Assessment of cultural heritage significance to amend an existing registration

ASSESSMENT OF CULTURAL HERITAGE SIGNIFICANCE TO AMEND AN EXISTING REGISTRATION

Endorsed By The

Heritage Council of Victoria

7 August 2014

NAME: KEITH HARING MURAL

DATE REGISTERED: 14 March 2004

VHR NUMBER: H2055

LOCATION: 35 JOHNSTON STREET COLLINGWOOD, Yarra City

CATEGORY: HERITAGE PLACE

FILE NO: FILE NO HER/2002/000133 and 11/006778-01 to 07

HERMES NUMBER: 12532





EXTENT OF REGISTRATION

All of the place known as the Keith Haring Mural shown hatched in Diagram 2055 held by the Executive Director encompassing part of Lot 1 on Title Plan 895370, part of Lot 1 on Title Plan 690038 and part of the road reserve of Johnston Street, and including a small painted wooden door held at the Public Record Office Victoria (as at May 2014)

STATEMENT OF CULTURAL HERITAGE SIGNIFICANCE

What is significant?

The Keith Haring Mural is a large work of art by Keith Haring. It is painted onto a cement panel which is located on the bottom half of the red brick wall at the eastern end of the former Collingwood Technical School. The cement panel and mural measure 7.4 x 11.5 metres. The mural has a yellow background and depicts moving red and green figures of people and a large creature. Three metal conduits and a pipe attached to the wall (three vertical and one horizontal) are also part of the composition (a fifth metal pipe and light which were originally part of the composition are no longer present). A small wooden door (measuring 70cm wide and 65cm high) has the artist’s signature and baby symbol painted on it.

History Summary

The New York based artist Keith Haring (1958-1990) visited Melbourne between February and March 1984. During this time he created a number of works, the largest, most enduring and visible of which is the mural on the eastern wall of the former Collingwood Technical School. While Haring painted, he played hip hop music on his Kenny Scharf painted ghetto blaster, and spoke and danced with pupils from the Technical School.

From the early to mid 1990s the mural began to appear faded. The pale appearance was caused by a layer of white pigment which had migrated to the surface. The red paint was also peeling. Following several public campaigns, the vibrancy of the original paint was returned by conservation treatment, a technique which preserved Haring’s artistic hand, or what he referred to as his ‘line’ later in his career.

Description Summary

The mural is painted onto a cement panel which is located on the bottom half of the red brick wall. The yellow background of the mural was painted using rollers by students of the Collingwood Technical College on 5 March 1984 using a colour believed to have been chosen by Haring. Keith Haring painted the red and green figures with a brush by hand on 6 March 1984.

The whole background of the mural is a bright yellow. The upper half depicts a green hybrid sphinx/caterpillar monster with a computer monitor for a head. The monitor has a red brain or intestines inside it. The monster is ridden by two faceless green human figures holding red radiating ‘power’ sticks. The lower half of the mural consists of vibrant dancing figures in red with green emphasis lines around them to create the effect of movement. A small wooden door has the artist’s signature and baby symbol painted on it.

This site is part of the traditional land of the Kulin Nation.

How is it significant?

The Keith Haring Mural is of historical, aesthetic and social significance to the State of Victoria. It satisfies the following criterion for inclusion in the Victorian Heritage Register:

Criterion A Importance to the course, or pattern, of Victoria’s cultural history.

Criterion B Possession of uncommon, rare or endangered aspects of Victoria’s cultural history.

Criterion E Importance in exhibiting particular aesthetic characteristics.

Criterion G Strong or special association with a particular community or cultural group for social, cultural or spiritual reasons. This includes the significance of a place to Indigenous peoples as part of their continuing and developing cultural traditions.

Criterion H Special association with the life or works of a person, or group of persons, of importance in Victoria’s history.

Why is it significant?

The Keith Haring Mural is significant at the State level for the following reasons:

The Keith Haring Mural is historically significant because Haring’s visit to Australia profoundly affected the course of Australian art. He influenced Australian artists, and in the time before mass media Haring brought the New York style of graffiti to Australia. The mural’s popular culture themes, including an early warning about the effects of technology on humanity and the depiction of modern dance movements, remain relevant. [Criterion A]

The Keith Haring Mural is the only large scale and publically accessible work to survive from Haring’s visit to Australia in 1984 and one of the very few of his outdoor murals worldwide which is still in his hand and has not been fully or partially repainted. [Criterion B]

The Keith Haring Mural is aesthetically significant as an excellent example of 1980s public art associated with popular music and dance culture. It is an outstanding extant example of Haring’s work and demonstrates his strong confident lines, bright vibrant colours and kinetic figures. [Criterion E]

