MAJOR AUSTRALIAN WORKS ANNOUNCED FOR BARANGAROO EVENT

The Barangaroo Delivery Authority will present a major new sculpture event, Sculpture at Barangaroo, at Sydney’s spectacular Harbour foreshore park, Barangaroo Reserve, from 6-21 August 2016.

Sculpture at Barangaroo is presented in partnership with Sculpture by the Sea, which has been delighting Sydney with its outdoor exhibitions along the Bondi coastal walk for almost 20 years.

Free to the public, the temporary exhibition is the first exhibition of its kind to be held at Barangaroo Reserve and will transform the six-hectare headland reserve into an open-air sculpture park to capture the imagination of Sydney and its visitors.

The exhibition will showcase 14 outdoor artworks by a stellar line-up of 15 Australian artists, including senior, established, emerging and Aboriginal artists.

The collection includes eight new works and six existing works that were selected specifically for exhibition at Sculpture at Barangaroo.

Exhibiting artists include, Sean Cordeiro and Claire Healy, Marley Dawson, Lucy Humphrey, Ron Robertson-Swann OAM, Margarita Sampson, Sangeeta Sandrasegar, Yasmin Smith, Marcus Tatton, Ken Unsworth AM, Sally Kidall, Garaywaa Murnawaraga (The Milky Way Daughters: Lyndsay Urquhart, Emily Nichol and Tereasa Trevor, with contributors), and Aunty Deidre Martin with collaborators. 

 

ARTISTS AND ARTWORKS

Garaywaa Murnawaraga (The Milky Way Daughters: Lyndsay Urquhart, Emily Nichol and Tereasa Trevor, with contributors), Barangaroo Dreaming (new work)

Sure to be a favourite with visitors, this two-metre high sculpture represents a crinoline - a stiffened or hooped petticoat that was worn at the time of early European settlement to make a long skirt stand out. Its eight layers – representing eight generations – will be made up of shell art, woven lace, reed weavings, possum skins and feathers covered in white ochre. Each layer has a different meaning. The artists, Lyndsay Urquhart, Emily Nichol and Tereasa Trevor, have been inspired by Barangaroo Reserve’s namesake, the powerful Cammeraygal woman. It’s said that Barangaroo once rejected the gift of a European skirt, preferring to focus on her skills as a fisherwoman. The artists will hold workshops for visitors to teach the different skills used to construct the crinoline.

The Milky Way Daughters is a collaboration between three Sydney artists. Lyndsay Urquhart has a passion for telling stories about heroic Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander women, and celebrating Aboriginal cultures through her work as an educator and park ranger. Her cousin Tereasa Trevor is a descendant of the Yuin nation, Walbanga Budawang tribe, Willoughby mob, and is a corporate communicator and experienced performance artist. Emily Nicol is media professional with a passion for music, creative writing, modern and traditional healing arts.

Yasmin Smith, Contours of our heart (new work)

This unique work couldn’t be more appropriate to Barangaroo Reserve, with its Aboriginal, industrial and maritime histories. Sydney ceramics artist Yasmin Smith known for her huge figurative sculptures and installations in ceramics and other materials, will grind down local sandstone to use as clay. Small groups of visitors will be invited to make their own pieces with her help. Each object will then be fired in a kiln on site. On the last day of the exhibition, Yasmin will combine all the pieces in one installation. And as the sun sets, visitors will be invited to take a piece away with them.

Sally Kidall, One Journey Ends: Another Begins (new work)

Is it a raft or a trailer? A bit of both. Sitting under a transparent nylon fabric tent is a simple bamboo boat with two large oars. Lined with growing grass, it carries a cargo of plastic bags filled with water. Sydney artist Sally Kidall has exhibited her site-specific works in England, Spain, America and Germany. Human ecology, consumption and materialism motivate her creations in both natural and urban environments.

One Journey reflects the history of Barangaroo by expressing its vulnerability and fragility. The fact that the grass may grow – or die – during the exhibition is key to the artwork’s concept and speaks to the troubled world we live in.

Ron Robertson-Swann OAM, Weighty Matters: Tony’s Tower II, Campagna

A sculptor, teacher and advocate for the arts, Ron Robertson-Swann OAM is a celebrated Sydney artist who worked as Henry Moore's assistant in the 1960s. In addition to his work in sculpture, he has produced many paintings and is represented in all major public Australian collections. He has won several awards and was awarded an Order of Australia Medal for service to the arts.

Weighty Matters is made up of three large unrelated metal works that he created over 40 years, chosen for Sculpture at Barangaroo because their scale suits the site. Tony’s Tower II was created in homage to his mentor, English artist Sir Anthony Caro, “the greatest sculptor of the century”.

