From tripta at gmail.com Fri Aug 4 15:35:02 2006 From: tripta at gmail.com (Tripta B Chandola) Date: Fri, 4 Aug 2006 19:05:02 +0530 Subject: [multipliCity] Ann Street Art (On behalf of Jinna Tay) References: <00a701c6b6aa$3728e3c0$321ab583@qut.edu.au> Message-ID: (Apologies Jinna for the delayed response. Taking the liberty to forward it to the list.) Jinna's account of discovering (re-discovering) the city she has embraced resonates of the urban experience where sudden trajectories and unforeseen halts open up completely new, unexpected facets of the city. For those who live and love in the city! cheers. tripta Begin forwarded message: > From: "Jinna Tay" > > Art on a City Street: > ------------------------------------------------------------ > Last Friday night, I went to my first Brisbane Ann Street Party in > the Valley which is really a street performance art with a party > tagged on the end. This is its third year running and my first. For > one reason or another, I've never ever made it to the previous > years. But this year, spurred on by my friend who is dating one of > the artists, I was playing escort. For the benefit of those > unfamiliar with Brisbane, I will roughly explain the geography of > the Valley and Ann Street. The "Valley" as it is affectionately > called is really, Fortitude Valley - the site of early British > settlement, then Chinese migrants arrived and later, in the 70s-80s > the heart of Brisbane's shopping district with Myer store and all. > Without revisiting its entire history, suffice to say that as a > site, it is the accumulation of Brisbane's staggered historical > development. Then, it degenerated as the centre moved into the > spanking new city, and the Valley was taken over by 'derelicts, > hippies, doppies, students and drunks' keeping the cafes, rows of > Chinese restaurants, live venues and pubs cheap. It is also how it > came to be hip and all things cool again, as re-gentrification took > place. The VAlley is mainly made up to two malls - Chinatown and > Brunswick flanked on either side by one of the noisest 4-lane > traffic in Brisbane- Wickham St and Ann St. (Tripta - I know coming > from Delhi, you probably laugh at term, 'nosiest street'! ) But it > is noisy because it is where all the trucks, cargo delivery tonners > and such make their way in and out of Brisbane. So, crossing Ann > Street to get to the Valley you feel this edge - where the rows of > fashion stores lining Ann Street on both sides and pubs, cafes and > live venues on the mall are constantly bombarded by loud and fast > crane lifters, and vehicle transporters, freights and road trains. > > So, when I got to Ann Street, it was 8.30pm, the event started at > 9pm, but there was absolutely not a soul there except for a couple > men cordoning one lane off with road block panels, oh and except > the bouncer at the Zoo, the location for pre and post -party > drinks. Fast forwarding: I met my friend, we went upstairs for > drinks, saw very cool artistic types - the street event was > launched, we went downstairs and presto! Unbeknownst to me, between > quarter eight to nine - it seemed like hundreds of people had > arrived, thronging the street. The barriers dividing the people > from the still busy road were the only thing keeping them alive. > The cars slowed down as the drivers gazed out at the live > performances that was taking place in the shopfront of the fashion > stores. In one window, a lady (with a remarkable resemblance to > Rowan Atkinson's Mr Bean's girlfriend) - eating by her entree in a > restaurant, was being stood up for a date, except she doesn't know > it yet. In yet another, two men, one dressed as mad granny with > boops hanging down to there and gramps, dancing and being lewd. In > Cosmic MatchMaker, the public is invited to put their faces up > against the glass to have their pictures taken and the 'cosmic > computer' made them their cosmic match - and on it goes. The > 'public' that came, were from a huge cross-section of the community > -old italian grandfathers holding the hands of their grandchildren, > Chinese mothers and fathers, young familes, the disabled, the > school friends, the international students. It is not the usual > crowd around the Valley on a friday night with thumping music and > sex venues. 9.45pm - there are so many people we can hardly move - > we squeeze ourselves along with our artist guide offering > commentary about his friends in the window. His own installation is > a hundred castings made of his erect penis attached up like a bunch > of bananas, dusted with glitter and proudly hanging in a shop > front, his ex-boyfriend's penises were slowly rotating but his > failed to (sadly). The Friday night revellers mixed in with the > art's public and suddenly I felt so proud of Brisbane, a city I had > come to adopt as home. Coming from Singapore where most festivals > easily attracted hundreds eager to see what the 'new' trend/person/ > anything is, Brisbane seems slower to attract this wider mix of > community in their events. > > > 10.30pm, the cars slow down even more as more roads are blocked off > and people are still fighting to move from window to window. > I wished for one night, that the busiest, noisiest street had been > completely closed off - one night to reclaim the street back as the > heart of a community headed out there to celebrate, to chat and > drink cafe lattes. By 11pm, the exhibition was over, people drifted > off in one direction or another, some went to the party. We sat > with more friends drinking our coffees instead of the usual glass > of wine on friday. By 11.30pm, the street was completely cleared. > The cars, tonners and freight transporters took back Ann Street, > the windows, just moments ago providing so many laughs, claps and > delight are silent. And from force of habit formed in the last two > hours, I couldn't help but looked in at all the shop windows I > passed by as I walked towards home. it was different, it was good. > Maybe next year, they'll close off the street. > > > > Jinna (apologies for such a long post!) > ---------------------------------------------- > > http://the-summer-afternoon-stillness.blogspot.com/ http://www.flickr.com/photos/summer-afternoon-stillness/ http://listcultures.org/mailman/listinfo/multiplicity_listcultures.org -------------- next part -------------- An HTML attachment was scrubbed... URL: http://listcultures.org/pipermail/multiplicity_listcultures.org/attachments/20060804/328e4b3a/attachment.html