Harrison Witsey

About the work

Harrison Witsey’s Crab Sculpture (for Canberra House) playfully interrupts Canberra’s carefully planned civic landscape. Set within the city’s public space, the work becomes a temporary monument, unexpected and absurd . Drawing on Australia’s tradition of
oversized roadside attractions, it explores how scale, humour and spectacle can shift the way we experience the built environment. Animated by a talking voice, the crab reflects on it’s surroundings, the sculpture’s origins and the nature of public art.

About the artist

Harrison Witsey (b.1995) is an artist based on Gadigal land. Working between sculpture, video, painting and installation his work explores histories of architecture and design, often focusing on the connections between the built environment and its underlying social structures. Recurring interests include local histories of modernism and abstraction, the
role and function of arts institutions, and the design of environments for non-human species.