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NOVEMBER 7th – 21st, 2011
This broadsheet has been developed for the project a world fully accessible by no living being, during the Melbourne Prize for Urban Sculpture, exhibited at Federation Square between the 7th and 21st of November, 2011. Bianca Hester is represented by Sarah Scout, Melbourne. Concept: Bianca Hester Graphic Design: Warren Taylor Photography: Bianca Hester, Kay Abude, Sebastian Avila, Scott Mitchell Printing: Newsprinters, Shepparton Victoria Paperstock: Marathon Bond 70gsm Edition: 2000 2011 Š Bianca Hester ISBN 978-0-9805877-8-4 Acknowledgements: Kay Abude, Akira Akira, Appiah Annan, Sebastian Avila, Holly Bennet, Terri Bird, Bill Coleby, Anthony Cribb, Veronica Cust, Charlotte Day, Figo Gamachu, Kathleen Gonzalez, Agatha Gothe-Snape, Kym Haines, Jason Heller, Dermot Henry, Ian Hester, Ying Lan-Dan, Nicholas Mangan, Vikki McInnes, Scott Mitchell, Callum Morton, Geoff Newton, Spiros Panigirakis, Lucretia Quintanilla, Reuben Heller-Quintanilla, Geoff Robinson, Jonas Ropponen, Julius-Bright Sackey, Brian Scales, Saskia Schut, Andrew Sinclair, Simone Slee, Deam Smith, Charlie Sofo, Steven Sparrey, Peter Swinkles, Brendon Taylor, Warren Taylor, Isadora Vaughan, Simon Warrender, Benjamin Woods, Makiko Yammamoto, Zachary Zegbedski, Staff and Students of VCA Sculpture and Spatial Practice, Sarah Scout presents and the artists from A-coop. Dr Bianca Hester is a lecturer in Sculpture and Spatial Practice in the School of Art at VCA, University of Melbourne. Cinder-blocks generously supplied by Boral, Melbourne through the support of Garry Stephen and Garry McCarthy.
A WORLD FULLY ACCESSIBLE BY NO LIVING BEING
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NOVEMBER 7th – 21st, 2011
This project comprises three components, being: a series of propositions for engaging the urban environment, an architectural intervention, and this broadsheet. Weaving through this multiplicity is the desire to experiment with the limits that regulate urban spaces and to provoke strategies for addressing the ways that these spaces are constructed, cultivated, regulated and negotiated. Propositions The propositions listed below temporarily occupy several sites around Melbourne. Each proposition seeks to open up possibilities for considering forms of engagement and occupation. The propositions are actualized in various ways: some have been improvised and documented prior to the exhibition, some remain as plans articulated by the use of text and image, and some are given form by becoming actions that occur during the exhibition. To witness or participate in some of these actions, check the timetable at the back of this broadsheet for more details. An architectural intervention The cinder-block wall built at Federation Square becomes the physical nexus for the project and forms the backdrop for the performance of some of the project’s propositions. The wall also acts as a support-structure for the presentation and distribution of this broadsheet. This broadsheet This broadsheet is the primary site for encountering the multiplicity of propositions. It collects these together and operates as a publication, a mapping, a document that articulates the ways each proposition has taken shape or been enacted, and a timetable of actions. This broadsheet is free to whoever wants to take it.
Proposition 1: Building a cinder-block wall on the steps of Parliament House To install a cinder-block wall, 5m long x 3m high, on the steps of Parliament House as a strategy to engage the authoritarian edifice of the building and to bring the apparent impenetrability of this edifice into question. Proposition 2: Installing a cast copy of the Henbury iron meteorite on the wall at 80 Collins Street To install a cast copy of the Henbury iron meteorite from the collection at Melbourne Museum, high upon the exterior wall of Palmer House on the edge of the plaza at 80 Collins Street. Employing a sculptural object, this proposition aims to bring the materiality of the site into focus and to activate an awareness of the contrasting time-scales of matter present upon the earth, from which cities are constructed. Proposition 3: Annexing a patch of grass in the Fitzroy Gardens To negotiate with City of Melbourne parks department to annex an 8m x 10m patch of grass in the Fitzroy Gardens from mowing or maintenance for a fixed period of time – up to twelve months in duration. This proposition works to enable the flourishing of forms of life that are usually repressed by regimes of cultivation (such as weeds and indigenous grasses) to take root and become visible. It also seeks to make an addition to public space via a subtle strategy involving the suspension of standardized procedures. Proposition 4: Making a collaborative sound performance in multi-level carparks To carry out a series of sound-based performances involving several people and several
steel hoops in multi-level carparks around Melbourne. This proposition seeks to momentarily reposition the commercial space of the carpark into an architecturally-scaled, sound-generating surface, so as to enable a different kind of encounter between forces: between objects, bodies, gravity and surfaces.
propriate the daily congregation of domesticated animals, with a change of context, and introduce the collected physicality of these creatures into a highly cultivated urban environment.
