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Overview
Tucked away in our big island home, It's easy to romanticise the idea of going overseas (The art! The culture! The cheese!). But while adult life sometimes keeps you anchored in one place, exploring your own backyard can reap some surprising rewards. If you've got a hankering to see something new but have run out of vital organs to sell for travel money, there's actually quite a bit to see around the traps. You can experience a whole different cultural side to Sydney, especially in the CBD, if you know where to look.
Check out our guide to some of the best public art permanently installed by the City of Sydney — you might have literally tripped over it.
TANKSTREAM – INTO THE HEAD OF THE COVE
Tankstream – into the head of the cove is a subtle installation, equal parts memorial and art piece that you might have walked right over. Artist Lynne Roberts-Goodwin wanted to pay tribute to the subterranean fresh water stream that is the major reason for the city's settlement. When Captain Watkin Tench, a marine in the Port Jackson settler party in 1788 surveyed Sydney Cove he noted in his diary, "Into the head of the cove, on which our establishment is fixed, runs a small stream of fresh water, / which serves to divide the adjacent country to a little distance, in the direction of north and south." This passage is inscribed on five plaques throughout Pitt Street Mall (to represent the flow of the stream) that runs through Sydney and each plaque is inset with a two glass rods, shimmering as though water lies just beneath.
SWIMMING A LINE
The Victoria Park swimming pool is a beautiful old space with some classic Australiana details (you could totally imagine your parents swimming here in the '70s and it probably wouldn't look any different) but one of the most intriguing features is actually in the foyer. Artist Sue Callanan has a long history of designing site specific public installations and she absolutely nailed Swimming a line. A piece of Perspex runs the length of the foyer that mimics the crystalline netherworld you encounter when swimming laps, and the interplay of light creates a rippling surface that seems to mimic the pool outside. One you've probably run straight past on your way to cannonball glory.
THE CITY OF FORKING PATHS
The City of Forking Paths is unlike any art installation you've experienced. The project, created by Canadian artists Janet Cardiff and George Bures Miller, is designed to take you on a walking tour around The Rocks and open your eyes to the oldest part of the city. The experience, delivered through headphones and a smartphone, has been described as disorienting as visual and aural elements pull you along a path laden with contemporary and historical clashes. This hour of stories interwoven with history, performance music and videos, is a road best trodden alone. You can download the app to your phone or pick up a loaner from Customs House on Alfred Street. Just try not to bump into anyone.
FORGOTTEN SONGS
You may have already noticed the Forgotten Songs installation that runs through Angel Place from George Street to Pitt Street in the CBD, and while you may have thought it looks cool (bird cages are so hot right now) the piece has is the basis for a sad underlying message. The installation, designed by artist Michael Thomas Hill and a research team, represents 50 native bird species that were forced out of central Sydney by European settlement. Field recordings of the 50 different bird songs play throughout the installation, making it a peaceful place to stroll under albeit with a sobering lesson about the effects of colonisation and our place in the urban environment today.
IN BETWEEN TWO WORLDS
In Between Two Worlds is an immersive mural-installation hybrid on Hay Street in Haymarket. In 2013, artist Jason Wing covered the service lane's walls and ground in a swathe of blue clouds to represent the traditional elements that feature prominently in both Chinese and Aboriginal spirit lore. In China, clouds are considered auspicious (luck-giving) and Wing says the repeating cloud motif represents never ending fortune (definitely worth a walk through, who doesn't want good fortune?). The best time to visit is at night when a series of eerie spirits figures light up the sky above the mural.