Welcome to Zzyzx
Christine Dean
Exhibition Dates: Tuesday, 28 April 2026 to Saturday, 9 May 2026
No Opening for this event
Closing Event: Saturday, 9 May 2026. 6:00 PM – 8:00 PM
Location: Sausage Gallery, Shop 3, 1–13 Katoomba Street, Katoomba NSW
Artist Statement
Zzyzx is part concrete poem, part place name, part cultural condition. It’s the last word in the English language and describes the last word in anything.
Zzyzx was invented in the 1830s as a substitute for using a profanity. In 1944 the word Zzyzx was patented by Curtis Howe Springer (1896-1985) who was an American radio evangelist, self-proclaimed medical doctor and Methodist preacher. At that time Zzyzx became the name of a health spa in the California desert.
Zzyzx has since become code for weird, different or queer. In 1999 the committee for renaming Katoomba proposed Zzyzx to the Geographical Names Board of NSW for consideration. This art installation acknowledges all things Zzyzx. The inhabitants of Zzyzx are known as Zzyzxians and we welcome you.