MUMA unveils The Birds

MUMA unveils The Birds by Jen Berean, Callum Morton and Linda Tegg as the 2024-2025 Ian Potter Sculpture Court Commission.

Naarm/Melbourne, Australia: Monash University Museum of Art | MUMA, Australia’s leading university art museum, is delighted to unveil The Birds as the Ian Potter Sculpture Court 2024-2025 Commission. Created by artists Jen Berean, Callum Morton, and Linda Tegg, working together within Monash Art Projects (MAP), this innovative temporary installation at Monash University’s Caulfield campus reimagines public art to support local biodiversity and continues MUMA’s dedication to experimental, interdisciplinary public art.

As part of Melbourne Design Week 2025, MUMA will host a public conversation on Saturday 24 May from 2–3pm, featuring The Birds artists Callum Morton, Jen Berean, and Linda Tegg, moderated by MUMA Director and public art expert Dr Rebecca Coates, exploring the new installation and what happens when the audience for public art is expanded to include birds.

“The Birds” is the eighth commission in this ongoing series, highlighting MUMA’s commitment to integrating art, architecture, and landscape within the Ian Potter Sculpture Court. This installation further reinforces Monash as a ‘creative campus,’ demonstrating how art can support urban biodiversity and spark dialogue within the academic and local communities,” says Dr Rebecca Coates, Director, MUMA.

“Taking inspiration from the humble birdbath, ‘The Birds’ explores how public art can contribute to the health of the flora and fauna of the sites within which it sits. Crafted from rock types that have come from places that the nomadic bird species may have once travelled from, the works hold water and, in some instances, provide shelter, fostering a closer relationship between built environments and urban ecologies,” says artist Linda Tegg.

The sculpture consists of six carved boulders of granite, bluestone, quartz conglomerate, and sandstone. Sourced from a stoneyard; the rocks had previously travelled from surrounding uplands, plains, and rivers. In early 2024, the artists studied bird activity using found birdbaths, which informed the final placement within the Ian Potter Sculpture Court. The installation will be monitored in person and via livestream, allowing for ongoing refinement based on bird interactions. Viewers can watch the livestream here

“At its core, the project asks how we can use public art as a vehicle for learning about the complexities of place. Urbanisation has altered habitats, with non-migratory species such as common mynas, rock doves, and little ravens dominating urban spaces. We have started to see the sculptures being used by other species, including bees, a white-necked heron, possums, even a fox. Soon, children will engage with the work through a Monash University research project examining how play and public art shape their perception of the world,” adds artists Callum Morton and Jen Berean.

Established in 2012, the Ian Potter Sculpture Court Commission invites artists to develop site-responsive works that activate the public space outside MUMA at the Monash University Caulfield campus. The Sculpture Court, designed collaboratively by Kerstin Thompson Architects, Simon Ellis Landscape Architects, and Fiona Harrisson, received the Australian Institute of Landscape Architects’ urban design award in 2011.

About the Artists

Linda Tegg

An artist whose work engages with the interplay between life and the built environment, Linda Tegg creates immersive installations that foster biodiversity in human-centred spaces. Her interdisciplinary collaborations have included co-creative direction of Repair for the Australian Pavilion at the 2018 Venice Architecture Biennale and Wetland, presented at Perth Festival in 2024. Her work has been exhibited widely in Australia, the US, and Europe.

Jen Berean

An artist, architect, and Associate Director of MAP, Jen Berean’s collaborative practice with Pat Foster (Foster Berean) has exhibited widely in Australia and internationally. Their work interrogates the hidden systems that shape our built environments. Berean has been the recipient of numerous awards and residencies, including the Australia Council residency at the ISCP in New York and the Monash University Prato Visual Arts Residency.

Callum Morton

A leading Australian artist and Professor of Fine Art at Monash Art, Design and Architecture (MADA), Callum Morton is also the Director of MAP. Morton has exhibited nationally and internationally since 1987, with major public commissions in Australia, Turkey, and the Netherlands. He represented Australia at the Venice Biennale in 2007 and was the subject of a retrospective at Heide Museum of Modern Art in 2011.

Ends

For media enquiries, please contact: Rhiannon Broomfield, Rhiannon.Broomfield@monash.edu, 0410 596 021

Melbourne Design Week: The Birds

This public conversation will discuss The Birds, a collaborative project by artists Jen Berean, Callum Morton and Linda Tegg at Monash University Museum of Art. The sculpture project aims to find ways for public art to contribute to the health of the flora and fauna of the places they are in and asks: what happens when the public art audience is expanded to include birds?

When: Saturday 24th May 2025, 2-3pm.
Where: MUMA, Building F, Monash University, Caulfield campus, 900 Princes Hwy Service Rd, Caulfield East, VIC 3145

Featured speakers: Callum Morton, Jen Berean and Linda Tegg

Moderator: MUMA Director and public art expert, Dr Rebecca Coates

About MUMA

As Australia’s leading university art museum, Monash University Museum of Art | MUMA is renowned for its ambitious contemporary art exhibitions, commissions, and collection programs. MUMA fosters critical discourse and creative innovation, commissioning temporary and permanent public artworks across Monash University’s campuses.

About the Ian Potter Sculpture Commission

The Ian Potter Sculpture Court is a public sculpture courtyard and garden located prominently in front of Monash University Museum of Art | MUMA at the Caulfield campus. The Sculpture Court was designed in 2010 through a collaborative process between Kerstin Thompson Architects, Simon Ellis Landscape Architects and Fiona Harrisson, and received an urban design award from the Australian Institute of Landscape Architects in 2011.

Since 2012, MUMA has commissioned seven artists and collectives to create temporary public artworks for the Ian Potter Sculpture Court, supporting the integrated vision for art, architecture and landscape to activate and define the space.