LiveHouse

LiveHouse

WARNING — CONTAINS AND RELEASES POTENTIAL

1

LiveHouse

The LiveHouse project is part of the Carlton Flats Arts Project produced by the Arts and Participation Program City of Melbourne and is developed by artist Mick Douglas of RMIT University School of Architecture & Design with residents of the Carlton Housing Estate, supported by the Office of Housing, Department of Human Services.

In July 2006 the City of Melbourne’s Arts and Participation Program initiated the Carlton Flats Arts Project, a long term arts project based at the Carlton Public Housing Estate. The implementation of the project was inspired by the State Governments’ announcement in the same year that the entire precinct would be redeveloped and be the largest public housing redevelopment undertaken.

The LiveHouse project changed the sense of what is possible here on the Carlton housing estate.

— Daniel Rechter, tenant host.

It’s live and open – anyone can come.

— Layla Adem, tenant host.

In 2008 Mick Douglas, artist and senior lecturer of RMIT University, was invited by the City of Melbourne to lead a stage of the Carlton Flats Arts Project.

The resulting LiveHouse project engaged with the changing contemporary reality of housing and life on the estate, involving tenants of the estate and students of the School of Architecture & Design at RMIT. The installation of the LiveHouse modified shipping container on the estate for summer 2009-2010 activated many community led celebrations and marked the concluding chapter of the Carlton Flats Arts Project. www.melbourne.vic.gov.au/arts + 61 3 9658 9658

2

3

LiveHouse

ForewOrd ­ — MICK DOUGLAS Last summer the weekly patterns of estate life were punctuated by LiveHouse open-air events and happenings. Behind the scenes RMIT design students, tenants and local agencies had been collaborating in numerous ways. It gets you wondering about the relations between host and guest; participant and audience; housing and life. Thank you to the tenants of the Estate for having fellow travelers of this world in your midst.

If you watch the short film ‘The City Speaks’ (1965) that the Housing Commission of Victoria made about the 1950s and 60s conversion of ‘slums’ to Melbourne’s walk-up flats, you might notice the dramatic contrast between the depicted Anglo-Celtic tenants of housing back then, and the cosmopolitan mix of tenants of the Carlton Housing Estate now. It is a stark reminder to me of the ‘White Australia’ immigration policy operating then, and the global mobility and forces of migration we live with now. The Estate currently houses a high proportion of established and newlyarrived migrants, with half the residents having been born overseas. Almost half the households are a lone person, and almost half of all families are one-parent families. Housing is again undergoing another wave of significant change. If the Carlton Housing Estate were to ‘speak’ in this current state of affairs, what might we hear?

Mick Douglas, LiveHouse Artistic Director

LiveHouse is an arts project that explores the potential of creative social inter-action. The project developed at the Carlton Estate in Melbourne over 2008-2010 through processes that steadily enlivened the potential for social encounters. There are three elements to the project: physical infrastructure, a social structure built upon hospitality, and creative tactics of working with space and time to enable events.

The physical infrastructure of LiveHouse is based upon a customised shipping container and a set of mobile props that extend from and retreat back to the container. Celebrating acts of hospitality gave focus for a core group of Estate tenants to realise themselves as the hosts of LiveHouse. These hosts gently enabled encounters to take place amongst tenants and Carlton neighbours in an obligation-free setting centrally figured in the public thoroughfare of the Estate. Their interests, capabilities and generosity came to actively shape the project’s development as they hosted weekly creative social activities including a micro-market, tenant musical performances and theatre-making workshops. Every time we opened -up and closed-down the LiveHouse it seemed we were animated a simple rhythmic tension of containing and releasing potential.

4

Opposite — LiveHouse Container 5

LiveHouse

Gathering — Photo: Rob Blackburn 6

7

LiveHouse

LIVEHOUSE ­ — Vehicles

3

March to June 2008 RMIT students research, design and make vehicles that enable mobile, outdoor performance uses for Estate groups.

Performance vehicle: Austin Hall, Kei Kai Kay Fung, Tsui Yuk Fai, with resident musicians.

Food vehicle: Stephen Auchettl, Matt Browne, Jason Wylie, with Sorghum Sisters AMES catering.

Coffee vehicle Ghill de Rozario, Amanda Kwok, Isabel Prochner, with Horn of Africa women tenants.

