Jeff Koons’ Puppy was an overnight sensation when it was installed on the doorstep of the Museum of Contemporary Art for the Sydney Festival almost 30 years ago. Thousands mobbed the 12-metre-high floral sculpture, shaped as a friendly terrier and bearing 50,000 blooming plants. New installation takes its inspiration from Jeff Koon’s Puppy, Anish Kapoor’s Sky Mirror and Fourth Plinth.
The director of the Museum of Contemporary Art, Suzanne Cotter, is hoping the crowds will return in even bigger numbers - for at least a mandatory selfie - when the gallery’s green lawn becomes an outdoor stage for a sculptural successor. Three monumental sculptures are to be commissioned for each of the next three years on the prime harbourside spot opposite that other cultural icon, the Sydney Opera House, the museum will announce on Monday. Details of the ambitious project come just weeks after the MCA welcomed its 20-millionth visitor since opening its doors in 1991.
The $3 million commission is to be funded by the Balnaves Foundation in honour of the passionate arts patron and philanthropist, Neil Balnaves, who died two years ago in a boating accident in French Polynesia. “It’s not about replicating Puppy, but thinking of a work of art that is equally impactful, engaging and generous while also considering the location and size of the site,” Cotter said. “I realised when I first arrived two and a half years ago that the museum is more than what happens with the walls of its .