Burning of the Garden Palace, Sydney 1882, Gibbs, Shallard and Company, detail (National Library of Australia, http://nla.gov.au/nla.obj-135832272/view)
The second of three symposia, Spot Fire 2: Spectacle, manifestation, performance is a Kaldor Public Art Projects and Art Gallery of NSW event, curated by Ross Gibson, Centenary Professor of Creative and Cultural Research, University of Canberra, and Jonathan Jones, in anticipation of the 32nd Kaldor Public Art Project, Jonathan Jones’s barrangal dyara (skin and bones), which will transform the site of the historic Garden Palace in Sydney’s Royal Botanic Garden from 17 September to 3 October 2016.
Housing the Sydney International Exhibition of 1879-80, the ostentatious Garden Palace completed the Colonial Architect of NSW, James Barnet’s, vision for Sydney. Gesturing out to Middle Harbour and the heads, it was the city’s way to boast of its burgeoning colonial enterprise. But the Garden Palace’s magnificence was fleeting, lasting only three years. In 1882, in an ultimate spectacular display, the palace and all its contents were destroyed by an intense fire that took only a few hours to obliterate everything except the gates at the south-west entrance to the grounds. Spot Fire 2: Spectacle, manifestation, performance considers the history of spectacle in Sydney and interrogates the grandiose cultural vision that promoted the Australian colonies to the world.
When: Saturday 16 July 2016, 10am-4pm
Where: Domain Theatre, Art Gallery of NSW, Art Gallery Road, The Domain
Book here: https://spotfire2.eventbrite.com.au
Find out more: this event is FREE, and bookings are essential. Contact Kaldor Public Art Projects, antonia@kaldorartprojects.org.au or 9351 1180. For more information, see the Kaldor Public Art Projects website.
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