Contemporary artist to create diorama backdrops

Contemporary Australian artist Arlo Mountford, has been selected to create backgrounds for two dioramas that will feature in the newly redeveloped First World War galleries, Mont St Quentin and Desert Patrol.

The refurbished First World War galleries will feature the Memorial’s dioramas displayed chronologically.

In order to achieve this, and maintain the historical integrity of the building and the dioramas, the backdrop to Mont St Quentin was required to be divided into smaller pieces for movement. As a result, it was preferable to have a new background created than to undertake extensive restoration work on the previous backdrop which was created in 1987.

Desert Patrol was taken off display prior to 1971 and has been housed at the Memorial’s Treloar storage facility. Unfortunately the base and background were not recovered during this move into storage. A base was created for the diorama in 2003 and Arlo Mountford has been commissioned to create a new backdrop for Desert Patrol for its return to display.

The Memorial is continuing Bean’s vision for the diorama’s by selecting a contemporary Australian artist to re-interpret the diorama backgrounds. The two diorama backgrounds are intended to achieve the standard that the artists commissioned in the 1920s and 30s achieved in recreating moments from famous Australian battles, both captivating the imagination and providing an engaging historical experience.  

Arlo Mountford is a Melbourne based artist who works primarily with large-scale interactive installations paired with sound, video and animation.

History is an integral part of his practice often making works filled references to art history and events. His work is in numerous collections such as: the Museum of Contemporary Art, Sydney; Queensland Art Gallery / Gallery of Modern Art, Brisbane; and Heide Museum of Modern Art, Melbourne; Monash University Museum of Art, Melbourne and various private collections.

Arlo's most recent solo exhibitions have been at Sutton Project Space, Melbourne (2013), La Trobe University Museum of Art, Melbourne (2011), Shepparton Regional Gallery (2010), Centre of Contemporary Photography (2009), The Art Centre Chulalongkorn University Bangkok, Thailand (2009), Conical (2008) and Gertrude Contemporary Art Spaces (2007).

Arlo Mountford is available for interviews