A stirring video tribute to some of the victims of the lockouts and trade restrictions around Kings Cross and Oxford Street has reached around a million views in two days.
‘Sydney Closed’ is an eerie, time-lapse video created by David May and Tim Pass, of Surry Hills company Shifted Pictures. The pair have an affiliation with the live music industry, and created the artistic piece to draw attention to the plight of so many people and businesses that have been negatively affected by the laws.
“The Flinders, Exchange, Soho, Hugos and many others were more than just places to go out. They were people’s livelihood. They were institutions. They helped make Sydney a vibrant city and an exciting place to live and they are now gone,” says the caption to the video.
The specialist time-lapse footage pans bleak exteriors and padlocked gates, with moody background music by Jim Finn (Say Goodbye).
Uploaded to the company’s social media on Wednesday, it has already had over 900,000 views on their page, 28,000 on YouTube and hundreds of shares.
Only a month or so until the Callinan Review hands down its assessment of the punitive laws, the viral audience engagement shows the issue is far from dead in the public’s consciousness.