Pop Architecture
+ Hotham Street Ladies

FIRST PRIZE WINNER

‘Chaos and Fertility’

Deep within the submerged, rocky base of Newton’s Cenotaph, and obscured in the shadowy nether regions of the subterranean colonnade, the secret sect of Diana of Ephesus continued at their needle work.

There was no place for them or their practice in Boullee’s cult architecture, its principles promoting the total absence of ornament and other. Cast aside, they railed against Etienne-Louis Boullee’s sphere as an absolute and perfect symbol of Male Reason.

Instead, they conceived of a work that would blow apart this male fantasy: a resplendent, vivid and richly textured tapestry, which - when joined at the seams - would shroud the geometric purity of the sphere with a riotously decorative display. It would be a depiction of the hidden grottos at which they worshipped, each containing a female deity.

When revealed, this would envelop Newton’s Cenotaph with potent symbols of female fertility and fecundity.