Melbourne’s art scene is prominent within
on the character of the exhibitions as
the city streets and lane ways however,
space is carefully considered and used as a
many have forgotten the monumental
mechanism in its presentations. This
galleries peppered around the city. To
appropriation of space effectively
wander through the great arched entrance
influences the nature of contemporary
of the National Gallery of Victoria on St
display and has the ability to alter the
Kilda Road (which opened in 1861) invites
relationship between audiences and the
you into spaces of inspiration and
way ‘art is consumed’ (Dean, 2009).
enormity. It welcomes almost one million visitors annually to see its art collections and exhibitions for fashion and textiles, photography, furniture, sculpture, paintings, etc and prides itself in displaying art works for the enjoyment of the community.
Space is a main factor in the transmissibility of meaning in galleries such as the NGV. From ‘the era of glass cases’ (Edgar, 2009) to more engaging and immersive exhibitions, curators have assessed space and strategically transformed it to create complex mazes to
The building has undergone some
control the flow of people. This highlights
significant transformations namely, the
the need to create sense out of disorder
Water Wall at the entrance. The gentle
within galleries and the importance of
cascade of water acts as a natural filter,
organisation in their communications (see
creating a refuge from the dreaded city
Mumford, 1961). This is similar to the
buzz and allowing people to appreciate the
design of Melbourne which has been
calm, secluded ambiance of the gallery. Its
tactically manufactured to instil social
interior perpetually transforms depending
control and self surveillance.
As people meander past artworks in
and political. It’s an expression and
galleries, they perceive the art in varying
reflection of the culture and youth, which
ways, ultimately creating ‘an arena of
the public are starting to appreciate and
experiences, observations and narratives
regard as ‘unofficial art galleries’
to take place’ (Dean, 2009). The gallery
(Johnston, 2007). Here, the clash between
exhibitions can be subdued, flamboyant,
street art and galleries becomes evident
controversial and whimsical, however, due
however in some cities there has been a
to the exponentially popular street art
leap to unite them both. Commissions for
movement, galleries such as the NGV
street artists to move their art onto
have become somewhat socially irrelevant.
canvases and murals in galleries was
Attention is increasingly being paid to
predicted to solve gallery popularity and
famous street artists like Banksy and Blek
make street art ‘more professionalised’
le Rat, who challenge these conventions
(Kussin, 2009). This notion however,
raised by Mumford’s analysis of restraint
pinpoints the irony of bringing a
and order within the city.
movement which is so unconventional and
Street art is often not just about the aesthetics but is also candid, outspoken
rebellious into a space which is so controlled and ultimately compromises its integrity and mission’ (Kussin, 2009).
Dean, C 2009, ‘From Flash Art to Flash Mob’, in Chaplin, S & Stara, A Curating Architecture and the City, Routledge, London and New York, pp. 129 – 140. Edgar, R 2009, ‘Thinking Outside the Box’, The Age, 19 June, viewed 14 April 2010, Factiva Mumford, L 1961, The City in History: Its Origins, Its Transformations, and Its Prospects, Secker & Warburg, London. Soika, K 2006, Why Are People Interested in Art?, Kunst, viewed 25 May 2010, < http://www.soika.com/links/text/06e_wissenstransfer.htm > Johnston, C 2006, ‘Look Around You, It’s Just Street Art’, The Age, 16th May, 2007 Kussin, Z 2009, ‘Taking it from the Streets’, Newsweek, viewed 26 May 2010 < http://www.newsweek.com/2009/07/31/taking-it-from-the-streets.html >
Located on the corner of Swanston and Little Lonsdale Streets this aesthetic yet, functional sculpture titled ‘Resting Place’ is a double-seated/double-sided chair made of steel and Jar-rah wood. Designed and created by Bronwyn Snow and “commissioned through the City of Melbourne’s Percent for Art Program” (Melbourne City Council, 2009). It was installed in 1994 and features four sunflowers protruding from the chair connected by four serpents and a backrest comprised of an ivy vine, and at the centre of which lies a decorative three part ‘Celtic’ symbol. The chair, which stands approximately 10ft high, and can easily be seen by commuters travelling along any of Swanston Street’s trams, as the flowers rest at eye level. Snow describes her work as being “a stopping point, a resting place for the weary spiritual traveller” (citied Melbourne City Council, 2009), this notion of the work being a resting place is also echoed in the council’s description;
claiming that it offers the “urban flâneur a place to rest, take stock and take in the urban environment” (Melbourne City Council, 2009). As Jenks & Neves discuss in 'A walk on the wild side: Urban ethnography meets the Flâneur' “The flâneur is “one who walks without haste, at random, abandoning himself to the impressions and sights of the moment” (2000, p.1). The flâneur and the experience of the flâneur in the city is a crucial part of Melbourne’s identity and the imagined communities that the city wishes to imbue. These inferences to the artefact’s meaning and its role as a ‘place of rest’ goes much deeper than merely aesthetic perception, as there are many key design codes and symbols that lie deeply embedded within the object that are inherent to its meaning. The inference to the three part ‘Celtic’ symbol is one symbol alone that reinforces the notion of Snow’s work being a ‘resting place’ as ‘Celtic’ identity has often been invoked in the construction of what Benedict Anderson calls “imagined communities” (citied Dietler, 2009, p.1) and as many astrology sign interpreters have explored, the three part ‘Celtic’ symbol is often associated to “growing where you are planted” and a “flowing state of mind”. Meanwhile, simultaneous notions of the vine also source it as being a symbol to “seeing both sides of the story” and being aware of “the finer things of life like food, wine, music and art” (What’s Your Sign, 2009); which are all key characteristics of the flâneur.
