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Market Crossings
Hard Copy + eBook
Market Crossings
$4.95 - eBook Only
MARKET CROSSINGS BOOK & DVD
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Australian cultural identity is evolving & diversifying at breakneck pace and nowhere is this more evident than the Preston Market. For 40 years it has been one of the first ports of call for new arrivals, cutting across socio- economic divisions and now it is faced with a development revamp. MARKET CROSSINGS is a searing & colourful look into the gentrification of Melbourne’s most vibrant cultural melting pot.
“Hundreds of thousands of lines of movement and history, criss-crossing in every which direction, with the Preston Market sitting square in the middle.” – Victoria Stead
MARKET CROSSINGS is a collection of stories & testimonies by the traders & patrons of the Preston Market alongside researched insights into the social functions of live markets. This publication was developed over two years during the Market Value Project, an innovative cultural development project which enabled participants to express shared values.
The documentary film included in the book captures character portraits of small business owners & employees, the figurative economic canaries in the coal mine. During the global financial crisis as the traders struggle to keep their roller doors open, the developers are forced to temporarily suspend their multi million dollar plans.
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El Raval Portraits
Landed in Barcelona with our lives in zipper stretched bags and our kids on our backs, we found a tiny one room flat in El Raval. Moving to a new city fluctuates between dream & nightmare, but many residents here are newly arrived & learning a new culture.
We asked people to take three photographs of the neighbourhood, then to choose one image & write their thoughts.
Background:
El Raval is an area historically infamous for its nightlife and cabarets, as well as prostitution and crime, El Raval has changed significantly in recent years. It is currently the home to a very diverse immigrant community, 47% of its population was born abroad, ranging from Pakistanis and Indonesians, to a more recent Eastern European community, especially from Romania. El Raval is also becoming one of the hippest up-and-coming neighborhoods of Barcelona where many artists live and work.
Moving Pictures
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“Being inside it feels that I am in the cage or inside jail.
The travelers and the scenes outside look like moving pictures.”
photographer, Krishna (Nepal)
Market Value – Short Films
In November 2009, a multimedia exhibition was presented to an audience as a 30-minute tour through the labyrinth of closing shops. Animated tales of family histories play on monitors propped up on counters, where salami should be. Each turned corner reveals a moving image embedded on its steel walls. Peeking behind the façade of the markets, the audience witnesses stories of conflict, family, trade and incidental humour.
Providing opportunities to linger is identified as one of the essential attributes that enables a Market to function as a site of social interaction. This is then a chance to loiter and linger with purpose, to take time to soak up the distinctive culture that exists in a market place and to proudly showcase the resulting artwork.
Through filmed stories, projections, and digital snippets we explored ways in which collective storytelling became a community-forming activity.
Market Crossings Documentary
The Preston Market in Melbourne has been standing for over 40 years in the centre of a growing multicultural precinct. When developers earmark the area for serious demolition and re-development, the traders are faced with an ongoing uncertainty to their own futures. Engaged in a multi-faceted project, an arts company focuses on the people of the market to explore issues of history, displacement and personal realisation.
director, Stuart Liddell
executive producer, Brian Cohen
TRAX 2010
PlayTag!
The market’s life story is being written all the time; even the smallest gesture adds to it. Play Tag! is an exploration of the market through a narrative game of tag. This film is based around the exquisite corpse exercise whereby each line of a story is collectively assembled.
director, Tintin Wulia
executive producer, Tara Prowse
camera, Stuart Liddell & Tintin Wulia
Saleem’s Mobile Phone Shop
“In our street Sant Antoni Abat, we sell
mobile phones & food very cheap – and it’s very good.
We have a church here as well.”
photographer, Saleem Butt
Julieland
Singing Santa, magical girls and a car ride on an easy Saturday morning: a glimpse of the amazing landscapes that shapes Julie’s world.
director, Tintin Wulia
executive producer, Tara Prowse
camera, Stu Liddell & Tintin Wulia
starring, Julie Le
Paella & Empanadas
“The Raval is a world apart, where the Paella retains
it’s spanish identity, although not its cultural one.”
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“At the door: The young married couple, Chavi & Miguel,
are part of the group of chefs here.”
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“A Romanian waiter and a Dominican companion at the table,
a pulsing place of narrow streets with many origins.”
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Lisa’s Garden
All for just one apple…
director, Brian Cohen
executive producer, Tara Prowse
camera, Brian Cohen & Naz Allen
cast, Lisa Piccione, Alice Chaw, Jai Singh & Jamie
Through Local Eyes
Charandev Singh is a Darebin local and Preston Market fan.
director, Brian Cohen
executive producer, Tara Prowse
camera, Brian Cohen, Tintin Wulia & Stuart Liddell
Junction 2010
Junction 2010 will unleash an explosion of creativity through a stimulating and intellectual conference program that encourages celebration, dialogue and connections.
