Reframing Queen Victoria

Canadian artists again featured prominently at the 19th Biennale of Sydney, with new works from Cardiff and Miller, Berlin-based duo Hadley + Maxwell and Corin Sworn.

Inspired by seminal essay “Monuments” by Robert Musil,Hadley + Maxwell’s Manners and Habits and Other Received Ideas by was created during a residency at Artspace and several months of gathering impressions of monuments around the city, most notably of Queen Victoria, Prince Albert, and her little dog, Islay.

Contributing filmmaker Larin Sullivan captured the action as “HadMax” assembled these “three dimensional impressions” into several sculptural figures, with the centrepiece being an inverted monolith of the former monarch. The artwork lived at Carriageworks for the duration of the Biennale.

Watch the video of Hadley + Maxwell here.