Dozens of ‘dangerous’ artworks are buried under dirt in Sydney, and Heap visitors will be asked to dig deep
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- The Festival of Dangerous Ideas commissioned Heap at Carriageworks in Sydney, burying 80 artworks by eight Australian artists under 120 tonnes of earth for visitors to dig up on 22–23 August as part of the broader festival running until 30 August.
- Sophie Penkethman-Young produced 25 tiles using a 3D printer she limited to a standard 38-hour work week, formalizing the artist-machine labor conditions in an MOU that was itself buried in the mound.
- Wiradjuri artist Brook Andrew created canisters of medicinal and edible plants — including Lebanese za'atar, Australian murnong, and hallucinogenic Brugmansia — reframing plants that western frameworks label "dangerous" through indigenous knowledge systems.
- Aretha Brown and her Kiss My Art collective buried a quilt reimagining the Australian flag through a queer, Gumbaynggirr lens inside a sealed suitcase, calling the current flag "divisive."
- Other interred works include Tim Silver's human figure cast in hardened dirt, addressing emotional withdrawal, and Tarryn Gill's gold-fabric funerary urn bearing the multiple faces of Janus, inspired by Freud and the recent death of her cat.
- Festival director Danielle Harvey requires diggers to relinquish any treasure they unearth, with artworks progressively moved to a nearby display rather than becoming private keepsakes.
Why it matters: The Festival of Dangerous Ideas uses a public dig as a metaphor for Australia's mining heritage, converting passive art viewing into hands-on engagement with eight artists' politically charged prompts — from indigenous plant medicine to a queer re-reading of the national flag. The relinquishment rule means roughly 80 buried objects rotate to a nearby display rather than disappearing as private keepsakes.
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