Noman’s Landing Art Project in Sydney

Nomanslanding in Sydney, Australia from 2nd April to 3rd May 2015

Nomanslanding is an art project, designed to engage the visitors visiting the site to experience in the footsteps of the soldiers involved in the Great War/ World War 1 and also, to reflect on their sacrifice. It is also to commemorate the Centenary of ANZAC and as a project to connect the Sydney city’s waterway with art in an interesting way.

“Noman’s Land” refers to an area of land between the two enemy trenches that neither side wished to cross/ seize, for fear of being attacked by the enemy from the other side.

The Nomanslanding two floating half domes (pictured above) is situated in Sydney city’s iconic Darling Harbour, Cockle Bay, opposite of the IMAX theatre.

Michael Cohen – Creative Producer from the Sydney Harbour Foreshore Authority (SHFA)

The project itself was initiated by the Sydney Harbour Foreshore Authority (SHFA) Creative Producer and Curator, Michael Cohen (pictured above) and it was developed in partnership with two other Curators – Lorenzo Mele from Glasgow Life/ Merchant City Festival (Scotland) and Katja Aßmann from Urbane Künste Ruhr/ Ruhrtriennale Festival of the Arts (Germany)

It all started in January 2014 last year, when these three curators, Michael, Lorenzo and Katja came together out of the mutual interest to create an urban arts collaboration project inspired by each of their cities connection to waterways and wartime history. They then invited five leading international artists – Robyn Backen, Nigel Helyer and Jennifer Turpin (all from Australia), Graham Eatough (Scotland) and Andre Dekker + Observatorium (Netherlands) to create the project. Together, they came up with an idea to create Nomanslanding (see below).

The dome shape was selected to provide a different and interesting experience to the visitors. Because of its shape, it allows sound to travel from one side of the dome to the other, allowing visitors to “whisper” from one end to another and visitors who are sitting on the opposite end can hear your whisper. It also forces the visitors to be present in the moment by blocking the noise from the outside world with sounds and voices from inside the dome, thus creating its own experience that will be unique to every visitor. Upon entering the dome, phone must be switched off or in silent mode.

According to Michael Cohen, the Creative Producer, instead of letting the visitors be told of the story of World War 1 in a literal way (such as watching a video), the artists decided to do something different that will engage the visitors and allowing them to participate in the experience even if it is just for that brief moment in time.

Before entering the dome, you will enter a tent with about 10-20 life jackets being hung on the wall (pictured above) and next to the life jackets, you will see a form that you need to fill in with your name before you can enter the dome.

After you’ve worn your life jacket and sign your name on the form, there will be a guide who will explain all about the Nomanslanding project, what it is all about and what will happen upon entering the dome. Don’t worry, the life jackets are there just in case you decided to jump into the water. There hasn’t been any previous cases where people drown in this project as they were trying to cross a walkway into the dome.

Peace Has Trembled Here is part of the Nomanslanding project to commemorate those who experienced WW1, through timeline, images and words. See what it’s like for those involved in the war in Gallipoli, Turkey and Europe

The dome itself represents a moment in time. Upon entering the dome, you’ll realise that you see other people also entering the dome from the other side and these people are supposedly representing “your enemy” during wartime. This represents how in a war, you need to pick a side and stick to one side only.

After everyone has taken their position and sat down, you will start to hear sounds, voices and even whispers in different languages to describe the experiences of these soldiers who were preparing to go to war.

The crescendo of war experience intensified as the two half domes slowly moved closer and closer to each other until they finally close together to form a dome. The dome closing is a metaphor of death that is open to your interpretation. It could be a soldier lying down after being shot or dying in a hospital bed.

The whole project concludes with a solemn live performance singing that describes the experience of crossing to the other side, meaning life after death.

War itself is a tragedy, not just a national loss.

It is important to commemorate the lives that were lost due to war and do what we can to prevent war from happening again.

This is a Poppy’s Remembrance Wall which is also part of the Nomanslanding Project. Red poppy was said to grow from the bloodshed that was spilled in the battlefield from World War 1

Michael Cohen said that there had been about 10,000 people so far visiting the site, with more expected to come by the end of the project by May 3rd, 2015 where the numbers are expected to grow up to 15,000-20,000 people.

