Perth Institute of Contemporary Arts

The Perth Institute of Contemporary Arts (PICA) is a contemporary visual and performance arts venue located in the City of Perth, Western Australia. Situated in the Perth Cultural Centre in the northern part of the city, the institute serves as a critical site for the presentation and production of Australian and international contemporary, interdisciplinary, and performing arts. In addition to its exhibition and performance programming, PICA supports artists and scholars through studio residencies, research fellowships, and publications. It is a member of Contemporary Art Organisations Australia (CAOA).

PICA originated from the Australian alternative arts movement of the 1970s, which fostered spaces for critical and provocative artistic experimentation. An organization known as Praxis formed out of this movement to organize visual arts exhibitions, publications, and special projects. PICA was established in 1989, partially emerging from Praxis, which it later absorbed. Noel Sheridan served as the first director from 1989 to 1993, followed by Sarah Miller from 1993 to 2006, and Amy Barrett-Lennard from 2006 onward. Between 2004 and 2007, the institute maintained an annual budget of approximately one million Australian dollars, hosting an average of twenty temporary exhibitions and twelve performances per year, drawing around 50,000 exhibition visitors and 10,000 performance attendees annually.

PICA is housed in the former Perth Boys' and Girls' School building at 51 James Street. Constructed between 1895 and 1897, the structure was the largest project undertaken for the Education Department in the 1890s. Designed in the Federation Free Classical style, the exterior features face brick in stretcher bond, a random stone plinth, and a corrugated iron hipped roof with wide eaves and timber slats. Decorative detailing focuses along the eaves and around the entry porches and window openings. The building originally had two principal entries: a boys' entry on the western side designed as a projecting single-storey porch with a triple arched entry, and a girls' entry on the northern facade at the base of a projecting tower, which now serves as the main entry to PICA. The interior blends original detailing with modern adaptations from the early 1990s conversion, including a large reception area, a functional timber and steel stair, large plain openings through former classroom walls, an open ground floor performance space at the western end supported by exposed steel trusses, and a cafe within two former ground floor classrooms at the north-eastern corner.

PICA is located at 51 James Street in the Perth Cultural Centre, a precinct in northern Perth that also includes a museum, the State Library, and other exhibition spaces. The building was classified by the National Trust (WA) on 3 July 1978, entered into the Register of the National Estate by the Australian Heritage Commission on 21 October 1980, and permanently entered onto the State Register of Heritage Places on 24 March 2000. After the Perth Technical College vacated the building in July 1988, it was refurbished by the architectural firm Donaldson and Warn, receiving a commendation from the Western Australian chapter of the Royal Australian Institute of Architects in 1992 in the category of conservation and recycled buildings. PICA officially occupied the building on 8 November 1991, operating as a multidisciplinary contemporary arts center with gallery spaces, performing spaces, a cafe, and administration areas.