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Exhibitions, workshops, public art, films, artists' studio tours - join us for a wideranging program of arts and cultual activities over Winter here at the Park.
Visual Arts
The Armory Exhibition 2009 - 27th June to 27th September 2009 (Weekends only)
Join us for a stunning survey exhibition of contemporary art, including works by some of Australia’s most high-profile and innovative creative practitioners.
Spanning site-specific sculpture, photo media and video installation through to painting, mark making and contemporary ceramics, the exhibition reflects the diverse practice of select artists who have participated in the Artists at the Armory program over the past 3 years.
The large industrial dimensions of the Armory Gallery provide artists with the opportunity to present large-scale and experimental installations, with artwork that both creatively engages with and responds to the amazing natural and cultural historic surrounds.
This is a unique Sydney Olympic Park exhibition that is not to be missed.
Curated by Mimi Kelly for Sydney Olympic Park Authority.
Public ArtCall for Proposals - Temporary Public Art
Sydney Olympic Park Authority is seeking proposals from artists for the creation of temporary public artworks within the Park's public domain.
Artists are free to choose the media, themes and content for the work, and are invited to engage with the chosen site in a physical, architectural, philosophical, geographical, political or any other relevant sense in developing their concepts, e.g. historical, environmental and social dimensions, notions of movement, site interpretation, the nature/culture nexus, direction, space and scale may also inform works. A key selection criterion is the ease with which the proposed work (be it an object, project or event) can be read as an artwork by a broad, non-specialist audience.
The closing date for initial submissions is 17th July 2009.
Feel free to pass this information onto any artists you think may be interested in this program.
For a full brief, please contact Tony Nesbitt, Manager - Arts Programming on 02 9714 7110 or tony.nesbitt@sopa.nsw.gov.au .
Weather Cranes
Sydney sculptor Allan Giddy has created Weather Cranes, a lighting installation that has transformed the Navy cranes on Newington Armory wharf into a kinetic sculpture that responds to changes in temperature and humidity. Visible from twilight to midnight, the artwork can be seen from Blaxland Riverside Park, the Parramatta River and Silverwater Bridge.
Temporary Public Art
Dust Poems
Dust Poems explores the words of truckies and their experiences of the road, and involves three truck-driving poets and three professional poets who work in non-trucking industries. Often ignored, repudiated and misunderstood, truckies in their constant travels see more sides to this country and its people than just about anyone else ……
This project draws out and showcases language that carries truckies’ unique perspectives on Australian life (and death), landscapes, foibles, practices, fauna, flora and humanity. At the same time, the project is a way of paying tribute to the men, women, families and animals who ply the highways and byways of this vast and awesome nation and help keep the country running.
Construction sites, carparks and hidden locations of Sydney Olympic Park will be transformed by installations that display the six poems in interactive ways. The public will be invited into these spaces by way of a route map that navigates a Truck Poem Search. The Search will contain toy trucks donated by the public, and poems logged at the Park by roaming visitors. You can help us construct the Search by donating toy trucks to deposit points at the Red Room and Sydney Olympic Park.
Dust Poems is an initiative of Sydney Olympic Park’s Temporary Public Art Program. For more information, see Dust Poems.
The Flats
From mid-December 2008 until May 2009, Bicentennial Park at SOP will host an intriguing installation that draws the issue of housing in big cities into focus.
The Flats, by artists Claire Healy and Sean Cordeiro, is based on the contemporary Eastern European housing phenomenon dubbed Splavovi, in which the remains of Soviet industry are fashioned into floating houses that adorn the waterways of cities such as Belgrade. Forty four gallon drums are welded together on angle-ironed frames and topped off with a wooden deck, a small wooden cabin, and perhaps a little garden and some used car tyres wrapped around the Plimsoll line. These quaint housing structures, which use only the available materials at hand, are the stopgap answer to Belgrade’s housing shortage.
Floating on the Park’s Lake Belvedere, the title of the work alludes to the name given to Homebush Bay by a scouting party shortly after the arrival of the First Fleet in 1788. The Flats creates a pun that alludes to our shared colonial history of the Park and the possible future dream of private real estate developers.
Claire and Sean are currently artists-in-residence at Newington Armory, Sydney Olympic Park. As well as this current project, they are busy developing their work for the 2009 Venice Biennale, for which they have been selected to represent Australia.
