he disciplines of architecture and needlepoint may seem unlikely bedfellows, but artist Narelle Jubelin’s new show at the Monash University Museum of Art tells a very different story. With a focus on architecture, Vision in Motion brings Australian modernism to the fore and includes Jubelin’s exquisite, petit point renditions of modernist structures. These tiny needlework designs are displayed alongside sculptural and video works, exploring and deconstructing the legacy of modernism, both in Australia and internationally.

Jubelin’s consideration of modernism extends to the built environment of the gallery and associated university buildings; the exhibition includes a site-specific installation in Percy Everett’s 1950s building, which now houses the Monash Faculty of Art, Design and Architecture.

Jubelin elects to work in universities and her work reflects this context. As she notes, “Vision in Motion is both a swansong to an earlier modernist moment when universities became progressive sites for the new, and a lamentation for their immanent change, restructuring and loss.”

In addition, there are three talks on modernism, art and architecture running in conjunction with the exhibition in May and June.

Vision in Motion opens today and runs until July 7 at Monash University Museum of Art at Monash University’s Caulfield Campus.

monash.edu.au/muma