There is still time for you to come down and check out the project. Nomanslanding in Sydney started in 2nd April and will finish on 3rd May 2015. The opening times are 11am to 7pm with last entry at 6.30pm. It is a free exhibition situated in Cockle Bay, Darling Harbour.

After Sydney, the project will continue on to be showcased in two international art festivals in Scotland and Germany. The next one being in August 2015, where Nomanslanding will be showcased in the Germany’s Rurhrtriennale International Festival of the Arts at Duisburg Ruhrort and then in July 2016, where Nomanslanding will be showcased in the Merchant City Festival of Glasgow, Scotland. Tell your friends who are going to be there to come and check out this exhibition!

Sydney Easter Parade spreading the message of Hope

Today on Easter Monday 6^th April, thousands of Sydneysiders gather together at Hyde Park to celebrate the message of Hope.

Over the last few months, many tragic events had gripped the country with terror, fear, tears and sadness. But it doesn’t have to stay that way. This is where the Easter Parade comes in to bring the timely message of Hope.

The family friendly event was fun-filled with inflatables including a giant slide (picture above), people dressed in animal costumes, live DJ and band performances, food trucks, face painting and a photo booth. There’s something for everyone.

In addition, the highlights include some spectacular performance by an Australian marching band called the Marching Koalas which drew the crowd’s attention and some people were heard yelling “More!”

View their live videos performance here and use #sydneyeasterparade.

On top of that, the parade itself was phenomenal. There was a few hundred odd crowd who participated in the parade and they were divided into 7 groups. Each group carried a different message but builds on the same theme of Hope.

Messages like “Jesus was crucified” and “Jesus Died on the Cross” for you helped explain the ‘real’ meaning of Easter that on this day, a couple thousands of years ago, after 3 days, Jesus who died on the Cross for humanity, rose from the dead and has now risen.

Watch the live parade here and use #sydneyeasterparade.

“Happy Easter!!” yelled some of the paraders to the passerbys who stood by to watch the festivity. There were a lot of pictures and videos being taken to capture this annual parade which covered Market St, George St, Bathurst St and Elizabeth St. These streets are some of Sydney’s major and busiest streets, police were engaged to help stop the traffic to ensure that the parade could go smoothly.

Watch how the police car helped stop the traffic here and use #sydneyeasterparade.

To add further to the ambiance of the festival, speakers were pumping on the background playing some Top 40 music such as Happy by Pharrel Williams (of course), Sky full of Stars by Coldplay and Hall of Fame by The Script.

When asked about why the theme of Hope for the Easter parade in Sydney this year, the main organizer/ Event Director Ben Irawan said “This is a call for the people of Sydney to Choose Hope, not fear. That this city and nation doesn’t have to continue to decay if we all stand as one, and Choose Hope Sydney.”

We agree!

10 signs you’re British living in Australia

I’ve spent the last 25 years living in the UK, so since I moved over to Sydney in January of this year I instantly noticed a difference in how I acted compared to the locals.

When chatting to my expat counterparts it seems I’m not the only one:

1. You actually answer when people say: “How’re you going?”

Back in the UK, when someone asks how you are, they generally expect some sort of response, even if it’s just the generic “well thanks, and you?”

In Australia, it only took a couple of times of me answering this ‘question’ and being stared at like I was mad to realise that in actuality it is just a greeting. Hello would suffice people!

 

2.   Bugs. You hate bugs.

Aussies seem to be oh so calm in the event of a bug emergency (i.e. daily!)

Could you do this? Yes? You’re probably not British.

When I left my flat the other morning to be confronted with a plague of moths of biblical proportions it was the best I could do to close my eyes, hold my breath, and run through them flapping my arms wildly. In fact I probably looked like I was trying to be a moth.

And don’t get me started on THAT spider video: http://www.dailymail.co.uk/video/news/video-1164339/Always-flush-Huge-spider-crawls-toilet.html

 

3.    You’re shocked when people are helpful/friendly.

Perhaps this one has a London bias, but I was totally blown away yesterday when the bus driver actually waited for me after he’d spotted me running down the hill full pelt.

Back home they tend to wait until you’re juuuust within reach of the door before they shut them with a slow shake of the head and drive off, glancing in their rear view mirror with a satisfied smile, their day complete.

