Yellow and Black Caution Hood on Finn

From 'One Place After Another' by Miwon Kwon

“…The more we travel for work, the more we are called upon to provide institutions in other parts of the country and the world with our presence and services, the more we give in to the logic of nomadism, one could say, the more we are made to feel wanted, needed, validated and relevant. Our very sense of self-worth seems predicated more and more on our suffering through the inconveniences and psychic destabilizations of ungrounded transience, of not being at home (or not having a home), of always traveling through elsewheres. Whether we enjoy it or not, we are culturally and economically rewarded for enduring the ‘wrong’ place. We are out of place all too often. Or, perhaps more accurately, the distinction between home and elsewhere, between ‘right’ and ‘wrong’ places, seems less and les relevant in the constitution of the self." MIWON KWON

Red and White Poncho

Barrier Ribbon Cape on Dave

Viral Plastic Safety Fencing

Suburbia

“Suburbia is where the developer bulldozes out the trees, then names the streets after them.” BILL VAUGHAN

Knox City - 'Parking' Project Prototype

Boronia, the suburb name and railway station, made me begin to consider at the Knox site the naturally occurring vegetation that had been removed for the development.

As Knox was the first American style car suburb in Melbourne, I wondered what might be under the car park asphalt – what used to be there. This was prompted by a story I was told about the resilience of nature when I was living in the Blue Mountains. A fifty years old garden shed was being demolished. The concrete slab was removed and a few weeks later the seeds of local wildflowers that had lain dormant in the soil germinated.

I researched plants indigenous to the Knox area. I came across online an inventory of indigenous plant species extracted from the document ‘Sites of Biological Significance in Knox’ drafted in 2004 by Dr G. Lorimer. The document categorised theenvironmental status of plants in the Knox area. i.e.) ‘X’ presumed extinct; ‘C’ Critically endangered; ‘E’ Endangered; ‘V’ Vulnerable; ‘R’ Rare; ‘K’ Suspected to be rare or threatened; ‘S’ Secure but not abundant or common; ‘L’ Least concern. There was in fact a Knox City project through the 1990’s that involved re-establishing habitat for the endangered Sword-Grass Brown Butterfly by planting its favoured fruit Red-Fruit Saw-Sedge..

Plants such as the Heart Lip Spider Orchid were deemed extinct. The Grey Everlasting (Ozothamnus obcordatus) was critically endangered with one plant existing in Boronia. The Silver Banksia (Banksia marginata) was vulnerable as was the Hairy Speedwell (Veronica calycina). The Tender Brake (Pteris tremula) was rare. This is only a small sample from the list.

During research for images of these plants, I located a botanical illustration of a Banksia marginata dated 1843 tentatively attributed to Samuel Curtis.

'Parking'

I propose to reinstate nature in the car park and reclaim the public space currently dominated by cars. I will install car covers over the cars. The covers at Knox would have large-scale drawings cut through the cover material. The drawing at Knox would focus on at risk indigenous species. Utilising a pre-existing product reduces costs and due to its protective function that is cancelled out through cutting, it brings into play levels of questioning such as what needs to be protected. Being installed over cars at shopping centres it also raises issues surrounding consumption of goods and fossil fuels,

This concept could form the prototype of a much larger guerrilla installation of covered cars. This could occur at other large scale shopping destinations such as Highpoint and Chadstone. Artists would be invited to participate in a large-scale public artwork, where each would be involved in producing an individual creative response that would comprise part of a larger scale collaborative work.

Tree Intervention - what I don't like about public space!

This little Orr Street tree has been buffeted by the comings and goings from the construction site across the road all year. I think a version of RSPCA for plants might be a good idea. My intervention, a 'tree bumper' made from recyled materials hopefully brings attention in a small way to how nature is mistreated in an urban setting, in particular how cars dominate the environment.

Laneway 2009 Proposal Site Analysis - Guests Lane

Amanda Coulson and I came across Guests Lane and we were struck by the modernist architecture, crossways between buildings and the orphan rectangle of green space in a central 'T' section of the Laneway.

Guests Lane led to considerations of ‘guests’ as a subject and then to introduced species. Research located historical documents on Acclimatisation Societies held at the State Library. The laneway is named after an early biscuit manufacturer. It is a Class 3 Lane, used by a café, office workers, for meals, smoking, parking motorbikes, service and access, infrequent pedestrians. One building has been vacant for 20 years.

Melbourne Postcard Project, Urban Studio - 'Filter'

A quick response project to Melbourne and its character. Safety in the city. Invisible threats. Plan to make more for a larger installation.

Dockland

exclamation mark full stop

ImpossibleImprobable Dockland- 'Row'

I located imagery of the oft cited despised guards with dogs that had been called in to protect non-union labour 10 years ago. I projected a drawing based on this subject onto the cardboard hulls along with tracings of the old rowboat picture and the phrase ‘chasing non-unionists down the river.’ I used two cardboard boxes to cover the overhead projectors, this strategy worked well as many viewers were puzzled as to from where the images were being projected. Flattened cardboard boxes were an appropriate material in which to construct the hulls as it referenced the goods loaded and unloaded at the docks.

