Where Are They Now?
It made headlines, sparked debate and remains one of Melbourne’s most controversial artworks. (And, no, it doesn’t feature a naked child.) Vault, better known as the ‘yellow peril’ divided the community, and the council that commissioned it. Councillors were split after seeing a model of the sculpture, commissioned as a centrepiece for the soon-to-open City Square. The why-can’t-we-have-a-nice-fountain-instead councillors eventually won, and the sculpture was moved in 1981, after less than a year in the Square. Ironically, Vault has outlasted the Square for which it was built and the council that shunned it. And after languishing for 20 years on a muddy patch of an unmade Batman Park its angular primary-coloured form stands like an older sibling next to a frisky ACCA in Southbank.Labels: ACCA, Ron Robertson-Swann, Vault, Yellow Peril







