Art Pharmacy was engaged by leading property group Charter Hall to commission five site-specific artworks for 555 Collins Street, Melbourne.
Art Pharmacy in collaboration with Charter Hall, Armitage Jones, Cox Architecture and Robert Bird engaged five Victorian-based designers and artists to create a collection of large scale installation artworks for the lobby spaces and outdoor plaza at 555 Collins Street, Melbourne.
The artworks range in medium from a sculptural lighting installation by Melbourne based designer Jonathan Ben-Tovim, to digital artworks by renowned digital artist James McGrath, a 12 metre woven jute net by Yorta Yorta, Waddi Waddi and Ngarrindjerri master weaver Glenda Nicholls and an intricate aluminium panel artwork for the outdoor plaza area by Melbourne based Aboriginal artist Simone Thomson.
Located at the heart of Melbourne’s thriving Midtown precinct and designed by Cox architecture, 555 Collins Street offers premium grade office spaces and is now home to Amazon Australia. Cox’s highly detailed human-centric design includes curated spaces for health, wellbeing and productivity while embracing community through an activated ground plane.
Visible from the street outside and throughout the lobby space, Jonathan Ben-Tovim’s Cloud Vortex takes inspiration from nature and the sometimes windy and blustering weather of Melbourne. A surreal vortex of repurposed car bonnets takes on a dynamic arrangement of movement and life, creating different compositions depending on the viewing angle. Jonathan reflects ‘from the ground floor looking directly up, the work seems like a flat spiral. From an elevated perspective, the three-dimensional space form a Cloud Vortex and the artwork takes flight.’
In the void between the ground and first level, Glenda Nicholls’ woven net artwork Dhungala snakes down from the ceiling throughout the void and transforms into a body of water. Nicholls is a master weaver based in Swan Hill, Victoria. She is a Yorta Yorta, Waddi Waddi and Ngarrindjeri woman whose work acknowledges the hand-fishing technique used by her maternal grandmother. As Glenda wove Dhungala, she wove the story of a wise winya (woman) whose digging stick traces the earth and creates the Murray River.
Simone Thomson’s ‘Songlines’ stands in the open at the front plaza section of 555 Collins street and represents the Aboriginal peoples’ relationship with the spirit of the land. Thomson, a Wurundjeri Woi-Wurrung and Yorta Yorta artist reflects “our land knowledge and way of life are sung to Country and recorded in language to the earth and waterways. The songs help us remember our mapping and sacred routes.”
James McGrath’s digital installations ‘Shadow Tree’ and ‘Wetlands Flowers’ activate the building’s internal lobby escalator and key transitional bridge zone. Shadow Tree breathes life into a digital eucalyptus forest in immersive 3D. The artwork maps the progression of time for the building, where the illusion of a fabric screen becomes the canvas for the overlay of forest shadows and light. ‘Wetlands Flowers’ delves into the bond between location and the natural world within the diverse landscapes of recreational and urban Victoria. The essence of the Victorian wetlands is captured across transient terrains, from serene creeks to bustling estuaries and tidal zones. Both artworks are accompanied by complex scores by sound composer Barton Staggs and the Wetlands Flowers includes piano by internationally acclaimed pianist Tamara-Anna Cislowska.
Special thanks to Charter Hall, Armitage Jones, Cox, Robert Bird, Melbourne Art Installations, Partridge Engineering and Wurundjeri Woi Wurrung Cultural Heritage Aboriginal Corporation for making this project possible.
+ more images to come!