The Keith Haring Mural is socially significant for the diverse Victorian communities which feel attachment, associations and ownership of it. These communities include artists, the gay community, the general public, the Collingwood and Fitzroy communities, former staff and students of the former Collingwood Technical College, international visitors, people living with HIV/AIDS, contemporary art curators, conservators and heritage professionals. Little vandalism, graffiti or tagging has ever occurred on the mural also indicating, without words, the importance of Keith Haring’s original work to the graffiti and street art communities. [Criterion G]

The Keith Haring Mural is historically significant as a rare work of Keith Haring (1958-1990) located in Australia. It is a rare example of an exterior mural by one of the most influential artists of the 20th century which is still in his own hand. Haring was is an internationally renowned Pop artist and was integral to the development of the now international phenomenon of street art. As a role model and advocate for gay artists, public and graffiti artists, and for his AIDS activism, Haring’s influence was far reaching. [Criterion H]

The Keith Haring Mural is also significant for the following reasons, but not at the State level:

The mural is significant for its prominent inner city location and is indicative of the changing physical and social landscape of a former working class suburb. It has become highly valued by the residents of the City of Yarra and inner Melbourne.

PERMIT POLICY

The purpose of the Permit Policy is to assist when considering or making decisions regarding works to the place. It is recommended that any proposed works be discussed with Heritage Victoria prior to making a permit application. Discussing proposed works will assist in answering any questions the owner may have and aid any decisions regarding works to the place. It is recommended that a Conservation Management Plan, which includes the results of the 2013 conservation treatment, is undertaken to assist with the future management of the cultural significance of the place.

The extent of registration protects the whole site. The addition of new structures to the site may impact upon the cultural heritage significance of the place and requires a permit. The purpose of this requirement is not to prevent any further development on this site, but to enable control of possible adverse impacts on heritage significance during that process.

The most current Conservation Policy of the National Gallery of Victoria should guide any works to the mural. This policy is updated regularly by the National Gallery of Victoria.

Any works, conservation or maintenance of the paint and cement of the mural is to be undertaken by a professional conservator(s) specialised in wall painting conservation. The conservator(s) should be a member of and bound by the Code of Ethics and Practice of the AICCM Inc. or an international materials conservation association.

Any treatments should ensure retention of the original paint on the cement and ensure that it remains visible to the public. Repainting is discouraged; however, inpainting to the extent of reintegrating the composition may be permitted, subject to a permit. The red and green paint applied by Keith Haring is of greater significance than the yellow paint applied some of the students of the former Collingwood Technical College although the colour was chosen by Haring. The original colours of the paint as identified by the 2013 colorimetric analysis should be conserved. Removal of inpainting may be permitted, subject to a permit.

Any works to the building wall and foundations of the mural must be supervised by a professional conservator(s) specialised in wall painting conservation to ensure the mural is not damaged. The conservator(s) should be a member of and bound by the Code of Ethics and Practice of the AICCM Inc. or an international materials conservation association.

When the mural was painted by Haring there were a number of components already attached to the wall. Haring used these as part of the composition. Two have been lost and consideration could be given to replacing these with replicas as they were an important part of the composition. These items appear in contemporary photographs and are:

• 
  A light, two rectangular plates and their bolts and a short vertical extension of the adjoining horizontal 6cm circumference conduit
  
• 
  A vertical L-shaped pipe approx 13.5cm in circumference on the north end of the mural.
  

PERMIT EXEMPTIONS

General Conditions: 1.
All exempted alterations are to be planned and carried out in a manner which prevents damage to the fabric of the registered place or object.

General Conditions: 2.
Should it become apparent during further inspection or the carrying out of works that original or previously hidden or inaccessible details of the place or object are revealed which relate to the significance of the place or object, then the exemption covering such works shall cease and Heritage Victoria shall be notified as soon as possible.

General Conditions: 3.
Nothing in this determination prevents the Heritage Council from amending or rescinding all or any of the permit exemptions
General Conditions: 4.
Nothing in this determination exempts owners or their agents from the responsibility to seek relevant planning or building permits from the responsible authorities where applicable.
Specific exemptions:

Internal works to the non-registered areas of Building F of the former Collingwood Technical College should be undertaken so they do not transfer any vibration to the mural.

