After 18 months pride of place as the inaugural piece on the Sculpture Terrace at Sydney’s newly renovated MCA, Hany Armarnious’ Fountain now has a new home in Melbourne.
For the first half of 2012, the Big Kahuna workshop was busy being covered in marble dust as we tirelessly set out to realise Hany’s giant inner ear sculpture for his commission by the Museum of Contemporary Art.
Fast forward 18 months and we cannot believe how time has flown! It was with great care that last week we packaged it up and moved the 3 Tonne beast to its new resting place at Heide Museum of Modern Art near Melbourne.
Fountain was craned off the MCA Sculpture Terrace overnight on 22/23rd October and journeyed to Victoria, where it will be on long-term loan to Heide. Due to the fragility of the material, the piece was craned onto the site by Big Kahuna Imagineering, using a purpose-built steel cradle. Our specialist team transported the marble element of the sculpture to the original site on the MCA’s rooftop and were called in to manage the relocation…
In the dead of night the sculpture was carefully wrapped in polyurethane foam and its custom-built cradle…
Carefully lowered over the edge of the MCA terrace by crane truck…
and onto the waiting freight truck below…
The truck them made its journey to Melbourne overnight to arrive at Heide the next day…
A few tense moments whilst the mm accuracy required to slot into position was found…
And at last success!!
Director of the Museum of Contemporary Art, Elizabeth Ann Macgregor said, “The MCA has been delighted with the response to Hany Armanious’ Fountain. The MCA Sculpture Series aims to provide an opportunity for artists to create ambitious and significant new works that fire the public imagination, and Hany’s sculpture has exceeded all of our expectations. Although we are sad to farewell Fountain, we are delighted that the next presentation of the work will be in the beautiful surrounds of Heide Museum of Modern Art.”
Heide Director Jason Smith said, “After an 8 hour installation with an 8 tonne crane performing movements worthy of the most delicate ballet steps, the spectacular Hany Armanious sculpture Fountain looks like it has always belonged at Heide… The sinuous, organic curves of the marble sit beautifully in the grove of eucalypts that surrounds this mesmerising work.”
You can visit the sculpture in its new home at the Heide Museum of Modern Art
7 Templestowe Road Bulleen VIC
Hany Armanious was born in Egypt, migrating to Australia as a child. He represented Australia at the 2011 Venice Biennale, and his works are held in major collections nationally.