A controversy has been brewing in Melbourne over the City Council's plans to override heritage overlays and hand over sections of some of the city's laneways to developers. Opponents are particularly concerned that this sets a precedent and that the City Council is at risk of damaging Melbourne's unique laneway culture.
Over the past 25 years, Melbourne has transformed its urban image by privileging an entirely separate world of cafes, restaurants and boutique shops, away from the wide, noisy chaos of the wider boulevards. But another aspect of these laneways has taken these lanes to the world stage. Melbourne is now considered one of the finest venues for street art - the sort of grafitti and stencil art that tests the tolerance of a city's establishment.
Michael Shirrefs has been speaking to two laneway specialists - Andy Mac, who runs Melbourne's City Lights street art project; and Historian Weston Bate, former president of the Royal Historical Society of Victoria and author of a history of the lanes, called Essential, But Unplanned.
listen now | download audio
http://www.dontbanthecan.com/category/news/
Don’t Ban the Can (DBTC) is a non-profit arts and culture movement with an underground urban philosophy, formed as a result of harsh, unjust anti graffiti laws within Victoria, Australia. Jeremy Gaschk together with the We Make Stuff Good collective felt the need for a voice from the streets. Created and run by artists for artists, the movement began with a stand against the new anti graffiti laws introduced into Victoria in June 2008. With a successful initial event in September 2008, the project received support from tens of thousand’s of people from around the globe. DBTC has felt the need to expand into a world wide pro graffiti and street art movement. This has involved tackling issues that inhibit the art form’s culture, ethos and creativity to successfully prosper, evolve and expand.
The Croft Alley Project will bring together an all-star line up of artists from around Australia to create a world-class, large-scale, urban masterpiece. Using graffiti, street, stencil, sticker and paste up artists the project will transform the Croft laneway from a dirty back alley into a creative, colourful and socially innovative thoroughfare visited by tens of thousands of tourists each year.
You are invited to the screening of ‘Melbourne, INK.’
A film by Julien Sena & Romain Levrault is presenting the most prominent figures of graffiti and stencil Art in Melbourne.
Sponsored by the Melbourne Stencil Festival and in collaboration with Open Channel.
Uncensored, the movie is highlighting the paradoxal situation where street art is illegal but widely used for the marketing of the city.
Starring the Mitten Fortress, the Everfresh Studio and the Blenders Studio, the screening will go along with a live painting performance from the artists themselves !
with beer and Argentinean BBQ food available for purchase on the night.
PLEASE NOTE - FREE ENTRY for this exciting night. all details below.
Look forward to seeing you all here
Map and Transport Guide
Victoria Harbour
Shed 4 North Wharf Road
Docklands, VIC 3008
Australia
http://www.everfreshstudio.com/blog/?p=1969
The “Your Kid Can’t Do This” Stencil Art Exhibition kicks off in Canberra from 6 February and will continue through to 14 Februrary. The exhibition will feature over 20 of the worlds finest stencil artists from Australia and abroad, including: Haha; A1one; Lucamaleonte; and Papermonster.
If you're not in the Nations Capital just have a Coke and a smile, cos the exhibition is touring nationally and will move to Melbourne (16-26 April) and then on to Sydney (20-27 June). To find out more of the who, what, where and when go to:
Canberra 6th—14th February 2009 The Legislative Assembly
Melbourne 16th—26th April 2009 Famous When Dead Gallery opening night — Friday 17th April
Sydney 20th—27th June 2009 North Bondi Sandpit select showing of works
Welcome to Melbourne Graffiti, Australia's largest online collection of street art photos and related media.
This site contains over 4,000 high quality photos of Australian and world wide graffiti on trains, walls and in the streets.
Check out the rest of our site including interviews with some of Australia’s top writers, newspaper articles, train outlines, history, wallpapers and more!
MelbourneGraffiti has been around for over 10 years and is preserved in the National Library of Australia’s Pandora Archives.
