Colouring in the city
If you went into the city in the weekend, it’s quite likely you saw something a tad unusual. You may have seen a garden in a strange place, a performance that left you scratching your head or a group of people doing something a bit odd. Or you may not have even noticed at all as a group of silent people walked past you, experiencing the sounds of the city without making any of their own.
It was a fantastic weekend of interventions by all the artists involved in the Interventionist Guide to Melbourne. Did you see or hear anything over the weekend? I’d love to hear if you did.
As for the radical cross stitch component, there were two interventions over the weekend. The first was a cross stitch on an existing grid on Lonsdale Street, just near the corner of King Street. There is a beautiful old blue stone building there which is currently a barristers office, but in one of its manifestations was the home of the Seabrook Wine Merchants. Fittingly – at some point in time – a grape vine was planted outside the front and over the years has been trained up the side of the building. To help it along the way, a wire grid was attached to the side of the building.
This is what caught my eye.
During the G20 trials I spent a bit of time in this area and I noticed just how few children were around this part of town. During the week most of them are in school I realise but even small children are noticeably absent. And gee, try taking a pram through court security.. In the weekend this part of the city is a ghost town.
I decided this spot was perfect for a bit of commentary on the invivsibility of children in the urban space.
All the times I’d visited this space previously there wasn’t any greenery on the grape vine. The last time I went past there was a very small amount. So I was delighted to see how much had grown on it. The vine created a perfect frame for what I’d planned to do!
There’s a few more pics on our Facebook Page if you wanna check them out.
The next stage of operations was the Melbourne Bicycle Beautification Society Outing in Flinders Lane. Normally this is a site rich in bicycle basket bounty but Sunday there was very few. So rather than sit there and stitch baskets as they came and went, participants were armed with a zine including instructions, a needle, wool and a thank you tag and sent around the city to find baskets in other places.
Each zine kit had wool to make one of these
And one of these wee tags to say thank you to the owner of the bicycle for being a cyclist
Hopefully I get some more pics from participants over the next couple of days. Were you one of them? Where did you find your basket?
The zine with the instructions and all my thoughts about the issues of intervening in the city will be online for download soon. In the meantime I have a couple more kits with all the bits in them left to giveaway. If you’d like to win one just leave a comment below and tell me what are some of the things you think about when you’re walking through cities.
Overall, a wonderful weekend! Massive thanks and congratulations to Lynda for her brilliant curating. This has been a wonderful show to be a part of and I do hope we get to work together again soon.
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7 Responses to “Colouring in the city”
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Thanks for the great new additions to the city! When I am walking through the city I think alot about the shapes and silhouettes of building and spaces. I actually find a certain stark beauty to urban landscapes, and am particularly inspired by the lines of cranes against the sky, particularly at dusk when the sky and the city are shapes and figures against one another. I could go on and on about it but looking up at these things makes me think about people and how we create spaces and how they can be beautiful (and horrible!). Cranes in particular make me think about their impermanence and transitory role in the construction of cities.
thanks!
Nicole
when i walk through a city I think mean thoughts about cars, and appreciative thoughts about bicycles. I try and remember to look at the sky a lot, to remind myself of what is more real than what we make important. I look for familiar faces, shop windows with books in them, people wearing interesting clothes and I make up stories about strangers. I think, I could have a studio/gallery in that empty shop and this street would be so much richer for it…
Kia ora
handmade vs nature
fluid vs concrete
ordered vs organic
flicker vs shadow
grunt vs trickle
anticipation vs arrival
Thanks for posting photos – includes those of us further flung fans
tDub©
I love the “thanks for cycling” note
.-= samsstuff´s last blog ..More Free Stuff…everywhere =-.
I live in Adelaide, and when I’m walking around the city, I love noticing how there is green impinging everywhere. I’ve lived here my whole life and I still turn corners and find unexpected patches of grass and trees and light… it makes me smile
Now when I’m in London, I spend a lot of time near Brick Lane and in Whitechapel. I love how culturally diverse it is- it’s like going on a round the world holiday just by walking a few hundred yards. I never feel more confused about the hostility toward immigration when I’m there, experiencing all the brilliance the influx of foreign people have brought to England.
I’m longing for a bit of the Japanism that brought Sushi to Melbourne though… Melbourne was more to my tastebuds. Hope you’re well! I’m involving myself with the Craftivist Collective over here xxx
.-= Rosa´s last blog ..Developing =-.
Thanks everyone for your great perspectives. I always find it so interesting how different everyone see spaces.
Everyone who commented check your emails re zines. I’m sending everyone a zine. It wasn’t really a competition but it seems people don’t comment on blogs any more without a giveaway to encourage them into it. And I was quite keen to get some debate going!
Anyone else got any thoughts? There’s about 400 people a day visit this site. Would be nice if some of you said hi every now and then