The following works do not require a permit:

1. 
   Maintenance and repair works to the following, providing that these works do not impact (including through vibration) on the mural or the cement panel:
   

• 
  Walls along Johnston Street
  
• 
  Wall above the mural
  
• 
  Gate
  
• 
  Road reserve in front of the gate and Johnston St walls
  
• 
  Asphalt and kerb more than 0.4m in front of the mural
  
• 
  Footpath, garden and car parks on the south east side of mural
  
• 
  Tree and surrounding garden.
  

2. 
   Graffiti removal to the north and south walls of Building F providing a waterproof physical barrier is erected to protect the mural; and graffiti removal methods are implemented as needed to ensure that the mural is fully protected from all chemicals, water and other graffiti removal tools and materials.
   
3. 
   Research and testing on any paint used to graffiti the Keith Haring Mural. This must be conducted by a conservator qualified in painted mural conservation and only to the extent required to formulate a proposal to remove this graffiti and provide this report to the Executive Director.
   
4. 
   A permit will be required if the registered door is relocated from the Public Record Office Victoria for exhibition or safe keeping purposes. However, once it is located in an approved institution, the conservation, research or analysis of the registered door is exempt from requiring a permit where the activity is performed in accordance with the accepted standards, policies and procedures of the National Gallery of Victoria. A permit would be needed to return the door to the mural.
   
5. 
   Works to any replica door (re-produced from the registered door) except for works that impact on the mural wall.
   
6. 
   Works to the non-original yellow painted wooden door (currently in place on the mural as at May 2014) except for works that impact on the mural wall.
   
7. 
   Maintenance of roof and rainwater goods to Building F providing that these works do not transfer any vibration to the mural or cement panel or have any other impact on the mural or cement panel. Where these works take place directly above the mural or close to the edges of the mural a waterproof physical barrier should be erected between the works and the mural to ensure that the mural is fully protected from all chemicals, water, tools and other materials.
   
8. 
   Temporary scaffolding providing that the scaffolding does not touch the mural or transfer any vibration to the mural or cement panel or have any other impact on the mural or cement panel.
   
9. 
   Installation of free standing signs in the garden surrounding the tree or on the Johnston Street walls and changing of the skins on the existing free standing signs.
   
10. 
    Removal of existing sign and attachment of a new sign to the existing signage frame on Johnston Street providing that these works do not transfer any vibration to the mural or have any other impact on the mural or cement panel.
    
11. 
    Temporary signage associated with construction projects provided this does not obscure views to the mural from within or outside the site.
    

RELEVANT INFORMATION
Local Government Authority City of Yarra

HERITAGE LISTING INFORMATION

Heritage Overlay: Yes HO Number: HO 354

Heritage Overlay Controls: N/A as place is already on VHR
Other Listing: National Trust B6675

Comments: The current registered area has an individual Heritage Overlay HO354. The former Collingwood Technical School including the building that the Mural is painted on and the neighbouring Tote Hotel are included in the City of Yarra Johnston St Precinct Heritage Overlay HO324.
UPDATED HISTORY

The New York based artist Keith Haring visited Melbourne between February and March 1984. During this time he created a number of works, the largest and most visible of which is the Mural on the side of the former Collingwood Technical School.

Keith Haring (1958-1990) was an important member of the New York art scene in the early 1980s. Haring was an openly gay artist at a time when this was still gaining acceptance. He was a person living with HIV/AIDS which was not diagnosed until after his visit to Australia, and from then he became a campaigner for the rights and acceptance of those living with HIV/AIDS. Drawing on gay, graffiti, rap and hip hop cultures, Haring created art that had far reaching influence. His visit to Melbourne, early in his short career, was to influence a number of other Australian artists such as the Melbourne “Roar” school of artists and Sydney artists such as David McDairmid. In this time before mass media, Haring brought the New York style of graffiti writing to Australian graffiti artists. His strong line and its application in many forms (album covers, murals, tee shirts, sculpture, paintings and art on paper) was very influential, as was his commitment to public art. He felt that art should be for everyone not just the elite few who visited galleries and said in Arts Magazine in 1990:

There is nothing you can criticise about [my subway] drawings because I was doing it purely for the love of doing it and for the love of drawing it and for the love of the people who were seeing it... I don’t think that since then I’ve ever done anything as pure as that. Maybe the outdoor murals which can’t be removed.

The Collingwood Mural is one of approximately 30 surviving indoor and outdoor murals Keith Haring created across the world. It is the only large scale and publicly accessible work to survive from Haring’s visit to Australia and one of the very few of his outdoor murals which is still in his hand and has not been fully or partially repainted.

