Flinders Street Station tram stop, Melbourne

I'm not too sure who John is, but I hope he saw this sign at the Flinders Street Station tram stop today....

Stuff that's on this week.

Lauren Brown

The Cone of Silence

One - stairs
15th Sep - 26th Sep

The site-specific work 'Cone of Silence: First Site' creates a sound-proofed, acoustically 'private' space within a public institution. Designing for the future of urban spaces, this work looks at the importances of acoustic privacy in public life. It's a place to get away from it all for a while. A spot to think, feel or dream in. A quiet spot of sonic solitude whilst still in 'public'.

Kristina Sundstrom, Caleb Shea Benjamin Roberts & Carrie McGrath

Scale of Mark

Gallery one, two & three
15th Sep - 26th Sep

Scale of Mark is an exhibition of contemporary sculptural works by Caleb Shea, Kristina Sundstrom, Benjamin Roberts and Carrie McGrath. It is an experimental and process driven investigation into spatial experience. Scale, volume and mass. Movement and rhythm. Materiality of the object. Colour and pattern. Density. Volume. Physical presence.

Well, well! What a busy week we're coming into in the Melbourne Art world! Kicking off tomorrow afternoon, with the next round of RMIT's ALAB (Arts Law/Arts Business) Workshops. Presented by the Union (ARTS), Pip Carroll of Ambiguous Horse will be speaking from 4pm, about arts publicity and marketing in the University Function Room on the City Campus. While this discussion is free to attend, bookings ARE ESSENTIAL. So if you are infact interested, I would recommend contacting Jodie Lawson first thing tomorrow morning so you don't miss out! RSVP either by email on jodie.lawson@rmit.edu.au or by telephone on 9925 2206.

From there I plan on making a quick stop in at First Site to check out the new exhibitions (pictured above and sourced from the Union ARTS Launch page), and take note of fashions of the famous, before I unfortunately have to dash off to workies.

Then on Thursday, Within Earshot Collective Presents: AUDIBLE BUFFET. Evidently, this is some sort of sound-type event and not a food related festival as I had originally suspected. However, this IS yet another collective project supported by the RMIT Union (ARTS), goddammit am I writing the arts magnet newsletter with images for heck sake?

Anyways, it does sound like an intriguing way to fill in a Thursday evening, kicking off from 7.30 pm at Horse Bazaar, 397 Little Lonsdale Street(Between Elizabeth and Queen Sts). Full details are available on the collectives' blog, given that I'm not exactly the sound art aficionado this event most likely deserves, I'll let you guys check out the performers involved for now, and I shall have to report back after the fact...

Meanwhile, the VCA kids are continuing their campaign to SAVE THE VCA, and have 12,007 fans on their Face Book page, and have extended the hand in date for their SAVE VCA petition to September 28th. In other SAVE VCA Campaign news, the group shall be rallying at the Victorian State Parliament this from 9.45am this Wednesday, September 16th, to gather signatures and attend the Parliament discussion over their situation. They are encouraging as many people to attend as possible, and recommending that attendees don their SAVE THE VCA T-shirts, or at least something 'outrageously' colourful.

And from all reports, the Positive Posters fundraising and launch party held on Saturday night was a massive success with the 'Not For Profit' raising almost double the amount of money they had aimed for!! Unfortunately, I was unable to make it in due to work commitments and the general droll of needing to pay bills and such, however I am hoping that they make good on their hints at a possible Halloween party - I do love a good Halloween party after all!

Oh, don't forget that the MelbOURne FRINGE Festival kicks off from September 23rd, and I know that's next week, but the program guide is out now, (available either online or around the city too) and I'd suggest getting your hands on a copy and booking tickets to the events you fancy THIS week to avoid disappointment!

I might leave this post here for tonight and continue to trawl the net and various other trusted sources for more events for the week.

Ways To Swing A Cat, Exhibition Opening Night Review

Ways To Swing A Cat OPENS TONIGHT!!!!!