This piece was titled ‘Row’, the dual meaning of the word suiting the objects and the subject matter. In order to row effectively everyone in a boat needs to be finely tuned to the others in a cooperative effort. Lending itself to associations with adages such as ‘don’t rock the boat,’ and the nursery rhyme ‘row row row your boat, gently down the stream, merrily merrily merrily merrily, life is but a dream.’ The nursery lyrics have often been used as a metaphor for life’s difficult choices, and the boat can be viewed as referring to one’s self or a group to which one belongs.

As an imagined work it would be a group of three boat hulls, one upturned, projected onto from the wall above using animated images and sound. The images would combine existing footage and reenactments to navigate the ‘Us versus Them’ mindsets towards an impossible resolution. The concept of ‘white noise’ comes to mind in terms of the effect I would like to engender, being at times stormy, then calm. A sound recording would provide a counterfactual history where out of the white noise the nursery rhyme surfaces being sung in unison then rounds by adult voices.

Dockland an ongoing contested site

Waterfront dispute

Monday 7th April 2008 was the 10 years anniversary of the waterfront dispute between the Patricks Corporation and the Maritime Union. The union was holding one minutes silence to commemorate of the event. Protagonists from that time were interviewed on both radio and television and were still quite heated in their views, especially Chris Corrigan, then owner of Patricks. Another key person from the dispute was Greg Combet, who has been prominent recently in the defeat of the Howard government and its WorkChoice legislation. The terminology of both sides is couched in analogies of war and battle – fulfilling the ideological stereotypes of Capital versus the Organised Labour Movement. How unions particularly create Mythology around an event. Also of interest is how each side views themselves as the winning side.

I had previously noticed on informational signs on Dock 9 an historic image of men in a rowboat subtitled “chasing non-unionists down the river.” In terms of the project ImpossibleImprobable it gave rise to considerations of the recurring nature of conflict at the site. How fixed ideologies on both sides gave rise to unresolved tensions, which could be viewed as a notional polemical rapids, a concept compatible with the physical nature of the Staircase site.

Dockland - Grass Cascade site

Landscaped nature on site

Grass Cascade – initial concept for this space was to reinstitute nature through landscape painting that followed the undulations of the surface. Responding to aspects of the site such as the soil retaining mesh being revealed through the combination of wear and tear on the site and the drought. Examining what was growing such as weeds. Using objects like mesh as stencils.

On discussing the concept further with Oscar, we imagined activities like sliding down on cardboard boxes that continued on to the childhood game of floating paper boats down a stream. From here the idea of projecting onto boat-like objects came up.
During internet research on paper boats I came across a simple oval construction which resembled the hull of a boat. It was envisaged that the interior of these shapes would be painted as developing an animated projection would take too long.

ImpossibleImprobable Docklands - 'Under'

Interface with the water

My initial response to Docklands was sparked on the first day when a group of us were heading off to lunch. We noticed a wake moving across the surface of the water. As it came closer we realized that it was a fish, perhaps a Port Jackson shark. It continued until it came near the Dock on which we were standing then turned around swimming near the surface for a short while until it went deeper.

The water at Docklands while the key feature is kept at a distance. There is no place to meet the water, to dip in your toes. There are spaces provided for ‘water enthusiasts’ at the marinas and the moored boats for hire. The issue of how to physically connect with the water at Docklands led me to ImpossibleImprobable interactive concepts.

Using a greywater laundry diverter hose I experimented with blowing into the water. This created patterns successfully, but would need the end of the pipe weighted to be stronger visually. In the end I also tried listening to the tube as you would a shell at the beach. Faint sounds were produced similar to those that can be heard when a human stomach or intestines are active.

This developed through discussion into the piece ‘Under.’ The greywater tube was suspended through an existing hole in the cement floor of the dock. The sound was amplified using equipment designed to pick up birdcalls and had a set of headphones attached. The sounds that could be heard were the lapping of the water against the piers and the pipe echoing. At times such as the opening night the ambient sounds from the people above mixed with and at times dominated the sound emerging from below.

The piece reflects the difficulty of connecting with the water as even while walking on a dock the building is such a solid structure it is a struggled to reconcile one experience with the other. That you are physically walking above water.

Dockland past and present

What might the Dockland site have been like prior to white settlement? What is found at Docklands now? This piece was temporarily installed in writing around both sides of an entry door to the exhibition space.

‘Extensive grassy plains, soil stiff and shallow…swampy shore…sandy hills…good soil…Fresh (water)’
Matthew Flinders on ‘The Investigator,’ 1802,
from Flinders chart of Port Phillip Bay.

