Sydney Stories

With Sydney Stories, we propose to build a series of site-specific installations and performances recreating moments of resistance, futile or otherwise, from Sydney’s past.  We are taking the phrase “resistance is futile” and placing it in the context of the world we live in. It is futile to resist our history, just as it is futile to resist future change.  

We are also tying in to the second sub theme: Converging and Diverging realities. Each site will allow the audience and general public to experience Sydney’s history in a way that reflects on not just the bygone events, but also the contemporary context of these stories.

Each of the four performance sites would include two components: a small, enclosed structure called a “time pod” which fits 5-7 people at a time, and a larger performance that occurs in the historic space outside of the time pod.  Each pod will enclose an audio-visual installation recreating a moment of resistance from the past.  Some will be interactive and some will run independently (simple playback). The role of the performance occurring outside the pod is to recreate, reenact, reconfigure, and even “riff” on the past event, placing it in the present.

The end result will have the effect of small pockets of time distortion, linking the audience to the history of the land they are walking on.

We propose to build four installations in harbour area of Sydney based on these locations/events:

1.      1932, Harbour Bridge opening: Francis de Groot, on horseback, crashes the ceremony and preemptively cuts the ribbon with a sword.

2.      1908, Jack Johnson/Tommy Burns boxing match, Sydney Stadium, Rushcutters Bay: Highlight issues of racism, violence, and the savvy business acumen of Hugh Donald Macintosh, who made a killing on the sensational fight.

3.      1929-1932, Great Depression/The Hungry Mile, Millers Point/Barangaroo: Wharf workers struggle to find work during economic downturn, unable to resist their connection to both global economic disaster and local corruption. 

4.      1808: The Rum Rebellion, Government House: Governor William Bligh was deposed, essentially because he ordered an end to the practice of paying the police and army in rum and ordered the shutting down of illegal stills.  Bligh was allegedly found hiding  behind his bed.