Monster Trucks

Credit: Monster Trucks in Hobart, 2022. Image: Peter Mathew

By Terrapin

Now
Public Space

An adaptable roving gallery ripe for reimagining in new festivals or events
Inspired by Stephen King’s horror short story, Trucks

A graphic designed face is on an orange cement mixer — Monster Trucks in Launceston, 2022. Image: Meg Siejka

Monsters are coming.

Cement mixers and plant machinery take on a life of their own.

Working with local artists and construction companies, Monster Trucks is an adaptable work which can be restaged in locations across Australia. In Tasmania, Terrapin worked with four artists to create a fleet of Monster Trucks for MONA FOMA 2022: a leering, grinning series of monsters which roamed Launceston and Hobart.

Inspired by Stephen King’s horror short story Trucks – a tale about sentient machinery enslaving humankind – Monster Trucks takes ordinary machinery and gives it independent life and personality. There’s also more than a hint of 1980s-style collectible sticker culture – unsuspecting citizens must keep their eyes peeled for Monster Trucks as they go about their concrete-pouring business.

It's our ambition to explore beyond the borders of contemporary puppetry... we're not just puppet theatre company, we see puppets in everything, including heavy machinery!

– Sam Routledge, Artistic Director