Protestors have gathered outside Sydney Opera House (SOH) to complain about a new projection on the building. On 9 October the Jørn Utzon-designed house was covered for 10 minutes with adverts for The Everest, a famous horse race.
While projections on SOH are nothing new, this is the first time a commercial sponsor has paid to display. The designs show the numbers and colours of the 12 horses taking part in the race, which is organised by Racing NSW.
After the building was lit up at 19:40 protestors booed loudly. There were also chants of “save our sails” and “turn it off”.
Speaking at the protest, Willy Hall –son of architect Peter Hall, who worked on the building – said: “Our house is a precious gift to the world,” and called on protestors to help him prevent the space being sold for adverts in the future.
The timing could not be worse for SOH, which celebrates the 45th anniversary of its opening on 20 October.
At the time of writing, neither SOH or Racing NSW have released a statement on the protests.