Page 45 - Prnt21 magazine Jan-Feb 2023

At Large | Building Wraps |
WHAT YOU NEED TO KNOW
For wide-format printers, construction work in a market such as the City of Sydney is not only lucrative, but also prestigious. In high traffic CBD areas the works are seen by hundreds of thousand of pedestrians. It’s important to know what’s required.
The Woolworth’s Ancient Tracks artwork is only one of a number
of new pieces commissioned
by the City Council to adorn building sites. It’s part of a creative hoardings programme that provides opportunities for artists
to showcase their work on a large scale in highly visible locations. Developers with construction sites in high traffic areas must cover their hoardings in art by a living Australian artist, or historical images relevant to the area where the hoarding is located.
The city has professional advisors for printers and developers when it comes
to creative hoardings. A comprehensive list of conditions means it is imperative to develop a working relationship with the Council, even before design elements are created.
In keeping with the city’s green ethos, all substrates (mesh and fabric) must be recyclable or reusable. PVC and polyethylene flex display fabric is the preferred material for the display of graphics. In addition, UV-stabilised or latex-based inks are mandated for printing the building wraps, with consideration given for long-term durability, appearance and maintenance requirements
to ensure an acceptable quality appearance is maintained.
reinstated the utility and practical advantages of print.
The most noticeable and the most significant building print wrap in the past year was on the Council-owned Woolworth’s building opposite Town Hall. The huge piece of indigenous art, Ancient Tracks by Toby Bishop, was billed as the largest carbon-free fabric installation. According to Lord Mayor Clover Moore, the work was unanimously selected from around 180 submissions, that came in submission to a request to reflect on the notion of an expansive green landscape.
“It’s a powerful symbol of the City’s ongoing commitment to a greener, more sustainable city, and to our ongoing work to support our creative communities and enhance Sydney’s cultural life,” she said.
CARBON NEUTRAL
The landmark project was printed and installed by Mesh Direct, a Balmain- based grand format printer that is able to claim 100 per cent carbon neutral production. The company maintains the Woolworths wrap was one of the largest it has completed. The huge expanse was broken up into eight
panels and attached to the scaffold by 2000 cable ties.
The project began prior to Christmas 2021, and in addition
to battling Covid restrictions, the project had to sustain a year of record rains and floods, as well as 120km per hour winds. The foot traffic through Sydney meant the installation had to be completed between 10pm and 6am each night, with traffic controllers on-site to guarantee the safety of everyone involved. At 3500sqm in size, the safety of pedestrians and workers was paramount.
For the artist the installation was recognition of long-term connection to country, even if the city of today bears little relationship to the land prior to modern-day Australia. Some of Sydney’s main thoroughfares, such as George Street, Oxford Street and King Street in Newtown, follow Aboriginal tracks that served as trading routes between farmed grasslands or bountiful fishing areas.
“My artwork pays homage to Indigenous navigation and land management, reflecting and speaking to a vibrant evolving global city,” Toby Bishop said.
Opposite top
Printing Sydney: Mesh Direct produced the huge wrap for the Woolworth’s building
Opposite
Enjoying observing: Patrick Howard, Print21’s editor-at-large
REMEMBRANCE OF CITIES PAST
The central business district (CBD) of Sydney is a continual work
in progress. Whole city blocks are demolished and built up in
a never-ending cycle of creation and destruction. As a long-term metropolitan I’ve worked and lived in the city most of my life. Every corner between Circular Quay and Broadway has its memories of wins and losses, triumph and disaster for me. But many of the corners are no longer recognisable.
Amid the dust, noise and hammering of city development it’s sometimes hard to remember what is being torn down, what was there before. Black and white photos from the City of Sydney Archives provide a snapshot of how it
used to be, replete with images
of generations of pedestrians and long gone modes of transport.
Photographic collections
in the Archive encapsulate
the City’s history. From 1900, the City Building Surveyor’s department used photography
to document the city’s
profound transformation. The ‘Condemnation and Demolition Books’ alone comprise almost 5000 photographs and associated glass plate negatives of buildings earmarked for demolition up to 1920. There are collections dedicated to major thoroughfares, department stores, and different types
of businesses, transport and industries, including printers.
More than 95,000 photos have been digitised and catalogued, and are for printers and developers to use.
Creative hoardings along
the construction sites are now decorated with wide-format black and white printed images of historical photos, dream-like images of Sydney from bygone days. Long vanished buildings, long dead people, yesteryear trams and autos, are a time journey that can stop you in your tracks – well, they often stop me.
JANUARY/FEBRUARY 2023 45