Barangaroo鈥檚 public art tells stories through place to care for Country and community
School of Art & Design
The harbourside precinct demonstrates how art can help revitalise communities, respect cultural heritage and re-imagine public space, says its precinct-wide curatorial advisor.
Barangaroo follows the waterfront to the west of Sydney鈥檚 central business district (CBD). Pre-colonisation, it was a place of gathering, hunting and fishing for First Nations Australians. The foreshore would become wharves, wool warehouses and gasworks before it captured former Prime Minister Paul Keating鈥檚 imagination as a potential extension of the CBD embracing public parklands in the early 2000s.聽
Today it鈥檚 a hub of wining and dining, waterfront walks and parks, culture and commercial towers all interwoven with public art. Its investment in public art is significant, prioritising First Nations perspectives that integrate local place and communities.聽
The harbourside precinct represents a shift toward design-integrated and site-specific public art, says Associate Professor Felicity Fenner from 国产精品鈥檚 School of Art & Design. A/Prof. Fenner was appointed as Barangaroo鈥檚 precinct-wide curatorial advisor by in 2022.聽
鈥淟ocation-specific art searches for and articulates local identity. It relies on local knowledge and close community consultation,鈥 says the curator and Chair of the City of Sydney鈥檚 Public Art Advisory Panel. 鈥淭he results can engage audiences in ways that are participatory, open and affective.鈥
The climate crisis, rapid urbanisation and globalisation are transforming our relationship with place, she says. 鈥淲ith unprecedented numbers of people on the move [around the globe], the need for cities to continually re-invent themselves, for communities to connect, is ever more urgent.
鈥淎 city鈥檚 art can help shape a unique and memorable identity, expressing the spirit of place, and presenting a rich and nuanced picture of people, communities, stories and sometimes contested histories,鈥 she says.聽
More than just 鈥渋cing on the cake of city place-making,鈥 public art provides the means for making connections and fostering belonging, for respecting cultural heritage, and for contributing to public discourse, she says. 鈥淏arangaroo鈥檚 public art demonstrates how new collaborative models of art and curatorial practice can promote more empathic ways of inhabiting the planet.鈥
A/Prof. Fenner鈥檚 research focuses on aspects of place and curatorial place-making. She has curated more than 40 exhibitions of Australian and international art, and worked as a curatorial consultant for government and industry, most recently as the public advisor on the new Metro Martin Place precinct being delivered by Macquarie Group.
Increasingly contemporary public artworks are blurring the boundaries between architecture, landscape and art.聽
At Barangaroo, she has advised Cultural Capital and Infrastructure NSW (INSW) on the recently launched Barangaroo Art Implementation Plan 2023. Over the next few years, she is working with INSW, community stakeholders and developers 鈥 , , 鈥 to ensure the quality and consistency of public art across the Bararangoo precinct.聽
The plan outlines the NSW Government鈥檚 multi-million-dollar commitment to public art, specifically creative responses to Barangaroo鈥檚 geography, rich history and future. It identifies culture and identity as themes for exploration through integrated, site-specific installations, she says. 鈥淭his focus on fostering community, foregrounding the natural environment and connecting to Country is a priority across Barangaroo.鈥澛
A/Prof. Fenner recently convened an Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander curatorium to work with her on commissioning public art for Barangaroo Reserve, the waterfront parklands at the northern end of the site that opened to the public in 2015. The Reserve reimagines the pre-colonial headland as it was before industry; the early 19th century altered its contours and replaced native vegetation with maritime infrastructure.
鈥淎rtists may consider the possibility of telling stories of place using objects, landscape forms or other interventions,鈥 A/Prof. Fenner says. 鈥淭he scope of the artist brief will be finalised by the curatorium once research into the site and community consultation is completed.鈥澛
In the adjacent area of Central Barangaroo, themes of identity, culture and community are embedded in聽鈥檚 Country-led design to transform the industrial concrete apron at the heart of Barangaroo into open space. A/Prof. Fenner was an advisor to the jury (chaired by Paul Keating) that presided over the聽聽in early 2023.
