Public Art Commissions
Permanent art commissions
These commissions were realised with significant assistance from the Australia Council for the Arts, the Federal Government’s arts funding and advisory body, Creative Victoria, the Emerging Sculptors Trust, the Australian Centre for the Moving Image and the National Gallery Victoria, Screen Sound Australia and Lake Technologies.
Sun Drawings – Christopher Bell
The incidental effects of urban congestion and ‘electronic smog’ are rendered visible in Christopher Bell’s Sun Drawings, a shifting array of reflected light that appears daily on the façade of the Alfred Deakin Building. These mesmerising patterns are created by robotically controlled kinetic architecture that responds to radio transmissions detected in the vicinity of the Square.
Nearamnew – Paul Carter
Artist and writer Paul Carter collaborated with the architects of Federation Square on Nearamnew, a vast Square paving design with poetic text inscriptions. Fragmented voices of historical and fictional characters can be deciphered in nine locations around the site, relating the history of the site and poetic visions of the Federation ideal.
Update 23 November 2022: Please note that Red Centre is currently being refurbished.
Red Centre – Konstantin Dimopoulos
Fire, light and the Australian outback are evoked in Red Centre by Konstantin Dimopoulos. Red Centre was commissioned for Federation Square and is a permanent sculpture between the Main Square and the Yarra River. It provides a visual link between the top of River Terrace and the creative spaces of Birrarung Marr and ArtPlay.
“Fire is an essential part of this landscape. It both destroys and regenerates. It gives life and takes it. It symbolises beginnings and endings. Fire as a means of warmth, a means to cook food, of bringing a community together – a meeting place such as represented by Federation Square.” – Konstantin Dimopoulos