From August 26-29, delegates from across Australia will discuss and celebrate best practice regional arts in an action packed conference program including six plenaries, fifty seven break-out sessions and a hands on stream including weaving, knitting and walking tours.
The plenaries include three internationally regarded key notes Francois Matarasso an independent researcher and writer specialising in community cultural practice; Ernesto Sirolli, a noted authority in the field of social enterprise and sustainable economic development and Mark Pesce, Australia’s leading technology expert and developer of the Virtual Reality Modelling Language (VMRL).
Gowanus On Tap
Gowanus On Tap is a Creative Community Consultation project initiated by TRAX, which will bring together a diverse group of local residents who will make the water of Brooklyn’s Gowanus Canal potable. The project will host a series of community workshops which will develop a filtration unit & sculpture by Brian Cohen. The creative & scientific process will become part of an episodic broadcast documentary.
This project is still in its early stages but aims to engage people proximal to the canal in a series of workshops which will raise the water quality to potable levels. Two scientists with the City University of New York will assist us with laboratory determinations. If we can produce just one glass at potable standards then we will have achieved our goal. The unit we construct will be a work of art in itself and the process will output a series of short films and a documentary.
The water remediation unit produced will tour area schools & conferences, presenting to audiences the story of a community living on a canal eligible for Superfund status. The chemical & biological breakdown of contaminants will be exorcised from the water & audiences will be invited to drink from the chalice of purified industrial waste.
This is a grassroots human ecology project which investigates the environmental & cultural value of a unique waterway. The project will consider solutions to treating canal sewage using surplus elements in our environment as contributing stages in filtration.
We document this process & present the findings to various audiences through narrative (the community’s reflections & stories via film), scientific data (the story of the water & sediment), sculpture (the filtration unit) & experience (drinking the gowanus).
This project will empower local communities to take interest in urban renewal and create a highly public symbol of what the residents living around the Gowanus Canal value both on shore & off.
Creative Friction
Creative Friction, Disrupting The Boundaries Of ‘Art’ And ‘Community Art’ by Victoria Stead
Outhouse Research
Coming soon…
Outhouse wins First Place!
Jury’s Decision:
“First place is awared to Outhouse, from Brian Cohen and his team from TRAX. Using an outhouse to serve as a semi-public video confessional booth, this project redefines society’s last bastion of privacy and intimacy. Equipped with four doors in but only one door out, this project is not just a humorous gimmick but it is a serious tool for enhancing the knowledge, development and preservation of community. Combining innovation, creativity, originality, and digital techonology, Outhouse unites yesterday and today in a way that cuts to the heart of the ongoing mission of the Future Places Festival.”
First prize is $3k Euro & a 3-month residency in either Austin or Porto. We’ve also been invited to present the Outhouse at the South by Southwest Festival in March 2010.
This is a big and meaningful win to a lot of hard work. It also sends a direct message to the geographic polar opposite point in the world where this project initiated. Creative new media projects can be functional & fun in community settings & excellent tools for engagement and cultural development. We thank the jury for recognising the deeper resonances of our project and for having the chutzpah to award first prize to a toilet. 
Future Places Winding Down.
We’ve had a priveleged time being here with the Outhouse & all the amazing people we’ve met in Porto.
It was especially great to connect with Costah, a Porto street artist of immeasurable talent, who gave the box it’s gaivota (seagull). He reckons although seagulls fly very far, they don’t fly very well. So he gives them balloons to help lift them. The booth is kinda like the balloons. Check out his website by clicking on his name if you’re curious to see some of his other work.
The piece with the little Brazilian girl looking out from the peekhole was done by local artist Luis Ferreira.
We’re trying to find a way to get this bloody box to Barcelona via truck or gaivota. I’ll be attending the 17th Annual Encatc Conference from the 21-23 October. Fingers crossed the Outhouse will make an appearance.
xB.
Porto, Portugal
OUTHOUSE | EUROPE is shaping up to blow away our expectations due to all the amazing people we’ve been meeting in this stunning labyrinth of a city.
We’ve started construction on our latest storycatching box here at the school of fine arts in Porto. David, the master builder, is blissin out over every handmade hinge on every door we pass on the way to a coffee. He is in the shadows of master artisans and if this were a different time he’d be one of them, sculpting the stone & wood in shapes that exhausting for me to even consider trying to make. Together we marvel at the little white shiney cobblestones and how much sweat must’ve went into the millions of them that line the streets of the city.
