TOWARDS NEW TRAINS OF THOUGHT
The Age A2, Saturday, March 15, 2008
If you can't make the trains run on time,
then perhaps you can keep customers happy by improving what's on the
walls. Now, as well as graffiti, there's poetry and art, writes Charlotte
Francis.
''How lovely it is to see creative work on the bare, bland walls of
the city trains," enthuses commuter Helen Musarsa, a 57-year-old
drug and alcohol clinician. It was the sterile commuter experience that
prompted lawyer Stuart Weir, in 2005, to think of a way of using the
empty spaces in Melbourne's train carriages to display art. Cross-town
synchronicity was at play: while Weir was working up his public art
concept, poet and novelist Lia Hills was organising a meeting in a Carlton
pub with fellow poets, Myron Lysenko and Matt Hetherington, to discuss
ways of getting poetry onto suburban trains. Introductions were organised
through the Committee for Melbourne's Future Focus Group and Weir and
Hills discovered further coincidences: they shared the same age, 39,
were both New Zealanders, and they had both been inspired by London's
"Poems on the Underground".
Hills initiated the poetry section of an initiative that became Moving
Galleries: a three-year project giving emerging and established Victorian
artists and poets the opportunity to display their work on Melbourne's
trains. After an initial pilot in 2006, the project was launched in
October 2007 with funding from Connex, the Department of Infrastructure
and the Committee for Melbourne. Eighteen artworks and 36 "rooku"
poems (an Australian variant of the short Japanese form haiku) are now
on display in 40 trains as part of the project's spring 2007 exhibition.
Moving Galleries will run biannual exhibitions in spring and autumn
each year.
"The good thing about this project is that it puts art and poetry
under the noses of the travelling public, who may not think of going
to an art gallery," says Weir. The artists also appreciate the
public exposure: "It's pretty special having your work displayed
on a train," says 24-year-old artist Beth Arnold. Unlike London's
Poems on the Underground, Moving Galleries encourages travellers to
get involved by voting online for their favourite works. Voting for
the spring People's Choice Award closes on April 15 and the winning
artist and poet will receive $500 each.
In a city that prides itself on its sleek, glass-fronted, hallowed halls
of art, Moving Galleries offers a refreshingly democratic approach.
All of the artists chosen for the exhibition are members of local artist-run
initiatives known as ARIs that provide support and exhibition venues
for the artistic community. As a travelling exhibition, Moving Galleries
captures the transient and experimental nature of artist-run spaces
which can range from a room in a private house to parklands, street
posters, bars or laneways.
The works currently on display were selected from 200 submissions and
represent a broad mix of media including digital, watercolour, collage,
print and oil. The fabric of inner city life is a recurring theme in
some of the works: Arnold's photograph, Discarded Object, captures
one of the more quirky Melbourne sights: a pair of shoes thrown over
a power line in ACDC lane. Others vary widely in their subject matter:
in two untitled works, 22-year-old Eleanor Yap looks at the presence
of nature in our daily lives, while Emily Ferretti, 25 and a recent
graduate from the Victorian College of the Arts, confesses to an obsession
with singling out domestic objects. Her work, Spooning, is
a whimsical arrangement of tea cups that look as if they are about to
topple over.
Like Arnold, some of the artists chose a work that reflected a strong
sense of locality. Siri Hayes, 30, was inspired to photograph a landscape
at Merri Creek near to where she lives as it reminded her of the stage
of a classical ballet. Using this framing device her picture of two
figures standing on a willow- and poplar-lined creek bank hints at a
narrative and refers to European and Australian influences. Thrilled
when a friend spotted Crossing the Merri on the way to work,
Hayes says, "I love it when art becomes something people don't
have to make an effort to go and see."
Gracia Haby and Louise Jennison, both 32, submitted an existing work,
but also created two new works. The first, You
know this isn't the way home, don't you?, uses photo-montage
and watercolour to create a multi-layered image exploring the theme
of displacement. A lone penguin is in search of a new home and the work
suggests new worlds and new beginnings. "Our aim is to hold people's
attention immediately and then sustain them for the journey," explains
Jennison. The second work, First time ever I saw you (Antarctica),
will be shown in the autumn exhibition, which opens in May.
...
Submissions for the poetry section of the autumn exhibition opened on
March 1 and train users are being encouraged to flex their creative
muscles and experiment with a variety of poetic styles; from rooku to
sonnets, free verse to sestinas. Weir and Hills hope that Moving Galleries
will develop into a permanent feature of the Melbourne arts scene enhancing
and celebrating the city's long tradition of philanthropy and civic
pride.
Charlotte Francis
The
Age (full story)
Congratulations
to artists Gracia Haby and Louise Jennison. Gracia and Louise's winning
collaborative entry You know this isn’t the way home don’t
you? was most voted for by the public.
Gracia
Haby & Louise Jennison
First time ever I saw you (Antarctica)
2007
digital collage
(for Moving Galleries)
