Watch the GIFs

The library of emoji art is an ongoing large-scale public art project where hundreds of people unite to create emojis using their own bodies. Each performance is site-specific, designed in collaboration with its community and staged in a public space. Participants include schoolchildren, workers, fire fighters, aged care residents, sports clubs, church groups and businesses. People who would not ordinarily come together, come together to create a work of art.

For each performance, Sylvia brings the community together in workshops to design their emoji, which is then performed in public space. Each performance is paired with the most popular emoji of the year, creating a connection between individual communities and a shared digital culture.

The work asks what it means to communicate in the physical world at a time when so much of our social exchange has migrated online. Creating large-scale analogue versions of digital symbols in the presence of strangers is inherently playful and inherently social.

X Performances utilises public space as a place of dialogue and negotiation. The public road is a space circumscribed by a social compact that determines interaction. But the rules of the road are thought to be inviolable, X Performances humanises that space with a vulnerability that delays the enforcement of pure will or the law.

Entering from four axes as oncoming cars, buses and trucks are stopped by traffic lights, performers in colourful costumes specific to each location and community meet in the middle of the intersection. They stand looking at each other and then lie on the ground like falling dominoes, forming an X that crosses the road’s full width. The same performers return to the intersection between light cycles, making freestyle Xs, standing or lying. The performance plays out across multiple traffic movements, the road alternately claimed and reclaimed by the performers.

Redfern · Sydney · 2007

Ho Chi Minh City · 2007

X Performances is an international project performed by local residents across four cities and six locations. The work has been staged in Sydney’s central business district and in Redfern, a traditionally Aboriginal neighbourhood undergoing gentrification; in Ho Chi Minh City in front of the Opera House amid the unpredictable flow of motorcycle traffic; in Cologne on a plaza behind the Dom marking Roman ruins and on the main road in front of it; and in Dunedin as part of a downtown festival.

Cologne · 2008

Dunedin · 2009

Proposed commission

X Performances was submitted to Situate, a public art competition for Forrest Place, Perth. The proposed work would pair an ephemeral X performance with a permanent installation of sculpted figures lying on the ground with spaces left vacant for passers-by to complete the X with their own bodies. A tall stainless steel viewing tower would refle

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]]> https://sylvia-schwenk.com/connect-kaleidoscope/ Wed, 22 Apr 2026 13:31:42 +0000 https://sylvia-schwenk.com/?p=3482 People unite in movements to create a large human kaleidoscope under a copper beech tree. As rain falls on their faces, they share in the experience of connection.

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connect: kaleidoscope

Performance · 2016
2-channel HD film with stereo music and sound only · 4’–6′ · 2016 · Edition of 10 + 2 AP
5-channel animation film with stereo music and sound only · 2’–6′ · 2016 · Edition of 10 + 2 AP
15 photographs · Edition of 10 + 2 AP
8 drawings

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connect: kaleidoscope IX · photograph · 2016

Watch the opening minute

The sentiment driving this work is connection. Connection between people and connection with the natural world.

connect: kaleidoscope I · photograph · 2016

connect: kaleidoscope III · photograph · 2016

Over 30 people unite in movements to create a large human kaleidoscope, performed under a huge copper beech tree on a meadow of grass and flowers on the grounds of a water-castle. It is a meditative work with an almost spiritual feel. As raindrops fall on the faces of the performers, they share in the experience of connection.

connect: kaleidoscope IX · photograph · 2016

connect: kaleidoscope VIII · photograph · 2016

Sylvia creates a body of work that re-presents these feelings. Her 2-channel film transports us back into the performance. One channel is screened on a wall, the other on a ceiling, drawing the viewer into the meadow, the rain, the slow turning of the kaleidoscope above.

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connect: kaleidoscope I · channel I · opening minute · 2016

connect: kaleidoscope II · channel II · opening minute · 2016

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For collectors

connect: kaleidoscope is available as a performance work, 2-channel HD film, 5-channel animation film, 9 photographs and 8 drawings. Works are available from €3,000 unframed.

Enquire about this work

For galleries and curators

connect: kaleidoscope is available for exhibition, screening, loan and re-performance. The work allows flexible configurations for different spaces. Proposals and studio visits are welcome.

Discuss an exhibition

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]]> https://sylvia-schwenk.com/dada-when-up-is-down/ Tue, 21 Apr 2026 13:28:07 +0000 https://sylvia-schwenk.com/?p=3607 A group of healthy people including two children simultaneously fall to the floor during the opening of an art exhibition. The cause is as surprising as the fall itself.