The Mural was one of a number of projects Haring undertook during his visit to Melbourne. The others included:

• 
  A small angel on an interior wall at the then Glamorgan School, now the Toorak campus of Geelong Grammar School (still surviving but not on the VHR)
  
• 
  A small painting on an external wall in Fitzroy (damaged)
  
• 
  A mural on the glass water wall at the National Gallery of Victoria on St Kilda road which was always intended to be temporary but the window was destroyed by a gun shot soon after painting
  
• 
  The DJ’s booth at a night club in Hardware Lane, Melbourne CBD (fate not known)
  
• 
  Graffiti around inner Melbourne which has since been painted over.
  

In 1984 John Buckley, the inaugural director of the Australian Centre for Contemporary Art, and sponsor of Haring's visit to Australia, approached Collingwood Technical College, which had a convenient wall for Haring to create a more permanent work. In his authorised biography Haring said:

I went to look at it (the wall), and agreed to do it – and it’s become a permanent site!

While Haring painted, it is reported that he played cassette tapes of hip hop and Madonna’s music on his ghetto blaster which had been painted by his friend, artist Kenny Scharf. He also spoke and danced with pupils from the Technical School. Haring’s friend Jeffrey Deitch said in 1986:

Like a jazz musician on a long solo, Haring can lay down line after line without missing a beat... He seldom works without music, and not only Haring but the figures he’s painting seem to rock to the beat.

The yellow background was painted using rollers by some of the students of the Collingwood Technical College on 5 March 1984 using a colour believed to have been chosen by Haring and in his presence. Keith Haring painted the red and green figures with a brush by hand on 6 March 1984 with no preliminary sketches or underdrawing. He first stood on the ground and used a ladder for the lower figures, and then he painted the higher figures from a cherry picker. The small door originally inset into the wall was painted yellow the day before. Using the same green paint Haring painted his name and trademark crawling baby (without the rays which usually surrounded it when it was known as the ‘Radiant Baby’).

The themes of the painting are typical of Haring's work at the time. The imagery used to express these themes had its roots in electronics, commercial graphics, comic books, Christianity and contemporary blockbuster films. For Haring, red was the colour that represented power and he used it in all his paintings. In an interview done in Australia just after painting it, Haring outlined the themes of the Mural:

What’s going on in the bottom is about – I mean, all these people are doing different things, right? Some of them are like dancing, like rap dancing, or acrobatics. Some of them are almost like they are fighting. But the way they are all together means that they can’t – I mean, if one of them comes out, the whole thing falls down. So they sort of depend on all of them to make it work. So it’s sort of like society or whatever, where the world only works when lots of individuals do their part, right?

The thing at the top is, I guess, the impending doom or impending possibility of technological … the confrontation between technology and the human element, which is still holding up the technology, and based on the technology. But it sort of takes a semi-circle in evolution, where people evolved up to a certain point, and now they’ve evolved so far that they’ve invented a computer or a machine to evolve further. And the computer is maybe evolving more than people were. So it’s about that sort of confrontation, I guess.

Julia Gruen, formerly Keith’s personal assistant, and now the Executive Director of the Keith Haring Foundation, has said:

Keith tapped into and expanded upon a universal language of symbols and messages – executed in simple lines, energised by the spirit (and at times context) of graffiti and fuelled by his intense commitment to make his work as accessible as possible.

The Melbourne Keith Haring Mural is an excellent example of all these aspects of Haring’s work.

From the early to mid 1990s the Mural began to appear to be faded; however the poor appearance was actually caused by a layer of white degradation products as well as an incompatibility between the compositions of the red and yellow paint which caused the red paint to start to peel off.

During 1994 – 1995 a gay art group in Melbourne called THREAD became concerned by the degraded appearance of the Mural and launched a campaign to have it repainted by an internationally recognised gay artist. This was not done. The Public Art Committee of the National Trust (Victoria) opposed the repainting proposal and nominated the mural to the Victorian Heritage Register to protect it. A conservation treatment in 1998 temporarily stabilised the degradation but did not change the appearance.

From 2010 to 2012 the Mural’s poor appearance led to an extensive public campaign led by contemporary art curators for the Mural to be repainted. This was based on the artist’s published wishes and because they felt that repainting was the only way to return the original brightly coloured vibrancy of the work. Local and international conservators opposed repainting stating that this would destroy Haring’s original work and that conservation would be able to return the original vibrancy.

Haring did make statements about the repainting of his murals when they ‘faded.’ However, later in his career, as imitations of his work proliferated, Keith Haring also made a number of statements about the importance and primacy of his own work, the most extensive during an interview in the Columbia Art Review in 1988:

Interviewer: Can you make an intuitive comparison between you and your line and how it expresses you?

