Bicycle culture fans will enjoy this free exhibition being held this month…

From the Australian Danish Embassy website:

The Dreams on Wheels exhibition will in the Atrium at Federation Square in Melbourne from 12 to 19 August. The exhibition is a showcase of Danish culture of cycling and innovative Danish bicycle design. This exhibition has been brought to Australia as part of celebrations marking the re-opening of the Royal Danish Embassy in Canberra.

Dreams on Wheels is curated by Thomas Ermacora, founder of Etikstudio, and has previously been shown at the Danish House in Paris, Danish Design Center in Copenhagen and Harbourfront Centre of Toronto.

Motivated by how a ‘cyclocentric’ approach to urban development can stimulate sustainable civic behaviour, the exhibition promotes cycling in a broader cultural context, displaying Danish urban cityscapes alongside urban visions for Australia by Danish architect Jan Gehl.

Ranging from family friendly to high tech, the bicycles exhibited include the Christiania bike, the LeitraVelomobile, Biomega designer bikes, the unique Mountain Goat, and ultimate classics from Velorbis.

Also on display are Copenhagen City Bikes, bicycles that are identical to those used in the Danish free bicycle program currently being adopted in Paris and considered for introduction in Australia.

Filmmaker and photographer Mikael Colville-Andersen contributes to the exhibition with a number of photographs documenting Copenhagen’s bicycle culture from his ongoing series.

Exhibition opening hours:
12 to 19 August 2008
Open all hours
Admission is free

The Atrium, Federation Square
Melbourne

More on Danish cycle culture can be found at:

• Copenhagenize [the planet]
• Copenhagen Cycle Chic

Australia’s favourite Dutch tattoo dame is exhibiting in our shores again. Angelique Houtkamp’s second Melbourne exhibition opened last week and reflects her interest in watercolour painting. The exhibition, Till Death Do Us Part, showcases paintings with melancholic dames, nostalgic old-time tattoo imagery and half-female, half animal creatures. With artistic influences from advertising, fashion, cinema, illustraion and photography from the 1920s, ’30s and ’40s, the exhibition will interest tattoo purists, art enthusiasts and curious visitors alike.

Till Death Do Us Part, a showcase of original art and new prints by Angelique Houtkamp, is on show at Outre Gallery, 249 Elizabeth Street, Melbourne.

Thanks to Marion Joseph

Link: Outre Gallery

Running until the 31st of May is The Next Wave Festival. The festival celebrates the “next wave” of young artists displaying their works throughout public spaces in the CBD. By works it could mean art or some kind of dance or anything in between. There is 2020?, a display of industrial waste destined for landfill. Open Embrace invites the viewer to experience the tango from the perspective of the dancer. One more to my taste is Pennies & Pints, a large-scale poster that brings to life the many maps, near misses, and apocalyptic moments of Fitzroy’s history.

Links:

Next Wave Festival

We’ve all seen it outside the State Library. At first, it’s what the hell is that? But after you pass it by enough times its just another eccentric design of Melbourne that happens to be a favourite of skaters.

It’s actually a sculpture design made out of Port Fairy bluestone called Architectural Fragment by Petrus Spronk. Designed in 1992 and unveiled in 1993 as part of the Swanston Walk Public Art Project, it is one of the most recognizable sculptures in Melbourne. The artist created his design to resemble the portico of the library sinking in to the pavement. Inspired by the the island of Pythagoras and Pythagorean theorem, the fragment is built in a 3:4:5 ratio.

Other recognizable works in the Swanston Walk project are the ornate bench across the street outside Unilodge and the three business men waiting for a tram on the corner of Bourke and Swanston Street.

Petrus Spronk
Visit Victoria: Architectural Fragment

Picture by H4NUM4N

Technorati Tags: Melbourne, Australia, State Library of Victoria, Victoria, Petrus Spronk

MYKI will be a big improvement to the public transportation system when and if it ever is released. One downside of this is not being able to get some nifty looking Metcard tickets.

Over the years, Metlink has released Metcards with Melbourne architecture, Wind in the Willows,the Australian Open, and many more designs. A couple of months ago Metlink introduced its ‘Celebrity Mini Metcard Masterpieces”. They are far from masterpieces but interesting to look at while you are wating for your train/tram/bus. The website says they “each created the individual designs” which translates to “I told an artist to draw this”. My favourite is our lady Livinia’s drawing of the Yarra river (pictured to the right). John So’s Metcard on the other hand, freaks me out a bit.

The Metcards are available anywhere Metcards are sold for no extra charge.

Celebrity Mini Metcard Masterpieces

Metcard-Designs through the Years

Technorati Tags: Melbourne, Australia, Metcard, Metlink

In less than a week, “Just Passing Through” will begin at Melbourne art gallery Fortyfivedownstairs (45 Flinders Lane - down the stairs). It opens next Tuesday at 5pm - that’s Tuesday the 13th, and it will run until the 8th of December.

