Sydney’s new ‘Hoardings Policy’ presented TOKO with the opportunity to re-purpose construction screens as public artworks; Design by TOKO.
The City of Sydney is looking for creative ways to make building sites into places of art and beauty.
The City is calling for Expressions of Interest for Site Works: Creative City hoardings program where successful designs will be re-created as large scale ‘hoardings’ – the temporary structure that wraps and protects a construction site and transforms the unappealing ‘dead space’ into an urban canvas.
‘We’re looking for 2D printable art and design concepts that are going to inspire, delight or engage the general public and demonstrate artistic excellence,’ said Sasha Baroni, Manager Culture and Creativity at City of Sydney.
The EOI is open to Australian residents only, and the City is interested in concepts from a variety of media. Artists, designers, small collectives of five or less members and anyone with a concept that meets the creative brief are encouraged to apply. ‘We are really looking across as wide a range of artists and designers as we can,’ said Baroni.
‘Photographic artwork is great, but also other visual mediums – graphic artwork, literature or text based artwork.’
The rolling program upholds the commitment the City of Sydney made through the Cultural Policy and Action Plan to provide opportunities for artists and designers to create artwork for display in the public domain.
Successful applicants will be in good company following the success of recent hoardings across Sydney. This year two hoardings showcased photographs from Head On and the Biennale of Sydney.
Image: supplied.
‘Seeing artwork on a large scale makes such a fantastic impact, from an artist’s perspective but also for people who are in the city and walking through the space every day. It makes you stop and think and look and consider, and it brings creativity to the Sydney streetscape – I think that is very exciting,’ said Baroni.
‘This is an opportunity for any artist to have their work displayed on large scale hoardings for a broad audience on Sydney streets. Really, it is to increase the presence of creativity in the Sydney streetscape.’
Advice for applicants
Baroni advises interested applicants to consider the specific structure of a hoarding when responding to the EOI.
‘Applicants should think about the fact that it’s a structure that wraps around and protects a construction site and it comes in various dimensions. So being flexible is a good idea and also being creative, thinking about the different ways that their artwork could fit on a hoarding.’
Find more information here.
