Mapping the Molonglo II
Warren Langley (Born 1950)

Materials: LED lighting  fixtures projected on concrete and rusted steel; LED fixtures, lenses & mirrors in
double-surface etched acrylic tubes; cast fibreglass resin tree form with three light-source drivers and 1200 optic fibres
Date: 2007/2008

Artist’s Statement:
This sequence of four works arises from the concept that ‘line’ and ‘volume’ are properties of light. This
interactive series welcomes and leads the visitor from the Marcus Clarke Street exterior of the building,
through the interior space of the Lobby, and out into the opposite exterior courtyard space.

In 1987/1988 I designed and installed a commissioned hand-cast glass work for the Parliamentary Library in New Parliament House which was entitled ‘Mapping the Molonglo’. That work acknowledged the presence of the Molonglo River at the centre of Canberra as a defining element of the city’s location before the creation of Lake Burley Griffin. Twenty years later, this NewActon commission, now using projected light and vibrant glowing cast forms as line and volume on urban architecture, intentionally makes oblique references to the nearby path of the original River and the natural environment of these limestone plains before the building of the city in the 1920s.