Choose your illusion

Last October the former men’s toilets at Taylor Square were transformed into a subterranean art gallery for Sydney’s Art & About Festival.
This year passersby may be greeted by a Buddhist monk, or have a startling encounter with a giant glowing spider emerging from the depths of the stairwell.
A new public art project in Taylor Square organised by the City of Sydney will house three installations sequentially over an 18 month period, starting at this year’s Art & About festival in October.
In a push to encourage community participation, the three artworks will be chosen by public vote via SMS.
The initiative is modelled after London’s Fourth Plinth project in Trafalgar Square, in which the public determines which contemporary artwork will occupy the empty plinth over a period of time.
The finalist works include ‘Underworld’, a luminescent green spider crawling from the underground, conceived by National Arts School student Dale Miles.
‘Camp Stonewall’, a monument celebrating Australia’s gay rights crusaders, has also been selected, along with ‘Mountain’, the statue of the Buddhist monk introducing calmness to the busy Oxford Street intersection.
The project continues the area’s creative history, and the second artwork will be installed to coincide with the 40th anniversary of the gay and lesbian rights movement in late June next year.
Voters can view the finalists on the City of Sydney website http://www.cityofsydney.nsw.gov.au/OnExhibition before text messaging their favourite artist to 0434162638. Voting closes July 21, with the winner announced at the end of the month.