Callum Morton's Silverscreen The Marc and Eva Besen Commission

MONASH UNIVERSITY MUSEUM OF ART
New public sculpture made possible by leading philanthropists
Callum Morton’s Silverscreen
The Marc and Eva Besen Commission
A 20-metre high public sculpture – part architecture, part drive-in
screen, part sculpture, billboard and scaffold – is set to become
the iconic entrance to the Monash University Museum of Art’s new
premises at the Caulfield campus.
Monash University has officially launched Silverscreen 2010 – The
Marc and Eva Besen Commission – by Callum Morton, one of
Australia’s leading contemporary artists.
A generous donation from Marc Besen AO (Hon LLD, Monash; Hon
PhD, Tel Aviv) and Eva Besen AO (Hon LLD, Monash) enabled the
commissioning of the new architecturally-integrated work.
Marc and Eva Besen recently made a major philanthropic gift to create the
Eva and Marc Besen International Research Chair in Design. This senior
position is the first endowed research chair in the Monash Faculty of Art &
Design. These recent gifts extend their long history of support for Monash
University.
“We are proud and delighted to contribute to the new and vital museum
by gifting an amazing major sculpture by one of Australia’s most eminent
contemporary artists and to promote the value of good design by funding
a Chair dedicated to the discipline for which Australia has a history of
exceptional brilliance during the last half of the 20th Century”, said Dr. Marc
Besen AO.
In thanking the Besens for their philanthropy, Monash University Vice-
Chancellor Professor Ed Byrne AO said that the sculpture would be enjoyed
by thousands of people, including students, staff, alumni and the public.
Silverscreen gives the Museum a significant presence on Dandenong Road,
one of Melbourne’s principal gateways.
“Silverscreen – The Marc and Eva Besen Commission – is a stunning
addition to the Monash University Collection. We are indeed privileged to
have been able to commission such a major work by Callum Morton, one of
Australia’s most distinguished contemporary artists,” said Professor Byrne.
“Marc and Eva, thank you for enhancing this campus and providing such
an iconic focal point for MUMA, and for the University’s Art and Design
precinct.”
“Silverscreen will provide enjoyment, provoke thought, and inspire creativity.
Fittingly, the work exists along the continuum of art, design and architecture
– fields where Monash University strives to be a leader,” said
Professor Byrne.
Ground Floor, Building F
Monash University, Caulfield Campus
900 Dandenong Road
Caulfield East, VIC 3145 Australia
www.monash.edu.au/muma
Telephone +61 3 9905 4217
muma@monash.edu
Tues – Fri 10am – 5pm; Sat 12 – 5pm
Callum Morton, Silverscreen 2010
The Marc and Eva Besen Commission
under construction
Monash University Museum of Art, Caulfield
Photos: David Pidgeon, John Brash

MONASH UNIVERSITY MUSEUM OF ART
About the work
Propped between two buildings on Dandenong Road, Silverscreen provides
a declarative identity for the Museum, and a ceremonial entry for visitors
to MUMA, ushering them from the street to the sculpture court and the
entrance to the museum.
More than 20 metres high, and constructed from galvanized steel and
energy-efficient LED lights, Silverscreen is inspired by the mid-twentieth
century form of the drive-in cinema screen, a modern technology related to
economies of entertainment, spectacle and visual modes of public address.
Morton’s Silverscreen makes reference to a number of canonical sculptural,
museum and architectural forms: Vladimir Tatlin’s Monument to the Third
International 1917, a utopian albeit unrealised symbol of modernity; Cedric
Price’s Fun Palace 1961, with its experimental urbanism and interest in
processes of transformation and play, information and identity; and Rogers
and Piano’s Pompidou Centre 1972-76, with its principles of transparency
and circulation, daring structural assemblage and interaction between
museum and urban context.
About the artist
Callum Morton is one of Australia’s leading and most distinguished
artists. He has represented Australia at the Venice Biennale, 2007, and
has participated in a wide range of prestigious exhibitions nationally and
internationally.
Recent architectural and public projects include Valhalla, Venice Biennale
2007 and Melbourne International Arts Festival 2009; Hotel, Eastlink
Freeway 2008; and Grotto, Fundament Foundation, Netherlands, 2009.
Callum Morton, artist, on Silverscreen:
“The brief was to suggest the design for a type of screen. I have been using
the drive-in screen for a long time, as a type of object sitting somewhere
between painting, sculpture and the moving image.
“I am interested in Silverscreen working on a number of levels. On the
one hand it’s a type of strange archaeological artefact from the recent
past that has been plucked out of the urban landscape and wedged into
a relationship with the museum as a type of oversized object from the
collection.
“It is also an entrance from Dandenong Road, a processional space
through to the sculpture court. Equally it’s an armature for the Museum’s
signage and perhaps to broadcast other activities. I was looking at Cedric
Price’s Fun Palace, which connects to the Pompidou Centre, which in turn
connects to Palais de Tokyo, etc. In keeping with these works, it will have a
lighting sequence that announces its presence at night, and which can be
altered and adapted over time.”
Max Delany, Director, MUMA, on Silverscreen:
“Silverscreen also engages with the history of its wider urban context.
Dandenong Road was the gateway to Melbourne’s first motel (in Oakleigh)
and drive in cinema screen (opposite Monash University’s Clayton campus).
It is a work of art conceived at drive-by scale, but which equally encourages
adventure and diversion at ground level – through a dynamic opticality and
play of light, of shadows by day and illumination at night.”
Monash University Museum of Art is located on the ground floor of Building
F, 900 Dandenong Road, at Monash University, Caulfield campus.
For images and information please contact MUMA media contact
Leith Thomas on 0411 055 299 or lt@leiththomas.com.au or
Sarah Morris on 03 9905 1618 or sarah.morris@monash.edu
Callum Morton, Silverscreen 2010
The Marc and Eva Besen Commission
galvanised steel, LED lights
17.7 x 21.0 x 7.4 m
Monash University Collection
Photos: David Pidgeon, John Brash
Artist’s render: Callum Morton
Elevations: Kerstin Thompson Architects rtz
Gallery, Melbourne