Lindy Lee: the making of Ouroboros

Abstract

"On the occasion of the National Gallery of Australia's 40th anniversary, the gallery commissioned revered Chinese-Australian artist Lindy Lee to create a work of great ambition, one that would be the most significant of Lee's career and permanently installed in the gallery's forecourt: a beacon for many generations to come. 'Ouroboros' is the result of such an invitation. This book traces the arc of its making, of the many threads that are woven together by many hands to make such a project possible. It seeks to offer context for how this monumental work came to be. In its pages you will encounter the infinite: the cosmos, the expansive, the unending. You will also find the deft precision of technical drawings-the blueprints for feats of engineering unpreceded in Lee's practice or in the work of Urban Art Projects (UAP), the fabricators or this immersive sculpture. The awe of 'Ouroboros' is bound to both that which is eternal and that which is exact. The design of this book seeks to bring you closer to both the conceptual undercurrents and the material quality of 'Ouroboros' itself. It is a guide to both mechanism and metaphor." -- Half-title page verso.

Contents

Foreword / Nick Mitzevich, Ryan Stokes -- Biography: Lindy Lee, artistic career and public works -- Conceptualisation -- In conversation / Lindy Lee and Sarah Kanowski -- Translating the eternal to the exact / Dan Tobin, Amanda Harris, Eve Willems -- Journey.