Ewan McEoin, NGV Senior Curator of Contemporary Art, Design and Architecture, introduces the 2022 NGV Architecture Commission: Temple of Boom, an evocative reimagining of the Parthenon on the Acropolis in Athens designed by Melbourne architects Adam Newman and Kelvin Tsang.

Over the summer months, the Architecture Commission will evolve and change as it is painted by a team of Melbourne artists, drawing inspiration from the vibrant colours and rich artistic embellishments that defined the original building.

The Parthenon is an iconic structure boasting a history of almost 2,500 years. Since the fifth century BCE the Parthenon has changed use and form over generations, including as a temple, church and mosque. It has also suffered under military attacks, fire and looting, before undergoing major preservation from the 1970s to its current state.

Learn about the history of the Parthenon as Dr Christopher Gribbin, public historian and Adjunct Lecturer at La Trobe University is joined by Dr Edward Jeremiah, Assistant Lecturer in Ancient Languages at the University of Melbourne, trace the story behind this iconic civic structure.

Speakers

Dr Christopher Gribbin is a public historian specialising in ancient Greece and Rome. He has a particular interest in understanding how people make sense of the world, whether through religion, philosophy, myth, art or architecture. He has lectured in Classics at the University of Melbourne and Monash University and is currently an Adjunct Lecturer at La Trobe University. Christopher is passionate about sharing this interest in the ancient world with broader audiences. He runs a summer school with Melbourne’s Hellenic Museum each January, has appeared on several podcasts and regularly leads tours overseas with Australians Studying Abroad. He has also worked on educational projects with the History Teachers’ Association of Victoria and the ABC.

Dr Edward Jeremiah teaches Greek and Latin at The University of Melbourne. He worked on the Aëtiana Project, which laid new foundations for the study of the history of philosophy, as a post-doctoral researcher. Most recently he has worked on the translation of Cyril of Alexandria’s Against Julian, which defends the rationality of Christianity against philosophical attacks inspired by Neoplatonism, into English for the first time. He is the author of The Emergence of Reflexivity in Greek Language and Thought (Brill, 2012).

Throughout its history the Parthenon functioned as a civic centre, housing at various times a temple, gallery, marketplace and even a theatre. Honouring this diverse history, experience a theatrical performance of an excerpt from Medea, the classic Greek play by Euripides, by two of Australia’s most esteemed actors, Carolyn Bock and Andrew Blackman.

Includes an introduction to Greek theatre by Associate Professor H.K.O. James Chong-Gossard, Associate Professor in Classics at The University of Melbourne.

Performers

Carolyn Bock is a graduate of the Victorian College of the Arts (VCA) whose career over 30 years has encompassed dance, theatre, television and film both nationally and internationally. Carolyn has performed in commercial and independent productions for MTC, La Mama Theatre, Playbox, Complete Works Theatre, Stork Theatre and Theatre At Risk to name a few. Theatre credits include the title roles of Medea and Hecuba by Euripides for Complete Works Theatre. In television and film, recent credits include feature film The Red Shoes-The Next Step due for release in April 2023, Almost Paradise for Electric Films and Amazon, and she is currently filming Love, Tea and Epiphany for Rokk Star Films. In 2022 Carolyn was nominated for a Green Room Award for Best Performer in the independent Theatre category for her role in Jim Daly’s Katyn. Carolyn is co-founder of The Shift Theatre with colleague Helen Hopkins.

Andrew Blackman is an actor, director, and theatre maker whose career has spanned four decades. A regular performer on Australian television his most recent credits include Warnie, Bloom 2, Utopia and Barracuda. Among his many theatre credits he has appeared in The Aunt’s Story, Kid Stakes, The Women in Black, A Mid-Summer night’s Dream, Macbeth, and Medea. Andrew is founder and Artistic Director of Complete Works Theatre Company, staging classical and contemporary theatre for a secondary school’s audience. Sitting alongside his passion for Shakespeare is that of the Ancient Greek tragedians, Sophocles, and Euripides. Complete Works will tour productions of Medea and The Women of Troy tour for VCE English/EAL students in February and May 2023.