Regular Melbourne Metroblog readers may be familiar with the work that artist Julie Shiels has been engaged in over the last few months. Through the CityTraces website, and through the everyday experiences of the people of Melbourne, Julie has been documenting the signs of life in Melbourne and giving us mysterious objects and messages to contemplate on the streets. It looks like the objects on display for Just Passing Through will expand on the themes she’s been sharing with Melburnians.

Notes for the exhibition are suggestive; “Unlike the mass produced goods of the industrial age, these objects are not machine perfect. Small dents disrupt the curvaceous sheen of the cast. These faults provide clues to the objects’ provenance“.

“Shiels is playing with ideas of preciousness and the re-assignment of value. How can something be made out of nothing? How can rubbish become art? How can a rare, limited edition object be the crafted from a by-product of mass production? The hang suggests similar tensions: it is cluttered and there is an apparent lack of organisation yet each item has been carefully catalogued with its own provenance. Is this order or disorder?”

Opens Tuesday the 13th November at 5pm,
Runs November 13 - December 8, 2007.

Tuesday - Friday 11 - 5pm
Saturday 12 - 4pm

I hope to see some of you there!

Last Friday, I was at the opening of UNSENSORED 07. It was a crowded event, with gallery-goers spilling to the back of the gallery, as well as onto High St. UNSENSORED is touted as the first annual exhibition, of a group on Flickr, called the Melbourne Silver Mine.

What made it so special (besides my friends amazing photography on the walls)? The fact that its all film-based. Some made even with toy cameras like the Holga or Diana. Quality, is amazing. Shows you that fancy digital cameras alone, do not make a good photo.

I find it an interesting mashup, of Flickr, and RedBubble. Yes, RedBubble, a company based right in the heart of Melbourne, makes some amazing prints (and from what I gather, frames). All the artwork were printed by them. Presentation is very professional. Take a look at the SilverMiner’s RedBubble page, if you fancy buying some artwork.

More importantly though, head to the exhibition, and be breath-taken by the 24 photos. I understand that at any given time, one of the photographers in the exhibition will be on duty, and will give valuable information about the photos, and be there for a regular chat. Details:

When? 26 October - 10 November 2007 (Tuesday - Friday, 12-5pm, Saturday 10am-4pm)
Where? Kerala Gallery, 263, High St., Northcote
How do I get there? Driving is a possibility, there’s plenty of parking. Alternatively, take Tram Number 86, and get off at Stop 32 (stops pretty much right in front of Kerala)

Technorati Tags: unsensored, unsensored07, flickr, redbubble, galley, photographers, melbourne silver mine, msm, kerala gallery, northcote

Melbourne has an ecletic sense of art. I am always amazed by the satirical and often very intelligent stencils that artists draw on various walls around the city. Then I think, well if I owned that wall, it would be a pain to clean all of that graffiti off. Sure you can draw in chalk but that’s so 90’s. Masking tape is the way of the future. Zero mess, easy clean up, and it looks pretty damn cool.

BUFF diss, a street artist, has created some interesting artwork via masking tape.

Bus Gallery (The outside, maybe the inside too?)
117 Little Lonsdale St.
Until November 3
link

[via Digg]

Technorati Tags: Melbourne, Australia, Masking Tape, BUFF diss

John Cage is the fabulous American composer who came up with the technique of ‘prepared piano’. He used different objects in the strings to completely and wonderfully change the sounds we’ve come to associate with the instrument. His most famous work is probably ‘4:33′, a piece in which no notes are played.

I love 20th century music, but, generally, Bartok is about as wacky as I like my classical music. But I LOVE John Cage. His piece are weird and fun, but also incredibly enjoyable.

As part of the Arts Festival, Fed Square is hosting John Cage’s Musicircus this Friday at dusk through til dawn the next morning.

There’ll be lots of different art, music theater, film and dance going around all over the Square. Food and drinks are available to keep you going straight on through dawn.

I’m really excited about this. It looks like heaps of fun.

John Cage’s Musicircus
List of artists performing
John Cage Wiki

Residents of the four storey walk-ups of the Carlton Housing Estate are being relocated so the building can be demolished.

The Pink Room - which I haven’t gone to see yet, but think sounds great - is an exhibition documenting some of the residents’ lives in stories, pictures and found objects.

I’ve given you a map since I was too lazy to ‘borrow’ their picture. It runs through the end of the month.

When: Thursday, 13 September - Sunday, 30 September
Where: Flat 3/486 Drummond Street, Carlton
Hours: Thursday to Friday midday to 6pm, Saturday 2pm to 5pm
Cost: Free

Ring (03) 9658 9658 or visit the website (scroll down) for details - there are some other art listings on this site as well.