Melbourne’s Hanover House – and future site for STH BNK by developer Beulah – has been brought to life by the city’s rising star artist Atong Atem, who was commissioned to animate two facades of the building.
At the launch on Friday 20 August, City of Melbourne Lord Mayor Sally Capp expressed her support for the works, which signifies another milestone for the Melbourne Arts Precinct.
“I’m excited to see Outdoor Living light up our city, and continue to enrich Melbourne’s reputation as the arts capital of Australia. Atong Atem has created a visual representation of what Melbourne means to her, and I believe we can all find some connection with her work – whether it be a connection to nature, city or a sense of belonging. The transformation of the Melbourne Arts Precinct continues to prove itself as a major drawcard for our city.”
City of Melbourne Lord Mayor Sally Capp
Situated in the heart of an international arts precinct, STH BNK by Beulah aims to celebrate how future expressions of art and culture can enhance and enrich daily life. The new public artwork has been commissioned for BETA – an experiential event series that will bring together international brands, revered artists and makers, immersive dining and the like over a six-month period.
Futurecity was appointed by Beulah to create the temporary artwork to transform the building, with the brief to showcase Beulah’s commitment to sustainability, wellness and technology by incorporating low-VOC and low-energy consumption materials.
“This is the first series of placemaking actions that will take place in leading to the permanent development, which has made a powerful commitment to place ‘culture at the centre’ of all types of tenancy in the development. Atong Atem’s practice sincerely shares a similar ethos of experimenting with mediums and references for identity to create a new future informed from annunciating elements of the past or familiar.”
Sherry Dobbin, Partner, Futurecity
“Atong Atem’s extraordinary new public art workis the latest global project by Futurecity, providing opportunities for ‘gallery without walls’ commissions where artists can transfer their practice from studio and gallery to large scale canvasses, architectural, infrastructure and landscape”
Mark Davy, Founder & CEO, Futurecity
Atong Atem’s dramatic statement in paint and LED neons, Outdoor Living (2021) draws inspiration from her archive of colonial and vintage European wallpapers. Vivid, large-scale illuminated neon flowers overlay a painted wallpaper design across two facades of the 20m building in a vibrant transformation that encapsulates the artist’s vision of Melbourne’s past and future. The signature motifs have been adapted from Atem’s past works, including her photographic Studio Series at NGV Triennial, and new film Banksia, commissioned for this year’s Rising Festival.
Beulah Executive Director Adelene Teh said the mural not only acts as a test for the public Art Inspirations for the future development, but will help showcase how art and culture can enhance and enrich daily life.
“Atong’s piece is the first installation in our 6-month BETA programme and we are thrilled with the end result; it is bold, exciting and fresh and has really helped to transform the cityscape in Southbank.
“We hope Atong’s artwork can help to bring some joy and life back into the Melbourne CBD after what has been a challenging time for the arts industry and the city more generally.”
Adelene Teh, Executive Director, Beulah
Atong Atem, an Ethiopian-born, South Sudanese, Naarm/Melbourne-based artist, says that her work explores her relationship to Melbourne, Australia and beyond when forming the sense of belonging to a place. For Outdoor Living, Atong has paired wallpaper design with an overlay of LED lighting; whilst the wallpaper refers to interior spaces, the LED evokes the neon signs of a 20th-century cityscape lit with commercial designs.
“I’m interested in the relationships between people, our connection with the natural and built environments, and how this is interwoven with the visual signs and symbols that define our histories. With the work I have developed for Hanover House, I’m interested in the aesthetics of 1970s Australian homes and have chosen to reference the intimacy of those spaces by creating a wallpaper pattern reminiscent of late 20th-century living room walls.
– Atong Atem, Artist
Wallpaper and fabric have featured prominently in my past work, with patterns overlapped and collaged together. They balance layers of complexity within the visual composition and weave diverse histories, cultural narratives and contemporary culture into the frame. I’ve done a lot of work with local flowers found on walks in my local area, taken home, scanned and captured as images, frozen as permanent depictions of the time and place in which I live.
Neon has a long history in pop and conceptual art; using new LED technology enables a more sustainable way to evoke nostalgia for this classic neon imagery. This also speaks to a time when Hanover House was one of the tallest buildings in Southbank.”
Atong Atem, Artist
The BETA event series is designed to give Melburnians a feel for what can be expected as part of STH BNK By Beulah. STH BNK By Beulah is set to become Australia’s tallest building, boasting fully integrated vertical villages, drawing together leading figures in design and placemaking with pioneering creative collaborators. STH BNK By Beulah will also support the transformation of the Melbourne Arts Precinct and will become a go-to destination for the city’s 2.2 million international tourists and visitors.
This bold work demonstrates Beulah International’s vision to make distinctive places by collaborating with existing identity – and with STH_BNK being within the Arts Precinct, it must ambitiously support the intersection of art and its community by integrating it into existing daily life and complementing its cultural institutions. There are four more years of experimenting before the final development is complete and we will see Beulah’s permanent commitment grow and embed into the future as an important platform for accessible and dynamic artwork.
Learn more about Melbourne’s STH BNK By Beulah here https://sthbnk.com/
See the BETA programme of events here https://sthbnk.com/events/
Images courtesy the artist and MARS Gallery, Melbourne