In terms of the ‘effectiveness’ of this art work however, Snow’s work can be considered as a success in the sense that it acts as a neutralization to new developments and the “residual decay to the inhabitants of which the ‘benefits’ of development do not extend” (Miles, M, 1997). This neutralization to the city’s industrial developments created by Snow’s work also enable the work to contribute to the imagined spatial perception surrounding the chair, as the space is transformed into a ‘place of rest’
on a bustling city street. Whilst “There is no single point of view from which one can grasp the city as a whole’” (Raban, 1974) Snow’s work does reflect the desire for Melbourne to create places of escape and rest that embody the imagined identity and community of Melbourne.
1. Miles, M. (1997) ‘Art Space and the City: Public Art and Urban Futures’, Routledge, London, USA, New York, p. 104 - 131 2. Jenks, C. and Neves, T. (2000) 'A walk on the wild side: Urban ethnography meets the Flâneur', Journal for Cultural Research (Vol. 4TH: 1) p. 1 — 17 3. City of Melbourne (2009) Arts and Events Public Art, ‘Public Artworks; Out Door Artworks’ viewed 17 April 2010, http://www.melbourne.vic.gov.au/AboutMelbourne/ArtsandEvents/Pages/Publicart.aspx 3. What’s Your Sign (2009) viewed 17 April 2010, http://www.whats-your-sign.com/celtic-meaning-vine.html 4. Dietler, M American Anthropology, New Series, Vol.96, N0. 3 (Sep, 1994) pp. 584-6 (2009) viewed 17 April 2010, http://www.jstor.org/pss/682302 5. Jonathan Raban, Soft City (1974) viewed 17 April 2010, http://www.comm2411.net/
challenge the flow of people through the space. The marionette display is made up of native fauna dancing to the folk melody of Waltzing Matilda, a song described as ‘the story of nobody set nowhere,’ (Kelen, 2006, p. 555). The melody of the display is, for many however, an Australian anthem and interpellates the pathos of national pride. Centred within one of Melbourne’s busiest shopping and train hubs, Melbourne Central’s Marionette Fob Watch is considered to be a city landmark. The fob watch can be found within Shot Gun Tower Square, a meeting place for shoppers and tourists and is located on
A cultural trend echoed in Melbourne as arguably Australia’s ‘sporting capital’, home team loyalties are not far from the minds of city locals as Benedict Anderson explains, ‘the nation is always conceived as a deep, horizontal comrade ship’ (Anderson, 1991, p. 7).
the corner of bustling Swanston and La
The melody of Waltzing Matilda in
Trobe Streets. As a gift to the city from
conjunction with images of local fauna
watchmaker Seiko, the clock invites
stress Australian identity. For those who
shoppers to stop, think and take in the old
identify with the song, meaning can be
whilst living the new.
found within the lyrics. The song tells of a
Each day, thousands of commuters pass through the square en route to underground platforms. In contrast, the flaneur will wonder through the complex, diverted by the chimes of the clock that
battler willing to make sacrifices, a similar rhetoric drawn from the ANZAC legacy. This can be seen as an old view of nationalism with the melody holding on to ‘the preservation and propagation of the nation’s essential identity’ (Foster, 2007, p. 23).
Conversely, it can be argued that the
‘Australia is the nation that includes
marionette display does not reflect a
me…. it is also the nation that excludes
modern Australia. With an increasing
others even when by hazardous means
multicultural presence, particularly in
they come to those shores,’ (Kelen,2006, p.
Melbourne, it is difficult to find one true
555).
way of viewing the city’s identity. With much influence from European nations (city laneways, ‘Paris’ end of Collins Street) and Asian countries (Chinatown) the fob watch plays to a purely imagined idea of Australia and in turn Melbourne within a light, indifferent, robotic artefact.