‘Boats for sale, jackhammer in the distance…jellyfish float…highrise apartments…lego coloured offices…open, windy, dry…salt water reflections…sculptures, trams, few people…’
Michal Teague, investigation, 2008

Wreath for the ८ hour day monument

Working Families

Whenever I hear or read the current popular political phrase ‘working families’ it rankles. What is this phrase saying… who is it excluding? The catchphrase contains an inherent devaluation of unpaid domestic labour (love) the role of the carers of children, the disabled, mentally ill and elderly and the retired and volunteers. This issue is reinforced in the current climate by the absurd battle for paid maternity leave. The lack of six months paid maternity leave reduces breastfeeding rates in Australia. This phenomenon is linked with the rise of diabetes and obesity rates in the community.

Wreath

A strong feature of the site is the wreaths laid at the base of the monument. Some of the wreaths are handmade, with leave from home gardens and handwritten notes on cards and ribbon, others are more formal arranged by a florist with the commissioners business card attached. The botanic material wilting, then decaying on the foam supports.

I decided to make a commemorative wreath for working families with an emphasis on things or pastimes that there is often no longer time for in our present busy lifestyles. Focusing on the lack of time available today for domestic activities such as; knitting and handicrafts, relationships, reading storybooks, cooking and hobbies.

Site investigation of the 888/24/7

I undertook an investigation of the physical aspects of the site by measuring of the site in relationship to the inherent logic of the monuments purpose. I related the measurement back to the body and its needs, the body being the primary means of measurement prior to industrialization and especially after the introduction of the metric system. This process highlighted for me the comical and ultimately futile nature of the attempt to measure and control through abstract concepts such as time.

8 Hours Labour was symbolised by a desk and the activity of walking – it took 210 steps to walk around the grass triangle surrounding the monument. By pacing out the site I estimated that it would take 276 office desks to fill the site. In terms of time it took a count of 220 ‘Mississippis’ to walk around the site.

8 Hours Rest was symbolised by a mattress and body lengths – it takes 73.33 recurring of my body lengths to go around the grass triangle surrounding the monument. I estimated that it would take 92 double bed mattresses to fill the site.

8 Hours Recreation – I chose a Jason Recliner chair to symbolise the common recreational past-time of television viewing. The activity of skipping was selected as a recreational body movement – it took 156 skips to circumnavigate the grass triangle around the monument, I estimated that it would take 386 Jason Recliner chairs to fill the site.

Feng shui is another method of analysing the physical aspects of a site – sometimes referred to as acupuncture in space. The practice examines how people experience the space psychologically. The monument and the site are exposed via the traffic and noise to an excess of ‘sha chi’ or poison arrows, the old gaol is also a negative influence energetically. The back of the monument is unsupported – no turtle/mountain energy. At the front of the monument there is no ‘phoenix’, essentially a small hill where benefical chi/energy can gather. The 888 monument, hence workers, are under attack, without support, easily overwhelmed.

Potential solutions would be to relocate the monument further back on the site and shift its orientation so that the Emily McPherson building functioned as supportive ‘mountain energy’. A raised garden bed/hillock in front of the monument would serve to protect the site from the ‘sha chi’, fast moving straight lines of the traffic. Heavy rounded objects such as boulders could be placed in each corner of the triangular site to anchor the energy or protective crystals could be buried. Curving the corners of the site would also reduce the ill effects the triangular shape of the site has upon neighbouring buildings. This would particularly benefit Trades Hall, perhaps reducing the amount of disputes encountered. Landscaping the site with a hedge of round leaved plants would further soften the energy of the environment.

Fungibilus

C.E.R.E.S. RMIT on site collaborative project 2008 Cameron Robbins and Ceri Hann

The orange colour of the safety mesh (bunting) I have become preoccupied with reminded me of the orange fungi encountered in bush excursions. There are not many fungi lately due to drought conditions. I decided to replicate this biological organism using the orange safety bunting.
In nature fungi recycles and composts dead organic material. While researching a visual reference of orange fungi I serendipitously came across the following economic term.
Fungibility – means in place of…or replaceable for…duality; convertability; permutability; transposability; freely exchangeable; commutability
i.e.) fungible people are easily replaced when downsizing an organization
I selected a site where people would walk through, in keeping with my earlier thoughts on creating a threshold। One tree was alive, the other was dead from fire. It would be appropriate to have installed Fungibilus on dead trees as fungi only live on dead material.
In keeping with the environmental sustainability ethos of the site I used as much recycled material as possible to construct the hand made pieces. I mounted the work using a soft black garden tie to reduce the possibility of damaging the living tree. A grey material would have blended better colourwise, however the black material disappeared well on the burnt tree. I think the pieces would have another dimension illuminated at night.
In was interesting in terms of practice to notice how working on site affected how my work developed. I had to make adjustments and edit ideas quickly to complete the work within the given timeframe. A group of white fungi made from white bird mesh was dropped.
The orange bunting worked well as the fungi I was replicating are naturally that colour. The orange works well in both a natural and urban environment. In addition the inherent notion of safety associated with the material suggests our cultural uncertainty around whether fungi are toxic or safe to eat. Also safety was strongly reinforced in discussions with CERES on risk management and public liability. I am keen to develop further work investigating safety materials that occur in public space.