The discussion "Why the hullaballoo about Barangaroo? Where Art, Architecture, History, Politics and Economics meet" was held on Sunday 10th March, in the courtyard of the Frances Keevil Gallery, where my solo exhibition "From the Hungry Mile to Barangaroo" continues until Sunday March 24th.
This was a brave experiment.
Neither Frances nor myself have ever put together anything like this before.
It was well worth it! The conversation between the panel members was informative, entertaining and at times passionate and stirring. The audience was enthralled - many of them stayed on afterwards to ask questions, take photos and even get autographs!
Meet the distinguished panel:
From left to right :
.jpg "Barangaroo discussion by Quentin Dempster, Philip Thalis, Dr Jack Mundey AO, Alex Greenwich MP, John McInerney, Dr Graham Jahn AM at the Jane Bennett exhibition at the Frances Keevil Gallery") |
And the facilitator for the event, the renowned investigative journalist, Quentin Dempster.
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From left to right -
Dr Jack Mundey AO, Alex Greenwich MP, John McInerney, Dr Graham Jahn AM, Quentin Dempster, and Frances Keevil, Director of the Frances Keevil Gallery.
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Dr Jack Mundey AO, is the legendary elder statesman of activism. He spoke movingly of the history of the famous Green Bans, in which as secretary of the New South Wales Builders' Labourers Federation (BLF), he led a successful campaign to protect the built and natural environment of Sydney from inappropriate development.
Apart from his unique credentials as a champion of heritage and sustainable urban planning, Jack had played an important part at the beginning of the story of the Barangaroo development.
In 2006, Jack was a member of the jury to choose the design for Barangaroo. The jury had unanimously selected the design by the team headed by Philip Thalis - which bizarrely has now been completely discarded by LendLease, the developers of the site.
Incidentally, LendLease's design had come a distant second in the initial competition.
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Philip Thalis, deep in thought.
Philip Thalis is the principal of Hill Thalis Architecture + Urban Projects.
His design team won the competition to design Barangaroo - yet their design has not been adopted for the actual construction.
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Philip Thalis gave a thought-provoking speech pointing out flaws in both the process and the design.The contrast between the potential of what Barangaroo, could and should have been, and the unfortunate reality was made completely clear to the audience.
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John McInerney, previously for many years a Councillor of the City of Sydney, is now the "President of Australians for Sustainable Development". He has a wealth of experience in how councils and the State government interact throughout the stages of planning and development, and provided startling images of the impact of the Barangaroo buildings which are currently under construction.
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| John McInerney examined many of the peculiarities of the entire planning process of the controversial Barangaroo project, and exposed some very disturbing implications for the future of Sydney. Most people in the audience had not previously grasped the consequences of some of these decisions and were completely gobsmacked. |
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.jpg "Barangaroo discussion by Quentin Dempster, Philip Thalis, Dr Jack Mundey AO, Alex Greenwich MP, John McInerney, Dr Graham Jahn AM at the Jane Bennett exhibition at the Frances Keevil Gallery") |
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Alex Greenwich MP in action.
His speech about the development of Barangaroo being used as a "Trojan Horse" to force the displacement of the residents of Millers Point, was passionate and articulate. |
.jpg "Barangaroo discussion by Quentin Dempster, Philip Thalis, Dr Jack Mundey AO, Alex Greenwich MP, John McInerney, Dr Graham Jahn AM at the Jane Bennett exhibition at the Frances Keevil Gallery") |
| Jack and me |
I can't thank all the participants enough for their wonderful efforts to make this discussion a success!
And I am just as grateful to Lynn and Frances, Directors of the Frances Keevil Gallery for stepping well outside their comfort zone to host this event at the gallery and to organize it so well.
.jpg "Barangaroo discussion by Quentin Dempster, Philip Thalis, Dr Jack Mundey AO, Alex Greenwich MP, John McInerney, Dr Graham Jahn AM at the Jane Bennett exhibition at the Frances Keevil Gallery")
.jpg "Barangaroo discussion by Quentin Dempster, Philip Thalis, Dr Jack Mundey AO, Alex Greenwich MP, John McInerney, Dr Graham Jahn AM at the Jane Bennett exhibition at the Frances Keevil Gallery")
.jpg "Barangaroo discussion by Quentin Dempster, Philip Thalis, Dr Jack Mundey AO, Alex Greenwich MP, John McInerney, Dr Graham Jahn AM at the Jane Bennett exhibition at the Frances Keevil Gallery")
.jpg "Barangaroo discussion by Quentin Dempster, Philip Thalis, Dr Jack Mundey AO, Alex Greenwich MP, John McInerney, Dr Graham Jahn AM at the Jane Bennett exhibition at the Frances Keevil Gallery")
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