City of Melbourne forks out $2m for sculpture of giant roo on a chair

Controversy over public art has a long history in Melbourne, now Southbank is set to welcome a $2m sculpture of a kangaroo on a chair.

A $2m sculpture of a kangaroo on a chair is coming to Southbank. Picture: NCA NewsWire / Sarah Matray

A giant sculpture funded by ratepayers of a kangaroo on a chair may be heading for controversy.

The City of Melbourne has committed $2m to the Southbank sculpture but a broader plan for more installations could push the cost to almost $20m.

Since announcing plans for an “ambitious scale” project in early 2018, the council has kept it top secret, including the identity of the main commissioned artist. However, the Herald Sun can reveal the person is a New Zealander.

Town Hall sources have ­indicated that over the past three years the delayed project has morphed into “something gigantic”, with several elements telling a story that may include atrocities committed against Aboriginal people.

The main sculpture, a kangaroo on a chair wrapped in wire and lights, will be in Dodds Street, near Southbank Boulevard.

When asked about the kangaroo sculpture and the artist involved, the council ­refused to give details .

The Yellow Peril saga has made the council nervous about public art. Picture: NCA NewsWire / Andrew Henshaw

The Habitat Filter sculpture.

Boonwurrung Aboriginal elder Carolyn Briggs, who was consulted on the project, said she believed the works would form an amazing streetscape installation.

“It will have a strong presence as an Indigenous story,” she said. “But it’s whimsical, it’s creative, it’s fun. I think people get sick of sadness all the time.”

A City of Melbourne spokeswoman said the council had committed $2m for the first stage of a “destination” artwork at Southbank.

“The independent selection panel included the most ­respected figures in Melbourne’s arts community, and was chaired by NGV director Tony Ellwood,” she said.

It will be part of the state government’s $1.4bn Southbank transformation.

The spokeswoman said a recent SGS Economics report revealed that $1m spent by the council on public art would generate $4.2m in spending through more interstate and overseas visitors.

The infamous Cow up the Tree sculpture on Harbour Esplanade. Picture: Sarah Matray

One of Melbourne’s most distinctive sculptures, A History Apparatus, on Russell St. Picture: Mark Stewart

The Southbank project was initially managed by council arts manager Kaye Glamuzina, who left the job in January last year.

In 2017, Irish art expert Vaari Claffey spent two weeks researching the proposal as a Southbank “public art strategist”, and was paid $65,000.

The original report considered by councillors said the four commissioned works should involve “a cohesive ­experiential ‘gesamtkunstwerk’,” a German phrase meaning “a total work of art”.

The works had to take into account Aboriginal traditional ethical, aesthetic and behavioural values.

In the 1970s, a sculpture dubbed Yellow Peril sparked controversy when it was erected in the new City Square.

The council moved it to Batman Park, but it’s now located at the Australian Centre for Contemporary Art in Southbank.