Windlines

A counter-balanced vane turns into the wind above an ‘orienteering compass’ in the ground at Scout Place, Circular Quay. The aerial vane momentarily aligns with poetic riddles that spiral around the 16-point compass. The names of intriguing, invisible or forgotten places are embedded within the riddles with oblique references to scouting ideas, like ‘be prepared’ and ‘lead the way’.

Windlines seeks to remind us of the adventure inherent in our city and its surrounds. The ground compass includes near and far, urban and natural, past and present. ‘Snapper Watches Spectacle As Camping Cockatoos Lasso A Lonely Goat, 14km WNW’ for example, refers to the inner harbour islands of Snapper, Spectacle, Cockatoo and Goat and is accompanied by a distance and direction from Scout Place.