Melbourne-based sculptor Geoff Robinson is the recipient of the coveted Melbourne Prize for Urban Sculpture 2014 for his work 15 locations / 15 minutes / 15 days, 2014.
The $60,000 prize has been awarded, in recognition of Geoff’s contribution to the urban environment through his work, at a gala ceremony at Federation Square. The Prize is generously supported by The Vera Moore Foundation, The Tallis Foundation and the Melbourne Prize Trust.
Judges statement:
Ringing bells mark space and time. The sound of ringing bells have the capacity to reverberate around and through bodies, temporarily mapping a place by demarcating it aurally and interacting with the acoustic nature of surfaces that reflect or absorb sound. They call a community together and join it through a shared experience. Geoff Robinson’s project uses the 15 Federation hand bells struck for the centenary of Federation in 2001 to create a sound space that is both communal and architectural, reiterating the assembly of Federation 
Square and its purpose as a meeting place for all called to action and idea. Occurring once a day throughout the duration of the exhibition, the bells, rung by 15 people, offer a quarter-hour of auratic beauty and performative engagement. Open and potential, they call between themselves to create a relay that travels around and through the square, implicating, in the most generous of ways, the people around whom the sound travels and rallies.
The judging panel this year consisted of a highly-esteemed group including Tony Ellwood, Director, National Gallery of Victoria, Juliana Engberg, Artistic Director, Australian Centre for Contemporary Art, Professor Callum Morton, Head of Fine Art, MADA, Monash University Art Design & Architecture and Sculptor, Professor Marie Sierra, Artist & Deputy Dean and Head of School UNSW Australia Art & Design, Simone Slee, Artist & Head, Sculpture & Spatial Practice, School of Art, Victorian College of the Arts, Faculty of VCA and MCM, The University of Melbourne.
Finalists’ Exhibition
Until 24 November, 2014
Federation Square, Melbourne
Geoff Robinson, 15 locations / 15 minutes / 15 days, 2014, timber dowel, acrylic paint, powder coated steel post holders, shot bags, federation handballs, variable dimensions
Courtesy of Museum Victoria