Proposition 5: Projecting a video in the evening hours upon a wall in the city
To lay down directly on the ground in a public space beneath fabric in order to reposition the ground as a platform for the presentation of a horizontally oriented body.
This proposition works to momentarily animate a monumentally scaled wall through use of a video projection, embellishing the drama of dusk-becoming-evening-gettingdark. Proposition 6: Using a helicopter, to move a onetonne sample of Horsham sandstone from its site of purchase, over the city and towards the site where it was mined from the ground near Horsham, Victoria. This proposition seeks to relocate a lump of sandstone from its contemporary generic context as landscape material and transport it over the city skyline and back to the region from which it was extracted. This proposition aims to generate a spectacular air-borne event with a lump of rock as a way to generate reflection upon the city’s colonial history in relationship to ongoing processes involving the extraction and deployment of materials. Proposition 7: Inviting dogs and their owners to congregate at Federation Square on Saturdays By using facebook and billing posters nearby urban parklands, to invite dogs (and their owners) to congregate at the cinderblock wall built at Federation Square at a specified hour. This proposition seeks to ap-
A WORLD FULLY ACCESSIBLE BY NO LIVING BEING
Proposition 8: Lay down beneath fabric
Proposition 9: Sitting together This proposition involves sitting on the ground with a diverse group of people for one hour, without purpose other than to experience the company of others in a public context for a brief period of time. Proposition 10: Gathering sticks throughout the city and depositing them at the temporary cinder-block wall at Federation Square To venture into the city with a group of people in order to gather sticks from pavements, gutters, median strips and parklands and bring them back to Federation Square. The route of this excursion will remain unplanned and will be determined during the moment of walking, in discussion with whoever happens to join. Over time a pile of sticks will inevitably accumulate. This proposition seeks to physically engage the city’s peripheral zones and redistribute a portion of the debris collected there, into a site that is cultivated differently. Anyone who is interested in joining this venture is welcome to attend. Please see the list of events at the back of this broadsheet for times of departure.
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NOVEMBER 7th – 21st, 2011
Digital collage of cinder-block wall built at Federation Square, present between November 7th – 20th 2011, constructed by Anthony Cribb and Brian Scales. A WORLD FULLY ACCESSIBLE BY NO LIVING BEING
NOVEMBER 7th – 21st, 2011
A WORLD FULLY ACCESSIBLE BY NO LIVING BEING
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NOVEMBER 7th – 21st, 2011
Proposition 1: Building a cinder-block wall on the steps of Parliament House This proposition was enacted using a printed vinyl banner on Monday September 26th at 6.45am with assistance from Terri Bird, Spiros Panigirakis and Scott Mitchell. The banner was erected on the steps of Parliament House as an improvisation of the proposition to build an actual cinder-block wall. The steps were occupied for 8 minutes and 45 seconds before being noticed by police on guard, who requested that the banner be removed.
View of the steps and façade of the Parliament of Victoria A WORLD FULLY ACCESSIBLE BY NO LIVING BEING
NOVEMBER 7th – 21st, 2011
PROPOSITION 1: BUILDING A CINDER-BLOCK WALL ON THE STEPS OF PARLIAMENT HOUSE
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NOVEMBER 7th – 21st, 2011
The banner is carried from Parliament Gardens, to the steps of the Victorian Parliament
Spiros Panigirakis and Terri Bird hold the banner, facing outwards towards Bourke Street, while Scott Mitchell and Bianca Hester document the action
A WORLD FULLY ACCESSIBLE BY NO LIVING BEING
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NOVEMBER 7th – 21st, 2011
Detail of Spiros Panigirakis and Terri Bird with banner
The police on guard notice the presence of the banner after 8 minutes and 45 seconds
Banner being packed down
PROPOSITION 1: BUILDING A CINDER-BLOCK WALL ON THE STEPS OF PARLIAMENT HOUSE
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NOVEMBER 7th – 21st, 2011
Proposition 2: Installing a cast copy of the Henbury iron meteorite on the wall at 80 Collins Street This proposition involves a Henbury iron meteorite from the collection of the Museum of Melbourne, cast in resin. The proposition is enacted by a daily performance which involves holding this cast object aloft for fifteen minutes, in a plaza adjacent to Nauru House during lunch-break over a number of days.
