Eight large-scale illuminated sculptures will be the centrepiece of acclaimed international artist Bruce Munro's third Australian exhibition, Bruce Munro: Tropical Light, when it opens in Darwin on 1 November.

In what will be Munro's world first city-wide exhibition, Bruce Munro: Tropical Light is expected to entice thousands of tourists to visit the Northern Territory's Top End during the Tropical Summer season, with the free exhibition to remain open until 30 April, 2020.

The illuminated sculptures, designed at the Bruce Munro studio and installed in Darwin, will in part reflect his personal experience from extensive travels of the Top End. The sculptures will also evoke the natural beauty, distinct wildlife, and spectacular sunsets of the region, together forming a free, self-guided, outdoor exhibition trail through Darwin's CBD and Waterfront precincts.

Bruce Munro said it is a privilege to be given the opportunity to create an exhibition for Darwin and hopes that it will leave a positive legacy, by bringing people together.

“This city has changed a great deal since my first visit in 1992. Darwin is a jewel that sparkles under a tropical sun. It has much to offer the discerning traveller in one of the remotest parts of the world,” he said.

“Art is a great way to draw people together, to start discussions, share opinions and ideas. I want to involve all of the people in Darwin and visitors; guide people. I'm hoping it brings the community together. I'm asking a lot I know, but I've learned over the years – let the artwork do its thing and it should bring people together. Become part of the art and the art becomes part of you.”

“It's not just about installing disparate light ideas and installations but all of this exhibition is about Darwin, connecting different parts of the city, and the community - that's a really clever thing.”

Arriving by ship later this month, the sculptures will personally be installed by the Bruce Munro studio and a local installation team, ready for illumination on 1 November.

Adding a further element to the 2.5km arts trail will be works by six local Territory artists, to be positioned nearby the illuminated sculptures, providing a sensory overload for locals and tourists alike. One of the Darwin artists involved is Paul Arnold, a renowned aerial photographer who drew headlines recently for his exclusive collaboration with Australian fashion designer, Camilla Franks, of her namesake brand.

Known for his award-winning artworks Field of Light at Uluru and Avenue of Honour in Albany in the country's west, Bruce Munro: Tropical Light will add to the Northern Territory's reputation for unique events and attractions, driving visitation to the Top End during the typically quieter tropical summer season. Since opening in Uluru in 2016, Field of Light has attracted more than 315,000 visitors to the Red Centre, leveraging global awareness in Munro's unique art through light.

Bruce Munro: Tropical Light, a free to the public, outdoor art exhibition in Darwin, opens on 1 November 2019 until 30 April 2020.

Ends

#TropicalLight

For more information, visit: www.tropicallight.com.au

Click here to download images. Password: sculpture (in situ exhibition images will be available from 1 November)

Tourism NT media contact:

Matthew Ongarello

matt.ongarello@nt.gov.au, 0448 419 297

Vanessa Gregory, Access PR

vanessa@accesspr.com.au, 0432 882 756

Northern Territory Major Events Company media contacts:

Isabella Hood

Isabella.hood@nt.gov.au, 0439 065 321

Ktima Heathcote

Ktima.heathcote@nt.gov.au,  0457 483 245

NOTES TO EDITORS

TROPICAL LIGHT OPENING TIMES & GENERAL INFORMATION

The Bruce Munro: Tropical Light sculptures will be illuminated between 7pm and 10.30pm, seven nights per week.

Entry to the public is FREE.

Pathways and level walkways provide easy access for attendees including those with disabilities. Rest and quiet zones will be housed throughout the exhibition.

An audio tour of the exhibition will be free to download from www.tropicallight.com.au from 1 November, 2019

Download map here.

BRUCE MUNRO: TROPICAL LIGHT SCULPTURES

Gathering of the Clans, Civic Park

• Munro's aim in this installation was to communicate his appreciation for the variety of Australia's native birds, including the Sulphur Crested Cockatoo with an abstraction of the bird form into an array of colour coded clothes pegs.
• Gathering of the Clans is inspired by an eclectic mix of Australian cockatoo (sounds), washing lines (iconic Hills Hoists) and handmade ultraviolet plastic clothes pin, indicating the work that kept Munro employed in his early years in Sydney.

Pukul Lima (Temperate Clock), Raintree Park

• Munro wanted to create a sculptural abstraction of a chilled out time piece for visitors and locals in the city centre of Darwin, using this tree and two other concepts.
• The hours of the clock are represented by 12 ceramic pots inspired by the North American Indians of the Sonoran Desert in Arizona.

Telegraph Rose, Bennett Park

• Telegraph Rose is a tribute to the Northern Territory and the things that make it uniquely Territorian.
• This installation comprises of 700 vertically orientated fishing rods laid out in the form of the Sturt Desert Rose - the Northern Territory's floral emblem.
• A sound recording of the first international Morse code message accompanies the artwork.

Green Flash, Old Town Hall Ruins

• For years now Munro has been developing numerous types of artworks that use fibre optics: some are inspired by form, some are a response to the local environment and others are an expression of a feeling.
• Green Flash is an amalgam of all three: a monumental geodesic sphere from which 1,820 empty PET bottles – all illuminated by a single fibre optic cable – will radiate like the setting and rising sun in the Old Town Hall Ruins.

Time and Again, Palm Tree Grove, Darwin Waterfront

• 37 stainless steel lilies form a convex dome with each lily representing past, present and future time pieces.
• By day the installation lies dormant, quietly marking time of the clouds, sky, tides, seasons, and our lives, and by night the central hub of each lily shimmers with radial bursts of light.
• Time and Again follows Bruce Munro's interest in time and how we move through it.

Sun Lily, Peninsula Lawns, Darwin Waterfront

• This installation is a loose interpretation of the tropical flower, Spider Lily, and Munro's popular fibre optic installations called Fireflies.
• It is also a nod to the sun during the Tropical Summer.

Light Shower, Wave Lagoon Canopies, Darwin Waterfront

• Light Shower is an exterior iteration of an alternative lighting design Munro created in 2008.
• The original installation hangs motionless in a highland lodge as if suspended in time, overlooking but not interrupting a view of Loch Ossian in Scotland.
• This iteration, which will have 3,000 drops of light suspended under canopies, is a sculptural celebration of the wet season in the Top End.

Water-Towers, Sea Wall, Darwin Waterfront

• At the age of 21 Munro read a book called Gifts of Unknown Things by a radical thinker called Lyall Watson. In this book, the author describes a young girl, Tia, who possesses the gift of seeing sounds in colour. Her gift of synaesthesia inspired Munro to create a colourful, watery musical maze of towers as tribute to the author.
• The piece was originally created and exhibited in 2010 within the cloisters of Salisbury Cathedral, Wiltshire, in the UK.
• This iteration of Water Towers consists of 30 towers that change colour. No sound is coming from within so as to not compete with the sound of the sea and wind. Each tower is about two metres tall and made from over 200 stacked water bottles illuminated by optic fibres.

LOCAL ARTISTS

Click here for more information on the local artists and their works.

WHAT IS TROPICAL SUMMER?

Darwin is stunning all year round, yet when Tropical Summer rolls in like clockwork every November, it adds a certain vibrancy to the landscape as floodplains fill and spill into surrounding waterways and the green foliage thickens and deepens in colour.

During Tropical Summer, the capital is treated to vivid sunsets, spectacular light shows and refreshing rains, which bring a cool change during the summer months.

ABOUT BRUCE MUNRO

For more information on Bruce Munro, visit: www.brucemunro.co.uk