Go on the hunt for four new pop-up laneway art installations in the city

Step away from the clamour of George Street and into a narrow lane where a fortune-telling ‘ghost’ greets you. Katy B Plummer’s interactive video installation is a friendly, fuzzy oracle that draws each visitor a card from their deck, sharing a personal fortune that can be left hanging as a riddle, applied to their experience, or (in very 2021 fashion) scanned as a QR code for a more detailed reading. Here Plummer explores the comfort that the divine can bring, saying “when order crumbles….courting transrational understandings of our experience can help us.” 

Explore nearby: Superlative modern Cantonese food at Mr Wong, a stellar subterranean steakhouse in Bistecca and post-dinner Prohibition cocktails at Palmer & Co.

It’s hard to miss these colourful, oversized badges adhered to lamp posts along Barrack Street, between George and York Streets. Sydney-based artist Adam Norton has drawn on archival materials spanning apocalyptic sci-fi films, pop and counterculture to create an artwork that fuses an instinctive nostalgia with the uncanniness of their placement in the built environment. Surreal and provocative, they slyly suggest that our current reality feels as strange as science fiction.

Explore nearby: Alfresco dining at New York-style speakeasy Employees Only, French comfort food at Bistro Papillon and rare whiskey alongside American diner classics at Stitch Bar.

Gentle, joyful and playful, Rochelle Haley’s ‘Ever Sun’ invites you to revisit at different times of the day to capture its full effect. Go to Wilmot Street (the laneway through to Pitt Street opposite Event Cinemas) and walk around the arching beaded veils to see how they play against natural light, gleaming in accordance with the rising and setting of the sun. The artist hopes that it “offers an inspiring space to walk and reflect, feel nurtured by colour and light, and be together in public sensitively”.

Explore nearby: Modern Australian cuisine in swanky art deco surrounds at the Wilmot, boisterous Korean barbecue sessions at Madang and bountiful Greek shareplates at Alpha.

The City of Sydney has closed off a block of Barlow Street (near the Haymarket part of George Street) to traffic, handing it over to environmentalist collaborative Dirt Witches. They’ve planted a lush micro-forest made up entirely of native species, including the critically endangered eastern suburbs banksia scrub. So carefully have they recreated the layers of a natural ecosystem, right in the heart of bustling Haymarket, that there’s even native bees buzzing around. Swing by for a moment of quiet contemplation in a green oasis.

Explore nearby: Traditional Southern Thai at hidden gem Caysorn Thai, fast-paced yum cha at Zilver and fresh sushi at Masuya Suisan.

All activity will follow Covid-safe regulations and guests are reminded to follow the latest NSW Health advice regarding social distancing, hygiene and staying home if unwell. 

Looking for more CBD inspiration? Visit www.whatson.sydney/rediscover. 
For further Sydney inspiration visit www.sydney.com.