The Tiny Sculpture Prize will transform Melbourne’s Model Tudor Village, a popular family tourist attraction, into a unique Public Art space for all.
The miniature scale of the Model Tudor Village and its archetypal chocolate box houses will provide a richly layered site for Artists + Architects to explore big ideas and bold contemporary issues on a smaller, more manageable scale.
The links between land, history, culture and who we are have always pre-occupied us. The unique historical and cultural context of the Model Tudor Village will provide a place to explore what home means in contemporary Australia today as well as current issues like the links between size and sustainability.
Traditionally, Public Art tends to be big, which makes it expensive, time consuming and harder to take artistic risks. The small scale of the Tiny Sculpture Prize will free Artists + Architects from the usual limitations.
The best responses to the site will be installed temporarily within the Model Tudor Village in Melbourne’s Fitzroy Gardens for an open-air exhibition.
The Site
The Model Tudor Village in Melbourne’s Fitzroy Gardens is a popular tourist attraction on the edge of the CBD just behind State Parliament.
Gifted to Melbourne in 1948 by the City of Lambeth (England) in appreciation for food aid sent during the Second World War, the quintessential chocolate box style buildings represent a typical Kentish village built during the Tudor period and include thatched cottages, a church, school, hotel and even a scale model of Shakespeare’s home and Anne Hathaway’s cottage.
The Model Tudor Village also served as inspiration for Howard Arkley, one of Australia’s most revered artists who, after stumbling into the village one stormy night, subsequently produced the Tudor Village paintings which were a precursor to the suburban landscapes he became known for.
Today, the Model Tudor Village forms part of the City of Melbourne’s Art and Heritage collection and is listed by Heritage Victoria. Replicas of the Model Tudor Village can also be found in Vauxhall Park and Brockwell Park in London.
Artists
The Tiny Sculpture Prize is not currently accepting expressions of interest from artists. The Model Tudor Village is part of the City of Melbourne’s Art and Heritage collection. Although the City of Melbourne has expressed interest in the Tiny Sculpture Prize, they have so far declined permission for this site to be used for this purpose.
PARTNERS
Contact
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