Material City

Celebrating the city’s unique topography of laneways and the City of Melbourne’s commitment to innovative public art, Material City was a platform for dialogue and creative engagement that aims to encourage artists to explore a range of alternative responses to working in Melbourne’s urban spaces.

Material City had two components:

Material City: Art in Urban Spaces is a free two-day symposium on 14 and 15th of September 2007, at the Village Roadshow Theatrette at the State Library of Victoria. It brought together artists, writers, historians, academics and arts workers to consider the complexities and challenges of working in Melbourne’s urban environment. Topics for discussion will include ‘Imagining Melbourne’, ‘Artists creating for the public domain’, ‘Alternative public spaces’ and ‘International projects and models’.

Material City Creative Lab was a series of practical workshops held at SIAL Sound Studios for selected practitioners from a variety of creative backgrounds to come together to explore a range of alternative responses to working in Melbourne’s urban spaces.
This three-day workshop focussed on the spatial, cultural, social and
technical aspects of designing sound works for Melbourne’s urban spaces, through site-specific events, lectures and practical studio tutorials.

Outside of SIAL Sound Studios contribution to Material City, the Perth-based independent arts collective PVI (Performance Video Installations) held a four-day workshop focussing on site specificity and responding to found environments, exploring performance and intervention as a means of engaging with Melbourne’s public spaces.