Arabella gets into ANU!

I realise that I haven't given an update on our little mate recently.   She, and proud Mum, met us at ANU recently for a walk round some of the sculptures on display there.
Some of you may wish a better image of Arabella and this one shows her in a thoughtful, if somewhat pixcellated, pose.
I am not sure what great academic issue was occupying her at the time:

  • Climate Change?
  • String theory?
  • How come the Raiders beat the Storm on the previous day?
  • When is lunch?

Getting back to the sculpture.  We actually started outside the campus at the National Museum of Australia (NMA)/ IATSIS area.  When you commission something that looks like a brilliant roller blade ramp what do you do with it?  First, to ensure form beats function, erect a sign banning roller blades!
 It is a nice form however, as is the communications tower on Black Mountain.
On campus I will begin with Arch of the Sun, by Lucia Pacenza.  (Most of the works are described in a brochure downloadable from here.  Be warned that there is much postmodern arty-farty BS in the text.)
 This one is still in progress.   I will be most interested to see what the final work looks like.
Here we have three for the price of one.

  1. The yellow beam is one of the Spirit Levels by Christine O'Loughlin;
  2. The dead tree is Witness by Dadang Christanto; and
  3. The orange arch is part of the NMA and thus possibly not sculpture.  We call it The Coathanger.

 This is a detail of Witness.  The shapes look very like a mob of Cockatoos, which may or may not be what the artist intended.
 Common Food by Anne Rochette.  In situ, the shapes of the berries and nuts on the edge of the macro-bagel look a little less as though they have already been eaten than is implied in this image!
 This mosaic is Spring blossom/Autumn leaves by Chantale Delrue.  The small dog is not part of the work.
This is not a formal part of the sculpture walk but we thought it was interesting.  I am assuming that there is a gym or such like in the building.
This one is interesting since it is a statue - much larger than life size - of Sir Winston Churchill.  It isn't mentioned in the brochure but there is apparently a bust of Winnie in this general area.
 Life imitates art NRL.  The Magpies meet Balmain!
 Raised Pinnacle by David Jensz.  This was tricky to photograph as it was in a very shady area.  My image doesn't do justice to its jungly feel which probably reflects the artists time working in Thailand (or as the brochure puts it 'the East' - presumably written by a Pom).
 There are about another 45 works to include so watch this blog!

Comments

Denis Wilson said…
A nice change of pace.
When does Arabella graduate?
(Estimates of first degree anyway).
Denis
Flabmeister said…
I'll put up a guess of 2034. That assumes that
(1) multiple gap years have not become mandatory by then, and
(2) Australia has not followed the pathetic US habit of regarding finishing High School as graduation!
Swan Pond said…
Goes to show how little of my local area I know. Some sculptures look more interesting than others...

Thanks very much for the update on your little mate. What a supercutie!
Flabmeister said…
Thanks Swan Pond. There are actually >50 works scattered around the campus as shown in the brochure. I'll try to cover some more of them in a latter walk and post.

Martin
"much postmodern arty-farty BS in the text" ??? Sigh. No one appreciates a curators' work !

(that was a joke from an ex Canberra museum curator who thank God didn't write that particular booklet)
Flabmeister said…
Jeni

To make you feel (slightly) better, consider my views about taxonomists. Curators get off lightly!

Martin

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