23-05-2025
Boonji Spaceman sculpture unveiling angers fans of 'the kebab' in Perth
A gleaming blue, 7-metre-tall astronaut has been unveiled in Perth's CBD, taking pride of place outside Council House.
Designed by US artist Brendan Murphy, the sculpture called Boonji Spaceman was a donation by the artist but City of Perth took on costs of transportation and installation, believed to be between $150,000–$250,000.
The acquisition was championed by former Perth Lord Mayor Basil Zempilas who stepped down from the council in March after being elected to state parliament.
Mr Zempilas has long championed branding Perth as the City of Light — as it was dubbed by astronaut John Glenn in 1962 when the people of Perth turned on their lights to acknowledge his mission to become the first American to orbit the earth.
It was that story and meeting Mr Zempilas that persuaded Murphy to donate one of his spacemen to Perth after the pair were introduced by gallery owner Paul Gullotti.
"I'm not in the business of giving my work away. I'm one of the top-selling artists in the world," Murphy told Mark Gibson on ABC Radio Perth.
"[Mr Zempilas and I] had a couple of great chats and Zoom calls, and Basil was really inspired by my work.
"When that happens that means a lot to me, and this history of John Glenn identifying Perth as the city of lights, that really connected the dots for me."
When the council voted to accept the donation last year Mr Zempilas said it was "an incredible opportunity" to bring a real tourist attraction that fit Perth's story to the city.
But not everyone was pleased with the idea, particularly as the site allocated was previously occupied by another popular piece of public art — the Ore Obelisk, affectionately dubbed "the kebab".
The 15-metre-tall sculpture was designed by City of Perth town planner Paul Ritter and erected to celebrate Western Australia's population reaching 1 million in 1971.
Featuring different geological specimens of rock, it symbolised the expansion of mining in the state in the 1960s and 1970s.
The sculpture was dismantled and placed in storage in 2021 following "engineering reports that it was unsafe and posed a risk to public safety", a spokesperson for the council said.
Helen Curtis, who runs a public art consultancy, launched the "Save the Kebab" campaign to restore and bring back the Ore Obelisk.
She was annoyed to find the council had allocated funds to the Boonji Spaceman.
Now that the spaceman is in place she is continuing her campaign to reinstate the the kebab.
"There is a huge groundswell of people from the arts, design, the history professions.
"But also the broader Perth community and even people who worked in parks and gardens at the City of Perth are showing support for the campaign."
Ms Curtis said the Boonji Spaceman was not unique to Perth, as Murphy had already installed versions of the sculpture in London, Oslo, Dubai and Antigua.
The Perth version of the Boonji Spaceman is called Lightning.
"This is not about parochialism at all," Ms Curtis said.
"If the City of Perth is into Instagrammable tourism attractions then we can do that here ourselves.
"Let's look after what we have first, right? That should be our priority. The Ore Obelisk — why didn't the City of Perth look after that?
She said if the city wanted tourist attractions it should commission local artists to create original work.
Murphy said he was surprised to learn that his spaceman had caused controversy.
"I had no idea any of this existed until recently," he said.
The artist rejected claims his work was not connected with the story of Perth and was simply a copy of work he had created elsewhere.
"First of all I'm not an American artist. I'm an artist, and my role … is to bring people together and to try and create works that inspire people," he said.
"Having put [the Boonji Spaceman] in other cities around the world I know the effect it has.
"I've seen it bring people together and … in most cases, I think people will be proud because it's a very forward-looking, forward-moving sculpture. It's very contemporary."
Murphy said the words written on the sculpture had been personalised for Perth, based on conversations with locals and research on the city's history.
The words "ambition" and "City of Light" appear on the spaceman's chest.
"I'm hopeful and pretty confident that everyone will come together once they experience the sculpture and I think they'll be proud of it," Murphy said.
City of Perth said the Boonji Spaceman would remain in its Stirling Gardens location for a year before being moved to another, as yet unnamed, location in the city.
It did not say how much it would cost to restore the Ore Obelisk but said it required significant work, including replacing all the conglomerate rock elements.
