Art & About Sydney
23 September - 23 October 2011

Michael Landy: Acts of Kindness
Kaldor Public Art Project Number 24

For the 24th Kaldor Public Art Project in partnership with Art & About, Michael Landy has created a major new work Acts of Kindness, for Sydney.

Acts of Kindness investigates the meaning of kindness in today’s fast-paced world, focusing on the simple everyday gestures of compassion and generosity that occur throughout the city streets and often go unnoticed. Stories of kindness have been collected from people across Sydney to form the basis for Landy’s ambitious new artwork. Visit lower Martin Placeto see Landy’s 13-metre installation, mapping the Sydney CBD and indicating where the 200 stories of kindness have been placed throughout the city streets.

To find out more, read stories, watch videos or send your stories of kindness, visit kaldorartprojects.org.au.

Michael Landy

Michael Landy is one of Britain’s best-known artists and is recognised as having created some of the most significant public art projects of the past decade. His works explore the experience of life in a consumer world, reflecting on contemporary values, from economic worth to the importance of human relationships.

One of the Young British Artists of the 1990s, Landy became famous for his monumental project Break Down in 2001, in which he systematically destroyed all of his personal belongings, from his birth certificate to his car, in a former department store in London’sOxford Street.

Landy’s other major projects include Semi-Detached (2004) for which he reproduced his parents’ house to scale inside the galleries of Tate Britain, and Art Bin (2010) where he invited artists and members of the public to dispose of works of art, receiving contributions from fellow artists Damien Hirst, Tracey Emin and Gillian Wearing.

Kaldor Public Art Projects

Founded by art patron John Kaldor in 1969, Kaldor Public Art Projects has created groundbreaking projects with international artists around Australia for over 40 years. Michael Landy’s Acts of Kindness is the 24th Kaldor Public Art Project and selected past projects include Christo and Jeanne-Claude’s Wrapped Coast (1969), Jeff Koons’ Puppy (1995), Gregor Schneider’s 21 Beach Cells (2007) and most recently John Baldessari’s Your Name in Lights (2011).

Free Public Talk

Saturday 24 September, 3pm
Domain Theatre, ArtGallery of New South Wales.
Bookings essential: events@kaldorartprojects.org.au
kaldorartprojects.org.au for details.

Kaldor Public Art Projects will present a free public talk, Happiness in the City, featuring Michael Landy, Tanveer Ahmed, Lisa Havilah and David Marr, reflecting on the meeting point of altruism, compassion and art in the public realm.

Lead Partner:

Education Partner:

Supported by:

Image: detail from the drawing for Acts of Kindness 2011 Courtesy the artist and Thomas Dane Gallery, London.