BARANGAROO MAKES AN ARTISTIC STATEMENT
29 Jun 2017
A series of multi-layered glass installations featuring native flora will beautify Barangaroo as part of the Lendlease Art Advisory Panel's plan to create the largest permanent public artwork collection on the site.
Commissioned by Lendlease under the Barangaroo Public Art and Cultural Plan, the artwork dubbed Shadows by German artist Sabine Hornig will be installed across the 170m walkway that connects the three International Towers Sydney at Barangaroo.
Due to be finished by the end of 2018, the vast site-specific installation will see Hornig’s photographic images of indigenous Sydney flora layered on to high curtains of multi-coloured glass walls in the walkways and passages between the towers, providing a visual axis for pedestrians traversing the site. 
The Lendlease Art Advisory Panel selected Ms Hornig from four local and international artist submissions, following a consideration of more than 200 artists for the Through Site Link project.
Lendlease Art Advisory Panel Chair Simon Mordant AM said Ms Hornig’s proposal was a standout on many levels, including her engagement with the public domain and her connection between art, architecture and nature. “We were also impressed with Sabine’s engagement with the indigenous narrative of the site,” he said.
The completed work will form part of the wider body of Australian and international public artworks commissioned for Barangaroo by Lendlease under the Barangaroo Public Art and Cultural Plan, which was announced in 2015 and established the framework for a multi-million dollar investment in public art and cultural programming across Barangaroo.
In developing her work, Ms Hornig spent time in and around Sydney, sourcing imagery that is native to the areas surrounding Sydney Harbour. The final designs in the artwork feature native plants, transparent shadows and reflections that are combined to create a botanical discovery route along the through-site-link. 
The transparent glass in the artwork reflects what Ms Hornig describes as “beautiful iridescent shadows” that will reflect the viewers’ own faces and bodies.
“Pedestrians become participants in the art and people will literally walk through the imagery,” she said.
Images: Courtesy Sabine Hornig and VG-Bild Kunst, Bonn 2017 courtesy Sabine Hornig, Berlin and Tanya Bonakdar Gallery, New York
