M O N U M E N T  ;  or an Ex-scape of Pantheonic Remembrance 

A durational performance, MONUMENT  begins as an ode to the creators of the Great Ocean Road, to the 3,000 veterans who minds and bodies rose to the challenge, to the survey teams with their engineering and observational skills navigated between land / sea and to the officials who worked to ensure our soldiers' healthy return to community. 

 

Over the course of 3 week artists Ryan F Kennedy and Ben Michael engage themselves and the audience in rehearsals as they investigate MONUMENT(s) through painting, sculpting and live soundscapes. Acts of celebration, honouring, healing, endurance, repetition and inquiry create continuous affect / effect on the forms, tones and meanings of MONUMENT(s). 

 

The Odes of … a series of bronze sculptures along the path are beacons of community ; Sound and Fury expresses the enormous physical effort through land art along the foreshore ; Survey Says… is a series of expanding banners mapping the varied standpoints had on and surrounding the road since its inception ; The Eternal Drone a live soundtrack using sustained notes eliciting reflection and response ; Kinship the relationship developing between the two performers along with their environment as means to ensure health and well being. 

A living memorial, MONUMENT(s) are more than what they honour ; they are reflections of our sociological / ecological times as we move through What It Was , What It Is , What It Could Be? . Following the past to the present the work invites you to travel this timeline as we create and express histories. The finale of the work is a culmination of these conversations exploring future potentials of MONUMENT(s).