“We wish to create an installation that not only recognises the Park’s innate assets but also reinforces in the public’s mind why the Park is a community treasure. In a sense, the proposed artwork is more of an intervention than a sculpture. Unlike a figurative statue or fountain, The Flats will not immediately be read as a self-contained ‘work of art’. This side-stepping of categorisation will invoke the viewer to question the sculpture’s place in the Park and therefore what the Park means to them and why, “ said Cordeiro and Healy.
The Flats was commissioned as part of Sydney Olympic Park Authority’s Temporary Public Art Program. This program offers artists the opportunity to make subtle, temporary interventions into public domain areas of the Park.
"Art is essential for making this place special. Artworks in the public domain can respond to the surrounding physical environment, as well as the history of the place," said Tony Nesbitt, Manager - Arts Programming.
“We commissioned The Flats because the floating house is a marvellous fit with the Lake Belvedere setting, where thousands of visitors enjoy the Park every weekend over Summer. The use of industrial refuse to build the house also resonates strongly with the Park’s industrial past – Bicentennial Park was, of course, once a rubbish dump, “ added Nesbitt.
The Flats will be on exhibition daily from mid-December until June 2009. More information.
These two projects are part of Sydney Olympic Park Authority’s Temporary Public Art program.
Meet the Artists
Discover our Armory visual arts studios and talk to artists about their work in the Meet the Artists at the Armory program on 24 May, 28 June, 26 July & 23 August 2009 from 10.30 to 11.30am. Meet our guide at the Armory Wharf Visitor Information Centre for this FREE tour.
Cinewest, in partnership with Sydney Olympic Park Authority, presents a series of films by Spanish master Luis Bunuel and controversial Russian auteur Andre Tarkovsky.
The season also includes winners of the Cinewest 2009 Festivals. (program to be advised)
Where: Armory Theatre, Newington Armory, Sydney Olympic Park
When: 2pm to 4pm (see dates below)
Cost: Free
Program 2009
Luis Bunuel
Sunday 22 February The Exterminating Angel
Sunday 29 March Viridiana
Sunday 26 April Tristana
Sunday 31 May
Sunday 28 June The Discreet Charm of the Bourgeoisie
Sunday 26 July That Obscure Object of Desire
Andre Tarkovksy
Sunday 30 August Violin and Roller
Festival best and winners
Sunday November 29 FLEXIFF 2009
Sunday December 27 Auburn International Film Festival for Children and Young Adults 2009
Participate
Introduction to Flamenco
Sydney Olympic Park provides many opportunities for young people to participate in the Arts. Programs running this Summer at the Park include The Writing Workshop presented by Vogel award winner Bernard Cohen , Cinewest Digital Filmmaking Workshops, Sing and Dance Star at the Overflow, and NIDA’s Screen Acting Workshops. And in
 Arts and Culture are a key part of everyday life at Sydney Olympic Park. The community of visitors and users of the Park, residents and workers alike are encouraged to embrace the concept of a creative community and to participate in arts and cultural activities.
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In addition to an ever-changing program of activities, the Park also features an outstanding program of annual arts and cultural events that cater to very diverse audiences.
| January | Sydney Festival | The Big Day Out | |
| February | Music by Moonlight | ||
| March | ArtExpress at the Armory | ||
| April | The Royal Easter Show | ArtExpress at the Armory | |
| August |
India Australia Friendship Fair |
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| October | Eid | ||
| November | Fiesta Dancesports | Eid |
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| December |
As is the case for the Park’s sporting facilities, enthusiasts, community members, elite artists and international events are all being catered to by the program, and operating side-by-side, in our range of unique arts and cultural venues.
A key precinct for the Arts at Sydney Olympic Park is Newington Armory. Fronting the Parramatta River, the former Royal Australian Navy Armaments Depot features the largest single room exhibition space in the southern hemisphere, a flexible theatre space, artist studios and a picturesque outdoor stage and natural amphitheatre. Click the link to view our Armory Venues slideshow.
One of the highlights is our new artist community program Artists at the Armory that combines casual hire and artist in residence facilities catering to painting, sculpture, printmaking, ceramics and writing disciplines and encourages collaborative, cross-cultural and cross-Artform activities.
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Sydney Olympic Park is uniquely positioned with our setting of cultural activity within the 432 hectares of parkland at the heart of a modern metropolis. The Park also offers the opportunity to explore the relationship between nature, heritage and the Arts.