Visible City was a large scale collaborative artwork and the keynote project of the 2010 Melbourne Fringe Festival. 11 artists from Australia and beyond worked in a single space to create, develop and show new artworks for the streets of the City of Melbourne and the City of Stonnington. Their task was to 'make the city visible', their ongoing research and work is archived here.
For a visual overview of the work of Visible City, click the link!
RRR Broadcast with thanks to Patrick O’Brien and the excellent RRR radio station, Melbourne.
Salon # 1 - Cities and Names - Audio Recording (It is over 2 hours long, so sit back with a glass of wine/cordial and listen.)
Facilitator - Daniel Brine
Speakers - Jason Maling, Melody Woodnutt and Sarah Rodigari
VISIBLE CITY: UNMADE WORKS
An incomprehensive catalogue of unmade works by the Visible City artists: Lara
Thoms, Joned Suryatmoko, Jennifer Jamieson, Jason Maling, Ingrid Voorendt, Kerry
Ann Lee, Melody Woodnutt, Rachel Main, Sally Ann McIntyre, Sarah Rodigari, Willoh
S. Weiland.
1. Power Grid
Make large images through controlling the Melbourne CBD power grid. Group
2. Water Drawings
Collect water bottles. Get senior citizens groups from the suburbs to come into the
city and paint water calligraphy of gardens using the collected water. Group
3. Illegal Zone/ Slow Zone
Designate areas of the city as ‘zones’ with signage. Group
4 . There’s No I in City
Remove all of the letter i’s in the street signs in the CBD. Group
6. Colour It In
Feed the city’s pigeons something that makes their poo coloured. Group
7 . Play
Build a giant sandpit in the city for people to play in. Group
8. Action Committee to Get The Birds Off The Ground
Create a far right action committee dedicated to keeping all birds off the ground in
the Melbourne CBD. Involve flyer drops, direct action by running at the birds
themselves and the long‐term goal of netting all of Melbourne parks. Group
9. People Specific Souvenir Service
Asking tourists where they have been so far in Melbourne. Re‐enacting their journey,
documenting it and then emailing them a souvenir of these photographs. Group
10. De‐Activate Active Spaces
Go active spaces like the cities gymnasiums and other active spaces and doing
antithetical actions like reading philosophy. Group
11. Naughts and Crosses
Use the entire city grid to play naughts and crosses. Group
12. Bedroom Projections in CBD
Take pictures of peoples bedrooms and project them onto city buildings. Group
13. Anonymous Service
Call peoples work on their behalf and tell them that are not coming in because they
are lost. Group
14. Disorientation Tour
Take people on a tour in order to get them lost. Group
15. Twitching Session
A guided tour looking for birds in the city‐centre with professional twitchers. Group
16. Ice Record from Recycled Water
Collect all the plastic water bottles in the city and making a record out of ice. Group
17. Declaring the Cities Boundaries
Take a flag. Catch trams to the end of the line. Walk until you reach the edge.
Declare the edge of the city in a formal ceremony. Group
18. Graffiti Archive
Record all of the graffiti in the cities Melbourne toilets. Group
19. Permanent Department
Formalising the presence of live art in the Melbourne CBD by making an ongoing
residency for artists. MW
20. Secret Spaces of Light and Dark
Hidden city nooks and cranny’s made into ’experience pods’. MW
21. Walls
Built with bodies/people, to rearrange street commuters’ spatial orientation. MW.
22. Bubble Drop
Cascades of bubbles coming over rooftops flowing down into alley. MW
23. Chair
Weaving string to form an enclosed box around myself while sitting in a chair on the
outside of a building 4 stories high. MW
24. The Phantasmagoria Tram.
Blurring the people’s dreams and shift‐workers together and intertwining on a tram,
with grass, sound, ambience, man‐horse and Victorian wigs. MW
25. Pocket Parks
Making small parks in the city, a bit like ’Parking Day’ but with different city‐sites.
MW
26. Crane Meet
Meet your neighbour via crane. MW
27. Demolish
Happenings in a building about to be demolished. MW
28. Hang
Things hanging from ceilings/bus stops/tram stops/train stations. MW
29. Light
Bright light at the end of the tunnel in an unused train tunnel. MW
30. Copy
Photocopying on the street in the business district. MW
31. Strange Fruit
6 artists hanging from a tree as strange fruit, inspired by Billie Holliday’s song and as
a stance against anti‐racism and looking at unity of multicultural artists. MW
32. Terrain Vague
Installation. MW
33. Walking
Walking continuously into a giant fan on Swanston Street, walking but getting
nowhere against the opposing force. MW
34. String 1.
Coloured strings carried up and down escalators by strangers and being wrapped
around two people stationary at bottom and top; recording people’s presence. MW
36. String 2
Projection on a string installation. MW
35. Do All Roads Lead to the MCG on Grand Final Day?
Tracking the movements of people in the city to see where they aren’t going. MW
36. Fit ball
Handball and 4Square played on the street using squares already in the concrete. JJ
