yarra precinctriver arts walk Southgate continued Map: Visualvoice www.visualvoice.com.au

SouthGATE

Yarra River Precinct Arts Walk Southgate Start at Southgate, the dining and retail complex is a city crammed full of art: on the banks of the Yarra in Southbank. Opened traditional and contemporary; static and in 1992, this three-level dining and retail venue living. The Precinct is the hub was designed from the outset to feature local of Melbourne’s artistic and cultural scene. artists’ interpretation of Melbourne. Probably nowhere in the world is there such Southgate is currently undergoing a $26 million a concentration of high quality visual and redevelopment which will provide enhanced performing arts venues, quite apart from a very areas for visitors to dine, shop and explore the generous sprinkling of public art and exciting centre while taking in its breathtaking city views. architecture on display. During the period of works, some artworks The short walk can take anything from 90 may be relocated to other areas of the centre, minutes to a whole day, depending on how much or taken into storage while construction works time you want to spend at each venue. In fact, take place. The following details are therefore for the arts lover, it could provide an entire week subject to change. For further information on of enjoyment and stimulation. the location of artworks at the time of your visit, please contact Southgate on 03 9686 1000. The time indicators on the map page show the approximate walking distance between each section of the route. Map: Visualvoice www.visualvoice.com.au

SouthGATE

Southgate continued Southgate continued At the main entrance to Southgate, be greeted Take a lift up to the mid and upper levels of by ‘Ophelia’, a sculpture consisting of mosaic Southgate to view the corresponding walls that tiles, by celebrated artist Deborah Halpern. are home to Elizabeth Gower’s ‘Just Looking’ Deborah usually begins her mosaic work with and Margarita Krivitsky’s ‘Unexpected Harmony’, sketches, although not all pieces are planned. also acrylic paintings on board. Next, the figure is created from steel mesh and On the upper level mall, visit ‘Maggie’, a sprayed with expanding foam. Deborah then sculpture made from ciment findu – a type of carves the shape of her piece and covers it calcium aluminate cement – by acclaimed artist with a fibro-glass skin. Finally, ceramic tiles are Peter Corlett. Another well known piece by adhered to the skin to create the mosaic Peter Corlett is the ‘Sir Edward “Weary” Dunlop’ sculpture. All Deborah’s pieces are decorated statue in St Kilda Road, opposite the Arts Centre. with a “big face.” This is her signature and it gives her artworks life and emotion. Proceeding down the stairs from the upper to mid-levels, look out for the sculptural gates Also on the River Level of Southgate is ‘Forbidden Areas’ by Maurice Hughes. Des Norman’s ‘Victorian Melbourne’, a representation of the decorative features on Looking left towards the Yarra River and sitting Victorian terrace houses affixed to a wall next upon her own balcony is Loretta Quinn’s to the public lifts. sculpture, ‘Crossing the First Threshold’. Map: Visualvoice www.visualvoice.com.au

Arts Precinct

SouthGATE

Southgate continued Arts Precinct There is a sense of ‘folk religion’ in much of her Stay on the top level of Southgate and head art, and whether the symbols derive from the east towards to enter the hub of mystery of a Latin mass or the animist universe, Melbourne’s arts precinct, comprising the Arts a Celtic myth or a Japanese garden, she says they Centre’s Hamer Hall (1982) and the lattice- are ‘visual references to which others will relate’. spired Theatres (1984), and the National Gallery of International (1968). Fittingly, they At the eastern end of the Southgate complex, were built on the site of Melbourne’s early on the river promenade, is the imposing circus and entertainment site. Some of the tubular sculpture ‘Dervish 1981’ by acclaimed construction called upon feats of engineering Australian-American artist Clement Meadmore to enable the buildings to withstand the (1925-2005). notoriously unstable and corrosive silt of the ancient river bed. Immediately behind the Southgate complex is St John’s Lutheran Church, a beautiful modern Hamer Hall is a premier concert venue structure with Byzantine overtones, designed (currently undergoing extensive refurbishment). by David Cole and built in 1991. It’s open during The Theatres houses the State Theatre and the office hours for inspection and contemplation. smaller Playhouse and Fairfax Studio, as well as A regular series of classical concerts are held Gallery 1. There is free entry to the public areas throughout the year in the church. of the Arts Centre buildings and the foyers of Map: Visualvoice www.visualvoice.com.au

