‘Hello Kitty Town’ (2022), Darling Square, Sydney. Photography by Holly Hawkins. Precinct activation concept and curation by ART AID.
Hello Kitty Town took over Darling Square for three months.
From 29 January to 29 April 2022, one of the world's most recognised characters called Lendlease's Darling Square home. An outdoor exhibition and precinct-wide activation, developed with Sanrio and Haven, brought a taste of Japanese popular culture to the centre of Sydney and gave the precinct's retailers and visitors a reason to keep coming back.
The concept
This commission did not begin with a client brief. In March 2021, ART AID identified Darling Square as the right site for a Hello Kitty precinct takeover, working with collaborative art director Eddie Zammit. We developed the concept, brought Sanrio and Haven on board as partners, and presented the idea to our longtime client Lendlease, who backed it and helped bring it to life. It is a model we believe in: the strongest precinct activations are sometimes the ones brought to the client, not commissioned from them.
Hello Kitty Town, Darling Square. Photography by Holly Hawkins.
The artists
Anchored by a five metre custom designed Hello Kitty inflatable, with wayfinding and noren flags carrying the exhibition through the precinct, Hello Kitty Town featured some of the most recognised graphic designers, illustrators, and street artists working today. George Rose, Gemma Correll, DXTR, Lauren Carney, Travis Price, Justine McAllister, Sofles, Sahil Roy, Mel Stringer, Bei Badgirl, Stephanie Cartledge, and Mighty Short each brought their own hand to the suite of characters, with Travis Price as feature artist for the Sydney launch.
Twelve artists contributed works to the outdoor exhibition. Photography by Holly Hawkins.
The activation
Over three months, thousands of visitors moved through the exhibition. The activation reached beyond the artworks themselves: food retailers across the precinct created their own Hello Kitty menu items, and Hello Kitty made appearances in person. The program gave the precinct a sustained cultural moment, one that worked for visitors, for tenants, and for the client.
The activation ran across the precinct's public spaces and retail tenancies. Photography by Holly Hawkins.
With thanks to Sanrio and Haven for the partnership, to Eddie Zammit for his art direction, to the twelve artists who gave the exhibition its character, to Holly Hawkins for the photography, and to Lendlease for backing this concept through to execution.
ART AID is a public art and cultural consultancy working at the intersection of art, community, and place. To find out more about our work visit art-aid.co or follow @artaidau.
