By Rob O’Brien

Come October, you’d be forgiven for thinking you’d strolled into an Amazonian rainforest in central Sydney.

Art installations including a seven-metre bar highlighting climate change, a barcode of white fluorescent tubes and a temporary ‘infinity’ forest will decorate the city’s lanes for the annual Laneways ‘By George – Hidden Networks’ – a series of art installations through the city’s Laneways.

Eight teams have had their concepts selected by Curator and urban designer Dr Steffen Lehmann and the City’s Public Art Panel.

"Sydney’s central business district conceals a hidden network of inter-connected laneways beyond its main streets,” Dr Lehmann said.

“What is exciting is that the unforeseen, unexpected use of these laneways within the planned city centre might actually be the key to its future success, defining a new role for the CBD.”

Other surprises commuters and tourists can look forward to include a canopy of birdcages, a prosthetic skin with its heartbeat pulsing and a pop up kitchen and nightclub.

The City of Sydney Lord Mayor Clover Moore said it had received more than 500 registrations and 68 submissions to transform the city’s laneways.

"These exciting proposals will not only enliven our laneways, but challenge us to think about the future of our planet, our relationships with each other and will remind us what we have lost as Sydney has become increasingly urbanised. 

“I am sure visitors will be delighted, inspired and provoked as they are enticed to explore these forgotten spaces off George Street in the heart of the City."

Each project focuses on collaboration, sustainability and the changing role of public spaces, and has been created by interdisciplinary teams including artists, architects, urban designers, landscape architects and others such as musicians, poets, a scientist and a lawyer.

The proposed temporary artworks will now go through the DA process, then if approved be installed in time for the City of Sydney’s Art & About event in October.

The installations are intended to remain in place until the end of the Sydney Festival in late January 2010.

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