Here is Here. And Everywhere.

Tobias Rehberger’s artwork Here is Here. And Everywhere. responds to a brief to connect people and places along the main thoroughfare in the growing neighbourhood of Green Square.

Through our public art program, the City of Sydney has ensured creativity is embedded in Green Square’s public spaces through the Green Square Public Art Strategy, authored and curated by Amanda Sharrad.

The series of four colourful and playful elements include seating, plants and light, and create delightful places for visitors and residents to enjoy and engage with throughout the town centre.

The light of the spheres is timed to come on when the sun rises in the places that each art element relates to, referencing the global aspect of us all living and coming together under the same sun,”
artist Tobias Rehberger said.

Connecting viewers to different parts of the world, the golden spheres slowly illuminate when the sun rises in 4 international locations:

• The installation at Green Square Library Plaza will light up when the sun rises in Grasmere in the UK’s Lake District
• The piece at the future Woolwash Park will glow when the sun comes up at Irkeshtam Port in Xinjiang, China
• The sculpture at the small park on the corner of Zetland and Defries avenues will light up at sunrise on Australia’s Heard Island
• The work at the corner of Joynton and Zetland avenues are connected to daylight hours in Tapon del Darien, Yaviza in Panama.

The lights dim when the sun sets in the international locations the installations are linked to.

The places highlighted in the work have been chosen by the artist to represent Green Square residents’ countries of origin. Panama represents the many and varied communities living in the area.

 “Each sculpture creates a place that brings people together. A kind of meeting point, a place to hang out. While their similarities make sure that the sculptures are perceived as one project, their individual shapes and colourings represent the diversity of the people living in Green Square.

“Simultaneously viewing the sun in the Lake District whilst sitting on a sculptural object in Green Square in Sydney accents a commonality in the different, typical of contemporary life in the most positive way.

“Playing with romantic notions and aspirations, the work triggers one’s imagination of far away and exotic places while creating awareness of the actual site. This everyday experience plays on one’s fantasies whilst demonstrating geographical facts in real time, all without leaving the neighbourhood.

“While each artwork is predominantly painted in its own colour scheme that relates to its specific spot, a small part of it features an odd colour that is also found on one of the others, which brings together colours from the other three sculptures.

“Here is Here. And Everywhere. acknowledges history and community, addressing the site with humour in a way that people can easily relate to. It connects us with different places in the world, by showing us different views of this one big object that is so essential to our lives: the sun.”

A development application for the artwork has been lodged for assessment.

Tobias Rehberger is a leading artist of his generation. His internationally recognised influential career spans over 30 years, with solo exhibitions in major museums and galleries throughout the world, and artworks held in their collections.

He won the best artist Golden Lion award at the 53^rd Venice Biennale for creating the remarkable permanent installation in the Italian Pavilion café. Rehberger has successfully delivered a prolific number of engaging, colourful and participatory public artworks that are influenced by 20^th century design and architecture, and often investigate multiculturalism in a play with audience perception.

His art demonstrates the highest level of artistic excellence, with an aesthetic appeal that makes it alluring, accessible and inviting.