Melbourne is often cast as a city of design, a city of art and a city of international

culture. In this document Royal Melbourne Institute of Technology University

students; Rene Yap, Scott Andrawatha, Nick Rose and Pholchet Srikuruwal,

have combined their in-depth analysis of four artefacts on the Meblourne design

landscape. With a look at contemporary design, the use of community spaces

as well as representations of reconciliation and conflict, this document seeks to

explore the nature of community, social relations and the way in which art and

design are employed to communicate these concepts.

Artefact 1: Graffiti @ Union Lane

This graffiti by Ghostpatrol was spotted along Union Lane in April 2010, a laneway within Melbourne’s city

centre. While graffiti has predominately been viewed as a form of vandalism, Dew (2007) has noted that

there has been a trend of Melbourne’s city councils working with graffiti artists to create murals on legalised

space within the city and the suburbs.

According to the City of Melbourne’s travel promotion collateral on Melbourne being a choice travel

destination (2008 edition), graffiti artworks on Union Lane are commissioned by the Melbourne City

Council as part of its intention to “enliven the ordinary and change the way” Melbourne is viewed.

The annual City of Melbourne’s Laneway Commission is usually held during the winter months.

Incidentally, the Melbourne International Film Festival, Melbourne Writers Festival and the National Gallery

of Victoria’s European Masters exhibitions (Melbourne News, June 2010) are also held during winter. One

would speculate that by coinciding the Laneway Commission during winter, there is a concerted effort to

liven up Melbourne’s events calendar for the artistically and culturally-inclined audience.

The Laneway Commission is also a good tourist attraction where tourists are led on a guided tour to explore

Melbourne by foot, and discovering how art can be created in challenging public spaces. To keep up with

the idea of keeping art alive, the artwork commissioned by the City of Melbourne is never permanent. The

brochure has indicated that the Laneway Commission is an annual and temporary event.

Union Lane is one of most prominent laneways (along Little Bourke Street) intersecting Melbourne’s

Central Business District that has been legit as a public art space for graffiti artists to showcase their

artworks; be it stenciled, spray-painted or paper paste-ups graffiti. Aside from Union Lane, the other

legalised art space for graffiti can be found at Hosier Lane, Cocker Alley, Caledonian Lane (which is also

home to the annual laneway event), Rutledge Lane and Spark Lane.

While it is unclear when and whom started using Melbourne’s laneway as a key attraction to sell Melbourne,

the decision of the Melbourne City Council in implementing an annual and temporary Laneway Commission

seeks to support the idea that the relevant authorities are taking ownership in ensuring that public spaces

are well-utilised, evokes creativity and plays a part in contributing to Melbourne’s cultural, economical and

social fabric.

The engagement with Australian and international artists for the Laneway Commission event also seeks

to project Melbourne as a creative nerve centre for future arts events and a stepping stone for Australian’s

artists.

Taking Ghostpatrol, the graffiti artist behind the featured artefact, as an example - he was originally from

Hobart, Tasmania. However, in an on-going art installation that he is involved in - Present Tense: An

Imagined Grammar of Portraiture in the Digital Age (held at the National Portrait Gallery, Canberra,),

Ghostpatrol’s biography had described him as hailing from Melbourne; thereby increasing Melbourne’s

affiliation as an arts and culture city.

Artefact 2: Pavement Chess Corner @ Swanston & Little Collins Streets

It is often argued that Melbourne is a city of many different cultures and identities. It does not have epic

scenery or a long history like many European cities, or even its Australian rival Sydney. The city is made of

many different phenomena, people, messages and artefacts. One small, but significant example of these is

the “Pavement Chess Corner”, located on Swanston and Little Collins Streets.

Melbourne borrows identifiable objects from many cities and ‘makes’ or ‘builds’ them into its landscape-

the large Ferris wheel in Docklands (London), the electronic billboards at Flinders Street (Times Square

in New York), the laneways culture (continental Europe) amongst other more common examples, such as

Chinatown, underground train networks and department stores. The borrowed ideas are not completely

obvious, having a unique Melbourne interpretation.

New York’s iconic Central Park is known for its chess tables, where people can sit in silence and enjoy their

verdant surrounds. Melbourne’s interpretation is a large chessboard on a high traffic city sidewalk in one of

its busiest streets. This artefact is interesting because of what it represents physically and socially.

The use of a group activity like chess in a city environment highlights the idea of community by ‘bringing

an activity to the people’. Such activity can create or highlight a sentiment of togetherness when it may not

perhaps be obvious. Bouma (2008) discusses a ‘street chess’ event as part of a bigger festival as a means

to celebrate a city’s identity. This example juxtaposes a friendly atmosphere in the harsh functional urban

nature of a city. This also links to the changing nature of cities and the efforts to communicate within their

confines.

