About
Hugh O’Connor is a performance maker, creative director and designer who is currently working as the Senior Exhibition Designer at Powerhouse Museum, Sydney. In addition to overseeing, curating and designing multiple exhibitions and multidisciplinary projects at the museum, Hugh will be instrumental in the opening of the Parramatta Powerhouse as well as the renewal of the Ultimo site. Most recent projects at Powerhouse include 100 Climate Conversations, A Line A Web A World and Absolutely Queer.
Working across a diverse range of artforms and performance modes including theatre, musicals, cabaret, immersive, experimental and interactive performance, film, large scale events, art installation and exhibitions, Hugh’s work centres on an exploration of identity, time, transformation and the role of the observer.
Hugh’s process is interdisciplinary and highly collaborative. He has collaborated with artists and creatives including Jenny Kee and Linda Jackson, Elizabeth Gadsby, Kim Seung Young, Nikita Majajs of Doodad and Fandango, Fuzzy Ghost, Harriet Gillies, Nicol and Ford, Laura Murphy, Charles Davis, Page Rattray, Beth Yen, Christa Hughes, Ursula Yovich and Lucas Jervies.
He has created work for companies including Sydney Opera House, Vivid Sydney, Bell Shakespeare, La Boite Theatre Company, The Flying Nun, Griffin Theatre, Darlinghurst Theatre Company, Ensemble Theatre, Crack Theatre Festival and Sydney Mardi Gras.
Hugh has presented talks for Architects with Pride: Love Letters to Our Future, the Powerhouse Regional Stakeholder Forum, guest lectured at UTS, and in October 2024 will deliver one the Keynote speeches for The Queensland Museum and Galleries Conference.
Hugh graduated from the Design course at NIDA in 2013 where he received the Big Kahuna Imagineering Scholarship and the William Fletcher Scholarship.
Hugh was nominated for best set design at the 2015 Sydney Theatre Awards for his work on The Aliens.
Hugh is represented by Aurora Artists www.auroraartists.com
Contact: hughoconnordesign@gmail.com