




About
Step inside Magenta House: a gathering and knowledge-sharing space in Redfern, Gadigal land.
Our programs come alive through intimate workshops and classes, communal meals, talks, soirées, reading sessions, and more. Alongside this, we run an arts & culture Library, and a Shop focusing on food cultures, heritage ventures and experimental publishing from Asia and Australia.
Based in a domestic space, Magenta House is a synergetic platform for ideas and conversations to ferment through encounters and collaborations. Visiting hours are by appointment and during events and open days. For updates, follow us on Instagram.
Brief history
Established in April 2023, Magenta House was founded and run by its Housekeeper Mariam Ella Arcilla alongside her partner Mason Kimber.
How we gather is manifested through communal meals, coworking sessions and social activities. And we exchange knowledges via dialogues, recipe-sharing, educational dialogues, and e-commerce projects.
Our events and programs are organised in-house or with collaborators within the fields of art, food, social enterprise, architecture, film and music. Events are a mix of durational and one-off, with a schedule that stays elastic in line with the timelines of its Housekeepers and partners.
We're open to unique proposals and venue hires in 2025 and 2026 from individuals and collectives in Australia and internationally. Read our FAQs page and contact us to get in touch! This site is being updated, so we plan to post an archive of these programs soon. For now, connect with us on Instagram!
Click here to view our upcoming and recent events.
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Our signature events are:
Magenta Merienda monthly gathering series centred on memory-work, ancestral-based cuisines, food sovereignty, and experimental recipes.

Coworking days for collectives, groups and collaborators.

Meet & greets and industry days for arts, publishing, and culture workers.

Bi-monthly Library readings and open days

Bespoke venue hire for workshops, food demos,
book launches, photoshoots, pop-ups exhibitions and more.

Magenta House organises and supports:
- Feeding sessions & curated meals
- Talks & dialogues
- Test kitchens
- Pop-up exhibitions
- Coworking & parallel plays
- Micro-workshops, demos and classes
- Architecture & Design tours
- Industry gatherings
- DJ sessions
- Library open days
- Short film screenings
Our collaborators include:
- Artists & Designers
- Researchers
- Writers & Editors
- Architects
- Social enterprises
- Entrepreneurs
- Independent publishers
- Musicians
- Chefs and home cooks
- Creative producers
- Film-makers
- Students
Magenta House launched in April 2023 with Bin Alley Biennale, a community street party that saw us team up with our Surry Hills and Redfern neighbours to transforms a rubbish-bin alley behind our home into a free one-day fiesta! Under the spirit of communal cohesion, locavore creativity, and neighbourhood camaraderie, we organised DJ sets, food stalls, video art projections, and social activities featuring locals.
Through the first Bin Alley Biennale, we were able to meet our neighbours in one go and now we stage this beloved event twice a year (the catchy Biennale name stuck)! Since then, Magenta House has hosted a range of gathering for intimate crowds, arts industries and the wider public. We also partner with artists and collaborators in Australia and overseas to stage one-off events and slow-release projects at Magenta House.
Got a bright project idea involving our space?
Contact Mariam via the Contact section.
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Magenta House in the media:
- 'It’s a dream for Filipinos to come here and feel like they’re home': Sydney couple opens their home for cultural connection, SBS Filipino (Feb 2025)
- Honi Soit, Bankstown Biennale: From my Roundtable to Yours (Feb 2025)
- Broadsheet: Home Visit (Dec 2024)
- A Social Life with Friends: On Making and maintaining friendships (April 2024)
- Habitus Magazine (Issue #58): Creative container (March 2024)
- Jack Lovell, Autumn Digest: Q&A (March 2024)
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Image credits top-bottom: Slides: (1) Library, photo: Mason Kimber (2) Filipino pot-luck, photo: Justin Cueno (3) Palestinian cooking demo with Chef Aheda, photo: Danish Ravi for Welcome Merchant (4) DJ studio, photo: Mason Kimber, Filipino Pot-Luck, photo: Mason Kimber.
Small images: (1) Library, photo: Mason Kimber; Bin Alley Biennale 2023, photo: Mariam Ella Arcilla; Filipino Pot-Luck, photo: Justin Cueno; Asin Tibuok image, Library open day, photos: Julia Guo; Runway Journal board meeting, Coworking days ; photo: Mariam Arcilla, Halo-Halo workshop with fine print magazine, Library open days, photos: Mariam Ella Arcilla; Palestinian cooking demo with Chef Aheda, photo: Danish Ravi for Welcome Merchant; Kanin/Balit, photo: Justin Cueno; Taco Gs, DJ Mason, Bin Alley Biennale 2022, photos: Mariam Ella Arcilla; DJ studio, photo: Jack Lovell; Oyster-Shucking Workshop with Megan Cope, photo: Mariam Ella Arcilla; Bin Alley Biennale projections, DJ prepping, Balinese Spice Magic food stall, photo: Julia Guo; Bin-Alley prepping, Taco Gs food stall, photos: Mariam Ella Arcilla