Father and Son
Life size wax figures. Burned as candles in a deconsecrated church in Carlton.
artist / client
[
JEREMY DELLER / ACCA
]
Mode
[
Tec. Dev : Production : Installation
]
offering
[
Contemporary Sculpture
]
Physical Outcome
[
Life Size Cast Wax
]
[
introduction
]
[
01
]
Turner Prize winner Jeremy Deller. Two life-size wax figures of Rupert and Lachlan Murdoch, burned as candles across twelve hours in a deconsecrated church. Jeremy Deller's first Australian commission.
[
Technical Challenge
]
[
02
]
The figures had to burn. Not decoratively; to a specific duration, at a specific rate, faces going last. We coordinated the digital file, managed the CNC robot milling with our Ace, made the silicon moulds, and formulated the wax to perform as candles. Then we tested it. Burn rate, structural collapse sequence, the exact point at which the faces would fall. That research was the key. It is what separates a wax figure from a work of art that performs exactly as intended. The figures were robust enough to survive Melbourne's 5.9 magnitude earthquake while in storage. Then they burned exactly as specified. When the faces went, the crowd cheered.
[
outcome
]
[
03
]
"Surely one of the best works of the year: Artist Jeremy Deller just finished Australian Center for Contemporary Art in Melbourne; a 24-hour ritual public burning and purging from the collective metaphysical body." Jerry Saltz; Pulitzer Prize-winning art critic, New York Magazine : Instagram
[
The Stats.
]
[
04
]