Marley Dawson, Construction (Barangaroo 2016)
(New version of a work exhibited in Perth in 2009)

Sculpture, performance and installation, NSW artist Marley Dawson has exhibited in all three forms as far afield as Washington DC and Paris. This new version of a work shown in Perth in 2009 is the size of two tennis courts, and visitors are able to walk through it. Construction (Barangaroo 2016) is made of various lengths of pine framing, its organic form includes entrances, tunnels and viewing domes. Standing inside looking out, the visitor is treated to different “framed” views of the city, park and harbour, even the sky. But it won’t be completed on day one. As a performance element, Marley will continue to work on it for several days after the exhibition opens.

Dawson’s work has a DIY feel and tends to look at contemporary ideas of masculinity as well as the construction process. He sees a crossover between art and labour: the work is the work. He uses the studio as a test laboratory, and the gallery or public space to display his experimental objects. Dawson has been living in the US since 2012.

 

 

Sangeeta Sandrasegar, Standing on Stones (new work)

It’s not often you are permitted to walk across a sculpture, but this patterned chain of plastic pearls invites a tactile experience. The lines of a poem from Rabindranath Tagore’s Gitanjali are inscribed across the sculpture. The poem is a dedication to the enduring love and commitment of femaleness and motherhood exemplified so strongly by Barangaroo the woman. As with most of her works, Melbourne-based Sangeeta explores the overlap of cultural structures in one of Sydney’s most important historic sites. Standing on Stones follows the story of Barangaroo, a woman caught between cultures, through to the site’s more recent use as a maritime hub.

Sandrasegar has a research-based practice, which draws strongly on her mixed Malaysian and Australian heritage, with a special interest in the ways the structures of culture, sexuality and identity are intertwined in contemporary culture. In the past two years Sandrasegar has worked across India.  Sandrasegar has exhibited widely both locally and internationally, and is the recipient of several fellowships and prizes.

Marcus Tatton, Empirical View (new work, earlier version exhibited in Perth)

New Zealand born and now based in Tasmania, Marcus Tatton is a public space sculptor who looks to the natural and non-natural environment for inspiration. This unusual new work comes in four parts. A seven-metre high chimney, a four-metre high window, a stove built around a fig tree and a campsite are all made from firewood. Each is placed a little distance apart. Close inspection shows them to be not quite what one might expect. The open window, for example, appears to flap in the harbour breeze. It’s actually fixed in place. The view from one side to the water shows a natural coastline.

The works represent Tatton’s acknowledgement of the site’s history, the importance of fire for food and warmth, of colonisation and Aboriginal knowledge and wisdom. The window and the chimney represent the ruins of a past life. Look through the window from one side and you see what would have been the coastline pre the First Fleet’s arrival. Viewed from the opposite direction we see a 21^st Century cityscape.

The winner of many awards during his 20-year career, Tatton believes his most valuable contribution is to interpret community spirit and relationship to country through contemporary sculpture.

Margarita Sampson, The Grove

The two pieces in this work are part of series exploring our vanishing relationship with nature, shelter and community. It’s easy to see how her Norfolk Island background has influenced Margarita Sampson’s style.  Each work resembles a pod, fruit, dwelling or tree with branches and antlers extending from the top. Constructed from wood, the pear-shaped works incline towards each other. Clad in red cedar oiled and weather-proofed shingles, they feature a small opening on one side lined with layers of felt suggesting shelter. There are many ways to interpret this sculpture; it’s up to you to use your imagination.

Originally trained as a painter, her first large textile sculptures began in 1997 as a response to a call-out for the inaugural Sculpture by the Sea. The following year she won the People’s Choice Prize with her work Fish Curtain.

Lucy Humphrey, Horizon (originally created for Sculpture by the Sea, Bondi, in 2013)

This acrylic sphere filled with 1800 litres of water caused a sensation when it was first exhibited in Sculpture by the Sea in 2013, later in Aarhus, Denmark. Standing 1.8 metres high and weighing about two tonnes, Horizon uses the dramatic effect of sunlight to create a lens that transforms views upside down through a refraction of light. From sunrise to twilight, it underscores the changing conditions of light. Magic at any time of day, it transforms the viewer’s experience of the site and celebrates the natural environment in a creative and unique way.

Lucy Humphrey is a multi-award winning Sydney artist and a practising architect. She has worked with prestigious architects PTW and Collins and Turner, and has taught at her alma mater, the University of Sydney. Her growing portfolio covers a wide variety of styles with particular focus on site-specific installations. Her solo work for Sculpture by the Sea (2009), Alchemy, won the Art Gallery of New South Wales Volunteer Site Specific prize. Many of her creations that have dazzled visitors as far afield as the Venice Biennale.

Ken Unsworth AM, Harlequin Shuttle

This eight-metre tall work stands vertically, like a jewel from an unknown place, in a natural setting. Panes of coloured Plexiglas cover the work. Harlequin’s Shuttle, its girth 4.6 metres at the widest point, rises like an exquisite sci-fi religious monument, alternately glowing and dulling with the changing light.

