OPEN SPACE! by Emily Floyd is a series of coloured sculptural text elements forming the word open, spanning thirty meters along Curtin Place with the largest measuring six and a half meters high in order to be visible from Australia Square plaza.

As curator, Amanda devised an artist brief in collaboration with Toga and Johnson Pilton Walker architects that required artists to engage with the neighbouring Australia Square’s iconic modernist art and architecture. It encouraged artists to create a work that activates place through an imaginative use of physical space, to play with the submerged nature of Curtin Place, and to entice the public to linger in Curtin Place as a destination not just a pedestrian thoroughfare. Emily Floyd was selected from a shortlist of exceptional international and Australian artists proposed by Amanda for the commission.

OPEN SPACE! is positioned in a way that intelligently articulates the physical attributes of its submerged site. Each element plays a distinctive role in activating the space: the ‘N’ is placed on George Street as a marker announcing the entrance to the site, the ‘O’ creates a seat at the base of the stairs, the ‘P’ stands tall, looking over Australia Square wall towards Alexander Calder’s Crossed Blades and Sol Le Witt’s mural, while the ‘E’ leans against the wall identifying the boundary. 

Australia Square is one of Sydney’s most successful and well-loved public spaces. Floyd’s work recalls the sense of play in Calder’s Le Grand Cirque, Harry Seidler’s colourful sunshades that once activated the plaza and mid-century Bauhaus textiles and toys created by Anni Albers and Alma Seidhoff-Buscher, highlighting the important role of women, children and play in modern art history.

Amanda worked closely with Emily Floyd and her team at Monash Art Projects, Johnson Pilton Walker architects and Toga, to drive, facilitate and manage the artwork development through to completion.

Artist Representation: Anna Schwartz Gallery

Images: John Gollings, Brett Boardman