'Ephemeral City': cardboard metropolis being built in Barangaroo, Sydney

This month, anyone who’s ever made a cubbyhouse from a fridge box can have their dreams come true as they help French artist Olivier Grossetete transform Barangaroo Reserve into a bustling metropolis.

The finished interactive artwork, called The Ephemeral City, will be completed next week, comprising seven massive cardboard buildings and several smaller edifices, each fastened together with typical brown packing tape.

The cardboard city is being built in the Cutaway as part of the Sydney Festival. Photo: Wolter Peeters

Grossetete said the significance of the exhibition is the process of construction, which relies on passers-by lending a hand to assemble the flat-packed architecture in a barn-raising exercise.

“The Ephemeral City is a reflection on art and power through architecture,” he explained.

“The fact that [the architecture] doesn’t last long puts the emphasis on the act of creation and the work of the collective altogether,” he said.

A “flying fox” zip-line allows people involved in construction to get an overhead view of the city. Photo: Wolter Peeters

Construction workshops have been taking place twice a day, six days a week since the start of January.

With around 60 helpers bringing Grossetete’s design templates to life each session, The Ephemeral City is one of the largest community participation projects at this year’s Sydney Festival.

The first-time Australian audience “wants to take part and are very keen,” Mr Grossetete said. “The public [from] all walks of life always work well together.”

The cardboard city is being built in the Cutaway as part of the Sydney Festival. Photo: Wolter Peeters

The feat of people power in the Cutaway installation space at Barangaroo Reserve will use about 5000 rolls of sticky tape to connect 10,000 cardboard boxes, co-ordinated by ​Grossetete and five other artists and technicians.

“We work with whoever is here, so if there is a smaller team we do the preparation for the next construction, and once a bigger group of people are here we can do the big ensemble barn raising and lift the buildings and grow the city,” he said.

To fully appreciate the temporary cityscape, spectators-turned-builders can fly between the structures on a special 165-metre zip-line inside the Cutaway cultural space, to admire their hard work from above.

“People are loving the flying fox, travelling over and through the growing city,” said Grossetete. “Those constructing the city are like town planners making decisions on where the buildings go, to make the flying fox even more exciting.”