Magdalena the Robot – 2020 to 2023

Magdalena the Robot was created in early 2020. She was a feature at the wedding of Alana Hunt and Sofia Chapman, and a street sculpture at the west end of Woolacott St Coburg for over three years. This is her story.

In February 2020, our friends Alana and Sofia got married.  Their wedding was a dress-up affair with ‘Bauhaus Costume Party’ as the theme.  Looking this up online, I learned that it involved, not dressing up as people or characters, but dressing up using shapes – circles, spheres, cones, triangles, cubes, etc. 

I remembered that my mother had old plywood tea-chests in her garage than my brother Jim had used to store some possessions when he took off travelling around Asia in 1990.  Jim never returned to Australia, making his home in Seattle USA.  The tea-chests were still in Mum’s garage.  The tea-chests are cube-like, and I thought they might be a good starting point for an outfit. 

I soon realised tea-chests were too big and awkward to wear.  Playing around with the tea-chests and other stuff from my garage, I made a robot.  I felt strange as I made an unusual offer to the hosts.  I texted an image of the robot, offering it as a decoration for their wedding.   I was pleased and relieved when they texted back with an excited ‘Yes’ to the offer.

It was a wonderful wedding celebration, with many amazing costumes.  Well timed, too, just before COVID-19 shut-downs began keeping people apart.

After the wedding, Magdalena, undressed, decorated the footpath in front of our house for two months.  She came to be loved by some in the street.  But her physical condition rapidly declined.

Easter 2020 – the National Folk Festival was cancelled due to COVID-19.  Instead of attending the festival, I decided to resurrect Magdalena as a street sculpture.

Wearing a new more-weather-resistant outfit, Magdalena graced our street for several years from Easter 2020 until late-2023 …

… including supervising the construction of the elevated railway line.

Workers even removed Magdalena’s legs to re-asphalt the footpath, then replaced them.

Why ‘Magdalena’?

Antigone’s choir Shaking The Tree sings an Italian traditional song called Magdalena which celebrates beautiful strong women.  (Click hear to listen.)  Magdalena the Robot was created for the wedding of two beautiful strong women.  Being Italian, the name celebrates the Italian heritage of Woolacott St Coburg.  Most of the houses were built about 100 years ago, and for the last 50 years, most housed Italian families.  Some were converted from a Victorian weatherboard style to an Italian brick and tile style, some by George, an Italian builder who lived at 25 Woolacott St.

What happened to Magdalena?

I often hear how loved Magdalena was, both by Woolacott Street residents and by users of the Upfield Path along the railway reserve. 

She was made of materials not appropriate for a long-term outdoor life. (Her head was cardboard!) 

After Antigone’s stroke in 2021, my caring responsibilities increased.  This reduced time available for maintaining creative works of art.  In early 2023, my focus was preparing our caravan for our tour of Australia.  During our five months on the road, I was not around for artwork maintenance.

Magdalena wore out.

But … I have plans for another Magdalena street sculpture, to be created in 2026.