I dig old buildings, that old sense of 'they don't build em like they used to', the history and the happenings. I actually just moved into an old terrace style house and that thing kicks ass! massive hallway, massive rooms, kick ass shower, just enough yard space to chill out in but not be a pain, slightly rough around the edges and if you stood on my shoulders you would be hard pressed to touch the ceiling (thinking i might build a loft bed!).
However these days everybody digs on progress and it appears that it is a much better idea to knock down a place that you could run a marathon in and replace it with a series of one bedroom studio shoeboxes that you only have to stand on tiptoe to reach the ceiling, but what do i know?
What intrigues me is the amount of old buildings (and not so old buildings) that sit vacant for years awaiting their eventual demise, particularly when these buildings lay on prime real estate and have a killer lay out that would lend themselves to a multitude of uses. This point is particularly painful to me at the moment as i have recently finished running the gauntlet of home hunting on the rental market in Melbournes inner city suburbs. There are so many people looking for places to live, make art, work, play and all that day to day life stuff, yet there lie these totally awesome buildings, empty, locked, boarded up and disregarded (i have a few in mind and i think ill try to whip around and get some photos for my next entry).
One such place is Lonsdale house, again im new to melbourne so im not too sure how long it has been sitting mostly empty and neglected but i do know that it is showing signs of being just long enough to be annoying that something cool isnt really being done with it in the interim.
You see, the life of a vacant building usually goes a little something like this....
- Building is vacated for any number of reasons (building codes, poor economy, development, etc)
- Building is neglected by way of maintenance and security
- Explorers, hoons, treasure hunters or thrill seekers break the seal and go for a look around
- Damn fool clowns realise that its easy to get in and proceed to enter, get drunk, do drugs, fuck and generally ruin a lot of the inside by smashing windows, kicking holes in walls or possibly the worst option - setting the whole damn place on fire and burning it to the ground (mind you, this action can sometimes take place at the hand of the owner, can you smell the insurance?)
- Building is boarded up, locked up and fenced off so that no one can get in there and further damage the premises. Then comes the ironic part.....
- Building is demolished! (good thing they kept out those people who were damaging it!)
Somewhere in that mix comes the core of where my interest lies with the idea of a vacant building, the creative types catch wind of the access portal and enter the premises with no intent other than to leave an artwork integrated within the core of the buildings fabric, transforming it into a secret gallery of sorts. It is this use of space that i would like to focus on for the main part of my blog/public art proposal...watch this space
I love the old hand painted signs that you can find on old buildings, 'when i was your age...'
Just a final note, these kids are crushing Melbourne with some sweet big old school style lettering in some decent spots and for those of you quick to write of graffiti as pure vandalism and nothing more, consider this, these pieces are done on the inside of those windows. That means that they would have had to work backwards in both their lettering and the way that they would be used to painting their styles traditionally with no real room for error.
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