When students walk past Linear and Circular, the latest addition to Melbourne Grammar School’s living gallery, they’re not just walking by an artwork – they’re stepping into a conversation about time and the way we understand the world around us.
Created by renowned Melbourne-based artist Benjamin Armstrong, Linear and Circular is a painted
steel sculpture installed near the Geoff Handbury Science and Technology Hub: its dark geometric frame rising quietly from a bed of native grass trees.
The piece contrasts our linear concept of time, measured and clinical, with circular time – fluid, raw and expansive.
“Counting off seconds, minutes, weeks and years of our existence is often a European or Western mentality,” Ben says.
“Older civilisations like the Rapa Nui on Easter Island, and Indigenous Australians, have a different sensibility. They see time as circular – an all-inclusive continuum.”
The full piece stands at more than five and a half meters tall, and from a distance, looks reminiscent of a calendar peeling from the edges: a series of seemingly random numbers stitched into a grid of interwoven and punctured steel.
Come closer and you’ll need to shift your perspective, compelled to consider time as something more than a series of passing moments.
“This ambiguity is part of the point,” Ben notes. “Time isn’t fixed – it depends on where you’re standing.”
The students who walk past Linear and Circular every day are at a point in their life where they are uniquely out of place and out of time: learning who they want to be and figuring out the possibilities that are open to them.
“Art plays an important role in contributing to a civilised society – to a civilised school. It is integral to the exceptional and holistic educational environment we strive for at Melbourne Grammar,” says Headmaster Philip Grutzner.
“It’s also through art that we appreciate the unique capacity of humans. Linear and Circular provides a new lens for students to reflect on how they measure their learning, their growth and their own personal journeys.”
The sculpture was unveiled at a gathering of donors, staff and students in late July.
It joins Lenton Parr’s Education (1954) located at the Shelmerdine Music Studio; Callum Morton’s Cover Up #18 (2016) across the Headmaster’s lawn; and Lisa Roet’s Ape Right Hand (2023) which rises prominently over the Barrett Gates.
Member of the Headmaster’s Art Committee Max Delany (OM 1981), Former Artistic Director and CEO, Australian Centre for Contemporary Art, says that for students, the real value of the Sculpture Walk is felt over time.
“Engaging with art on a daily basis and seeing how your relationship changes with it over time, is fascinating,” Max says.
“Linear and Circular, in particular, feels like a processional gateway at the threshold to the campus: a symbolic turning-of-the-page for students as they think about the role that education plays in their lives.”
The Sculpture Walk is entirely funded by philanthropy.
Linear and Circular was commissioned thanks to a generous gift from Gear Box Arts Chair Paul Bonnici, together with his wife Wendy and their sons Benjamin (OM 2020) and Tobias (Year 11).
“This new addition simply would not have been possible without the Bonnici family’s generosity,” says the Headmaster. “Their passion for art at Melbourne Grammar School and their support over the years has been invaluable.”
“It’s been a long journey to get here,” says Paul. “Like all creative projects, it wouldn’t be possible without the vision, generosity and support of this community who truly believe in the arts as a bedrock of creativity.”
Paul and Wendy’s youngest son Tobias, currently in Year 11, was joined by Art Captains Hugo Checkley and Jack Wilson to formally cut the ribbon during the unveiling.
“Being surrounded by such high-quality and thoughtfully curated public sculptures shows just how much the School values creativity and artistic expression,” says Hugo.
“It also encourages us as students to aim higher in developing our own artistic practice. Seeing what’s possible at a large scale and in a professional context is truly inspiring.”
As the sun set on the day of the unveiling, the steel edges of Linear and Circular caught the light and seemed to shimmer – an illusion born of careful craftsmanship and thoughtful design.
The sound of students playing rugby union on the Main Oval cascaded over the strong and delicate framework; the crowd separated, and a handful of students exited the Geoff Handbury Science and Technology Hub after a long day of studying.
Some slow down. A few stop.
The sculpture doesn’t demand attention, but it rewards curiosity. Like all good art – and like a Melbourne Grammar education – it ultimately invites reflection, challenges assumptions, and reveals more each time you return.
“I am immensely proud of everything we have achieved in the pieces that have been brought to life,” says the Headmaster.
“Only with the generous support of our community can we hope to complete our original vision and bring the remaining pieces of the Sculpture Walk into the world.”