Haring: It is an extension of me. It is me, to a degree. Your line is your personality. ... So, I don’t know what makes it mine. In fact, what I still try to do over and over again is show what it is that separates this line from someone else’s line, or why all the imitation ones that people do when they redraw my things don’t have this character. They can draw the same image but it doesn’t have the same sort of power which is something that you can’t explain really. It has to do with magic and spirit.

The 2013 conservation treatment returned the Mural to its original colourful vibrancy using selective cleaning and a transparent red glaze on the degraded red lines. This treatment preserved Keith Haring’s original brushstrokes without repainting the Mural.

VICTORIAN HISTORICAL THEMES

9.2 Nurturing a vibrant arts scene

9.3 Achieving design and artistic distinction

9.4 Creating popular culture

UPDATED PHYSICAL DESCRIPTION (as at May 2014)

The Keith Haring Mural is a large work of art painted onto a cement panel on the bottom half of the red brick wall at the eastern end of the former Collingwood Technical School. The cement panel and Mural measure 7.4 x 11.5 metres.

The Mural has a yellow background and depicts red and green figures of people and a large creature. The yellow paint is acrylic house paint with PY109 Isoindolinone yellow pigment, the green is acrylic artist’s paint with PG7 Pthalocyanine Green pigment and the red is alkyd (oil) house paint with PR3 Toluidine Red pigment.

The upper half of the Mural depicts a green hybrid sphinx/caterpillar monster with a computer monitor for a head. The monitor has a red brain or intestines inside it. The monster is ridden by two faceless green human figures holding red radiating power sticks. The lower half of the Mural consists of vibrant dancing figures in red with green emphasis lines. There are some small blank areas in the mural where the original light fitting, one vertical pipe and some ground based equipment have been removed since the mural was painted.

Some of the cement was already missing from numerous small areas at the base of the wall at the time the Mural was painted. Haring painted over these damaged areas as he painted the Mural.

The following components are associated with the Mural:

1. 
   A non-original yellow painted wooden door (70 x 65 cm)
   

In lieu of the small wooden door painted and signed by Keith Haring, a small door painted yellow has been set into the base of the wall with external metal hinges. It offers the access to the sub-floor of Building F.

2. 
   Five pipes attached to the wall with ferrous fastenings
   

These were present on the wall when Haring painted the Mural. All are painted with the yellow background colour and some also have Haring’s green and red paint applied to them.

• 
  Three are metal conduits of 6cm diameter. Two are vertical and one is horizontal and all still remain on the Mural.
  
• 
  The fourth is a slightly wider, vertical metal pipe of 13cm diameter which still remains on the Mural.
  
• 
  The hole where the missing fifth 13cm metal pipe entered the wall is still present.
  

3. 
   A metal grill inset into the wall
   

This measures 50 cm wide and 35 cm high and is not part of the composition as the conduits and pipes are. It is painted with the yellow background colour.
UPDATED OBJECTS AND INTERIORS

No movable objects are associated with the Mural.

UPDATED LANDSCAPES, TREES & GARDENS (as at May 2014)

There is a Yellow Box tree opposite the Mural which is included in the registered area. It was a small sapling when Haring painted the Mural and it is now a large tree. It provides some shelter to the Mural from the weather and sun but is not part of the significance of the place.

The rendered brick retaining wall adjoining the Mural and facing Johnston Street provides some protection to the Mural from vehicles using the driveway and dates from the painting of the Mural. A permit issued in 2012 allows for it to be reduced in length from 3m wide to 1.8m wide in order to allow larger trucks to pass through the gate. A permit issued in 2012 allows for the wall on the other side of the driveway between the tree and the street to be reduced in height from 1.64m high to 0.44m at the east side of the crossover, increasing to 0.98m at the eastern site boundary.

The black asphalt in front of the Mural dates from the time of painting. A thin 400mm strip of the original asphalt will be retained immediately in front of the Mural. The remainder will be replaced with permeable asphalt with a fall away from the Mural to improve the drainage of the site.

UPDATED INTEGRITY/INTACTNESS (as at May 2014)

Conservation treatment from April to August 2013 has preserved the paint that Keith Haring applied. Selective inpainting has renewed the original vibrancy of the Mural.

Some of the cement had already been lost from numerous small areas at the base of the wall when the mural was painted. Haring painted over these damaged areas. Much of this paint had been lost due to damp and was retouched during the 1997 and 2013 conservation treatments. The cement losses were not filled during the 2013 conservation treatment as they were present when the Mural was painted.

