Public art in our city isn’t just grand monuments – it comes in different guises and sizes. Discover 6 artworks you might miss if you’re not watching closely. 1. The distance …
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British artist Tracey Emin is best known for bold works of monumental self-confession, but her new artwork for Sydney is a world away from this approach. Her public artwork The …
The NSW Government’s lockout laws have had an impact on how people in Sydney spend their evenings. That’s why we’ve given more than $360,000 in funding to live music venues, …
A City of Sydney library membership is free if you live in NSW. Here are 10 things you can do for free with a library card: 1. Watch movies and documentaries There …
As the weather outside heats up and people swarm our harbour, there’s no better time to get comfortable than inside a gallery. Plenty of quality work is showing over the …
If you’ve ever encountered an artwork and left feeling a little perplexed, you’re not alone. This is why we’ve created a ‘cheat sheet’ to prepare you for the world premiere …
2017 marks the 175th anniversary of the formation of the City of Sydney, the 2nd oldest council in Australia. To celebrate, we’ve commissioned Sydney composer Austin Buckett to write a …
The Opera House’s glimmering sails and familiar curves of the Sydney Harbour Bridge will soon be joined by a new landmark in our city centre. Conceived by Japanese artist and …
NAIDOC Week (2 to 9 July), which stands for National Aborigines and Islanders Day Observance Committee, is held in the first full week of July. It is a time to …
Tony Albert’s major Hyde Park artwork casts light on Australia’s dark history – the treatment of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander service people when they returned home from combat.
To get you a little more acquainted with our public art collection, City Art, we’re running a series of short interviews with Sydney’s cultural thought leaders. We want to know …
Here are 5 things you need to know about HEARD•SYD before you see it in person. 1. Before you ask… No, this artist is not the former frontman of the Bad Seeds. …
By bringing together local and international artists, Sydney Festival helps us ‘travel’ as far as the Amazon, the far north of the globe, or even deeper into Sydney, experiencing the …
Delving deep into the stories behind Sydney’s most beautiful post-war architecture has never been easier. We’ve just added a new walk to our Culture Walks app – so bring your …
We’re looking for artists to create unlikely pauses in the underused spaces of the inner city. As part of our City Centre Public Art Plan, which will enhance the changing …
Sydney Town Hall is much more than a pretty façade. Its cascading stairs, lovingly remembered by many as a meeting or late night hangout spot, have seen more than a …
The evolution of great cities around the world has been reflected in a rich fabric of fountains, monuments, sculptures and other works of art in squares and public spaces. It’s …
What is ‘tutting’ exactly? Buzzfeed calls it “like breakdancing but with more arm stuff going on” but in reality it’s a hypnotic dance form that draws inspiration from the the hieroglyphics …
Just like in Melbourne, where the local comedy festival is traditionally housed in the civic heart of the city, Sydney Comedy Festival is moving into Sydney Town Hall. For punters …
Which public artwork makes you stop and look up? Some like Jason Wing’s piercing blue cherubs of In Between Two Worlds, which light up an unassuming Chinatown alleyway (shown above). …
Sydney Film Festival is here, so while you might still like to set aside at least a couple of hours to salivate over the huge list of captivating films, we’ve …
How do we find a sense of purpose? How should we be living? These are the sorts of thought-provoking questions that will be discussed by almost 500 local and international …
YININMADYEMI Thou didst let fall by Aboriginal artist Tony Albert is a significant new artwork launched last month in Hyde Park. You can listen to the incredible personal story behind …
Artist Tracey Emin’s first acquaintance with Sydney, almost two decades ago, was emotional. Having begun her visit with a relationship break-up, she recalls her walks around Woolloomooloo were filled with …
The biggest annual event for art lovers is upon us again. There’s no better time than Art Month to discover an emerging artist, become a burgeoning collector and have a …
Getting a behemoth like Maser’s ‘Higher Ground’ ‘off the ground’ is no mean feat. In their second year with Sydney Festival, Laura Pike and Anne-Louise Dadak of Province were part …
Veteran street artist Numskull has just painted his biggest wall to date. His mural Here, Now created as part of Art & About Sydney, reminds the hurried crowds of Pitt …
At last month’s City Conversation, Graham Jahn AM, Director of City Planning, Development and Transport delivered an astute and rousing vision for Sydney. In case you missed it, you can …
Watch Australia’s most highly awarded pavement artist, Jenny McCracken and Dutch internet sensation Leon Keer create an incredible 3D artwork on the forecourt of Custom’s House as part of the eighth …
On 2 November, more than 50 of the city’s most architecturally inspiring buildings will open their doors. An event from Sydney Living Museums (formally Historic Houses Trust) – an organisation …
A new public artwork honouring the services and bravery of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander servicemen and women has began in Hyde Park. This work is part of the City’s …
A haunting new photograph exhibition officially opened by Lord Mayor Clover Moore at Customs House boldly confronts one of the biggest global events of our time. The Story of Our …
From colonial edifices, grand fountains and murals by Indigenous artists, to kinetic sculptures and neon buildings, the preservation work of our public art collection has our City Art team up …
It’s no secret that the reality of finding affordable artist space in inner Sydney is more and more an Odyssean task. We’re not divorced from the reality this represents for …
Here at the City, we have a strong view that art should be an intrinsic part of Sydney and contribute to our everyday lives. The much-loved annual Art & About initiative …
Baz Luhrmann’s bringing back the sequins and taffeta of his 1992 classic in a world premiere of Strictly Ballroom The Musical. Rehearsals are well underway for the production, which features …
Care to walk our city’s hidden spaces in search for birdcalls, whimsical shapes and homages to jazz musicians, or ruminate about early colonial monuments which once caused opposition? Or, perhaps …
The humble library is many things. A fixture in most suburbs, it can be a place of quiet reflection for some or a chamber of paralytic terror for others (those …
Starting this year and for each of the upcoming three Biennales, the City of Sydney will commission a permanent work for our public art collection, City Art. If you’re thinking …
We may not have Copenhagen’s magnificent Black Diamond library, or an outdoor collection where the books are catalogued according to the feeling they arouse – but we do have a …
This year commemorates 100 years since the start of the First World War. It is thought that around 1,000 of the 450,000 Australians who fought in WWI alone were Aboriginal …
The Year of the Horse is fast approaching. As a large portion of our Asian community celebrates one of the biggest events of the year, we’re excited to see the …
We spend a lot of time talking about festivals and new arts and cultural projects, but the memorable and enduring urban design and architecture that makes up much of the …
Arresting slow-moving images of an Aboriginal woman draped in cloth are currently being projected onto the grand, 20-metre sandstone façade of the Australian Museum until early 2014. The muted, sepia-toned …
We are in the most important race of the century – a sprint to create a low-carbon city by 2030. Our target is pretty ambitious – a 70% reduction in …
The annual spring event takes art outside the white box confines of a traditional gallery and uses the city’s parks, laneways, squares and railways as canvas. Our hope is that …
Ever thought about what that little green man that blinks you to walk looks like in Dresden or Montreal? The universally rendered ‘man’ is both symbolically identical across the world …
Over the next ten years, our City Centre and George Street in particular, will be transformed through one of the most significant public works projects to occur in Australia in generations. In …