Lord Mayor’s Message
What if…
We could bring a world-class public art festival to Sydney each year, a festival that explores who we are and what we could become? Ten years ago, the City of Sydney asked itself this question with its very first Art & About Sydney program. A decade later, Art & About has become one of the most loved annual events on the Sydney calendar, asking all of us to imagine together.
This year, those two simple words – What If – underpin the 10th Art & About. Across the City, we are displaying how Sydney has responded to the question they ask, with 100 of the most engaging and original of these on our street banners, in bold and colourful designs that will entertain, intrigue and provoke.
Internationally renowned British artist Michael Landy has also thrown out a call to our Sydney community, with his playful and inspiring work, Acts of Kindness, brought to Art & About in an exciting collaboration with Kaldor Public Art Projects. Landy will be displaying our stories of everyday benevolence in unexpected places, in a project that also asks us to reimagine our City.
As we work together to create a sustainable Sydney, we have asked scientists and artists to come together in Contested Landscapes, a unique collaboration that focuses on managing scarce resources such as water and land. We also have workshops, forums and design challenges as part of Happy Talk, a pavilion in Hyde Park, built to open up a broader conversation about design and sustainability. In Unguarded Moments, we turn to our past, with artists and Millers Point residents creating intimate portrait projections, accompanied by online oral histories.
Our commitment to a vibrant late night City economy is very much part of this year’s program, with many events taking place in the City after hours. Be part of our fabulous Friday Night Live launch party, where we’ll be joined by many of our City’s major cultural institutions, including the State Library, the Powerhouse, the Australian Museum, Museum of Sydney, Customs House and the Art Gallery of NSW – all opening their doors until late. You can also discover pop-up performances in a moveable shipping container, take a night time stroll through CBD laneways transformed into intriguing works of art, or enjoy an evening at the popular Sydney Life outdoor photographic exhibition. This year, we are particularly excited to have Sydney’s children taking part in their own Little Sydney Lives, giving us a whole new perspective on our City.
On its 10th birthday, Art & About Sydney is testament to the power of imagining, and the creative visions opened up by asking that simple question – What If?
I look forward to seeing you out on our streets, enjoying this unique celebration together.
Clover Moore MP Lord Mayor
