The sculptures were removed from the city after being 'vandalised'
The quirky and cute sculptures dotted throughout Geelong have found a new home at the Federal Mills within the Pivot City Innovation Precinct, creating a wholesome ‘UooUoo Gallery’ for the community to visit from today.
The key takeaways
- Geelong’s UooUoo’s have been moved to a space in North Geelong
- The move follows a series of vandal attacks on the sculptures
- Visitors will be able to visit the exhibition from Monday 1 February until Sunday 21 March
Keep up with the latest arts news via our website.
These UooUoo’s (pronounced you-you) are all part of the Royal Children’s Hospital’s 150th-anniversary art trail – a public art trail designed by the RCH Foundation to bring colour and creativity to the streets of Melbourne and Geelong. The trail, ‘Me and UooUoo’, combined Victoria’s renowned passion for the arts and culture with a dash of outdoor adventure, encouraging communities to reconnect with their cities, and be active by visiting one hundred unique art sculptures – a UooUoo.
Each of the UooUoo’s – which were individually designed and painted by First Nation artists, street artists, sculptors, painters and up-and-coming talent – were taken to laneways, streets, parks and public spaces, forming walking trails throughout Melbourne and Geelong last month. When the art trail finishes, the sculptures will then be auctioned to raise funds for The Royal Children’s Hospital.
Unfortunately, Geelong’s collection of UooUoos had to be removed from the streets after many had been vandalised since the launch of the trail.
“We are disappointed that some UooUoo sculptures in Melbourne and Geelong have been damaged since launching Me and UooUoo: The RCH150 Anniversary Art trail last week,” a statement from the Royal Children’s Hospital Foundation read.
“As a result, our dedicated team at the RCH Foundation, Blu Event Productions, Forks 2 U and Multiplex are continuing to safely remove, repair and reinstall damaged sculptures in a matter of days.
“Although we have encountered various incidents of vandalism to our UooUoo sculptures, we have been inundated with reports from the community about damaged and missing UooUoo’s from people who have fully embraced the art trail.
“The sponsors, artists and councils involved with this event have been extremely understanding of these unfortunate incidents and we hope that we do not encounter many, if any, more cases of graphitised or chipped UooUoo’s.”
Thanks to the legends over at Pivot City Innovation District and the quick movers from Blue Vent Productions, all 10 of Geelong UooUoos have been moved to a dedicated space in North Geelong, providing the perfect location to get deeply immersed in the designs, learn more about the artists and their inspirations, and unlock great rewards.
Here you’ll find UooUoo’s sponsored by an array of Geelong businesses, including Adventure Park, The Gordon, WorkSafe, Whitford Property and Outside The Box Education, among others.
This new, COVID-safe habitat has been designed to protect these rare UooUoos, and will be open Monday to Wednesday 9am to 5pm and Thursday to Sunday 9am to 9pm. The ‘exhibition’ opens Monday 1 February and will run until Sunday 21 March. Check it out at Federal Mills within the Pivot City Innovation Precinct, 33 Mackey Street North Geelong.
Don’t forget to take photos of your discoveries at Federal Mills and share on the Me and UooUoo app and across social media by tagging @rch.foundation and hashtagging #rch150 #meanduoouoo.
Turn your inbox up to 11. Sign up to Forte’s newsletter and you’ll be served fresh music, arts, food, booze and culture stories twice a week.
