Client

Overview

At Sydney Football Stadium, the intersection between art, sport, and culture intertwines, creating a rare opportunity to bring the community together in a meaningful way. Public artwork, which prioritises, celebrates, and educates by engaging with diverse audiences, including children and their families, is fundamental to community growth.

Each end of the stadium is separated and distinguished by two different designs symbolising land and water – the land through geometric diamond designs taken from nature, and the bubble of concentric circles for water.

Through his artwork, Tony Albert is embedding the idea of Country on top of the stadium. The two ends of the stadium are separated and distinguished by two different designs representing land and water. This creates an element of friendly yet fierce competition.

The design of the large stadium wings is based on a typographical map of Country from the local area surrounding SFS, embedding the idea of Country in the stadium. Attention is given to the Indigenous context of the land, the natural environment, and to the architecture, while taking into consideration the numerous sightlines and entrances to the stadium.

Goals

This artwork represents a commitment to acknowledging Indigenous Country in landmark infrastructure that reflects contemporary Indigenous Australia for sports and entertainment audiences here in Australia, and to international audiences too.

This artwork brings sports and art together in an accessible, inclusive and positive manner, with the symbols in the two different designs representing land and water, and a friendly yet fierce competition.

It’s very rare to see art so seamlessly integrated into the fabric of sporting infrastructure, this artwork is not only a bold, meaningful and memorable artwork, it is a true reflection of the spirit of Australian sporting culture.

Process

Cultural Capital collaborated with Tony to implement his design onto the stadium seating layout. Each seat was treated as a pixel and careful consideration was taken to render his design in a way that maintained the integrity and vision of the artist.

In collaboration with COX Architecture, this design was rendered in 3D and final adjustments made to the design.

Cultural Capital produced the final drawing package that labelled each seat with its corresponding colour, enabling the seating supplier to install the design.