Communications vehicle Philippa Abbott, Fiona Buchanan, Brittany Carver, with radio 3CR. I­nformation Exchange vehicle Derrin Lewis, Luke Palmer.

Play Vehicle Damien Cunningham, Matt Toebelmann.

1

4

5

2

1&2 — Food vehicle 3 — Performance vehicle 4 — Performance vehicle and food vehicle in transportation 5 — Information Exchange vehicle 8

9

LiveHouse

6

7

9

Vehicles subsequently used by tenant groups at public events:

8

The Big Photo Party: Elgin St Estate, 4 June 2008 Housing Week expo: Drummond St Estate, 2 Septemeber 2008 Urban Livability Collective Exhibition: Yarra Sculpture Gallery, October 2008 The Big Game day, with Polyglot Puppet Theatre: Carlton Primary School, October 2008 Harmony Day: Drummond St Estate, February 2009

6 — Performance vehicle

10

7 — Information Exchange vehicle

9 — Food vehicle

8 — Coffee vehicle

Photos: — John Paul Tansey 11

LiveHouse

SHARE + Motion Emotion ­— RMIT design student placements with Estate groups March to June 2009 Students assist an Estate group with their activities, interact with residents and produce storyboards about a ‘thing’ important to tenants, and what tenants like to ‘make’. The storyboards were exhibited at a Housing Week expo in September 2008.

– DRUM womens sewing group – Carlton Neighbourhood Learning Centre English class – YMCA Youth program – CHERS workshop – Sorghum Sisters AMES catering – Horn of Africa Men’s Employment Training & Advocacy Project

Drawing: — Amaranta Nehru 12

These drawings had actually broken some barriers between us, better than a conversation could have. When I showed her the storyboard about her, she liked it and told me the story of how […]. It sounds a bit funny perhaps but I felt this love for the woman. I did not want to ‘observe’ her… she had become someone dear.

This project gave me the space to empathise with people I felt I could relate to as well as the space to express the isolation I experienced.

— Amaranta, RMIT student visiting on exchange from India.

I learnt how to trust, to let people put trust in me… to respect and listen to each other in order to get trust, in order to share. ­— Elisa, RMIT student 13

LiveHouse

LiveHouse — participatory design workshops March to June 2009 RMIT design students and estate residents collaborate in design workshops led by Mick Douglas and Jason Parmington to clarify the desire for a LiveHouse, develop principles by which it could develop, and design the physical, mobile ‘LiveHouse’ by customising a shipping container.

A core group of participating tenants become LiveHouse hosts.

Drawing: — Youssef Tayeb Below — Design workshop

14

15

LIVEHOUSE IS… —

LiveHouse

Led by tenants The LiveHouse is led by a group of Estate tenants who agree to be the Hosts each time the LiveHouse is used. A simple training program assists tenants to become Hosts.

Creative resident inter-action The LiveHouse is best used for activities that encourage interaction between people. This may be for performing music, theatre and presentations like Harmony Day; for coffee ceremonies and sharing food and games; for creative activity workshops; for a community market; for making a community newsletter or for community creative gatherings.

Creative use by community-groups The LiveHouse is accessible to community groups to book for creative uses. These may be one-off activities or regularly repeated activities.

A community Group Leader must participate when using LiveHouse.

10

11

Open-air open access The LiveHouse is an undercover public location open to the weather. Uses that are open to the public are encouraged.

Shared space The LiveHouse is used in different ways by different groups at different times, or at the same time, managed by a calendar booking system.

Bookings are prioritised by the decisions of the group of Hosts. Video and photos of activities at LiveHouse are shared and able to be discussed on the project website.

Welcoming visible, diverse expressions The LiveHouse gives expression to the diverse communities of residents on the estate. These expressions aim to inspire interest and participation in tenants of the Estate and in the broader Carlton community.

12

Surface for stickers The exterior of LiveHouse is for stickers made by residents. Workshops are taking place to hand-make and computer-cut stickers. A training program will assist tenants become operators of the computer-cut sticker process.

Creative opportunities for personal and community development The LiveHouse supports people developing their creative interests. LiveHouse can act as a stepping stone for activities that could grow to attract further support and become independent.

Potential to tour The LiveHouse is portable and has the potential to tour to locations beyond the Carlton Estate.