 

4.    You don’t understand why/how you’re up at 5am to exercise.

Back in the UK you maybe just make it to the office for an 8am gym class, or drag yourself out of bed at 6.30am for a run.

Somehow, these sneaky Aussies trick you into waking up at 5am in order to be at whatever ‘Beach Booty Bondi Bootcamp’ is on that morning. And to be honest, you get a sick enjoyment from it!

 

5.    You look for alcohol in the supermarket.

A perfectly reasonable assumption (thinks a Brit!)….you’re doing your weekly shop, you’ve got some tasty dishes and just need a bottle or two to go with them. In the UK you can buy alcohol in the supermarkets, in fact they actually tactically place well matched drinks next to the relevant food to entice you into buying it.

But in Australia…No. Naughty. Not allowed! You must make your way to a separate ‘Bottlo’ in order to source your booze. If the intention is to reduce alcohol consumption it definitely works for me through my sheer laziness!

 

6.     You have the ambition to learn to surf the whole time you’re here, but never do….

As a British person when you tell people that you’re moving to Australia – and especially to Sydney – their first comment tends to be: “So are you going to become a surf chick/dude?”

To which the answer is, with the best intentions, “Obviously, yes!”

Then what happens is that you actually get to Australia, try surfing once, annoy half the surfers by getting in their way, end up doing forward somersaults in the surf, losing your bikini bottoms, and ending up with sand in places it definitely should never go!

I’ve been here 2 months and had lesson number 1. It wasn’t pretty:

Nooo not again

 

7.     You still take a jumper out for the evening “just in case”

I went to the Sydney St George open air cinema a few weeks ago to see ‘The Imitation Game’ (brilliant film!) and packed my favourite COS mustard jumper “just in case” it got cold later in the evening.

This is due to my deeply entrenched fear that the weather could change at anytime. Back in Britain we can experience rain, shine, wind, hail, snow all in one day and we get wildly overexcited whenever it is sunny – girls will suddenly appear in public parks in their underwear to sunbathe!

Back to the cinema: reality hit home when come 10pm I was sweating away – although this was in part due to the ponchos we’d had to cover our legs with to protect against fruit bat poo from the trees above! A different world…

 

8.     Drinking in public

You learnt how much stricter the booze laws are in Aus than the UK when you were refused entry to a bar for being ‘giggly’. But you’re still coming to terms with the fact that you can’t drink on the beach. What is that about?

Although, you acknowledge that the rules did perhaps mean that Mardi Gras celebrations in Sydney saw far fewer people urinating in the street than Notting Hill Carnival!

* Mardi Gras in Sydney is a celebration of gay pride, Notting Hill Carnival is a celebration of Afro-Caribbean culture in London.

Sydney Mardi Gras

Notting Hill Carnival

 

9.     You have a sudden moment of realization about just how BIG Australia really is compared to the UK.

10. You’re sunburnt.

We Brits are actually not sunburnt all the time, despite popular belief. But I’ve put this in to keep everyone happy who insists that we are.

Oops

Southern Exposure Art Exhibition at X88 Gallery Chippendale by Anthony Ponzo

Anthony Ponzo first started in music photography, shooting for some of Australia’s biggest music festivals for 5 years, before travelling to South Africa to take shots of the wildlife in safaris and now he’s a wedding photographer “by chance” where his reputation grew through referrals. He recently came back from his Antartica trip with Aurora Expeditions late last year where he travelled with a few other photographers from all around the world to tick Antartica off his “bucket list”. This is where his passion project called the “Southern Exposure” was born.

“Southern Exposure” art gallery exhibition which goes for a week from March 19 to March 26 2015 captured the various ‘faces’ of South Georgia Island and Antartica. He captured the shots of wildlife and the different shades of the landscape, skillfully capturing them at the right moment. Anthony said he barely had to edit these photos as there was no pollution, it was “clean and crisp”.

Check out some of his best shots below:

Here are my personal favorites:

Beatrix: Tell me about the art scene in Chippendale…

Anthony: Chippendale is an upcoming city suburb that is fast becoming a creative hub for artists and photographers. In the last 6-12 months, a lot more cafes, art galleries and photo studios have opened up in the area. I know Chippendale has always been populated with a lot of artists and photographers. The biggest gallery that everyone knows in Chippendale is White Rabbit which exhibits 21st century Chinese contemporary art.

