Thursday 13 May 2010

Barangaroo, art


This giant spider and web are located in an abandoned stairway in the sandstone wall at Barangaroo. This part of Hickson Road is now officially named The Hungry Mile, recognising its nickname during the Great Depression. It came from harbourside workers lined up along the road opposite the wharves as foremen chose the casual labourers for the day and those without work were often left hungry. I had trouble finding information about this artwork and then noticed a sign in the corner for Guerrilla Gardeners, which was a short-lived reality television, gardening makeover show. The gardeners would spruce up certain parts of the city that they feel had been neglected and created controversy with local councils because they did the work without permission and the show highlighted the council’s neglect. Strangely, this doesn't appear in the website's list of episodes but the show was axed, so maybe the work on this project never screened. Without regular maintenance, some of the plants on the stairway look rather neglected, just like another of their installations at Moore Park.

15 comments:

  1. All very well to leave these guerrilla art works, but thought needs to be directed to what will happen in the future. Regardless, I like it.

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  2. A fascinating creation! Certainly gives the old wall some arty interest!

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  3. Maybe the gardners were too scared of the giant spider to come anywhere close to the plants.

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  4. That's a cool find! A pity the Guerilla Gardeners show was axed as I enjoyed it. Although 'Andrew' makes a good point!

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  5. If I were a council member, I'd be happy for free makeovers. Ah well. Politics…

    I like the giant spider and web though!

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  6. I rather liked that show, it was so Aussie too, getting up and getting on to what needed to be done. Public art is often overlooked by budget minded governments but does add interest to our day.

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  7. Jim -- thank you for this bit of history -- it is a very interesting picture. I appreciate that you let us know there are parts of your beautiful area that weren't and aren't Paradise for everybody. That's surely true here we we are staying right now, but it is hard to post about the downsides.

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  8. I've lived here all my life and never knew bout the Hungry mile. Shame on me!

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  9. Pretty! This has been an extremely wonderful article.
    Thanks for providing this info.

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