LiveHouse could become a unique creative expression of Carlton Estate that could tour to community events at other Housing Estates, ethnic community events and at arts festivals in Melbourne and regional Victoria.

10 — Photo: Rob Blackburn 11 & 12 — Photos: LiveHouse host 16

17

LIVEHOUSE ­ — SUMMER 2009 – 2010 An arts platform for the creative inter-action of residents of the Carlton Housing Estate at the corner of Palmerston & Drummond Sts over summer 2009-2010. Open air, free, all welcome.

LiveHouse

LiveHouse — HOST TRAINING Tenants of the estate undertake a program to prepare themselves for the role of LiveHouse hosts and community leaders.

Round 1: Men October to November 2009 Hamdi Ali, Daniel Rechter, Ahmed Sayed, Maurice Wilson Round 2: Women December 2009 Layla Adem, Shamsi Ali, Samarawit Yohannes

13 14

LiveHouse provided opportunity to show and encourage others to participate, to learn more of other people in the estate, and to gain people skills and confidence.

— Hamdi Ali, tenant host.

It’s rare around here that we have the opportunity to make choices. The result of that seems to be a community de-skilled in this regard. We want everything but are resigned to getting nothing at all. LiveHouse broke down that polarised position by giving us a chance to engage with the complex reality of bringing our hopes to fruition.

— Daniel Rechter, tenant host.

I’ve learnt to never judge people from the outside... there is a lot once you get to know them!

— Layla Adem, tenant host.

13 — Carlton Housing Estate tower 14 — LiveHouse hosts, estate tenants & RMIT students 18

19

LiveHouse

LiveHouse — OPEN HOUSE

I was able to interact with people around me.

— Wu Shang, tenant.

LiveHouse — open performance

Fridays 4 to 7pm 9 October to 13 November 2009 (6weeks)

Thursdays 6 to 8pm 19 November to 17 December 2009 (6 weeks)

Everyone invited: stickers, coffee, food, music, performance, workshops. Regular tenant musician: Fadil Suna

A kaleidoscope of different performances from the lives of people around Carlton.

HORN OF AFRICA, November 19 Playing traditional and contemporary music of Eritrea, Ethiopia, Somalia, Sudan.

JOSEPH ZAMMIT, Decemeber 3 Playing pop folk with Maurice Wilson on vocals.

All photos: — LiveHouse hosts

20

THE CACTUS CHANNEL, rescheduled to December 16 A Princes Hill Secondary College band (winners ‘battle of bands’ northern region) playing funky music, plusCARLTON RESIDENT MUSICIANS joining for an open jam.

LiveHouse — Horn of Africa performance

21

LiveHouse

LiveHouse — open percussion group

LiveHouse — open micro-market

Wednesdays 5 to 6.30pm 18 November to 16 December (5 weeks)

Fridays 4 to 7pm 20 November to 18 December (5 weeks)

Making rhythms with a variety of percussion and a variety of people. It’s free.

Open for you to swap, sell, bargain, buy or busk, to offer your service or to just have a rest at LiveHouse on a Friday afternoon before dusk.

This is micro-economics and micro-enterprise at work.

– 5 to 5.30pm: Kids – 5.30 to 6.30pm: Percussion group Led by Jorge Leiva with a Latin bent.

All photos: — LiveHouse hosts 22

23

LiveHouse

LiveHouse — Saturday Situation 12 December 2009, 4 to 9pm Performances by guests Son Corners & Horn of Africa, with performances by residents Joesph Zammit, Rosanna, Samya Bashir, Fadil Suna group, Ruth Rogers Wright ensemble, percussion group plus micro-market, coffee across cultures, stickering, shadowplay and food from the Asylum Seeker Resource Centre caterers.

All photos: — Rob Blackburn

24

LiveHouse restored a sense of community; even to those who only watched it from afar. ­— Daniel Rechter, tenant host.

25

LiveHouse

15

LiveHouse — STICKERING

16

The exterior surface of LiveHouse invited all to stick to it.

16 & 17 — Stickering Photos: — Jacob Walker 17

15 — Photo: Angela Bailey 26

27

LiveHouse

LiveHouse — GATHERING

LiveHouse — COFFEE

Friday evenings 7 to 9pm 5 February to 5 March 2010 (5weeks)

Coffee ceremony from the Horn of Africa at most LiveHouse events provided a way to gather.