The location and placement of this ‘interactive’ mix of functionality, artwork and installation is relevant

to discussion about the modern use of sidewalks in comparison to their original use as thoroughfares and

mere walkways. Loukaitou-Sideris and Ehrenfeucht (2009) discuss their evolution from veins of commerce

and movement to “contested space” where a range of activities can occur, including examples of protest

and reaction. In the example of Melbourne’s chess corner, the space is contrasted by people hawking for

petitions of various causes and charities versus those who transit through the city.

Loukaitou-Sideris and Ehrenfeuch also discuss the notion of “sidewalks as spaces where people display

individual and group identities and observe others” (2009, p. 13) This is particularly relevant when chess

games are going on, as the competing players more or less ignore the bustling metropolis around them and

people often stop to simply watch them (a unique occurrence in a normal day). This relates to the point of

rejecting social norms and refusing to conform to traditional uses of the sidewalk.

The non-traditional positioning of chess on the sidewalk is an interesting challenge to the traditional

messages apparent in the context of a bustling city. It signifies Melbourne as a living metropolis containing

different meanings for different people and a place of conflict for those different interpretations.

Artefact 3: Great Petition @ Burston Reserve

This epic sculpture of engineer-fabricated mild steel and bluestone, entitled Great Petition, symbolises the

suffrage movement. Whilst important enough to warrant a sculpture of such striking proportions and form,

one can’t help but feel the location has more meaning; “Remember, just don’t remind us or the visitors”. Off

the beaten tourist-track in Burston Reserve, it is possible for the cynic to see it as another meaningless box

ticked on the list of necessary artworks for a “global” city (Bromley, 2010) but in reality the site was chosen

by the artists in order to be “commanding though not intrusive”(Hewitt & Lee, 2009).

It is surprising to note that no major work celebrating women’s history existed in Victoria at this time

(ibid) and, like many works of this period, seems to be another example of the “Kennet era” in global and

government art projects flooding Melbourne. Even if the artists chose the location, it is far too close to

Parliament House and with the intentional form replicating flowing paper a casual observer could just as

easily see a monument to Hansard or legislative prowess as they could women’s rights. The materials are

also pretty standard for large-scale corporate/government works and whilst this may not seem to be an issue,

Ware argues that similar materials create a global uniformity and inherent loss of meaning in such works

(Ware, 2004).

Based on the Monster Petition (a 260 metre roll of original pieces of paper covered in signatures supporting

universal suffrage) (opp. cit, 2009) the direct symbolism carries the intended meaning to an aware audience,

even the plinth has contextual meaning as it emulates the steps of Parliament house. However without the

engraved text on the plinth much of the contextual meaning disappears and a subjective observer may just

see another interesting piece of corporate or government art from the “contracted culture” movement (opp.

cit, 2004).

Melbourne and Victoria’s recent history of political correctness in public art (ibid) is, perhaps, another

reason that this sculpture is more a work of design than a work of art. The intention is political, its subject is

political and the clinical, clean and flowing form of the work itself with no hint of struggle or injustice, lends

political correctness to every facet of its existence. Could this work be an aesthetically pleasing monument

to modern political correctness and one that holds little relevance to the social context of the suffragette

movement?

Whilst a work of technical brilliance, the Great Petition sculpture shows the main problem for cities

attempting to create community and culture: it isn’t organic (opp cit. 2010). All global cities must walk a

safe path between aesthetics, design, political correctness and intended message. The problem with this path

is that often the artworks themselves become “soulless” and the residents reject them as having little real

significance to their lives or city (ibid).

Both Bromley (ibid) and Ware (opp. cit, 2004) suggest that the solution would be something more temporal

and communal in nature. By tying this sculpture to a festival celebrating equality in Australia and allowing

the location to become a space for similarly minded (if smaller budget) artworks to harmoniously coexist,

perhaps Melbourne might be able to exhibit the genuine culture of this global, multicultural city.

Artefact 4: Nearamnew @ Federation Square

Federation Square is an open public square commissioned by the Victorian Government as a plan to

establish “one of the great civic, cultural and commercial spaces in Melbourne” (State of Design, 2003).

As part of the Federation Square development plan, Nearamnew is an art project envisioned by Paul

Carter, an academic, artist and writer, to symbolise Australia’s “federally organised society” (Fed Square)

and to complement the architectural design of Federation Square in the form of nine poems carrying the

“fragmented voices of historical and fictional characters” of early Australia, (Fed Square) carved on to the

ground.

