Your guide to Victoria's unique freeway art
Embellished bridges and sound barriers are a pretty standard feature along Australian freeways, but Victoria has taken decoration of its freeways to the next level – particularly along the EastLink and Peninsula Link freeways.The EastLink sculpture park features commissioned artworks created by some of the biggest names in the Australian contemporary art scene. It’s also billed as Australia’s largest sculpture park, which is true based solely on the amount of land it covers (not the number of artworks – there are four). It’s definitely the longest, with the works spread over a distance of more than 20km.
These are the artworks you can see along the way, with a little detour up the Peninsula Link freeway. And don’t worry – they’re all so huge, you can’t miss them.
Emily Floyd, Public Art Strategy, 2006
Materials: Steel, paint
Dimensions: 13 x 12 x 20m
Direction: Southbound on EastLink
Location: Between Cheltenham Road and Dandenong Bypass
Best viewed from the Dandenong Bypass exit lane, Emily Floyd’s Public Art Strategy is the first artwork you’ll encounter to your left when you’re heading south along EastLink. A giant scale model of a wooden black bird toy looms over a geometric yellow form, poised to peck at it. The bird makes it a worm – without it, it’d be just another modernist sculpture like the infamous Vault that Melburnians love to hate.
Gregor Kregar, Reflective Lullaby–Frankie, 2015
Materials: Marine-grade stainless steel
Dimensions: 9 x 4 x 3m
Direction: Westbound on Cranbourne Road, Peninsula Link
Location: Corner of Cranbourne Road
Affectionately referred to as the ‘chrome gnome’, Gregor Kregar’s Reflective Lullaby is worth the short detour down the Peninsula Link. This nine-metre-tall garden ornament watches over passing traffic, hands on hips. Depending on your feelings towards garden gnomes, Frankie’s presence could be reassuring, amusing or downright threatening. Gnomophobia is real, but if you’re not afraid of little statues then check out Frankie’s feet – people occasionally leave garden gnomes to keep him company.
Louise Paramor, Panorama Station, 2012
Materials: Aluminium, steel
Dimensions: Approx. 17m high, 11m wide
Direction: Southbound on Peninsula Link
Location: EastLink overpass
If you think Panorama Station looks like a kid has assembled a random pile of objects to form some kind of fantastic plastic space rocket machine, you’re on the right track. Lego-like in its construction, with brightly coloured geometric forms topped by a bubbled aerial, Louise Paramor’s playful work is a large-scale model of a smaller sculpture pieced together using found plastic objects. Part toy, part machine, Panorama Station is menacing in its scale and potential function; its components seem as if they could start whizzing and whirring at any moment.
Callum Morton, Hotel, 2008
Materials: Steel, concrete, glass, solar-powered lightboxes
Dimensions: 20 x 12 x 5m
Direction: Northbound on EastLink
Location: Between Greens Road and Bangholme Road
Blocky budget motor inns are a familiar sight along highways. Perhaps that’s why Callum Morton’s Hotel is easily mistaken as a legit roadside rest stop. But pay close attention as you whiz by at 100km per hour: you’ll notice something isn’t quite right. The proportions of this sculpture/building are off – it’s 20 metres tall with 10 stories, so Hotel’s floors are crammed in. Imagine walking through hallways with a ceiling height of about 150cm – so low that you’d be forced to adopt a stooped Being John Malkovich–style posture. It’s an illusion and a distortion of scale that’s likely to prompt animated drive-time conversation, no matter your level of familiarity with contemporary art.
Simeon Nelson, Desiring Machine, 2008
Materials: Laser-cut 16–24mm galvanised steel plate, sections welded and bolted together
Dimensions: 38 x 10 x 10m
Direction: Northbound on EastLink
Location: Before Thompson Road
With spiky ends that point in your direction as you drive towards it, Desiring Machine initially appears as a grid-like formation of prongs. Its geometry changes as you move past it, though, revealing all kinds of different shapes in its negative spaces. Up closer you notice that the entire structure is made from a leafy floral filigree pattern that softens the sculpture's intimidating industrial vibe. The entire effect is that this work looks as if a piece of steam-punk space junk has landed beside the EastLink freeway.
James Angus, Ellipsoidal Freeway Sculpture, 2008
Materials: Painted fibreglass, steel
Dimensions: 24 ellipsoidal structures, each 100 x 300cm in diameter
Direction: Northbound on EastLink
Location: Just before the big BP service station
Next you’ll come to James Angus’s big green balls. Well, not really balls, as such – they are, as the name would suggest, ellipsoids (aka squashed spheres). These have apparently been nicknamed the ‘Smarties’, but they’re more like giant Mentos. Ellipsoidal Freeway Sculpture appears nebulous, initially coming into view as a small cluster of bubbles that then extends, tumbles and trails off as you drive past it. With a colour palette designed to reference the sky, grass and trees around it, Angus’s sculpture also unintentionally complements the colours of the giant BP service station that looms up ahead like a hovering UFO.
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