Sprawl

Sprawl

Installation (created in collaboration with Mike Rossi under the name 'Unconscious Collective') / 2013

Sprawl was originally conceived as a playful response to the ongoing gentrification of inner city Sydney. The first incarnation of Sprawl occurred in September 2013 as part of In The Night Garden Arts Festival, on a street in an industrial precinct of Sydney that is currently undergoing a process of gentrification.

The process of building the installation mimics urban sprawl, as the miniature city spreads outward and upward like a malignant organism.  Each cardboard box, emblazoned with its own brand, is a reminder of the consumer economy that drives these urban processes. Installed within an urban environment, Sprawl metastasizes in the hidden nooks and crannies of a city, as a form of ‘infill’ development - a common component of the gentrification process. 

Sprawl aims to highlight concerns about rapid population growth and consumer-driven economies on a planet with finite space and resources.

Update: As of 2018, the warehouses Sprawl was installed outside of have been approved for the building of apartments, replacing the creative spaces and communities which once existed inside.