There are so much more to say but it’s time to get back to building. Below are some pictures from the past few days of construction of Outhouse v3.
The opening of our exhibition is 15 October @ 6PM
Outhouse | Portugal Team
Designer: Brian Cohen
Social Researchers: Tara Prowse + Mandy Field
Master Builder: David Whitchurch
Software Designer: Samuel Van Ransbeeck
Live Musicians: Jorge Costa & Cecilia Peçanha
Visual Artists: Costah, Luis Ferreira, Filipa Cruz, Maria
*Extra special thanks goes out to Outback Theatre for Young People for supporting this project.
Lake Mungo Festival
Well, Outhouse MkII has had an interesting life so far. As you can tell from our previous posts the older version looked like a toilet spaceship from the 70s. We decided to trim down & streamline the design with David Whitchurch, a master carpenter from the outback town of Ivanhoe.
We rebuilt a proud new version shown in these pictures in 36 hours & made our way down to show it off at the Regenerating Communities Conference in Melbourne. Unfortunately after putting the finishing touches on the inside of the booth the Mac Mini decided to crash, which apparently is very unusual. We went to those Mac genius dudes in the city who wanted to keep it for a few days in the repair room & spa. So it missed the conference. Sad because it would’ve been perfect.
BUT it was booked to appear at the Lake Mungo Festival in just a few days, so back onto the trailer with a new Mac Mini and off to the bush we went! In Ivanhoe David strapped down our precious cargo for the serious dirt roads en route to Mungo. The Outhouse made a big splash with everyone there. It was slated to operate for two one-hour blocks amidst a very busy festival schedule. To our surprise and perhaps yours, there was a queue across the site lined with young (& older) people wanting to get inside and answer the questions on the walls inside. There was an equally large crowd huddled 10 meters away around the projection screen waiting to see who would go broadcast once inside. There was an eruption of excitement when a person would appear on the screen. And frustrated murmurs when others chose to record privately. It was split down the middle between broadcast & private storytelling.
We cut a quick short film of 3 participants who were across all ages and we projected it at the final festival celebration. It went over really well. This project will still be finding its feet as we adapt it to be responsive to different audiences and events. The organisers and other partners recognised its relevance not only as a engaging & entertaining public activity but it showed its power as a participatory research tool to gather feedback and data. The insights & testimonies were valuable for many outlets and performed by people who may otherwise pass up a written survey with boxes to tick.
Unfortunately Outhouse v2 came to a spectacular end on the road back through the desert. The wind was relentless and the main strap split sending it soaring in slow motion off the back of the trailer and skidding down the track. We were too exhausted to get upset. At least it was on the way home instead of on the way there. We packed the pieces into the back and brought it back to David the carpenter who smiled and said, “It’s time to make v3!”
In a few weeks the funkiest Outhouse will debut at the Future Places Festival in Portugal. It promises to be that much more. Can’t wait.
xB>
Future Places Festival
Digital Media & Local Cultures
Porto, Portugal
13-17 October 2009
The FUTURE PLACES Festival is an international competition celebrating digital media work. FUTURE PLACES explores the potential of Digital Media when applied to specific cultural and social environments.
The festival features exhibitions, conferences, workshops, concerts, performances and parties. We are interested in creative and new languages for interactive and media expression, and their impact on local cultures, society and public space.
We want to reach a generation of creators who are breaking conventions. We are addressing this call to those who are blurring the lines not only between disciplines, but also between the real and the virtual and between the commercial, the artistic, and the academic arenas. Mainly, we want to explore the impact of new technologies in “real life”. How can new technology build local communities, create new identities, new narratives, and new forms of public interaction?
Under Me Skin
The sky was painted in a deep amber for the exhibition & the night began with a crescent moon. The fire drums sent soft clouds of smoke across the stage. It was a memorable & magical night for everyone who attended and exceeded any expectations we had for a preview performance of a new work. We look forward to seeing the narrative seeds of this story continue to blossom.
Here is a photo set from the night of the show.
Bush Cubby Film | Part 1
This is the first part of a film about building bush cubbies.
filmed & edited by Brian Cohen
music by Staffan Svahn
featuring Abby, Alana & Bindi’s old TV
Dust, Rust + Echoes
Stu Liddell arrived in town, put on his headphones & NTG2 mic & wandered around town with a mob of young people capturing the booming empty water silos & squeals of the towns people.
Here are some of the music tracks that eventuated and became the soundtrack for a spectacular live show under a crescent moon.
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