Henbury iron meteorite, from the collection of the Museum of Melbourne
Notes on the Henbury iron meteorite
Notes on Nauru House
Iron meteorites, such as Henbury, are rare, representing only 4% of all meteorites that fall to Earth. All iron meteorites are approximately 4.5 billion years old. They are mainly composed of iron-nickel alloy which represents fragments of the core of large asteroids smashed open during collisions with other asteroids. The core of the Earth is composed of similar material. This fragment of iron meteorite fell about 4000 years ago at Henbury in the Northern Territory. It was part of a much larger iron mass, which broke up during its flight through the Earth’s atmosphere. Fragments rained down with the largest pieces explosively impacting with the earth to form a series of 13 craters. Local aborigines may have witnessed this event. The largest crater is 180 metres in diameter. About 1200 kg of iron meteorite fragments have been recovered from around the craters but much of the larger masses would have been pulverised and turned to dust upon impact. The smooth dimpled appearance of this fragment suggested it ‘spalled’ off a larger fragment in flight as those formed during the explosive break up of larger masses appear as twisted metal fragments, with sharp edges, akin to shrapnel.
The land upon which this building was constructed was purchased for $19 million Australian dollars, by the Government of Nauru in 1972. In order to boast a Collins Street address, two heritage buildings were demolished, the absence of which is replaced by a semi-public plaza that is utilized daily by office workers for smokos and lunch-breaks. Palmer House, the building at 82 Collins Street on the southern side of the plaza, provides the textured wall in front of which this proposition takes place. It has been ear-marked for demolition within the next two years.
extract from Dermot Henry, Head Geologist at the Museum of Melbourne
Assistance: Terri Bird and Scott Mitchell (mould-making), Dermot Henry (head geologist at the Museum of Melbourne) for access to the meteorite and for generous engagement in the project), Peter Swinkles, Deam Smith, Brendon Taylor, Kym Haines and Steven Sparrey at the Museum of Melbourne for use of their workshop, assistance and time. Photos: Kay Abude
A WORLD FULLY ACCESSIBLE BY NO LIVING BEING
NOVEMBER 7th – 21st, 2011
Detail of meteorite cast in brown polyurethane resin, being held aloft in front of the textured wall of Palmer House adjacent the plaza at 80 Collins Street PROPOSITION 2: INSTALLING A CAST COPY OF THE HENBURY IRON METEORITE ON THE WALL AT 80 COLLINS STREET
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NOVEMBER 7th – 21st, 2011
The plaza during lunchtime A WORLD FULLY ACCESSIBLE BY NO LIVING BEING
NOVEMBER 7th – 21st, 2011
PROPOSITION 2: INSTALLING A CAST COPY OF THE HENBURY IRON METEORITE ON THE WALL AT 80 COLLINS STREET
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NOVEMBER 7th – 21st, 2011
Proposition 3: Annexing a patch of grass in the Fitzroy Gardens As a way to activate this proposition, a patch of grass in the Fitzroy Gardens was plotted out with assistance from Saskia Schut on Tuesday October 5th between 6.30 - 7.30am. The patch was delineated long enough to enable photographic documentation to be made. It was sunrise and the buildings along Spring Street were bathed in a transient glow. The grass was laden with moisture that had settled overnight.
