Photograph courtesy of Sydney Contemporary Sydney Contemporary, Australasia’s leading contemporary art fair, returns to Carriageworks from 7-10 September, featuring the country’s largest and most diverse gathering of galleries. Spanning four days of curated exhibitions and curated programming that appeals to collectors, art lovers, and contemporary art novices alike, guests are invited to explore the work of over 500 artist from 96 galleries, alongside restaurants, cafes and bespoke bars.
As a special offer, purchase your tickets today and receive a 25% discount – simply click this link and use the code SYDCON25 at checkout.
Prior to Sydney Contemporary’s launch on Thursday, September 7, the fair’s curator of installation contemporary and director of galleries, Sarah Hetherington, shares her 2023 must-sees.
Lindy Lee, One Bright Pearl, 2021
Installation Contemporary
Inspired by the ancient Chinese story of the Dragon’s Ball – a symbol of universal wholeness, wellbeing, wisdom, and spiritual power, Lee’s two-metre diameter sculpture will welcome attendees to the Fair. During the day, the work, with its mirror surface, absorbs and reflects the ever-changing atmosphere of its surrounds – people, the sky, Carriageworks. At night, the work will be internally lit to allow light to flow out, casting subtle beams back into the world.
Abdul-Rahman Abdullah, Dead Horse, 2022
Installation Contemporary
A sculpture that is singular in its representation yet abundant in its evocations – presence and loss, peace and pathos. Abdul-Rahman Abdullah’s intent is to create a poetic encounter with a dead horse that is still life and allegory – a thought-provoking installation atypical in an art fair environment.
Dhambit Munuŋgurr, bark paintings and larrakitj
Roslyn Oxley9 Gallery, Booth F05
Under Yolŋu Law, the ‘Land’ extends to include sea, and both land and sea are connected in a cycle of life which is celebrated through ceremony, song, sacred imagery and art. In 2005 Dhambit Munuŋgurr was badly injured in a car accident and sought permission by the community to use commercial acrylic paints with traditional media, given her lack of physical mobility. Working almost exclusively in a cobalt blue palette and using figurative elements including sea creatures, Munuŋgurr depicts stories with vibrancy, intensity and playfulness. This striking body of work will bring an electric and spectacular energy to the Fair.
Antony Gormley, Slump II, 2019
Galleria Continua, Booth F01
Presenting a body of work in Sydney for the first time since 2010, the renowned British artist will exhibit a series of 8-10 major cast iron sculptures including blockworks, floor pieces and standing figures. Made often using his own body as a cast, the works reveal Gormley’s ongoing interest in the human experience and our relationship to space and energy, nature and the cosmos. Uncompromising in their presence, these powerful works will resonate against the architecture and scale of Carriageworks.
Riana Head-Toussaint, conduKt0r, 2023
Performance Contemporary, Art Night, Thursday, 7 September 2023, 6pm
A major highlight of the Fair’s Art Night program, choreographer and performer Riana Head-Toussaint will explore and interact with the Fair’s social and architectural conditions – collecting, reflecting and refracting these charged dimensions through movement and live sound production. Her practice is largely informed by her movement language and embodied experience.
Grace Wright, Limitless Abandon In The Sight Of One Who Knows, 2023
Gow Langsford Gallery, Booth C02, 3:33 Art Projects
New Zealand artist Grace Wright’s large-scale abstract paintings reveal an intense layering of gesture, colour, overlapping forms and rhythm. Whilst wholly abstract, fleeting references to historical painting or fantasy games are present, creating new worlds for viewers to explore.
Jazz Money, It’s Always Been Always 2023
The Commercial, Booth F16
Jazz Money (Wiradjuri) is a poet and artist who makes works across installation, digital, performance, film and print. Showing at the Fair for the first time, Jazz will present a golden yellow version of their circular neon text piece – It’s Always Been Always. The artist’s practice explores questions of narrative and legacy: place memory, First Nations memory, colonial memory and the stories that we tell to construct national and personal identities.
Jon Rafman, Nine Eyes of Google Street View (slideshow), 2008–2020
Installation Contemporary
Acclaimed Canadian artist, Jon Rafman will present a 65-minute silent video, Nine Eyes of Google Street View comprising images depicting the bizarre world we live in. Captured anonymously by the spider-eyed ball atop a Google van, the endless quest to photograph every street in the free world in 2007 is meticulously assembled by Rafman in this major work, revealing haunting, amusing and everyday moments.
Presented at Carriageworks, Australia’s largest multi-arts centre, Sydney Contemporary will run from Thursday, 7 September – Sunday, 10 September 2023. Tickets are now on sale.
