Debra Phillips, A talker’s echo

A talker’s echo is a new work that emerges from the material remnants of Viva Voce, the public artwork made by Debra Phillips in 1999. 

Curated by Jasmin Stephens

Viva Voce was located on Gadigal Land in Sydney’s Domain until its deaccessioning and removal in 2019. Commissioned for the City of Sydney Sculpture Walk, it was created to acknowledge Speakers’ Corner as a site for public oratory and debate. With the addition of new elements, A talker’s echo provides a further platform for the exchange of ideas engendered by the original work. Evoking vernacular and municipal histories associated with Viva Voce’s creation and disappearance, the exhibition highlights a complex public entanglement of perspectives on history, memory, conflict, politics and sovereignty played out within civic space.