A small wooden door originally located at the base of the wall was also painted by Haring as part of the mural. This door was broken and stolen in 1990 and then returned anonymously to Arts Victoria in early 2013 by post. It is owned by Arts Victoria and being held at the Public Records Office Victoria (as at May 2014). In lieu of the small wooden door painted and signed by Keith Haring, a small door painted yellow not original to the mural has been installed in its place.

Five pipes were present on the wall when Haring painted the Mural. Three were metal conduits of 6cm circumference probably for electricity, all of which still remain on the Mural. Two were slightly larger, vertical metal pipes of 13cm circumference. The fifth L-shaped 13cm diameter metal pipe closest to the road is now absent although the hole where it went into the wall is still present. The horizontal 6cm conduit travelled across half of the centre of the mural under the first five legs of the sphinx/caterpillar figure.

The horizontal conduit also had a short vertical extension which led to a light which illuminated the wall. The conduit extension was attached to the wall with two large rectangular brackets each attached to the wall with a large bolt on each side. The original light was replaced by a modern spotlight after 1984. The modern light has been removed and the rectangular plates and bolts and the vertical extension of the conduit are also missing.

Haring painted parts of all the pipes and the light and incorporated them into the composition with the sphinx/caterpillar figure appearing to rest on the horizontal conduit and the lower figures appearing to bounce off all the conduits and pipe and to be standing back from the light. The loss of these items has led to small gaps in the composition.

Small pieces of service equipment have been removed from lower area next to the retaining wall leaving a space in the composition. These do not appear to have been painted by Haring although their loss has left a space in the composition.

A free standing low cement kerb approximately 10 cm high is located on the asphalt approximately 0.8m from the front of the Mural. Rainwater being retained by this kerb was found to be the cause of the damp damage to the Mural. Drainage holes have been inserted into this kerb.

UPDATED CONDITION (as at May 2014)

Almost all the green paint applied by Keith Haring is still present. It retains its bright colour and is well attached.

Approximately one third of the red oil paint applied by Keith Haring has been lost as it was not well attached to the yellow acrylic background. It formed flakes which curled then fell off the wall. The remaining red paint flakes have been reattached to the wall with heat and are now stable. The lost red paint has been compensated with the application of a red glaze of nano-acrylic applied precisely over the original red lines. It is possible to see the remaining original red paint on close viewing. At a distance the red lines appear integrated and to have returned to their original vibrancy.

The yellow paint applied by the staff of the former Collingwood Technical College is still present but some of the white filler (titanium dioxide) of this paint migrated above the surface of the acrylic film and was removed during the 2013 conservation treatment. This gave the Mural a whitish faded appearance. The removal of the titanium dioxide has not affected the appearance or bright yellow colour and it is still possible to see the uneven roller marks of this paint. The yellow has been mostly lost from the pipes.

A breathable hydrophobing material has been applied to the painted surface to reduce some of the deterioration of the paint which is caused by water. Currently it is slightly glossy but this is expected to reduce. The material is expected to wear off over time and to be fully lost after approximately five years. It will be replaced as part of a regular maintenance program.

A number of small holes and cracks in the cement of the Mural were filled with lime mortar during the 2013 conservation treatment. These included holes from the rawl plugs used to attach a later and not significant horizontal conduit – this conduit and plugs were removed during the 2013 conservation treatment. The fills were inpainted to match their surrounds.

KEY REFERENCES USED TO PREPARE RECOMMENDATION REPORT

Marcus Bunyan, 2011, Now you see it, now you don’t: the history and conservation of The Keith Haring Mural, Johnston Street, Collingwood, Melbourne, Art Blart - Art blog by Dr Marcus Bunyan, http://artblart.com/tag/keith-haring-angels-and-coyotes/ accessed several times in 2012 and 2013

Roberta Cecchi, Piergiorgio Castellani, Carlo Venturini and Andrea De Gioia, 2012, Keith Haring a Pisa - cronaca di un murales, 2^nd Edition Edizioni ETS, Pisa

The Centre for Cultural Materials Conservation, University of Melbourne, 2010, Review of conservation issues presented by the Keith Haring Mural and Proposed Conservation Program for the Keith Haring Mural, prepared for RBA Architects, Melbourne, unpublished

Jeffrey Deitch, Julia Gruen and Suzanne Geiss (Ed), 2008, Keith Haring, Rizzoli, First Edition

Daniel Drenger, 1988, Art and Life: An interview with Keith Haring, Columbia Art Review: The Art & Architecture Magazine of Columbia University, Spring, 1988, p 44-53