And from what I hear, it's looking pretty spiffy too!!! Get on down to George Patton Gallery, Level 2, Union House at Melbourne University TONIGHT from 5pm for the OFFICIAL LAUNCH!!!

Artists: Jade Piltz, Hayley Scilini, Erin Carew, Amanda Airs, Raphael Buttonshaw, Jordan Hoffman, Sheree Hardcastle, Jean-Jacques Lale-Demoz and Bettina Garnier.

POSITIVE POSTERS Is Open For Entries!

If like me, you've been following the progress of Positive Posters, then I think you're all kinds of nice! Not only are they "statussing" left, right and centre on their Face Book page, they've been heading out to Universities and TAFE's across Melbourne speaking with Visual Design Students. They're also open for entries from You - yes that's right, You! But you've only got until the 29th of October, and I would suggest that you get cracking and don't leave this one until the last minute.

The nice people over at Positive Posters have also announced their Launch Party to be held this Saturday night (see the invite above for the deets.), and they're hosting an exhibition of Your Entries on the 11th of November.

Oh, I guess I should mention that the winning entry will be printed as large scale posters and displayed on the streets of cities ALL OVER THE WORLD!!! Above is my personal favourite of the entries so far, Do Something Different although, I'm not sure who the designer is??? If anyone happens to know, please comment below so that I can credit them for brightening up my week and reminding me, of how many little things can make an incredible difference!

My Old-New Things and Claude Fest

Okay so, some of you may be aware of the upcoming event, which we here in our Kingdom have dubbed Claude Fest, to be held on Saturday September 26th in celebration of his 2nd Birthday, and also just the fact that he is PURE AWESOMENESS!!!!

Also over the weekend, in amongst working at my regular work, and reading for uni, I headed to the Hawthorn Craft Market and the Camberwell Market too!! I came home with some lovely new things including STRAWBERRY PLANTS (I seriously can not WAIT until they're ripe!!!!), a zucchini plant, and some apricot jam - nom, nom, nom!!!

The next step of the day was to find some pots for my new little plants to call home, and Camby Markets had terracotta ones in every 2nd hand shape and size IMAGINABLE! (As you can see, I've not quite gotten to actually pot the plants up just yet!) On my walk home I stopped in at the Camberwell Community Gardens for a wander about and had a nice chat with a sweet little lady who happened to be in there tending to her plot. Unfortunately (for me at least, but great for those who were lucky enough to get in first), it seems that Community Gardening is so popular that the waiting list won't re-open until June 2010!!!

Isn't it amazing the little places you discover when you're walking (I happen to be incredibly lazy with the whole walking to the shops, but that may be due to my habit for shopping late at night and going once or twice a week to do a significant stockpile....), because a little further along I spotted a seriously old-school dance hall! This one I could probably be forgiven for having missed while crawling along with the traffic until now, as it appears from the street as if it's just a large fronted Art Deco Period House. It was only for the inconspicuous signage, that I actually HAD to stop walking to peer closer at this intriguingly gorgeous building and feel like I'd stepped back into the 1950's to notice that this old "house" is still a fully functional Dance Studio.

This collection of post cards, posters and photo's to the left is our newly installed "Fridge Gallery". I figured, rather than waste an other wise dead and unappealing built in space above my tiny fridge, that it could be utilized by installing collection of found images, and my own photography (the creepy cupie doll image is mine).

I also happened upon a WORKING typewriter and the babushka dolls shown below, as well as a new dress for $3, all in all it was a pretty successful adventure.

Another idea that's been playing on my mind for the last two days, and doesn't seem to be letting go is the significant lack of Artist Run Gallery and Studio spaces in our area. It's soooo bleedingly obvious now that I've had this realization, given that I walk past this particular building pretty much EVERY day, and that it has stood empty for a good few months now, how perfect it would be for such a venture! The more I think about this, the more exciting it becomes and the more viable it appears!!! Will post more on details if anything starts to look promising - have to stay grounded in reality.