Three Phases of a Monument

Site-specific performative/spatial work and architectural construction. Certificate of Action, Certificate of Establishment, Certificate of Transfer. Commenced 10 November 2019. In progress.

Three Phases of a Monument is a longitudinal project centred on a 3-metre-long fracture made by the artist in a concrete slab at 1 City Road, Southbank, the future site of NGV Contemporary. Initially titled wilder, the work proposed a calibrated rupture in the urban surface to allow unregulated plant growth. However, once the fracture was made, the project expanded to interrogate permanence, authorship, and legal objecthood.

The slab’s eventual destruction during site development will trigger a second artistic act, absorbing the future NGV building as a secondary material expression of the artwork. A third phase will transfer full rights to the Traditional Custodians of the land. Inspired by adverse possession and Locke’s theories of labour and ownership, the work operates across performative, legal, and sculptural registers.