Within the design of the artefact a soft approach has been taken in order to politically appeal to a gentrified Australian population. These include issues surrounding Australian identity, including modern and traditional ideals of citizenship. In doing this, a confused city
Furthermore, the song deflects from
presents a confused landmark, what does
reconciliation with Indigenous
it mean to be Australian? What is it to be
Australians and in turn displaces
a Melbournian? The artefact presents an
Aboriginals and citizens who have
example of ways in which design can
migrated or seek refuge. Kelen writes
shape meaning within the city.
Anderson, B (1991), ‘Introduction’ and ‘Cultural Roots’ in Imagined Communities, 2nd edn, Verso, London.’ Foster, K. (2007). ‘A sociable paradise’ [William Lane, New Australia and the maintenance of Australian identity.] Overland, no.189, pp. 22-27 Kelen, C. (Dec 2006) ‘Who am I? How is my soul stirred?’ Social Semiotics, v.16, no.3, pp. 553-571
what it symbolises, from a dark bullet making factory to a place of fun and fashion.
In a similar debate, comparisons can be made with the proposed redevelopment of Fitzroy “On the one hand, there is a densification strategy destined to alter the ‘character’ of numerous areas; on the other, is a design code to ‘respect’ and The Walter Coop Shot Tower was
‘protect’ existing ‘character’” (Dovey &
established in 1889 and manufactured lead
Woodcock, 2009). This concern was also
bullets until 1961, when it closed. It was
apparent in the redevelopment of the Shot
listed in the National Trust register as a
Tower as the residents’ concepts of ‘urban
historically significant building and in
character’
1983 commenced its refurbishment into
architectural views. The effects of socio-
what is now an RM William’s clothing
spacial restructuring in the demise and
store as well as a Museum. The Japanese
reshaping of vernacular landmarks is
company Daimaru opened the centre
exemplified in the Shot Tower (Bridge &
around the Shot Tower in 1991 and at the
Watson , 2002). The refurbishment can be
time, the refurbishment was the subject of
detailed as first finding a change in use of
much dispute between developers and
space and in people’s relation to that
preservationists. Lewis (1997) criticises
space. This can be seen as a way in which
the
view reforms the urban vernacular, into
modernist/postmodernist
which
the
building
was
way
in
reinvented;
arguing that the truth of the Tower’s history
has
been
lost
in
an
opposed
redeveloper’s
aesthetically
or
and
historically
homogenous landscape.
the
transformation and. The postmodern way
The Tower’s transformation continued in
of combining the old with the new, in a
2005.
way
old,
redevelopment, explaining that in the
changes the Shot Tower’s meaning and
original architecture and design of the
that
re-contextualises
the
Hutson
(2006)
describes
the
building there were problems. The Shot
there is too much that is pretty, clinicised
Tower was striking in the middle of the
and superficial; the cleaned bricks and
building, but did not “connect the shopper
mortar, the polished boards, the glass
to the city beyond.”
This statement
cabinets and electronic displays inevitably
implies the irrelevance of the object as a
disclose their own incompleteness, their
piece of history, and its reduction into
own deceit.” (Lewis 1997, pg 476)
merely a design object. This focus moving beyond the Shot Tower (causing it to becoming almost exempt
from
the
shopping
centres
aesthetic form) causes it to become prominent in the foyer of Melbourne Central yet, can be easily ignored by shoppers who have become accustomed to its presence. As Lewis stated “In all of it
The refurbishment of the Shot Tower has failed to maintain its urban character in its redesign as discussed by Bennett (1993), “This transformation of old spaces into new
architectural
forms
of
cultural
tourism and lifestyle landmarks does more than re-configure the past, it actually tells lies about it”.
Lewis, J, 1997, ‘Shot in the dark: considering Australia's industrial culture’, Cultural Studies (London, England), vol. 11, no.3, pp. 464-482 Hutson, A 2006, ‘Ideas above its station: Ashton Raggatt McDougall's playful redevelopment of Melbourne Central challenges retail conventions by bringing the urban pattern of the city into the shopping centre’, Architecture Australia, vol. 95, no. 1, pp. 54 Dovey, K, Woodcock, I, Wood, S, 2009 ‘A Test of Character: Regulating Placeidentity in Inner-city Melbourne’, Urban Studies, Downloaded from http://usj.sagepub.com at RMIT UNIVERSITY on April 4, 2010 Bennen, T, 1993, 'History on the Rocks' in John Frow and Meaghan Morris (eds) Australian Cultural Studies: A Reader, Sydney: Alien & Unwin. Bridge G, Watson S, 2002, The Blackwell City Reader, Wiley Blackwell, United Kingdom