Arts Precinct

Arts Precinct continued Arts Precinct continued the Theatres building include an extensive Gallery’s International collection, which is array of visual art, sculpture and tapestries. regarded as one of the finest in the country. Guided tours (fees apply) are held Monday to Saturday at 11am, and a back stage facilities tour NGV International is open 10am-5pm, but can be undertaken at 12.15pm on Sundays. closed on Tuesdays. There is free admission, The public spaces around the Arts Centre although charges apply to some temporary buildings include several significant sculptures. exhibitions. For Arts Centre programming, visit www. The third component of the Arts Centre, the theartscentre.com.au. Sidney Music Bowl, can be found across Sitting on the lawn between Hamer Hall and St Kilda Road in the . Melbourne’s the Theatres building is Berlin-born, Melbourne beloved ‘Bowl’ was built in 1959 as an elegant artist Inge King’s ‘Forward Surge’. She creates outdoor concert venue and was extensively innovative, beautiful and exciting sculptures in refurbished in 2001. bronze, steel and stainless steel. This welded Southbank 6.35mm steel sculpture was installed in 1981. Cross at the lights on St Kilda Road – just beyond The National Gallery of Victoria on St Kilda the National Gallery of Victoria – and you will Road (NGV International) is the home of the encounter the Victorian College of the Arts. Map: Visualvoice www.visualvoice.com.au Southbank

Southbank SouthBANK continued VCA is a faculty of the . Southbank Boulevard runs between the National Established in 1972, it is one of ’s major Gallery and the VCA. It’s the location for education and training grounds for our future Melbourne’s newest arts venues: the Melbourne performing and visual artists, as well as arts Theatre Company’s Sumner Theatre and the industry technicians. which are enclosed within a distinctive lattice of white tubular steel. The VCA provides a wonderful opportunity to see exhibitions, drama, dance, puppetry and The Melbourne Recital Centre features a wide music performances by Melbourne’s emerg- range of concerts, held in both its showpiece ing artists. They study in this veritable village Elizabeth Murdoch Hall and in its smaller Studio. of buildings, theatres and gallery spaces, spread Details can be found at www.melbournerecital. over a full city block. com.au. The Sumner Theatre program can be found at www.mtc.com.au. Most of the complex is not open to the public for casual wandering, but the Margaret Lawrence Across the road from the Recital Centre, on the Gallery in Grant Street is a free gallery space corner of Southbank Boulevard and Sturt Street, open most days. You can also access details of is the ABC Southbank studios and nearby on the the many low cost concerts and plays staged at corner of Sturt and Kavanagh Streets is the The the VCA by visiting www.vca.unimelb.edu.au. Australian Ballet Centre (both are not open to the general public). Map: Visualvoice www.visualvoice.com.au Southbank

YARRA PROMENADE

SouthBANK continued Yarra Promenade continued Turn left into Sturt Street and walk about 500 The 24 carat gold-capped tower represents metres to visit the Australian Centre for the wealth of the 19th century goldfields, upon Contemporary Art (ACCA) (free entry) and, which Melbourne’s prosperity was first based. next door to it, the CUB . The slash of red on the gold signifies the blood The CUB Malthouse building was built in 1892 let at the 1854 Eureka uprising on the Ballarat as a brewery and malting house. Its program goldfields. The giant golden bees adorning the details can be found at www.malthousetheatre. river side of the building’s lower floors depict com.au. The distinctive exterior and interiors of the enterprise and human energy inside the ACCA is a past major winner in the Australian landmark building. In the forecourt of Eureka Architectural Awards. The forecourt features Tower you will see a rock sculpture ‘No One ‘The Vault’ by Ron Robertson-Swan, which, after Man’s Land’ by David Long (2009). It represents several locations and controversy, has found an mankind struggling to support and grapple with appropriate permanent home at ACCA. a challenging eco system.

Yarra Promenade Now, walk to the river and you will pass the metal sculpture next to the Esso building, Retrace your steps back along Sturt Street ‘Shearwater’ by Inge King. It reflects the and Southbank Boulevard to rejoin the Yarra’s Australian landscape, with shifting patterns of Southbank Promenade at the . light and shade thrown by natural vegetation. Map: Visualvoice www.visualvoice.com.au

