Vitrines (Collingwood), 2011 - Neighbourhood Justice Centre exhibition - images taken during the mapping process for Underland

Underland - images from installation August 2011

Outer walking path of  Underland 

Flouro roots painted mostly by the amazing Steve and Wayne

Roots made with the community from pipecleaners

Looped projection of images taken while mapping the Estate

Projection of pattern made from seeds collected on the Estate

Childrens drawings in the cubby

Visitor to opening event walking Underland

More community walkers

Detail ceiling, cubby interior

Cubby detail

Detail - projections

Detail - cubby ceiling

Underland - pictures from community opening event

Underland - Hindsight

After reading Lauren talking about apologies for belated blogs, I definitely should be doing penance! In many ways it was not knowing what the words were as the Underland project had an unexpected end result. The AURA residency and the Underland project which emerged out of it in collaboration with Laine Hogarty and the Estate community was a vast experience.

I am including here a letter I wrote to Laine for inclusion in a discussion of the AURA project, regarding the destruction of the Underland project, soon after it was installed.

Hi Laine,

Hope this reaches you in time.

I have been giving life and art some thought lately, living in the Middle East surrounded by the Arab Spring, meeting people who have escaped strife torn Syria who may never be able to return home and contemplating the merits of a visit to Egypt. I can easily imagine where the next influx of refugees seeking safety in Australia are coming from and that they may also need to be supported by access to public housing. Basically I welcome  unimportant art, it doesn’t maim or kill or make people homeless, instead art at it’s ideal gets people communicating people or is ignored at it’s worst.

From my point of view - what I saw and experienced as an artist in residence in the housing estate were the talents and generosity of the adults and children on the estate. I really enjoyed working together with a large group of disparate people to create an environment for the community to explore. The effect of art on the estate I think is subtle and long term, and the word ‘important’ always begs the question  - to whom and why? Is it important in terms of the community’s physical and mental health? Or to build community understanding? What is the cost versus benefit? To provide new skills or reveal existing talents which may lead to increased self-confidence and pathways to education or employment? To offset the often negative portrayal of housing estates in the mainstream media? To provide evidence when attempting to obtain the next short term round of funding? To impress local, state and federal politicians?  A lot is expected of art nowadays...

So as an artist, who doesn’t live in the estate, and of course declaring my self-interest, reply to the question - Art on The Estate – is art really an important part of life on a housing estate? by saying that art is part of life, no more or no less important than any other part of life. As an artist all I can do is open myself up to people, respond, listen, question my motivations and follow the maxim – do no harm.

What is troubling as an artist becoming involved in the life of the housing estate is the forming of relationships within the community during a short time frame which can feel very cut off once the project is completed, this is probably emphasised by having to return overseas on my part. In terms of the official life of the housing estate, as an artist, negotiating an unfamiliar environment and culture at times I certainly felt unimportant or unwanted, simply due to services and staff resources being overstretched.

The destruction of the ‘Underland’ installation by some of the children, and the subsequent unresolved aftermath, a community mediation process which did not happen. does in many ways reflect the larger issues occurring on the housing estate. As the work was created in collaboration with the community it felt like the community was attacking itself. That being said there is certainly an undeniable thrill gained from destroying things, especially as children when it may be the only way to express frustrations and feel that you have an effect in your environment. That’s where programs like the planned boxing can be ideal for chanelling that impulse.

In many ways I feel like the ‘Underland’ installation became a real reflection of life on the housing estate. It was fragile and beautiful, a nebulous uneasy balance, easily destroyed. But when it all comes together as it did at the launch event I can still feel the warm glow of gentleness it generated in my chest. In many ways linking the words art and important together make me uncomfortable, as an artist I’m much more at home feeling unimportant, it gives me the freedom to slip beneath the radar, take risks and talk to people,  follow the unexpected, improvise and surprise.

