Artistic license

If journalists wrote with as much hyperbole as some artists use to describe their works, Rupert Murdock would be a poor man.
Sydney is running a spring event called Laneways by George, as a part of their response to criticism that Sydney lanes are used as rubbish tips, compared to the lively lane scene in Melbourne. I think the Council has just proven that Sydney is way behind Melbourne.
I wandered the streets today, trying to find inspirational art in the laneways of the city, guided by a glossy brochure funded by the council. Mostly, I found amateurism and art on the cheap.

Much money appears to have been spent putting together one installation called "Seven Metre Bar" in Underwood street.
This was how the brochure promotes the work:

"On current trajectories polar ice cap melts will drown Underwood street. So do we raise the bar? At 7m above sea level this collaboration between an artists, architect/gamer and landscape gardener combines the landscape of weather, and architecture of catastrophe and the technology of games. Intense weather projections flicker across the storm surge detritius and build in ferocity in response to increasing bar patronage"

What are they talking about? There's a great distance between their idea, their actual project, and any relationship to real life. Here's what their version of art imitating life looks like:

Try telling the people who have suffered in recent tsunamis that this expensive pile of trash in a back lane of Sydney, called art, will stop the rest of the world experiencing a fate similar to their own.

Sydney doesn't need a tsunami, real or artisitic, to show the world the dreary world that exists in the city lanes.

Laneways by George

Sydney doesn't understand use of laneways. I am beginning to think the town doesn't understand public art either. Put the two together and we have a laugh.
The City Council is running a project called Laneways by George, as part of the annual Art and About event. I don't know if what I saw was the art, or rubbish left by people for the Garbage collection on Monday.
The works had little to do with the descriptions given in submissions to the Councils, and printed in the guide.
See for yourself. above is the image and description for one lane.
The brochure says:
" The Meeting Place is a playful installation which encourages participation and interaction whilst heightening the experience of moving through the urban space. Compressing the pedestrian path and framing a sliver of sky accentuates the unique city space. Strangers walking through the lane must negotiate with each other to gain passage through th and meet in the process."
Here's what I found, following the organiser's map.