Art brings life to NewQuay

A new public artwork is hoped to help kick-start the reinvigoration of NewQuay West.

MAB Corporation managing director Andrew Buxton and Cr Ken Ong last month unveiled Meeting 1 by Beijing artist Wang Shugang.  

The sculpture, located at NewQuay Promenade on the western side of the NewQuay piazza, features eight identical crouching red men arranged in a circle.

The bronze sculptures weigh 100 kilograms each and were cast from a mould created from a life-size model.

In Chinese culture, the number eight is believed to bring good luck while the artist considered red to be a multicultural colour.

The artwork was first exhibited at the G8 Summit meeting of world leaders in Germany in 2007 and then at the “Sculptures by the Sea” exhibitions in Sydney and Perth.

Mr Buxton said he had seen the artwork at the “Sculptures by the Sea” exhibition at Bondi and had been amazed by the way people of all ages were drawn to it.

“This is exactly the sort of interactive experience we want to offer people at Docklands,” Mr Buxton said.

The artwork is hoped to help reinvigorate the area and create activity as development continues at the western end of NewQuay during Docklands’ second decade.

“The red men are here to watch over us and make sure we do a good job,” Mr Buxton said.

The City of Melbourne will be custodian of the sculpture and Cr Ong was present at the unveiling.

At the unveiling he said jokingly if there were 11 men rather than eight in the sculpture then its name could be “council meeting”.

“Docklands hosts a fascinating outdoor art collection and this will be an addition that will appeal to people of all ages,” Cr Ong said.

NewQuay Promenade is already home to the sculpture Silence by Adrian Mauriks and at the unveiling Mr Buxton said a third public artwork would be added to the promenade.

He said MAB was currently in talks with artist Callum Morton regarding the creation of an interactive artwork at the eastern end of NewQuay Promenade.