Its been a while since the last post, I enjoy this blogging stuff and have a whole bunch o ideas I could put on here but I am too poor/tight to have internet at home and therein lies the crux. I guess y'all (all two of you) will have to put up with the multiple posts in a single sitting followed by lengthy delays.
Being interested in the art of the streets i am also keenly interested in empty, disused, dilapidated or otherwise under utilised areas and buildings that sit vacant for extended periods of time screaming out for attention and never really getting to fulfill their potential until they meet their final demise beneath the developers wrecking ball (or something like that). To illustrate what i mean i have done a brief tour of some buildings around Melbourne that i feel i could do some seriously awesome projects with if I (or any other creatively minded individual) had the permission or the funds to get amongst it all.
All of these are relatively easily viewable from public transport so i dont think i am really giving away any secrets however i have taken care not to be too obvious in the photographs so as not to upset anyone feeling like I have given up their spots (its a graffiti territorial thing). I am also relatively new to Melbourne so you can see how easily these sort of places are to find. I could also show you numerous others as this is by no means a comprehensive list.
This old warehouse/factory is situated in a highly sought after location for renters and buyers alike looking for a nice place to live in Melbourne with great places to eat and happening bars nearby, yet here it sits vacant and going to ruin. Well i say vacant, however there are a few boxes stacked up inside that are enjoying themselves nicely. If the owner catches wind of this blog i am willing to move in rent free and work on it as i go. This one is in relatively good condition, not too much work to be done (in my unskilled opinion).
These two are also in a reasonably well sought after area, probably a little more damage has been done but people live in far worse conditions and all i am thinking is going in and setting up some artworks! For a longer term experience i dont even think that it would take too much money or work to get them online for practical applications.
This last one is just an example but these things are just about everywhere that there is a trainline intersecting with a road. They go hand in hand with the bricked up spaces on many platforms that used to be toilets (apparently no one needs to go to the toilet anymore), ticket booths and waiting rooms (you can wait in the cold suckers). This particular one is an old signal box where a worker would sit and change the signal whenever a train would come thereby preventing train vs. car/pedestrian collisions (or something like that). With the onset of technology, computerisation and cutbacks these buildings are now obsolete, boarded up and used for little else than storage of unwanted crap. I have not been inside one of these and possibly they have been retrofitted with computerised equipment to work the signals but i am doubtful. I know that my local station has old toilets and ticketing booths on the platform that are locked up and unused.
My proposal for these old public transport spaces would be to set them up as studios or spaces for installations and interventions of some sort like mini galleries, hell, with rents the way they are i think you could have people living in these things without a second thought, i know i would.
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