Saskia Schut marking out a patch with metal stakes, 6.40am Saskia Schut threading cord thorugh the stakes in order to mark out a temporary boundary
The patch of grass, annexed for a moment
A WORLD FULLY ACCESSIBLE BY NO LIVING BEING
NOVEMBER 7th – 21st, 2011
Detail of the stakes and cord PROPOSITION 3: ANNEXING A PATCH OF GRASS IN THE FITZROY GARDENS
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NOVEMBER 7th – 21st, 2011
Overgrown grasses on a carpark boundary, Tipping Street, Brunswick
Grasses at the site of the future Anstey and Ashton Project Space, off Albion Street, Brunswick
Grasses on the banks of the Marybirnong River, near Joseph Road, Footscray Grasses on the land near Cade Way, adjacent to the abandoned Commonwealth Games carpark, Parkville
Grasses on a hill on Dynon Road, Footscray Vegetation on the marshlands beneath Citilink freeway, growing alongside Railway Canal, Flemington A WORLD FULLY ACCESSIBLE BY NO LIVING BEING
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NOVEMBER 7th – 21st, 2011
Industrial site on Bakers Road, Coburg North Grasses on a construction site, Wellington Street, Collingwood
Vegetation growing in the space between two buildings, Victoria Street, Brunswick
Detail of grasses alongside the Upfield train line
Test patch of grasses annexed for seven weeks on the front lawn, Brunswick
Grasses thriving upon a disused block along the Upfield train Line
PROPOSITION 3: RESEARCH IMAGES OF WEEDS AND GRASSES GROWING THROUGHOUT MELBOURNE, 2008-2011
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NOVEMBER 7th – 21st, 2011
Proposition 4: Making a collaborative sound performance in multi-level carparks On Sunday October 2nd 2011, a group of people met on the uppermost level of the Wilson carpark at 180 Russell Street in order to activate the proposition to make a sound performance in a carpark. The event involved six people and six steel hoops, one metre in diameter and nine kilograms in weight. The performance developed with the hoops being manipulated into elliptical trajectories before crashing violently to the ground, generating layers of cacophonous sound produced through the meeting of steel and concrete that was enabled and mediated by the human body.
View of the top level of the carpark at 180 Russell Street, taken from the balcony of room 1609 in Mantra on Russell hotel
A WORLD FULLY ACCESSIBLE BY NO LIVING BEING
NOVEMBER 7th – 21st, 2011
Bianca Hester descending a ramp with a hoop
Charlie Sofo with hoop PROPOSITION 4: MAKING A COLLABORATIVE SOUND PERFORMANCE IN MULTI-LEVEL CARPARKS
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NOVEMBER 7th – 21st, 2011
Notes on the physicality of a hoop When set into motion, the spinning hoop maintains an upright position for an unexpectedly long duration, due to the “elastic energy” at work between the steel and the concrete. …the metal hoop makes an incredibly loud sound when traveling across the ground – the steel amplifies every spec of grit that it happens to pass over. The weight of the steel seems to allow the hoop to resist gravity for a while – with only minor physical assistance the hoop can roll across space, with its own weight providing a source of ongoing locomotion. Then when left to spin on its own, it slowly rotates down towards the ground in a mesmerizing pattern. Someone commented that it made them physically understand how planets orbit in space – in terms of the weight of celestial bodies in relationship to the elliptical pathways they perform…
Geoff Robinson, Appiah Annan, Bianca Hester, Akira Akira, Lucretia Quintanilla and Reuben Heller-Quintanilla on the car-park roof-top, on Sunday October 2nd, 2011 A WORLD FULLY ACCESSIBLE BY NO LIVING BEING
NOVEMBER 7th – 21st, 2011
Participants involved in all performances: Akira Akira, Appiah Annan, Bianca Hester, Geoff Robinson, Charlie Sofo, Lucretia Quintanilla, Reuben Heller-Quintanilla, Agatha Gothe-Snape, Julius-Bright Sackey, Kathleen Gonzalez, Makiko Yammamoto, Jonas Ropponnen Photos: Kay Abude Video: Sebastian Avila Sound recording: Geoff Robinson, Jason Heller
PROPOSITION 4: MAKING A COLLABORATIVE SOUND PERFORMANCE IN MULTI-LEVEL CARPARKS
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NOVEMBER 7th – 21st, 2011
Proposition 5: Projecting a video in the evening hours upon a wall in the city At dusk, a video will be projected upon the expanse of wall that marks the southern side of McIllwraith Place, near the corner of Bourke Street. This wall will be animated momentarily by fragments of footage made while enacting some of the other propositions, embellishing the drama of dusk-becoming-evening-getting-dark.