Artist render of Water Vessel, Harbour Park, Barangaroo, by Jake Nash and Chris Fox. Image: Supplied
A First Nations-led team, AKIN brings together Indigenous designers聽, Sydney architectural firm聽,鈥痜ormer Head Designer for Bangarra Dance聽,鈥痟igh-profile sculptor and installation artist聽, and biocultural resilience and sustainable design experts鈥, with鈥痑s engineering consultants.
The park includes public artworks or 鈥榲essels鈥 revolving around water, wind, and moon, natural elements of significance in Indigenous knowledge systems. Rooted in First Nations鈥 wisdom and heritage, the design draws together landscape, art, and architecture to create a place of connection, reconciliation, and ecological regeneration.聽
鈥淭he design in its totality promotes a sustainable and culturally respectful relationship with place,鈥 says A/Prof. Fenner. 鈥淐onnection to Country is fostered by the seamless weaving together of landscape and art, which will become natural gathering places for decades to come.鈥
The increasing interdisciplinarity of public art
Increasingly contemporary public artworks are blurring the boundaries between architecture, landscape and art, says A/Prof. Fenner.聽
In 2015, the prestigious for British artists under 50 was won, not by a visual artist, but a direct-action collective tackling urban dereliction in . Assemble, who work across art, design and architecture, partnered with the local community to restore terraced houses that had suffered for decades following the 1981 Toxteth riots.
鈥淭he recognition of Assemble鈥檚 practice as 鈥榓rt鈥 represented a major shift in the contemporary art world. It signalled acceptance of an interdisciplinary trend that has been gaining traction in recent years,鈥 she says.
Their interdisciplinary collaborative working practice was lauded for offering 鈥溾.听
AKIN鈥檚 re-imagination of Harbour Park offers its own interdisciplinary model for driving urgent change, A/Prof. Fenner says. According to Yerrabingin, who are managing the creation of Harbour Park, design thinking and Indigenous knowledge can disrupt Indigenous disadvantage and create intercultural opportunities for future generations to thrive.聽
CEO and co-founder Christian Hampson describes the project as 鈥渕uch more than a park鈥. 鈥淚t's a place to celebrate an enduring culture and to move with Country, acknowledging and experiencing our collective past and present while dreaming of our future,鈥 he says.
鈥淲e hope this new chapter inspires all our young people, fanning the embers inside them into a fire as the future artists, architects, designers, and engineers of our cities and our nation.鈥
Its public art feeds into this focus on culture, country and community building. For example, the water vessel will form a connection to the harbour, creating a place of gathering and ceremony; the wind vessel will 鈥榗ollect鈥 the people who pass through and give voice to the winds, its stories, songs and languages.
These design-integrated approaches to public art represent a dramatic shift from Sydney鈥檚 historical pieces aimed at beautifying city spaces or memorialising colonists and civic leaders, A/Prof. Fenner says.聽
The social value of public art is recognised more broadly today, in part due to the聽聽over the last 15 years, with many temporary and permanent installations reflecting our growing climate concerns, she says.
Wintergarden, part of Assemble's Turner art prize winning Granby Four Streets Regeneration Project in Liverpool, UK. Image: Supplied.
The Dirt Witches鈥櫬犅爌roject, for example, is a micro-forest incorporating more than 30 species of critically endangered Eastern Suburbs Banksia Scrub. The cross-disciplinary collective of environmental and climate activists presented a poetic reminder of the 5,300 hectares of scrub that once stretched between Botany Bay and North Head.
鈥淭he strategy of re-planting urban environments has gained traction internationally in recent years,鈥 she says. Accompanying the opening of the new wing of the Art Gallery of NSW in late 2022, one of the world鈥檚 iconic environmental art projects was relaunched.聽
鈥淭丑别听, in Kassel, Germany, a fact that had been largely forgotten here in Australia,鈥 she says.
Curators must think holistically for their work to be relevant in this globalised world, she says. It requires a return to the original meaning of curator, from the Latin curare meaning to care for or cure.聽
鈥淚t鈥檚 no longer about curating just objects, but the stories and histories that are embedded in and embody the places in which we live and work,鈥 she says. 鈥淔iltering global ideas through the lens of the local can create supportive networks that empower individuals and their communities.鈥
The Barlow Street Forest, by the Dirt Witches, in Sydney's CBD. Image: Supplied
Lead image: Artist render of Harbour Park, Barangaroo, by AKIN. Image: Supplied.
This article was originally published in 2024.
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