More than 28,000 art lovers descended on Australia’s largest art fair, Sydney Contemporary, when it first took over the cavernous Carriageworks in 2013. Two years later, it’s back with almost 100 Australian and international galleries showing and – they hope – selling work to an art-hungry Sydney public.
The fair launches with a glitzy opening party on Thursday night and runs until Sunday, but there’s plenty else to see and do over the weekend and throughout Sydney art week. Here are six of our hottest picks.
Trailblazers art trail
Sydneysiders will find art in the most unexpected places if they join Trailblazers, a performance art tour specially curated for Sydney Contemporary by artists Emma Price and Connie Anthes. Dancer Benji Ra and his posse will kick things off at Redfern station and club kid and aspiring drag mum Matt Format will meet walkers on the corner of Regent Street. There’ll be a surprise or two at Regent Street bus stop and Green Carnation op shop before the tour ends with an after-party at the glorious Bearded Tit bar.
- Trailblazers leaves from Redfern station, Sydney, on 10 September
One Central Park: a Green Icon
In 2014 Sydney’s One Central Park won the title of best tall building in the world. With its green walls, sun-reflective heliostats and cantilevered sky gardens, the residential tower is a sustainable urban dream, hailed as the future of city design. How did a building like this get made in Sydney? As part of Sydney design festival, this talk on One Central Park will reveal its history, development and the aspirations behind the project. The conversation will focus on the project team – a dedicated collection of developers, consultants, builders and dreamers – who negotiated the physical, social and sustainable demands of the site.
- One Central Park: a Green Icon is at Brickfields, Sydney, on 10 September
Spring 1883 at the Establishment
Spring 1883 first sprang up at the Windsor hotel in Melbourne as a counterpoint to Melbourne art fair in 2014. Artists including Tom Polo took over entire suites to present their work to an excited response from the Melbourne art set. A year on, it takes over the Establishment hotel in Sydney’s CBD with London, Mumbai and New York gallerists showing as well as Australia’s finest. The fair’s tagline, “by galleries for galleries”, belies the fact that it’s a great place for the casual art lover to nose around, too. Just don’t get stuck in the lift.
- Spring 1883 is at the Establishment Hotel from 10 to 13 September
Art and dine
Sydneysiders know their art, but it’s fair to say they appreciate food and drink even more. No surprise then that the Art and Dine program is central to City of Sydney’s art week. Archibald-winning artist Fiona Lowry’s cocktail, Pink Frost, designed with a mixologist, will be served at bars and restaurants across the city. The Apollo restaurant, Longrain and Riley St Garage will offer arty dishes over the week and Longrain will also open a pop-up restaurant, in addition to their new restaurant Subcontinental, onsite at Carriageworks.
- Art and Dine is available at venues across Sydney from 7 to 13 September
Collette Dinnigan: Unlaced tour
Collette Dinnigan is known for her signature French lace slips and lingerie and hand-beaded dresses sought out by clientele including Taylor Swift, Angelina Jolie and the Duchess of Cambridge. In 1995 Dinnigan was the first Australian to be invited to show at Paris fashion week. A big step for the woman who was selling lingerie on William Street, Paddington, only five years previously. A retrospective of Dinnigan’s collections has just opened at the Powerhouse museum, with the show’s curators offering daily tours as part of Sydney design festival.
- Collette Dinnigan: Unlaced tour is at Powerhouse museum until13 September
Sarika Gupta: Left of Centre Stage
Doctor and documentary photographer Sarika Gupta is one of 75 emerging artists whose work will be displayed at the Sydney edition of the Other Art Fair, Britain’s largest artist-led fair. Volunteering as a medic in the developing world while working towards a specialism in obstetrics and gynaecology, Gupta began taking photos on her iPhone as a way of documenting the (often confronting) experiences she encountered. Her latest body of work, Left of Centre Stage, includes images from her travels to India, Burma and Papua New Guinea, where she worked to improve reproductive healthcare and train local workers for future service.
- The Other Art Fair is at Ambush project space, Chippendale, from 10 to 13 September
