Arts, Culture & Research
Market Crossings Book Launch
Saturday 10th April
11am-1pm
Preston Market
Melbourne, Victoria
The event will be a stall near the centre of the Markets. There will be projections of the films made during the Market Value project. Light refreshments will be on offer as well as the book on display and for sale. The book will be launched with informal speeches by community members, TRAX artists and the management of the Markets.
Media Release to follow shortly…
Creative Friction, Disrupting The Boundaries Of ‘Art’ And ‘Community Art’ by Victoria Stead
The intention of this Cultural Impact Statement is to provide an overview of the existing cultural and social environment of the Preston Market, and explore the potential impacts of the Market Value project upon it. In doing so, this document will provide a foundational basis for the creative development of the project, and the evolving engagement of the artists with the community in and around the Preston Market.
Nestled comfortably between fish & fruit, TRAX has been in residency in the Preston Markets for nearly two years producing new media projects.
Meggs, one of Melbourne’s finest street>gallery artists will be working with a small group of young artists on a mural project.
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mural
*Featured in these photos are Fabian, Esther, Lachlan, Lashna + Meggs
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Spreading his street work as far as Paris, London and Tokyo, Meggs has also contributed to numerous group exhibitions both nationally and internationally. His work has more notably been sold through ‘Artcurial Auctioneers’ (Paris) and is included in the ‘National Gallery of Australia’s’ (Canberra) permanent ‘works on paper’ collection. Continually evolving his painting style with a continued passion for graffiti and character painting, pop-art and abstract expressionism has led to Meggs being well recognised as one of Australia’s pioneering street to gallery artists.
http://houseofmeggs.com/
Here are some images of our work at the Preston Market.
The ReGenerating Community Conference is about ways in which global issues are being addressed locally through collaborations between artists, communities and local government. Issues of community identity in an environment of globalised culture; issues of energy production in the context of climate change; issues of indigenous sovereignty on leasehold land; issues of country becoming city and changing identity; issues of aging; issues of schooling; issues of imaging futures, issues of having a future…
People are switching off. Who can switch them on to determining positive futures? How can community relationships be built across the divide of the governed and the governing? Can communities choose the change they want, shaping their environments in unique ways? How and where is this happening?
This conference will discuss local governments responses to creating new models of civic engagement. Arts are the focus. Examples of arts based projects tackling the big issues through community cultural engagement are the springboard for discussion by leading national and international speakers, commentators, community leaders, officials, politicians, academics and artists.
VIDEO GALLERY COMING SOON.
The multimedia exhibition preceded the theatre show and kicked off the night. It is presented to the audience as a 30-minute tour through a contained delicatessen section of the markets. Digital media allows the audience to see behind the curtains of the markets as if it were memory or dream. Through filmed stories, projections, and digital snippets we explored ways in which collective storytelling becomes a community-forming activity.
The audience is led 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.
Designed by Stu Liddell for The Strand
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Hem + Haw
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Cold Pizza
The Market Value project saw TRAX artists working with customers, traders and locals, who together made up a decentralised and diverse community cohered around the physical space of the Market.
In a context of insecurity and uncertainty created by the threat of impending redevelopment, TRAX engaged in a multi-faceted practice which included the production of a theatre show, and a multi-media sound and video installation, both of which were ultimately staged in the Market itself, in November 2008.
The Market Value project included a youth-targeted dimension, through regular multi-media workshops held at the TRAX office space which was (and still is) located between the fruit & veg and fish stalls in the Market. The project also included the production of a documentary film, and a publication (which will be released shortly).
TRAX is initiating parallel projects with the market community & intends to remain in residency at the Markets for as long as the company is welcome.
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