Ted Gott and Lisa Sullivan, c.2010, City of Yarra Heritage Review - Statement of Significance - Keith Haring Mural, Melbourne, unpublished

Ted Gott and Lisa Sullivan, 2002, Keith Haring in Australia, Art and Australia, v.39, no.4, June 2002, p 560-567

John Gruen, 1991, Keith Haring: The Authorized Biography, Prentice Hall, New York

Keith Haring, 1996, Keith Haring Journals, Fourth Estate, London

The Keith Haring Foundation website, http://www.haring.com/, accessed several times in 2012 and 2013

Veronica Marchiafava and Marcello Picollo, 2013, Melbourne - The Keith Haring Mural Colorimetric Analysis, Italian National Research Council, Institute of Applied Physics “Nello Carrara”, Florence, unpublished

Hannah Matthews, (ed.), 2012, Caterpillars & Computers: Keith Haring in Australia, Australian Centre for Contemporary Art and the City of Yarra, Melbourne

The Melbourne Keith Haring Mural website http://www.melbourneharingmural.com.au/, accessed a number of times during 2012 and 2013

David Myers, The Art is Creation, Color of Art Pigment Database, http://www.artiscreation.com/Color_index_names.html accessed 1 October 2013

National Gallery of Victoria, 2011, Collection Conservation Policy, Approved by the Council of Trustees 15 December 2011, Melbourne, unpublished

Antonio Rava, 2013, Keith Haring Mural Conservation Works, Societa’ Rava & Co SRL, Turin, unpublished

RBA Architects, 2011, Former Collingwood Technical School, 35 Johnston Street, Collingwood, conservation Mangement Plan, volume 2: the Keith Haring Mural, February 2011, Melbourne, unpublished

Save Melbourne Haring Mural website, http://campaign.melbourneharingmural.com.au/, accessed a number of times during 2012 and 2013

Thomas Simunsen (former student at Collingwood Technical College), personal communication, 6 March 2014

Elizabeth Sussman, 1997, Keith Haring, exhibition catalogue, Whitney Museum of American Art, 25 June – 21 September 1997, New York

Andrew Thorn, 1997, The Keith Haring Mural Johnston Street, Collingwood – Conservation Treatment Report – Final Report, prepared for Northern Institute, Melbourne, unpublished

Andrew Thorn, 2007, The Keith Haring Mural Johnston Street, Collingwood – Review of Condition and Treatments, prepared for the City of Yarra, Melbourne, unpublished

Andrew Thorn, 2010, The Keith Haring Mural Johnston Street, Collingwood – Assessment of Condition and Previous Treatments, prepared for Arts Victoria, Melbourne, unpublished

Various, 2010, Submissions to the draft Conservation Management Plan, unpublished

Various, 2012, Submissions to the advertised permit P1835, unpublished

Various, 2012, Save Melbourne’s Keith Haring Mural - Petition to Heritage Council of Victoria, President (sic) of Arts Victoria (Penny Hutchinson) and Premier of Victoria & Minister for the Arts (Ted Baillieu), http://www.change.org/en-AU/petitions/save-melbourne-s-keith-haring-mural accessed 13 May 2012

Various, 2010 – 2013, extensive media coverage on the Melbourne Keith Haring Mural

PUBLISHED REFERENCES ON THE AESTHETIC IMPORTANCE OF THE KEITH HARING MURAL

Ted Gott and Lisa Sullivan, c.2010, City of Yarra Heritage Review - Statement of Significance - Keith Haring Mural, Melbourne, unpublished

Hannah Matthews, (ed.), 2012, Caterpillars & Computers: Keith Haring in Australia, Australian Centre for Contemporary Art and the City of Yarra, Melbourne

Mary O'Brien, 2012, My secret Melbourne: Ghostpatrol [a street artist], The Age, December 8, 2012. http://www.smh.com.au/entertainment/art-and-design/my-secret-melbourne-ghostpatrol-20121207-2azmt.html. O’Brien – “Which piece of artwork is integral to a Melbourne street?”

Ghostpatrol “.... the Keith Haring mural, in Collingwood, which is on the side of an old college. He's so playful and inspirational. It's graffiti but how could you hate that stuff? It's not antagonistic … it's a really positive piece.”