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dada: when up is down

Performance · 2015
Single channel HD film with stereo music and sound only · 2’10 · 2015 · Edition of 10 + 2 AP
5 photographs · Edition of 10 + 2 AP

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dada: when up is down I · photograph · 2015

Watch the opening minute

On a Saturday afternoon in Sydney a group of healthy people, including two children fell. They collapsed to the floor. Simultaneously. The fall happened during the opening of an art exhibition in Sydney Australia.

The cause?

A dada inspired work of socially engaged performance art directed by Sylvia, performed by everyday people at Brenda May Gallery.

dada: when up is down II · photograph · 2015

dada: when up is down III · photograph · 2015

dada: when up is down IV · photograph · 2015

dada: when up is down V · photograph · 2015

This short film tells the story of this group of people who only met 30 minutes before the exhibition.

What happened?

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dada: when up is down · opening minute · 2015

For collectors

dada: when up is down is available as a performance work, single-channel HD film and 5 photographs. Works are a limited edition of 10 + 2 AP and start from €3,000 unframed.

Enquire about this work

For galleries and curators

dada: when up is down is available for exhibition, screening, loan and re-performance. Proposals and studio visits are welcome.

Discuss an exhibition

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]]> https://sylvia-schwenk.com/world-domination/ Mon, 20 Apr 2026 17:18:32 +0000 https://sylvia-schwenk.com/?p=4151 A fun and playful work parodying evil, greed and the desire to control the world. On a Melbourne tram during peak hour, a carriage full of passengers joined in with contagious laughter.

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World Domination

Performance · 2014
4 photographs · Edition of 10 + 2 AP

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World Domination (Pilot) I · photograph · 2014

Research tells us that we laugh for less than 6 minutes a day. This is surprisingly only a third of the time people laughed in the 1950s and we are correspondingly almost 20% less happy today than people were then.

World Domination (Pilot) II · photograph · 2014

World Domination (Pilot) III · photograph · 2014

World Domination is a fun and playful work of art that encourages laughter, whilst parodying evil, greed and the desire to control the world. It is a nonsense. It is a silly and carefree project that is happy and evil, playful and scary all at the same time.

It shows everyday people in ordinary spaces acting with playfulness, silliness and spontaneity, while the darker side to the work, the connotations of evil, greed, violence and dominance, act as a counterpoint. Perhaps it is the co-existence of these incongruous attributes that makes the work so engaging.

World Domination (Pilot) IV · photograph · 2014

In the Pilot of World Domination, first performed during peak-hour on a tram in Melbourne, Sylvia directed Movements of Laughter that saw a carriage full of passengers join in with the silliness of the laughter.

This Pilot will be refined and further World Domination works will be performed.

For collectors

World Domination (Pilot) is available as a performance work and 4 photographs. Works are a limited edition of 10 + 2 AP and available from €3,000 unframed.

Enquire about this work

For galleries and curators

World Domination (Pilot) is available for exhibition, loan and commission. Proposals and studio visits are welcome.

Discuss an exhibition

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]]> https://sylvia-schwenk.com/study-for-dazzle/ Fri, 17 Apr 2026 11:28:00 +0000 https://sylvia-schwenk.com/?p=4087 A proposed work in which thousands of military personnel and civilians lie side by side on a Sydney oval to form a 120m naval ship in WWI Dazzle camouflage.

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Study for Dazzle

Photo collage · 2013
Related work: A Naval Novella

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Study for Dazzle · photo collage · 2013

Over one hundred years ago, naval ships were painted in bold coloured abstract shapes and patterns. Areas of dark and light tones were placed next to each other to break up the outline and shape of the ship when viewed from a distance. This disruptive pattern camouflage technique became known as Dazzle.

During an artist residency at HMAS Penguin in Sydney, Sylvia Schwenk and Sydney-based photo-media artist Anne Zahalka work to contemporise this naval history. They want to build a side view of a naval ship almost 120m long on the Middle Head Oval, using the bodies of thousands of people. Civilians and naval military personnel wearing combinations of black and white lying side by side in geometric shapes would create a Dazzle camouflage. Seen in full only from a Navy helicopter, the work would reveal its full scale and drama.

The work was to be realised during the celebrations of the Royal Australian Navy’s 100-year anniversary of sailing into Sydney Harbour. While the Navy supported the concept, it was unable to resource a project of this scale.