Video stills of two hoops in motion, with Geoff Robinson
A WORLD FULLY ACCESSIBLE BY NO LIVING BEING
NOVEMBER 7th – 21st, 2011
Projection wall on McIllwraith Place, near the corner of Bourke Street, Melbourne PROPOSITION 5: PROJECTING A VIDEO IN THE EVENING HOURS UPON A WALL IN THE CITY
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NOVEMBER 7th – 21st, 2011
Proposition 6: Using a helicopter, to move a one-tonne sample of Horsham sandstone from its site of purchase in Bulleen, over the city and towards the site where it was mined from the ground near Horsham, Victoria. The city is composed of material that has been excavated from the earth from locations both nearby and very distant. Horsham sandstone is mined from quarries in what is currently known as the Halls Gap region, which prior to the invasion of the area by Europeans in 1836, was inhabited by an Aboriginal clan know as the Djurite Balug, who were part Jardwadjali language group. This sandstone is the major material from which the Parliament House, The Town Hall, The State Library and the GPO are constructed.
Propositional image of sandstone passing over Little Bourke Street A WORLD FULLY ACCESSIBLE BY NO LIVING BEING
NOVEMBER 7th – 21st, 2011
Propositional image of sandstone passing over the intersection at Lygon and Grattan Streets
Propositional image of sandstone passing over a building site in Southbank PROPOSITION 6: USING A HELICOPTER, TO MOVE A ONE-TONNE SAMPLE OF HORSHAM SANDSTONE
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NOVEMBER 7th – 21st, 2011
Proposition 7: Inviting dogs and their owners to congregate at Federation Square on Saturdays
Announcement poster for the event, billed in a Brunswick carpark PROPOSITION 7: INVITING DOGS AND THEIR OWNERS TO CONGREGATE AT FEDERATION SQUARE ON SATURDAYS
NOVEMBER 7th – 21st, 2011
Proposition 8: Laydown beneath fabric Benjamin Woods will lay-down beneath a fabric for an unspecified time and for an indeterminate duration throughout the exhibition at Federation Square.
Benjamin Woods laying down beneath a golden fabric in 2010
PROPOSITION 8: LAYDOWN BENEATH FABRIC
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NOVEMBER 7th – 21st, 2011
Proposition 9: Sitting together An expanded group of people (known and unknown to each other) are invited to sit together on the ground at the foot of the cinder-block wall built at Federation Square.
Flyers inviting people to join the action billed on a noticeboard in Building 2 at RMIT University PROPOSITION 9: SITTING TOGETHER
NOVEMBER 7th – 21st, 2011
Proposition 10: Gathering sticks throughout the city and depositing them at the temporary cinder-block wall at Federation Square Sticks will be collected from the city on a daily basis. The cinder-block wall is the meeting point for this venture and will be the site to which the sticks are deposited at the end of each action. This process is open to the participation of anyone who is interested. Over time a pile of sticks will inevitably accumulate, becoming a material index of what has become debris in an urban context. See the schedule at the back page of this broadsheet for departure times.
Bianca Hester gathering sticks, October 2011 PROPOSITION 10: GATHERING STICKS THROUGHOUT THE CITY
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NOVEMBER 7th – 21st, 2011
A WORLD FULLY ACCESSIBLE BY NO LIVING BEING
NOVEMBER 7th – 21st, 2011
Schedule of events At the cinder-block wall: Monday 7th November 12.00pm / Gathering sticks in the CBD
Tuesday 8th November 10.30am / Hoops performance
Wednesday 9th November 1.30pm / Gathering sticks in the CBD
Thursday 10th November 1.00 – 2.00pm / Sitting together 3.00pm / Gathering sticks in the CBD
Saturday 12th November 1.30pm / Gathering sticks in the CBD 4.00pm / A congregation of dogs
Sunday 13th November 3.00pm / Gathering sticks in the CBD
Saturday 19th November 2.00pm / A congregation of dogs
Sunday 20th November 4.00pm / Gathering sticks in the CBD Laydown: Benjamin Woods will lay down beneath a fabric at an unspecified time and for an indeterminate duration, in front of the cinder-block wall throughout the exhibition period: Monday 7th, Tuesday 8th, Thursday 10th, Friday 11th, Sunday 13th, Tuesday 15th, Wednesday 16th, Friday 18th, Saturday 19th, Monday 21st Events occuring at other sites: Projection upon the wall at McIllwraith Place, near the corner of Bourke Street: nightly from 7.45pm Holding the meteorite aloft at 80 Collins Street: The cast of the meteorite will be held for 15 minutes, at the southern wall at 80 Collins Street on: November 7th: 11am, November 9th: 12.00pm, November 10th: 12.00pm, November 12th: 12.30pm, November 14th: 1.00pm, November 15th: 1.00pm
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