YARRA PROMENADE

Yarra Promenade continued Yarra Promenade continued Walk westwards along the Promenade. The 40-60,000 years; the oldest continuous culture polished flat stone sculpture on the grass is in the world. The story of Victoria’s immigration titled ‘World Within, World Without’. Created is recounted in 128 glass panels on Sandridge by Helen Bodycomb in 2010, it depicts the Bridge and in the beautiful Immigration Museum constellations above Victoria at 11am on 16 (former Customs House), just across the road in November 2009, when the then Prime Minister, Flinders Street. Kevin Rudd, issued his national apology to the Continue west along Southbank Promenade, ‘Forgotten Australians’. Spanning the river from crossing Queensbridge Street to inspect Queensbridge Square to Northbank is the 1888 ‘The Guardians’ outside the eastern end of Sandridge Bridge, which was converted in 2008 Crown Entertainment Complex. These two to a pedestrian thoroughfare. The aluminium large sculptures carved from Italian statuary sculptures on the bridge titled ‘The Travellers’ marble and clad with ceramic tiles were created were designed by Lebanese artist Nadim Karam by, a then, local artist Simon Rigg. The square and represent the waves of immigration to based mounting of the larger statue depicts the Victoria since the 1830s. The only sculpture four elements. The smaller Guardian reveals a that doesn’t move is located in Queensbridge woman’s head looking through the hole of the Square, because it represents the ancient culture larger sculpture, and hints at the source of all of Indigenous Australians, whose roots go back the images, beyond our plane of vision. Map: Visualvoice www.visualvoice.com.au

NORTHbank

Northbank Northbank continued Cross the river from Crown to the Melbourne figureheads, collectively known as ‘Constellation’. Aquarium, using the footbridge, and head back Depicting a dragon, a woman, a bird, a man and towards the city centre along Northbank. a lion, they are the work of Bruce Armstrong Immediately after the aquarium you enter and Geoffrey Bartlett and evoke the spirit of the Enterprize Park, the site of the 1834 European early sailing ships. landing in Melbourne. It was also the place Now, take a leisurely ten minute walk along the where sailing ships were able to turn around in Northbank of the river, across Queensbridge the river during the early days of the colony. Street, and onto Flinders Walk. As you wander At the rear of Enterprize Park, next to the under Sandridge Bridge, look to the right to railway overpass, a 30 pole installation called view ‘Ecophene’ by Karen Abernethy and ‘Scar – A Stolen Vision’ was created by eight Kiko Gianocca. The water installation under Indigenous artists. The painted, carved and the bridge re-inhabits a place where the decorated wooden poles are poignant reminders destruction of the Yarra River’s waterfall near of the thousands of years that this land has been this point in 1883 had irreversible consequences occupied by Aboriginal people. for the river’s ecology. The reconstructed wharf at the east end of the Pass under Princes Bridge and enter Birrarung park features five carved wooden and metal Marr, Melbourne’s newest parkland. Map: Visualvoice www.visualvoice.com.au

NORTHbank

FEDERATION SQUARE

Northbank continued Northbank continued On the gravelled upper level of the walk in Keep walking along the path to reach two Birrarung Marr you will come across Birrarung interesting art features: Deborah Halpern’s Wilam (River Camp), a work by Indigenous imposing ‘Angel’ tiled sculpture and the Sea Wall artists Vicki Couzens, Lee Darroch, and Treahna viewing area located on the bend in the river. Hamm that interprets stories from local Indig- enous communities. Two tall, intricately carved Head up the grassy knoll to the top of Birrarung message sticks mark the site that features a Marr and stand among the Federation Field of textured, twisting pathway representing the Bells, installed in 2001 to commemorate the eel, a traditional food of groups camped by Centenary of the Federation of Australia. the river. Large rocks incised with animal The 43 bells ring at pre-programmed times. drawings enclose a performance space, while metal shields represent the five clans of the To finish your arts journey of the Yarra River Kulin Nation. Precinct, retrace your steps to Melbourne’s On your left in the old redbrick railway building meeting place, Federation Square. An Australian is Art Play. It offers a range of creative work- award-winning piece of contemporary shops, where children aged between 2 and 13 architecture and you can discover the story of years can work alongside professional artists how it was designed and built in a guided tour in a unique environment, encouraging play, of the Square, offered Mondays to Saturdays at creativity and collaboration (fees apply). 2.30pm (fees apply). Map: Visualvoice www.visualvoice.com.au

FEDERATION SQUARE

SouthgateFEDERATION continued SQUARE continued Don’t leave without visiting the National Gallery of Victoria at Federation Square (The Ian Potter Centre: NGV Australia). NGV Australia is open 10am-5pm, closed Mondays. Like NGV International, admission is free but charges may apply to some temporary exhibitions. Also take a look at Kirra Gallery in The Atrium, which features a stunning commercial collection of Australian glass art and glassware (free entry). Finally, to complete your art journey, visit the Above image by David Simmonds Australian Centre for the Moving Image (ACMI) on the north edge of Federation Square. Supported by It depicts the development of Australian film as an art form, and includes some exciting contemporary digital art exhibitions to bring you right into the 21st century (free entry; some fees may apply to exhibitions). Published by Yarra River Business Association March 2011 > pg 1