FORWARD SURGE

 

 

Forward Surge, a monumental public sculpture made by renowned Australian sculptor Inge King (1915-2016) and its setting on the Arts Centre Lawn. The sculpture is made from fabricated steel, painted black, set into concrete foundations and surrounded by bluestone pavers and a large green lawn with concrete edged garden beds. The sculpture comprises four upright curved steel `blades' that appear to roll northwards and it visually links the two main performance spaces in the Victorian ArtsCentre precinct. The Arts Centre Lawn is the setting both for the sculpture and extensive public use. 

Forward Surgeis of cultural, aesthetic and historical significance to the State of Victoria. It satisfies the following criteria for inclusion in the Victorian Heritage Register: 

Importance in demonstrating the principal characteristics of a class of cultural places and objects. 

Importance in exhibiting particular aesthetic characteristics. 

Importance in demonstrating a high degree of creative or technical achievement at a particular period. 

Special association with the life or works of a person, or group of persons, of importance in Victoria's history. 

Forward Surge is significant at the State level for the following reasons: 

 

Forward Surge is culturally significant as one of the most outstanding examples inVictoria of late modernist public sculpture. Forward Surge has become an iconic Melbourne landmark. It is culturally significant for the way it demonstrates how some modern sculpture was designed to encourage human interaction. Forward Surge was also designed to be viewed from a moving car. Its setting on the Arts Centre Lawn greatly contributes to the human interaction. It is culturally significant as one of Melbourne's few public art works fromthe 1970s that remains in situ in its original site with mostly originalsurrounds

 

Forward Surge is aesthetically significant for the way it integrates harmoniously with the built environment while its monumental, black appearance ensures that it remains an independent artwork. Forward Surge was selected by Arts Centre architect Roy Grounds to aesthetically link Hamer Hall and the Theatres Building. 

Forward Surge is culturally significant for the way that it is widelyappreciated by both the general and academic communities. It occupies a central place in Victorian cultural history.

 

Forward Surge is technically significant because the fabrication and installation of this large and heavy public art work was a technical achievement by sculpture fabricators and installers J.K. Fasham, engineer Joe Borg and Thermal Engineering. It is also the largest (in terms of length andbreadth) work made by Inge King. Forward Surge is creatively significant as an abstract sculpture made from multiple different elements which succeed in creating changing sensations of form, space and light as people walk through and around them. 

 

Forward Surge is historically significant because it was created by one of Victoria's most celebrated and critically respected sculptors - Inge King. Forward Surge is the most important creative achievement of her career and was her first significant public commission in Victoria, her home state. Forward Surge is historically significant because it is associated with Roy Grounds and his design of the Victorian Arts Centre. It continues the traditionof other modernist buildings where the architect commissioned artwork as an important part of the site. Forward Surge is historically significant because of its associations with the émigré artists who came to Australia after WWII and who collectively revitalised Victorian cultural life. It is also associated with the Centre Five group of modernist sculptors, one of whom was Inge King, who advocated for sculpture to be incorporated into architectural projects