Various, 2012, Save Melbourne’s Keith Haring Mural - Petition to Heritage Council of Victoria, President (sic) of Arts Victoria (Penny Hutchinson) and Premier of Victoria & Minister for the Arts (Ted Baillieu), http://www.change.org/en-AU/petitions/save-melbourne-s-keith-haring-mural accessed 13 May 2012

The Keith Haring Mural before treatment showing loss of red, good condition of green and whitening of the yellow. The three vertical conduits and the left part of the horizontal conduit are original; the right part of the horizontal conduit nearer to the street is not original. The position of the light is the same but the spotlight is new. The brackets that held the original light have been removed. The hole near the street side is the exit hole of the water pipe.

The original small wooden door (stored offsite).


ADDITIONAL IMAGES

Keith Haring mural soon after being painted with students and original light. Arts Victoria image.

Keith Haring in front of the Mural with his boom box painted by Kenny Scharf. Painted door, grill and pipes visible. Photo by Polly Borland. http://www.flickr.com/photos/melbourneharingmural/7466285310/

Mural being painted showing original conduits and water pipe being incorporated into the composition

Conduit details before treatment February 2012.

• 
  The left horizontal conduit, joiner and vertical extension to light are original.
  
• 
  The right horizontal conduit after the joiner is not original as it travels through the figures and is not painted yellow.
  
• 
  The light fitting is new but in the same position as the original light.
  
• 
  The locations of the original rectangular plates which held the conduit, and the position of the painted figure, shows that the plates and original conduits were part of the composition.
  

Details before and after conservation showing typical damage, fills and coloured glaze over the red paint and the return of the yellow background colour after removal of the white alteration layer that was on top of it.

Mural – Johnston St view, January 2003.

ATTACHMENT 1

Existing registration details

To be superseded by the foregoing recommendation

EXISTING EXTENT OF REGISTRATION

1. All of the mural known as the Keith Haring Mural as shown M1 on Diagram 2055 held by the Executive Director
2. All of the land shown as L1 Diagram 2055 held by the Executive Director being part of the land described in Certificates of Title Volume 0767 Folio 252 and Volume 3307 Folio 398


EXISTING STATEMENT OF CULTURAL HERITAGE SIGNIFICANCE

What is significant?

The Keith Haring Mural consists of a large panel, 7.4 x 11.5 metres on a cement rendered wall at the eastern end of the Collingwood Technical School. The New York artist Keith Haring visited Melbourne in March 1984, during this time he created a number of works, the most lasting of which is the Mural on the side of Collingwood Technical School.

Keith Haring (1958-1990) was an important member of the New York art scene of the early 1980s, this movement incorporated Hip Hop, graffiti, and gay culture. Haring was an openly gay artist at a time when this was still gaining acceptance, he was also a sufferer of AIDS and a campaigner for the acceptance of those with AIDS. Drawing on graffiti and hip hop culture, Haring created art that had far reaching influence. His visit to Melbourne, early in his short career, was to influence a number of young artists. His strong graphic style and its application in many forms, album covers, murals, tee shirts, permanent works of art was also influential, as was his interest in 'public art'. The Collingwood mural draws directly on popular culture for its themes and form. The Collingwood mural is one of the few Haring murals that still exist of the number he executed across the world and the only extant work from his visit to Australia.

The Mural was one of a number of projects Haring undertook during his visit. More temporary was a mural on the glass water windows at the National Gallery of Victoria on St Kilda road. John Buckley the inaugural director of the Australian Centre for Contemporary Art, and sponsor of Haring's visit to Melbourne, approached Collingwood Technical College, who had a convenient wall for Haring to create a more permanent work.

The mural is a large work of art, on a cement rendered wall, with a yellow background and red, blue and green figures. The upper half of the mural depicts a hybrid man/computer monster, ridden by two human figures, this was a comment on technology and television. The lower half of the mural consists of vibrant dancing figures, reflecting an interest in the contemporary rap/hip hop movement of the period. Its themes and treatment are typical of Haring's work at the time.

How is it significant?
The Keith Haring Mural is of historic and social significance to the State of Victoria.

Why is it significant?
The Mural has historical and social significance as the work of a major artist. Keith Haring is considered one of the most significant artists of his generation. As a role model for gay artists and Aids activism his influence was international.

The Keith Haring Mural is of social significance as a landmark piece of public art in Melbourne. Its prominent inner city location is indicative of the changing physical and social landscape of a former working class suburb.

The Mural is also of social significance for its influence on young artists for its inner city setting and use of popular culture themes and imagery.

EXISTING PERMIT POLICY

Any work undertaken for the conservation of the Mural must be undertaken by a professional conservator. The report by Andrew Thorn completed in 2001 (The Keith Haring Mural, Johnston Street, Collingwood. Conservation Treatment Report) may be helpful.

EXISTING PERMIT EXEMPTIONS

None.