Lindy Lee: Ouroboros

Media Kit

Lindy Lee's Ouroboros illuminated at night, 2024, National Gallery of Australia, Kamberri/Canberra

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'The Ouroboros will become a beacon. Daytime or nighttime, it's going to pulse with light and energy.'

– LINDY LEE

Work is underway on Ouroboros, an immersive, public sculpture by Australian artist Lindy Lee.

With a practice spanning more than four decades, Brisbane-born Lee uses her work to explore her Chinese ancestry through Taoism and Ch’an (Zen) Buddhism – philosophies that see humanity and nature as inextricably linked.

Ouroboros is based on the ancient image of a snake eating its own tail, seen across cultures and millennia, it is the symbol of eternal return, of cycles of birth, death, and renewal. Located at the entrance of the National Gallery, people will be able enter the ‘mouth’ of the sculpture and walk into the curved space to experience darkness that is illuminated by light beams emanating from the hundreds of perforations on its surface.

During the day its highly-polished mirror surface will reflect the imagery of the floating world, the transience of passers-by, cars, birds in flight, and passing clouds. At night the Ouroboros will be lit internally, returning its light to the world.

The sculpture is being fabricated at the UAP Foundry in Brisbane and will measure around four metres high and weigh approximately 13 tonnes.

Ouroboros will also be a sustainable sculpture – incorporating recycled materials, maximising renewable energy, and work to minimise its carbon impact, helping make it one of Australia's first sustainable works of public art.

Lindy Lee: Ouroboros was commissioned to celebrate the National Gallery’s 40th anniversary in 2022 and is due to be completed in 2024.

DOWNLOAD VIDEO

Download video newsreel of Ouroboros installation view at night here

Download video newsreel of behind the scenes making of Ouroboros available here.

Download video newsreel of behind the scenes of Ouroboros leaving UAP 2024 available here.

Download video newsreel of behind the scenes of Ouroboros leaving Meanjin/Brisbane 2024 available here.

Download video newsreel of behind the scenes of Ouroboros 2024 journey through regional NSW available here.

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Frequently asked questions

What is the size of Ouroboros?
Ouroboros weighs 13 tonne, covering an area of 150m2, the recycled stainless-steel casting is 10mm thick and has an opening diameter at 4.2m high. Sitting within a 240m2 water feature, visitors can enter the Ouroboros via an accessible 1.5m wide, 12m long stainless-steel walkway.

How was Ouroboros made?
Ouroboros was manufactured through collaboration between Lee and the National Gallery at the Urban Art Projects (UAP) Foundry in Meanjin/Brisbane, QLD. The work has been engineered to be a self-supporting shape, held in position via eight footing fins/ribs hidden in water. Technologies applied during delivery of the complex project include laser scanning, photogrammetry, virtual reality, augmented reality and robotics. A garnet blast interior finish was used to enable shadow play and light carry.

What is Ouroboros made of?
The metal for the work was sourced from 100% scrap steel onshore in Australia and is comprised of thousands of offcuts of steel sections and waste product. The work is made up of 231 individual cast panels, 562 individual pattern parts milled robotically at UAP and 8. 2Km of welding seams (multiple welding runs per seam).

How many people have worked on Ouroboros?
Labour hours to complete this work of art from UAP are estimated to be more than 60,000. Approximately 200 people worked on the project including designers, patternmakers, foundry workers, metal fabricators and welders, specialist polishers, engineers, robotic operators, crane operators, hydraulic specialists, plant operators, abrasive blasters, supply and logistics personnel, project managers, lighting specialists, specialist transporters, excavation and installation personnel, and the artist’s studio.

How many holes are welded into the sculpture?
Lee has worked with UAP to free-hand plasma cut 45,000 perforations ranging 16mm to 155mm in diameter. Augmented reality headsets were used to mimic and map Lee’s exact perforations from a maquette half the size of the final sculpture. The maquette was then scanned and scaled to the actual size so that Lee’s exact vision could be realised.

How did Ouroboros get from Meanjin/Brisbane to Kamberri/Canberra?
Once the work was completed in June 2024, Ouroboros, along with Lee, embarked on a five-day journey from Meanjin/Brisbane through regional Australia to its final home in Kamberri/Canberra. From road closures to police escorts, the journey took significant planning by Heavy Haulage Assets and crossed three states and territories to make its way down to Kamberri/Canberra.

The artwork travelled approximately 1250km from Meanjin/Brisbane through NSW to Kamberri/Canberra. Ouroboros departed on 14 June 2024, arriving in Kamberri/Canberra on 19 June 2024, with stops overnight at Goondiwindi, Dubbo and NSW/ACT border. Four days travel envisaged via special route able to permit the dimensions of the stillage. Overall dimensions when travelling as a packed artwork were approximately 9m long by 7m wide by 4.6m high. The work of art was lifted in-situ via a 130T crane.

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