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A season of contemporary artworks in the public domain

The heart of Melbourne contains countless obscure thoroughfares and blind alleys, defying the rigid geometry of the main street grid designed by Robert Hoddle in 1837. This network of narrow access lanes penetrates the city blocks in a capillary fashion, allowing for the erratic movement of Melbourne’s life – its people.


From their inception in 2001, the City of Melbourne’s Laneway Commissions have sought to stimulate hive-like activity in Melbourne’s Central Business District for all people to experience and interact with. The Laneway Commissions were conceived as part of the City’s Public Art Program. They provide an opportunity for artists to explore the connections between art and everyday life experience.

For a map of laneway commissions locations, see below




GATES OF HELL

Artist: Heather B. Swann
Location: Degraves Place
(off Degraves Street between Flinders Street and Flinders Lane)
Dates: 20 July 2007 – 9 March 2008

The multi-headed dog monster Cerberus protects the entrance of Hades, the classical underworld. Swann's sculpture stands guard at the Degraves Place entrance to the Flinders Street pedestrian underpass.

Gates of Hell has its origin both in the stories of Greek and Roman mythology, of Hercules and Orpheus, and in the forms of French Romanesque sculpture, with its heraldic, symbolic and decorative beasts and its Last Judgement hell mouths.

CHANDELIER

Artists: Angela Morgan, Isla Shaw, Kylie Mitchell
Location: Warburton Lane
(off Little Bourke Street between Elizabeth and Queen Streets)
Dates: 6 September 2007 – 16 March 2008

Chandelier represents the fragility of the city and its culture, its splendour and decay. This glistening object reflects life back to the viewer, defying comprehension with its exaggerated scale. The work captures a moment in time – the motion of the chandelier’s downward fall frozen as the disintegrating object becomes wedged between the two sides of Warburton Lane.

URBAN APARTMENT

Artist: Samuel Indratma
Location: Corner Sutherland and Little Lonsdale Streets
Dates: Open for inspection from 12 September 2007

Over the past decade, inner city Melbourne has grown from a predominantly business precinct to a cultural epicentre and a desirable place for many to live. Indonesian artist Samuel Indratma’s Urban Apartment responds to this evolution and pushes it to the extreme.

A group of sleeping figures, wrapped in sarongs (traditionally used to sleep in by Indonesians) and slung in hammocks, are suspended from the side of a building. Urban Apartment is a positive statement about Melbourne’s allure as one of the world’s most liveable cities and the lifestyle choices people are making in space and place to be part of its metropolis.

3 MINUTE ATTENTION SPAN

Artist: Wendy Black
Location: Langs Lane (off Little Bourke Street between King and Spencer Streets)
Dates: 2 July – 21 October 2007

Wendy Black’s work is a unique account of the stories of the many people who have had contact with the nearby Melbourne Magistrate's Courtrooms. The court artist frequently has less than three minutes to capture a likeness. Drawn over a sixteen week period, the resulting artworks are displayed in Langs Lane behind barred windows, heightening the impact of the artist’s interpretation through a feeling of confinement and coercion.

 

For more information about the Laneway Commissions 2007, the accompanying Symposium, and the City of Melbourne’s Public Art Program, visit www.melbourne.vic.gov.au/arts or call 03 9658 9658.