Beatrix: How is your art exhibition going so far?

Anthony: The first day that the exhibition opened, it clashed with Art Month in Redfern/ Chippendale which was a major event that brought in the influx of customers as customers were ‘gallery-hopping’ throughout the area. 500 people walked in through the front door which was something I didn’t expect. I was expecting around 100-200 people. This exceeded my expectations!

Beatrix: That’s great! Tell me more about your Antartica expedition…

Anthony: We flew to Argentina and started from Ushuaia, took a day and a half trip to reach Falkland Islands, from there we sailed to South Georgia where there was no human beings there except the wildlife and from there we took another two and a half days to reach Antartica.

On board the trip were two famous veteran photographers, Josh Holko and Andy Biggs. Josh, a renowned landscape Australian photographer and Andy a US-based photographer who has been in the business for 15-20 years is very well known for his safari shots. Josh and Andy gave us tips and we pretty much bounced off each other for ideas. When we are not shooting, we would gather around in the lounge to compare photos which would be really boring if you are not a photographer!

On the way back, we took the Drake Passage which is the roughest sea in the world and we faced 40 hours of gail force wind and the boat was rocking in 4 axis. The doctor on board had to give out an anti sea sickness tablets to make us drowsy to help us sleep that night. By the time we reached Argentina, I was ready to go home!

This was the journey that we took with Aurora Expeditions:

Beatrix: Any tips for fellow photographers / those who wanted to start out in photography?

Anthony: First, choose something that you really enjoy doing. If you are not passionate about your work, it shows.

Second, get your work out there. I use Instagram and Facebook as well as dedicated photo sharing sites such as Flickr and 500px.

Third, and this is something that every photographer should know. Morning and afternoon are your best times to shoot, 1 hour before sunrise and 1 hour before sunset. It gives you that nice golden light and long shadows as you can see in this photo below:

The next step for Anthony? Taking his art exhibition interstate. “Melbourne will be a good start” he said.

Anthony is selling his prints for $295 unframed. He will be on site tonight at X88 gallery Chippendale to chat about his work.

Tonight is the last night so make sure you pop in and see him.

When in Sydney, check out: Pyrmont

If you are in Sydney, New South Wales on a holiday or a vacation, Pyrmont is definitely one of those places that you need to tick off your bucket list.

Its beauty is still quite understated, when say, compared to Bondi beach or Circular Quay. However Pyrmont is home to the famous Fish Market for fresh and cooked seafood (which is a hit amongst the locals and tourists alike), The Star Casino (if you’re not into gambling, you can still check out the shops boasting some of the world’s most prestigious brands ie. Gucci or dine at chef hat restaurants ie. Momofuku Seiobo), Maritime Museum (the warship from 1956 called “The destroyer” still loaded with guns is an icon and definitely a must see!), Madame Tussauds, Sydney Wildlife and Sydney Aquarium.

Pyrmont is also one of the nicest ‘city suburbs’ in Sydney, having those immaculate looking houses and apartments overlooking the water that gives you some sort of “I-envy-you-live-here” feeling (in a good way!). Note: none of these photos were photoshopped.

Taking a stroll down the Pyrmont Bridge will give you a fantastic view of the CBD overlooking the water with expensive boats and water taxis to boast. Depending on which section you’re coming from, if you came from The Star’s direction, on the opposite end of the bridge, take the stairs or escalators down and walk just a few minutes to the left and you’ll see a few attractions that you can choose from. There are Madame Tussauds, Sydney Wildlife and Sydney Aquarium. On the other side of the bridge, is where you’ll see the Maritime Museum.

Always have been quite curious of the popularity of Madame Tussauds, we went in with not having a lot of expectations to being totally blown away by the life-sized celebrities, athletes and other notable people such as Dalai Lama, all the way to Barack Obama, preserved in perfect wax statues.

We got up close and personal with our favorite artists, taking pictures and sometimes mimicking their famous poses which were good fun! We spent about half an hour there, before we went on our ways seeing what the rest of Pyrmont has to offer. If you are into harbour views and city life atmosphere, then definitely this is an inner city suburb in Sydney that you don’t want to miss.