A Naval Novella, also made during this residency, accesses the closed culture of the Navy through a side door, anchored by the naval tradition of tattoos and rope.

Watch the opening minute

birds and clouds from one life to another by Sylvia Schwenk and German artist Nikola Dicke references Bertolt Brecht’s poem The Lovers, which centres on the lives of a flock of cranes. Over 300 people come together in the German/Dutch border town of Bad Bentheim to watch and participate in the work.

Model airplane performance · Bad Bentheim · 2012

Three model airplane clubs from these two countries fly their planes as a large group, each club with its own distinct choreographed flight set to music composed for the performance. Model airplane pilots typically fly alone, never in formation. Now they fly like a flock.

Origami crane sculptures · 2012

After the model airplane performance, the audience and pilots fold small origami cranes and build large origami crane sculptures. These are later flown over the airfield in a third performance, also set to music. The event ends with a barbeque where connections made during the performances continue.

Origami workshop · 2012

The work draws on the everyday. Model airplanes, origami and shared meals are each familiar pleasures, but not usually experienced together. By combining these through this collective and playful event, birds and clouds from one life to another gives them a new aesthetic quality. Like the cranes in Brecht’s poem, the meaning of the work takes flight when these newly created actions combine.

Extract from publication birds and clouds from one life to another

birds and clouds from one life to another adopts a socio-political approach that simultaneously activates spatial and social processes and negotiates the political and aesthetic field. Art as a moment of revelation, not creating life through imitation or reflecting life’s context to represent content, but to be aware of the reality of life. Art not as a tangible physical representation, but as a way of thinking.

Florian Waldvogel, 2012, published in birds and clouds from one life to another: a project by Sylvia Schwenk and Nikola Dicke — Waldvogel is Director of the Hamburg Kunstverein, Germany

Watch the opening minute

What happens when a football crowd becomes the art?

At half time during the regional Aussie Rules Grand Final something odd happened. Men, women and children dressed head-to-toe in white overalls jogged single file onto the oval. The suits suggested an emergency but the behaviour was playful. The crowd watched. Children tried to kick balls at them.

The white-suited figures spread across the field. Some lay down tracing the lines of the goal square with their bodies and others stood arms stretched becoming the goal posts. As the crowd watched their bemusement turned to fascination. Their disbelief gave way to a feeling of permission and the crowd ran onto the field and lay down alongside the performers. Together they completely covered the white lines of the centre square.

Over 400 football fans became the work.

Extract from publication Along white lines

The relationship between the artist’s crew of 30 volunteer performers and the public becomes collaborative, the innocent action of lying on the ground one of definition. The football field is a codified space described by lines, distances and boundaries that, without the football teams, becomes a delimited space of possibility. Schwenk’s work is a democratic experience where every step of her process is open to the audience to engage, interact and direct the outcome.

Andrew Frost, Engage, Explore & Evolve, 2012, published in Along white lines — Frost is an art critic, writer and television broadcaster

Watch the film

A mesmerising film of a man who dances with a lawnmower. He is listening to the music of a harrowingly beautiful waltz as he mows the lawn in an area surrounded by alarmed perimeter fencing and razor wire. The lawn is surrounded by 20 magnificent towering palm trees. It is an oasis in the maximum-security area of the prison, that offers a respite from the confinement of the prison cells and the cold metal surfaces and concrete. It almost seems surreal. The air seems sweeter and fresher here.

The waltz is filled with hope but is underwritten with a score of despair.

Sometimes awful things have their own kind of beauty is both the name of this work and the name of the series it leads. The series is about prisoners and people who were committed in mental asylums. The works consider spaces, lives and environments that are off limits to most of society, and reflect on what performance means for those who live where private and public co-exist.

Also in this series

Tradespeople coming from a building site next to the Museum of Contemporary Art, Sydney are carrying large panes of glass. They walk carefully through the large crowd of people. It looks like an accident waiting to happen. There will be no accident. The glass does not exist.

Like walking against the wind or trapped in an invisible box, this mime is so well known that it is almost negated by its clichéd nature. In silence and movement engages more than the recognition of the conceit. The illusion can only succeed through the assent of the audience, who become part of the performance. Some spectators start polishing the glass. Others run through sheets of it, smashing them into shards. Others simply join in and carry their own panes.

This work was performed as part of Art Month Sydney (2010) and adapted for a performance at Brenda May Gallery, Sydney (2011), where the performers installed three huge panes of glass in the gallery.