Institute Opera House collection.

One item features engineer Ove Arup describing the difficulties of working with Utzon, suggesting he was a liar.

"It has been impossible to work with him although we have bent over backwards," Arup said in a 1966 television interview.

Sammy Davis jnr performing at the Opera House in 1977.

Sammy Davis jnr performing at the Opera House in 1977.

Another item features Utzon describing in a 1973 television interview the frustrations that drove him to resign from the project in 1966.

Doust adds to this tale of woe a letter from Peter Hall, the architect who completed the Opera House after Utzon's resignation, only to die destitute, alcoholic and shunned by his contemporaries.

"The Opera House is going all right but really is just too hard and every now and again, like now, I get thoroughly fed up with it," he wrote in a 1971 letter.

The collection draws on material from the Opera House's own archive as well as its resident companies, State Library of NSW, State Records NSW, ABC and engineering company Arup.

However, Doust says the online archive lacks video and audio recordings of shows prior to 2005 because of cost and copyright.

Doust previously worked on the 2012 online documentary The Opera House Project and was commissioned by both Google and the Opera House to compile the digital collection. But Doust says he did all he could to avoid the project turning into a PR-driven exercise.

The Opera House is one of 35 Australian cultural institutions that have joined the Google Cultural Institute, which hosts the digital exhibits of more than 1000 museums, galleries and performing arts venues.

Other Australian institutions and organisations that have lent their collections to the virtual world include the Australian War Memorial, the National Portrait Gallery in Canberra, Sculpture by the Sea and Kaldor Public Art Projects.

The Opera House's chief executive Louise Herron says the virtual world set-up by Google enables the institution to bring together its vast array of historical material for the first time.

"Without the Google Cultural Institute it would be difficult to make this incredible archive of material publicly available to people in such an interactive and compelling way," she says.

The Opera House's foray into Google's virtual world began two years ago after the director of the Google Cultural Institute, Amit Sood, explained the concept to Herron.

For Sood, the Opera House's iconic architecture was its principal attraction: "But also a lot of the behind-the-scenes between the performances and the stories that come with it."

A virtual visit to the Opera House is, in some ways, better than an actual visit given the glimpses of behind-the-scenes. The 360-degree panoramic film certainly provides a superior view to the cheap seats in the nosebleeds of the Concert Hall and Joan Sutherland Theatre.

"There's definitely a benefit to taking people to restricted access areas," Sood says. "Viewing a performance in the Opera House live I personally think can't be replicated online."

Google provides the know-how, which ranges from its custom-made platform to Street View technology used in Google Maps and Google Earth, while cultural institutions provide the content and curation.

The service is free and institutions retain ownership of their content and the ability to delete content at any time, Sood says. "I remember when we launched in 2011, I made it a very clear message that this is a non-commercial, non-profit activity of the company."

He also says the technology does not detract from the role of professional curators and programmers.

"I'm not claiming any grandiose changes in the culture," Sood says. "The word curation is bandied about a little bit wrongly sometimes with what we do on the internet, which is essentially in 60 seconds we can do a favourites or create a playlist."

The notion that the internet is the enemy of the performing and visual arts is misguided, he adds.

The average length of time people view items on Google Cultural Institute is more than one minute, which Sood says is "absolutely fantastic".

He says cultural institutions can attract audiences online who otherwise would not or could not visit a museum or concert hall.

"The internet has a reputation for spearheading pop culture movements," he says. "But there's a lot of high-brow culture that has not really taken advantage of this medium."

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