Sydney artist, Ken Unsworth is one of Australia’s most significant artists and is respected as a sculptor, painter, performance artist, installation artist and draughtsman. He has represented Australia at the Venice Biennale (1978), the Paris Biennale (1985), Magiciens de la Terre, Paris (1989) and the Biennale of Istanbul, Turkey (1995). A major survey exhibition of his work was held at the Art Galley of New South Wales in 1998 and he has received numerous awards including the Bi-centenary Sculpture Competition.

Harlequin Shuttle is on loan from original commissioner, Scenic World Katoomba.

Sean Cordeiro and Claire Healey, Banana Republic (new work)

A six-metre shipping container has been adapted to include a large window on one side, two doors, inner plywood cladding, a wooden fire place, a viewing bench, fire extinguishers, fire alarms and a pile of coal. The creators are award-winning Sydney artists, Claire Healy and Sean Cordeiro, who use as their reference Barangaroo Reserve’s transformation from a concrete apron to its original, beautiful natural landscape.

Their collaborative work is characterised by the playful reinvention of prefabricated structures and the transformation of everyday objects into extraordinary sculptures and installations. The container represents globalisation, trade, economy and consumption – all part of the former cargo terminal’s history. And it’s an artwork you can enter.

They are concerned by every day issues such as the cost of living, real estate prices and consumerism, and are fascinated by the circulation of goods and people around the world. The home is another source of inspiration. Their work has been exhibited in museums and private galleries from Kathmandu to Washington DC.

Deidre Martin, Yesterday, Today, Tomorrow (new work)

Born in the NSW country town of Narranderra and raised in La Perouse, Aunty Deidre Martin, a Yuin woman, is passionate about sharing her culture through bush tucker tours and school workshops. She’s also an accomplished artist and respected weaver. Her large scale weaving project depicts a nawi – the word for canoe in local language - as would have been used by Barangaroo. With traditional techniques but employing contemporary materials, Aunty Deidre has called on other Aboriginal master crafters including wood carvers to create a scene that tells the story of local women’s survival, fishing, ecology, sustainability and cultural practices. The sculpture is so big it can be seen across the harbour.

 

 

ARTIST TALKS

A series of free talks by exhibiting artists will be held outdoors at Barangaroo Reserve among the sculptures on weekends during the event. In the event of wet weather, talks will be held in the Waranara Room.

ARTIST TALKS SCHEDULE
DATE	TIME*	ARTIST	LOCATION
Saturday, 6 August	1pm	Auntie Deidre Martin	Lower Walumil Lawns
Saturday, 6 August	2pm	Yasmin Smith	Nawi Lawn
Saturday, 6 August	3pm	Sangeeta Sandrasegar	the Cutaway entrance
Sunday, 7 August	10:30am	Marcus Tatton	Nawi Cove Lawn
Sunday, 7 August	11:30am	Marley Dawson	Stargazer Lawn
Saturday, 13 August	10:30am	Sally Kidall	Bridge Lawn
Saturday, 13 August	11:30am	Lucy Humphrey	Bridge Lawn
Saturday, 13 August	12:30pm	Margarita Sampson	Sea Wall Lawn
Sunday, 14 August	11:00am	Ken Unsworth AM	Waranara Terrace
Sunday, 14 August	12:00pm	Ron Robertson-Swann OAM	Upper Walumil Lawns
Sunday, 21 August	12:00pm	Garaywaa Murnawaraga (The Milky Way Daughters)	Sea Wall Lawns
Sunday, 21 August	3:00pm	Yasmin Smith	Nawi Lawn

* Talks will run for up to an hour – some run times may vary.

 

Barangaroo Visitor Guides will also host a series of free talks, offering visitors the opportunity to learn more about the works created by Aboriginal artists Auntie Deidre Martin and Garaywaa Murnawaraga (The Milky Way Daughters).

The 15-minute talks will take place at 1.00pm on Thursday and Friday, 11-12 and 18-19 August, and 11.00am and 2.00pm every Saturday and Sunday, 6-7, 13-14, and 20-21 August at Garaywaa Murnawaraga’s Barangaroo Dreaming and Aunty Deidre Martin’s Bugiya Naway Buradja (Yesterday, Today, Tomorrow).

Sculpture at Barangaroo will conclude on Sunday 21 August with a major celebration of the 1st Birthday of Barangaroo Reserve.  Details of the 1^st Birthday event will be announced soon.

Barangaroo Reserve is easily accessible by public transport and on foot from Circular Quay, Walsh Bay, Millers Point and The Rocks. The closest train stations are Wynyard and Circular Quay.

For more information, visit www.barangaroo.sydney.

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For media inquiries, please contact:

Samantha Boyd |02 9292 7013 | 0414 408 198 | samb@accesspr.com.au

Emma Reyes | 02 9292 7006 | 0424 425 813 | emmar@accesspr.com.au

Sarah Shields | 02 9292 7007 | 0408 283 091 | sarah@accesspr.com.au