Designed for big ideas: The new building at Barangaroo where size isn’t everything

Under the shadow of Crown Sydney and close to the engineering marvel that is the new Metro station, a far more modest structure appeared in Barangaroo this week.

Built from natural materials including bamboo and tea tree brush, the temporary canopy stands about six metres high and creates an oasis of dappled shade above a simple sand circle.

Part of Sydney Festival, organisers hope Vigil: Gunyah will have a significance that extends beyond its low-key appearance.

Jake Nash at Barangaroo: “We wanted to create a gathering space.”Credit: James Brickwood

“This year, for Barangaroo Headland, we wanted to create a gathering space,” says Jake Nash, curator of the festival’s Blak Out program. “It’s a soft space. It’s not about a four-walled building and a proscenium arch. It’s settled in Country. We’ve got a beautiful sand circle, and it’s just another way for people to engage that’s led by us First Nations people.”

Leading up to January 26, Vigil: Gunyah will host talks, workshops and dance and music performances with the aim of bringing Indigenous and non-Indigenous people together to talk and – crucially – to listen.

The first dance workshop, led by Brolga Dance Academy’s Tynga Williams, was held earlier this week.

“It was so beautiful to have First Nations people and non-First Nations people sitting down together to do something that’s smaller and with so much meaning,” Nash says. “For me, the idea that we can communicate, connect and do something that’s a little slower for a couple of hours was really beautiful.

“I just sat there and listened to the conversation and observed people. It’s OK to sit in silence and not have to say anything. Just to participate by listening.”

The theme for the first week is People, while Week Two concerns itself with Country.

“It was like, ‘What are the things we most want to talk about?’” Nash says. “And Country is one of those things. It’s a driver for all us First Nations people. How do we care for Country? How do we look after it? It’s great we can have that conversation, but everyone should be thinking about caring for Country.”

Dallas Woods and Nooky of 3%, who will be joined by Angus Field to perform at Barangaroo.Credit: Simon Schluter

The final week of activity, leading up to January 26, is themed around Spirit.

“It’s been a fairly intense five years since, and including COVID,” Nash says. “We just thought it would be nice to punctuate the start of the year with a moment where we actually look after each other and talk about that as well. I think that’s important.”

As has happened for the past six years, Barangaroo will be the site for the January 25 Vigil, a gathering to mark the night before the colonists first arrived in Australia. This year it will feature a performance from award-winning hip-hop trio 3%.

“Everyone will be together – our artistic and cultural family,” Nash says. “That’s what drives you forward. It’s coming together, and knowing it’s hard but you’re never alone in a community or family. You’re in it together and that’s the future.”

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