37. How Do You Say I Love You?
A board for passersby to write how they say I Love You. JJ & JS
38.I’ll Hold Your Hand If You Like
Wearing one glove, offering strangers the second glove. Walking with strangers
around the city holding their hand. WSW
39. Fast Track To The Top
Portraits of middle management or lower rung employees. These will be photo‐
shopped with their name and job title and then projected with to the height of CEO
on the side of Melbourne’s buildings. WSW
40. Little Stage
A small, softly lit stage, somewhere slightly off the beaten track. A chair with a single
audience member (a Visible City artist). An enticing soundtrack. A gentle invitation to
perform. IV
41. Grand Final Replay
A choreographic work for an outdoor public space using precise re‐enactments of
movement, gestures and interactions from the post‐siren scenes of the first Grand
Final, but in an entirely different context and surrounded by people going about
their business. Ideally this work would have occurred a day or two prior to the
second Grand Final. IV
42. Joan of Arc
An hour length ‘bringing to life’ of the Joan of Arc statue in front of the State Library
featuring a live woman, a live horse and a flag rippling in the breeze, and taking place
next to the statue in question. IV
43. Tram Stop
An ongoing work inviting passenger’s responses to and interpretations of the
questions ‘where did you come from?’ and ‘where are you going?’, recording the
answers both visually and aurally. The tram stop becomes both a site of interaction
and an installation, a record of pathways and individual journeys. The work plays
with the notion that many of us in the city have come from somewhere else (other
suburbs, towns, cities, states, countries, hemispheres).
44. Treasure Hunt
A journey on foot and by tram, racing against the clock, with a map and a series of
clues either discovered in the landscape itself or delivered in person, by text/tweet,
or through public service announcements. You are not quite sure who or what you
are looking for, but the journey itself becomes the experience as new perspectives of
the city are offered, and you see beneath the surface of the everyday. A
collaboration with city inhabitants and workers. IV
45. Street Library
A library of books available to anyone on the street. IV
46. Plug In
You see them on the street… you see them on the tram… they even make their way
into the bedroom… Headphones are invading our way of life… not only do they block
out the sounds around you, but they also cut you off from the outside world…
Whether its Bach or Beyonce, Stevie or Slayer… whatever your style, Plug In is an
invitation to connect your iPod or MP3 player to the speaker and share it with the
world… it’s time to be loud and proud about your music‐ you might even win over a
few fans. Appearing at lawns around Melbourne CBD. RM
47. Roam
A citizen group for the right to roam concerned with gaining access for the Koori
Heritage Trust to the native garden at the bottom of the Mobile/ Esso building on
Southbank. WSW
48. Sarah Rodigari For Mayor
A grassroots political campaign to get Sarah Rodigari elected as the Mayor of
Melbourne primarily campaigning on the platform of ‘Net the Parks’ (see work
number 8).
49. Bike Blenders
Attaching pedal powered blenders to the Melbourne city bikes to create regular
tropical drinks. LT
50. Escorts
In response to the brief to make work late at night in the city. Offering a safe escort
service to strippers and sex workers, by walking them from their workplaces to their
cars/taxi.
51. Local Cooking Shows
Doing a cooking show with cooks in every restaurant in one block. LT
52. Piglet
In response to the brief to make work late at night in the city: Walk a piglet around
the city streets at 1am.
53. Picnic
In response to the brief to make work late at night in the city: Hold a lavish picnic in
Bourke Street mall including strawberries and dogs at 2am. LT
54. Petting Zoo
In response to the brief to make work late at night in the city: Hire a mini farm to be
on the streets. Group
55. Restaurateurs
Facilitate a large ‘pot luck’ and conversation in the commons between all
Restaurateurs in the local area. LT
56. Taxi Service
In response to the brief to make work late at night in the city: Drive people home. LT
57. Foot Spas
In response to the brief to make work late at night in the city:
Dozens of Foot Spas in the first tram of the morning for those who have just finished
work, particularly those who spent the night in heels. LT & VI
58. On Display
Durational performance inside a clear fashion booth or shopfront. Jen will read,
sleep, make tea and maybe stretch until she can’t. JJ
59. Ethical Conversations
Ethical Conversations/Consultations throughout the city conducted on chairs. JJ & IV
60. Centerlink
In response to having Visible City specially made bags. Calico bags with Centerlink
logo’s on them.
61. Boat Person 1
Build a nest around a truck tyre inner tube. Wear all the clothes I have. Float down
the Yarra. WSW
63. Famous
To add our names to the list of artists names hanging from the NGV wall using glow
sticks. SR & LT
64. Horse & Carriage
Set the horses free that are tied to the carriages on Swanston Street. SR
65. A Medieval Fair
Outside the State Library near the Joan of Arc statue. KAL
66. The Black Cameos
A mysterious street gang called the Black Cameos who are a new type of Victoriana
revivalist society. They are all about manners and eccentricity and make their mark
(leaving lace hankies, gothic poetry tags and elaborate cobweb installations) on the
city under the cover of night. KAL
67. Photobooth Time Machine
Folks are invited to ’act out’ in front of a green screen and then receive a digital
montage of themselves re‐contextualised in some local historical setting. KAL
FORUM # 3 - Cities and Memory
Chair - Emily Sexton
Speakers - Sally Ann McIntyre, Marcus Westbury and Michael Yuen
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