GLIDER - A Digital Art Show

On Thursday, July 21st, 100+ of our intimate new community got together at No. 1 Martin Place to celebrate the soft launch of Sugar Glider Digital, hear from experts in the arts, property and web3 industry, and see a breathtaking large-scale digital art display.

We are so grateful to those who came and were a part of that. 

Sugar Glider Digital exhibited 20 works by 9 talented local artists on Charter Hall’s iconic 8m x 4m screen that stretched from the ground floor lobby entrance to the mezzanine level. These works were incredible examples of digital, generative and photography art, some of which saw the artists’ first foray into the digital realm from an analogue art background.

Our Founder, Emilya Colliver, spoke on a panel that night, along with esteemed guests Global Co-Chair of DLA Piper, Anthony Lloyd, artist James McGrath and Head of Place and Experience at Charter Hall, Jennifer di Bartolomeo.

Anthony Lloyd talked about his work with web3 from 15 years of metaverse experience, and explained what an NFT is and why the technology has such unlimited and exciting potential. Jennifer di Bartolomeo shared her deep knowledge of placemaking - one of our favourite quotes from the night was that ‘There is a real sense of: how do you really define the value of a place, and how do you make a place relevant? Art is a huge piece of that puzzle.’

It was also so incredibly valuable to hear from an artist directly transitioning into this exciting space. James McGrath recounted his entire transition from painting these gorgeous traditional oil paintings to producing digital art. ‘Painting is a moment,’ he said, ‘and digital art is the time-based version of that.’ 

It was an impressive turnout despite crazy weather and multiple Covid-19 absences that night. This project began with Emilya noticing the absurd amount of empty screens inside Sydney buildings, and we are so honoured that there are so many others who believe in what we believe in and came to share it with us. 

We hope this will be the first of many public digital art activations!

​Thank you to our incredibly talented artists for their hard work, and to our animator Sam Hill, our partners Samsung Australia and Charter Hall, and our developer James McGrath for making it all happen. 

This event was supported by City of Sydney.

Photography: Jacquie Manning

Access the full catalogue of artists here.