BY MARK BOSCH
One of the stranger protests I’ve been to – Tuesday night’s “counter-projection event” at the Sydney Opera House – felt nevertheless appropriate in this, our age of absurdities.
Manufactured from a motley mix of main actors, none of whom are strangers to controversy — shock jock Alan Jones, NSW Premier Gladys Berejiklian, Racing NSW, and the UNESCO World Heritage Site itself — the grassroots protest drew what felt like a couple-thousand concerned citizens to Bennelong Point to shine phones, torches, laser pointers, and other illuminating objects onto the sails.
Though the Everest Cup projection had initially been moved forward in a half-hearted attempt to avoid the hubbub, protesters had to wait until 7.45pm for the event to finally begin. When it did, an extraordinary din of boos and chants ensued. BYO lights danced over the sails, mocking the morally bereft promotional display in a manner that felt playful and subversive.
The opportunity for such playful subversion was no doubt the draw for many: fun-sized, DIY democracy. That Alan Jones had been involved probably helped this along, too. Or was it the opportunity for novel engagement with an intimate cultural icon? Or was it simply for the thrill of throwing bon mots into thin air? Each of these angles, not just of this protest but activism more generally, are satisfying and politically fulfilling, no doubt — but only momentarily. What’s not so satisfying is their broader context.
One commentator drew a lucid comparison with the proposed Apple Store in Melbourne’s Federation Square. Roadways, pedestrian thoroughfares, public squares…such spaces have been co-opted by corporate interests for a long time, now. Advertising that erodes the quality of public space is nothing new. Were it not for the opera house itself, the traction this protest gained would seem almost inscrutable. But that’s just it — this “exquisitely Sydney stoush” centred around all that this inimitable building represents. What does it represent, anyway?
The Opera House becoming a billboard is entirely consistent with the increasing commodification and enclosure of public space in Australian cities. Billboards, ads on the side of everything, footpath dining, screens blasting & Apple stores in public squares.
— Natalie Osborne (@DrNatOsborne) October 5, 2018
Unfortunately, it’s not as simple as “the importance of the arts” or somesuch. Late last month, there came reports that the NSW Arts Minister Don Harwin redirected hundreds of thousands of dollars in grant funding to provide a once-off grant of $1 million for the Sydney Symphony Orchestra, which, of course, calls the opera house its home. The numerous brave, innovative projects from artists across New South Wales that could have been (or, at the very least, could be much, much braver and more innovative if given the full $660,000 for which they’d been recommended to the State Government) were at the front of my mind for much of Tuesday evening.
Indeed, I just couldn’t shake the feeling that we were all ever-so-slightly missing the point.
And this has made me a bit unhappy. Because it is an absolute thrill to see people of many walks of life show up to a relatively unorganised protest, and to show solidarity against parasitic corporatism and vested interests. But I say with absolute conviction that the chant of “love you Louise” — directed at Sydney Opera House CEO Louise Herron AM — misses the point. Louise, previously a lawyer, corporate adviser, and graduate of the Australian Institute of Company Directors, may be first and foremost a businessperson. And should escaping “the egregious interference of capitalism on our cultural icons” – as one protester had phrased to me with eloquence – mean giving thanks to its executives? The answer may remain ambiguous, but we do know that Louise first rejected the proposed racing promotion before the government ordered her decision overruled.
That’s a road I won’t go down any further here. Because I am, above all, very sincerely thankful and proud to have been one in a crowd of creatives, activists, supporters of the arts, and even journalists collecting interviews — I had the privilege of eavesdropping on it all!
We journalists had our work cut out for us, because Bennelong Point was bursting with life. People were acknowledging one another, opining, chatting, laughing. When the projection started, we – as part of the collective – in turn, started sharing our chants. Whose house? Our house!; Not for sale!; Worst Vivid ever! It got muggy and cramped as seagulls traced silently overhead. Backstage cafeteria workers could be seen craning their necks to watch from a long, narrow window within the podium. At a lull in the chanting, a man stood on a bench and shouted at the top of his lungs, “everybody remember this on election day!” — to cheers. A pack of balloons, rising so high as to block a tiny portion of the projection from across the harbour (genius!), got the attention of a laser pointer. The pesky green pinpoint danced around on the balloons, and I laughed.
There’s not really a narrative here — just human beings. Human beings playing with light, shining light on corruption, making light of its power. We all stand for something — when we do, we scintillate. No injustice stands a chance against our scintillating solidarity — so let’s keep shining.
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