Your Name in Lights - Sydney Festival Memories

Your Name in Lights by John Baldassari (2011)

What does fame mean in an age of endless scrolling? For Andy Warhol, it was 15 minutes in the spotlight. Decades later, according to Californian conceptual artist John Baldessari, at best you had 15 seconds.

His Your Name in Lights transformed the façade of the Australian Museum into a dazzling Broadway-style marquee on which (after registering online) your name burned bright across 30 metres of LED in a moment that was brief, brilliant and entirely yours.

By the end of the Festival, the installation had drawn more than 100,000 people day and night, anticipating their turn or just curious to see who was next. By the time you clocked it, it was gone. Fleeting fame indeed.