XANDRA van der EIJK

Project Name: Artefacts of convergence

Location: 275 Kent Street, Sydney

Commissioner: Mirvac

Curator: Broached Commissions

Materials: Cast aluminium, Axolotl Copper, Verdi gris

Dimensions: 70

When James Cook had land in sight as he approached Botany Bay, he unknowingly looked at a pristine record of geological time. Shale and sandstone layers that had been pushed towards the sky by the forces of the earth over millions of years, were now being observed as the characteristic cliffs of Sydney. Unforgiving crashing waves had marked their strength, creating beautifully organic patterns in the rocks. From the moment the colonists landed in Sydney Bay, the seemingly eternal landscape started to change through inventions that served their agenda. 

Over time, little more than the proud cliffs of Sydney Bay remind us of ancient times. As population increased, industry made its entry, skyscrapers were built and the harbour became a bustling metropolitan area.

Few other estuaries converge history and present better than Sydney Harbour. Prior 1970, industrial practices were badly regulated. The industrial revolution marked the seabed through a layer of heavy metals and toxic chemical contamination. The numbers are quite staggering: 1900 tonnes of copper, 3500 tonnes of lead and 7300 tonnes of zinc are best left undisturbed under the cover of the water. After 1970 the build-up of this new time record continued in the form of stormwater runoff. Nature washes the metropolis clean of its daily remnants, sinking all kinds of interesting materials to the bottom of the harbour. Heavy metals, fertilizers, motor oil and microplastics are now building a new earth layer of history.