In Melbourne

 Ron Mueck  

As is usually the case our stay in Melbourne began with a trip to the Queen Vic Markets.  Again following tradition there was a queue at the Doughnut van.  Cutting forward a while, at lunchtime there was a queue of about 50 people for the gozleme stall inside the market.  We  passed on both waits, but marvelled at the propensity of Melbournians to wait in line.

Later in the day we noticed these bird paintings in Swanston St.  When I have a few hours to spare I will try to work out what species they are supposed to be (and possibly what substance the artist was abusing when he worked).

We tried to spot the Peregrines around Collins St. I suspected the nest would be out of view but hoped to spot them coming and going.  Unfortunately other buildings block the view from both Collins St ..
.. and Flinders Lane.
To add insult to the dip, out daughter reported seeing one of the adults perched on these antennae earlier in the day.  (Image of antennae from Fed Square, later in the day.)
At Federation Square these whirling pumpkin cups seemed to keep small children happy.
I only realised by accidentally reading this notice that the cups turned on tracks of the music we could here at this part of the site.
The main music was a brass band festival.  I think 15 bands were slated to perform over the afternoon.  This one was pretty good, although I did think it was a bit like Gene Krupa's band where the drummer was the best player!  (According to the leader, this drummer was usually a flugelhorn player.)
The main reason we were in the area was Frances having read of a Ron Mueck exhibition in the Potter Galleries.  We had seen some of his work in Brooklyn so thought it would be interesting for the small people and took them along.  In fact it was a tad strange, consisting of huge skulls.

There was an explanatory video including footage of the pile being created ..
.. and Ron at work.  
I didn't give the video the attention it deserved but think that Ron designed the work but actually participated in the installation by videoconference from the UK.  I did pick up that after each of the 100 skulls had been cast they were worked on various ways (eg a random number of teeth inserted) so that no two of them were identical.  The NGV website gives a little more detail.


Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Tour (yes) Magical (not so much), Mystery (very much)

Image
This covers the last day of our trip to Dunkeld and is almost completely devoted to the drive back to Mallacoota.  We rose from our beds promptly and did a short stroll around the walled garden, packed the car and headed off.  There was a small diversion to drop the photo album we had been lent back in the meter box at the Catholic Church. We set off at pretty much exactly 0800 hours with Polly (we were using Google Maps rather than the Mazda system) suggesting we'd be home by 1710.  The drive along the Glenelg Highway to Streatham was uneventful apart from getting foggy near Streatham.  Once we turned North the only excitement was the number of wind turbines.  As we approached those photographed on the way down  we could see a lot more that had been out of sight heading South.  Frances did a count and concluded that it was over 100 turbines in a number of farms. As we approached Melbourne Polly asked if we wished to switch to a faster route as there was congestion ahead.  Wedid so
Read more

Heading to various lakes

Image
 We have headed off on a trip to visit various lakes in Victoria and central NSW.  The main aim is birding, but there might be some interesting flowers around as well.  The first day stops in Melbourne to see daughter and small people as driving straight to Kerang would be a bit much for us these days. The route is quite standard with a first stop in Bruthen to get a pie and a loaf of bread at the bakery.  The pie (steak and kidney) was well up to standard, scoring 8.5 on the official scale. I ate the pie in the park on the opposite side of the road.  Frances had noticed this object on our last visit but here is a photograph. The plaque explains what it is.  I have been thinking about how the pilot felt dropping from 40,000 feet to 500 feet with no motor.   Frances took over driving after a fuel stop in Bairnsdale - diesel at 197.9 cents a litre vs 237.9 in Mallacoota.  I set up up the Mazda satnav (Sheila) first but then thought that was going to send us through Sale to look at all th
Read more

Towards Canberra

Image
 We took a stroll around the centre of Leeton to start our day.  The built environment of Leeton is interesting as the town was designed by Walter Burly Griffin the planner of Canberra.  Also the centre was built in the 1920s so has a lot of art deco buildings. The first image ia clump of palm trees, of which there are a lot. The War Memorial is art deco in style. Probably the best example of the architecture is the Roxy Theatre at the centre of the town. Here are some other bits and pieces along Pine St. This is the local newspaper which is still going! These water storage tanks were designed by WBG. This is possibly the most impressive building and houses the Water Conservation and Irrigation Commission. Next door is the rather more modest Shire Office with some nice art deco elements. We went back to the Wetlands and scored an early contender for BAD with 2 Juvenile Blue-faced Honeyeaters in a tree in the car park.  This is the Glossy Ibis Shelter in the NW of the area, and the map
Read more