Carter’s Nearamnew is an art piece that is directly linked to the development of Federation Square. He

described Federation Square as an outcome of “utopian idealism, political controversy and intense public

interest” (Carter, 2005, pp.2) and that his design was aimed to reflect his perception of Federation Square

and Australia as a whole.

Made out of Kimberly sandstone (which reflects the original earthly tones of the First People’s Australia),

Nearamnew’s artwork installation discusses different social issues that Carter believed was what Federation

Square was based upon. The poems generally revolve around the history of “white” Australia and, the

Aboriginal’s loss of land and public identity.

Nearamnew can also be directly linked to the policies of the Australian government during the development

of Federation Square. Some facets of the Nearamnew discuss policies set forth by the Howard Government,

mainly ones dealing with immigration. According to Rutherford (2005), Carter had deliberately laid the nine

poems in a non-chronological order as Federation Square, being a public space, sees constant human traffic

and movement, thereby allowing for the various interpretations of the artwork, from various perspectives.

The design aesthetic of Nearamnew not only reflects Carter’s vision of a public square, which encourages

“cultural innovation and creative excess” where creative ideas flow and serves as an open forum for public

discussions; he also aims to have visitors make sense of Federation Square through the exploration of

the history and writings of the poems by walking and feeling the texture of the marbled cake Kimberly

sandstone artworks. (Carter, 2005)

From the organic creation of grafitti art to the political implications of

community sculpture there is a an idea that is Melbourne, an abstract. Both sides

of this idea have vastly different views on what the city really is.

Is it a canvas and a playground or a place to honour our past and those who made

our present? Is design or art above the real understanding of the average resident

or is it a part of their lives that they daily embrace and consider?

In many ways Melbourne is a city of design, of culture and intent. It is global and

aware, yet open-minded and considerate. Whilst not everyone may appreciate the

political art or the grafitti, or even chess for that matter, it is Melbourne being so

multi-faceted in its approach to design that makes this city what it is.

ReferencesBromley, Roger, 2010, Storying the Community: Re-imagining regional identities through public cultural

activity, European Journal of Cultural Studies, Sage, p15-18

Bouma, T < trbouma@gmail.com> 2008, ‘OTTAWA CHESS-in-the-STREET 2009’ wiki/blog, 11

November, Chess-in-the-Street, viewed 19 April 2010, http://chessinthestreet.pbworks.com/.

Carter, P 2005, Mythform: The Making of Nearamnew at Federation Square, Melbourne University

Publishing, Melbourne

City Laneways, That’s Me!bourne, City of Melbourne, November 2008 edition.

Dew, C 2007, Uncommissioned Art, An A – Z of Australian Graffiti, The Miegunyah Press, Melbourne

University Publishing Limited, pp. 4 –- 133.

Federation Square, Culture & Public Art Programs, Melbourne, <http://www.fedsquare.com/index.

cfm?pageID=31> viewed 1 June, 2010

Federation Square, Nearamnew, <http://www.fedsquare.com/Docs/Nearamnew brochure.pdf> , viewed 1

June, 2010,

Ghostpatrol’s website, Melbourne, <http://ghostpatrol.net/>, viewed 19 May 2010,

Hewitt, S & Lee, P 2009, Creation of the Great Petition, <http://www.arts.vic.gov.au/content/Public/About_

Us/Major_Projects_and_Initiatives/Great_Petition_-_Centenary_of_Womens_Suffrage_Artwork/Creation_

of_the_citeGreat_Petitioncite_Sculpture.aspx>, viewed 22 May 2010, Arts Victoria

Loukaitou-Sideris, A & Ehrenfeucht, R 2009, Sidewalks: Conflict and Negotiation over Public Spaces,

Massachusetts Institute of Technology Press, Cambridge (MA) & London

Melbourne News, City of Melbourne, June 2010 edition.

Rutherford, J 2005. ‘Writing the Square: Paul Carter’s Nearamnew and the Art of Federation’ Portal Journal

of Multidisciplinary International Studies, Vol. 2, No. 2, April 2010

State of Design, 2003. Federation Square – A case study in Architectural Design, State of Victoria,

Melbourne, April, 2010

Ware, S 2004, Contemporary Anti-Memorials and National Identity in the Victorian Landscape,

<http://www.api-network.com/main/index.php?apply=scholars&webpage=default&flexedit=&flex_

password=&menu_label=&menuID=50&menubox=&scholar=42>, viewed 22 May 2010, The Australian

Public Intellectual Network