Regards,

Michal

listening booth: end of residency

i've been quite the boringly busy blogger this year, haven't i? 

constantly apologising for blogging about things way after they've passed.

so 'tis with the end of the residency at collingwood housing estate.

as the end of the residency loomed,  i really wasn't sure the best way to 'mark' the occasion. my initial idea was to put on a concert, with the local band, some experimental music peeps and some vocal groups from the local area.
whilst i don't think it's a stupid idea, the failure of the movie night helped me realise that my resources (time, money, skllls and patience) were too limited to be able to pull of something like that on the estate. and it just felt like i was going to make a work that kinda failed.

so i cancelled the tentative plans i had made, but that left me with a bit of a hole in my plans and a sense of impending anticlimax. 

thankfully i was able to chat about it with sue kent, the administrator and person who started collingwood neighbourhood house. she suggested, very sensibly, that i join the community safety day which was planned for the weekend after our conversation. it was a super-quick turnaround, but a great idea: the community would be out, it was going to add to a  sense of safety and awareness (listening, that is), and i'd be included in an event that already had community support, promotion and context. perfect.

the only problem was the i wasn't sure the best way to include some of the art community in that end-of-residency rah-rah. it wasn't a sexy event and i also didn't feel like making into a typical art event with a bunch of artists who aren't really into community-engaged practice.

thankfully my friend lucas came to the rescue - he suggested exactly the right thing, which resulted in two quite private tours for invited arty guests as well as members of the estate. perfect.

finishing touches

having brought my finale 10 days forward, i had to work really hard to bring everything to completion, but thankfully i just put my mind to it, and employed an assistant. mark, a local in transitional housing and main guy for the men's shed was my assistant for the week and he was amazing. he helped me put together the listening booth and string up all the wiring for the underground sound listening stations.

i worked my arse off writing up the sound wall, compiling the CD, getting maps printed and sorting out the logistics of inviting people to a one-off tour. all whilst  talking to loads of people from the area about what was happening. it was pretty intense, but amazing week. and it was really satisfying. those posts about each of the artworks will give you an idea of the meta processes of the whole work, but the overall fervent activity about all the works really brought everything together and did make it feel like a finale. the locals got a sense of what i was doing, and i started to see what my work was about and how it fit.

the listening booth and tours of the housing estate

thankfully the listening booth was the perfect device to bring all the works together on the one day.
i gave out CDs, maps to the estate and it was a great site from which to leave the tours.

the tours were great! a really nice mix of locals and arty-visitors and each person took something different away about the residency and the estate itself.

each group started with underground sound listening stations, to the sound wall, through one of the tower foyers and back to harmsworth park. i spoke a little about my experience on the estate, some about the work, about the significance of the places we passed (including the neighbourhood house and the DHS office0  the first group was overflowing, with quite a lot of the local peeps joining in (including a couple of kids) and we were treated to an outstanding tirade about public housing by a resident as we passed through the foyer of 229.

the second tour was slightly smaller, but later in the day. it was still a great little tour and some great questions asked about the nature of sound on the estate. I think most of the visitors really enjoyed all the works, and the chance to have them placed in context with a bit of a story and a chance to compare and contrast.

during the week afterwards, i was able to give people who couldn't make the main tours a consolation tour - with out the booth and vibe of the day, but still a glimpse into the sound works, the wall and a copy of the CD and maps.

i was so flattered at all the people who came and the great feedback i got about the works.

i also feel incredibly honoured that i was able to make the work that i did, and to be able to connect with such a wide variety of residents and locals to the collingwood housing estate.

mad props to 

the wurundjeri elders and their ancestors who allowed me to make work on the country and who were generous with their time and blessings

mark ryder, who was a total rock; 

to sue kent and john bainbridge who ended up totally backing me, even though i was an upstart early on; 

to kaukau who helped me and really befriended me

to my guest listeners: eddy carroll, jed from VACRO and travis marke with his year 8 music class

and to lucas, who helped me reason it out.

the sound wall

last weekend was the culminating event for the residency i've been doing at the collingwood housing estate. i have much to write about - a lot to reflect on and update, but have been quite busy showing people around and attending to other paperwork i neglected in the lead-up.

but i just wanted to post this pic of the sound wall. i think it's my favourite image of all the projects so far.

from two months of daily listening projects, the sound wall is an artifact to all the sounds on the estate.
it has had the most amazing responses from locals and visitors alike.
i have specific stories to tell about people's reactions to it, and more to explain but for now here's just a little pic.

The Listening Booth

I'll be wheeling this baby out to Harmsworth Park on the weekend for the final project of my residency at the Collingwood Housing Estate.

I'm running guided tours, which are for residents, but if you'd like to come along, leave me a comment and i'll see if I can save you a place. If you're reading about this on here you're probably partially interested in what i've been up to and likely interested in socially-engaged practice of sorts.