19

Micro-market, Horn of Africa coffee, mint tea and…

THEATRE MAKING WORKSHOPS Estate residents gather to develop live theatrical performance in word, song and shadow-play.

Workshops explore ‘LiveHouse’ as a unique performance setting for the expression of lives on the Carlton Estate. Workshops led by theatre-makers Mammad Aidani (University of Melbourne), Claudia Escobar and Mick Douglas.

18 — Theatre Making Workshops 19 & 20 — Coffee Photos: — Mick Douglas

18

20

People come for the coffee and they share their life ideas!

— Layla Adem, tenant host.

28

29

LiveHouse

LiveHouse — video stories Fridays, 12 February to 5 March 2010 (4 weeks) – 1.30 to 3.00pm: Women – 3.00 to 4.30pm: Children Workshops for children and women to make video tales of living and moving here, there and elsewhere, led by filmmaker Amie Batalibasi, screened at LIGHTS-OUT.

Video Stories — Photo: LiveHouse host

LiveHouse — LIGHTS-OUT 7 to 9pm Friday 12th March 2010 The final event of the LiveHouse project, involving residents in word, song, shadowplay, video-stories, coffee ceremony, micro-market stalls, and you.

LiveHouse Hosts Layla Adem, Hamdi Ali, Shamsi Ali, Daniel Rechter, Ahmed Sayed, Maurice Wilson, Samarawit Yohannes Artistic Direction Mick Douglas Drammaturge Mammad Aidani Shadowplay drammaturge Claudia Estobar Performers Adbirizak, Anna, John, Maurice, Ruth, Samya, Shang

Lights-out performers — Photo: Angela Bailey

Song Ruth Rogers Wright & Mama Doesa, Fadil Suna and Theo Chen Video Stories Amie Batalibasi

30

31

LiveHouse

LiveHouse Lights-out performance — Photos: Jacob Walker 32

33

LiveHouse

LiveHouse — HARMONY DAY

22

2 to 7pm, 18 March 2010 LiveHouse provides a hub for the annual community celebration day led by the Carlton Housing Estate Residents association (CHERS) and local agencies.

LiveHouse — MIGRATION SOUTH A repeated action midway through LiveHouse events involving all hosts and audience becoming participants in a migration south – from the northern side of the LiveHouse to the southern side of LiveHouse – creating a shift in inter-actions, orientations and relative outlook.

21

23

21 & 23 — Migrating South, Photos: Rob Blackburn 22 — Photo: Angela Bailey 34

35

LiveHouse

CARLTON SONG — Ruth Rogers-Wright & Fadil Suna Since 1880s many came From all parts of the world The streets paved with hope and gold New ways to work were sold All along Lygon ... in Carlton In these concrete blocks and bricks We raise the kids and grow In this multicultural rainbow… in Carlton Hand in hand living in peace and harmony so you and I, yes, we care Strong community spirit what an estate oh yes we share Here we are friends playing music, sharing food And chatter everywhere, Place of plenty, latte on Lygon, Learning Centre on Princes street La Mama just over there … in Carlton We traveled by boat and plane From this big world to make this place Our house and home… in Carlton Let’s celebrate our veggie garden of all nations Gather together at LiveHouse what an inspiration Let’s be proud of our neighbourhood of great combination Our place of common memories from many destinations to Carlton

Photos: — LiveHouse hosts 36

The community feel it’s part of LiveHouse cuz no one is special. I never knew people other than people from my country. LiveHouse brought all the people together.

It brought a new life into Carlton. It made us feel like one family with all of the different people in Carlton.

The opportunities to get to know them were something different.

— Layla Adem, tenant host.

The LiveHouse project changed the sense of what is possible here on the Carlton housing estate. It also brought together a great bunch of people, who live on and around the estate, but had never had a chance to meet. I’ve lived here for over 10 years, and I’d never seen anything like this on the estate before.

— Daniel Rechter, tenant host.

It was great experience to be part of LiveHouse.

Lets go for another longer LiveHouse. …l o n g e r !

— Fadil Suna, tenant & regular LiveHouse musician.

I like it. It’s funny and enjoyable. Now Carlton looks so ugly without the LiveHouse! Seriously, we are missing alot from LiveHouse!

— Layla Adem, tenant host.

37

LiveHouse

Credits —

RMIT University Participation —

LiveHouse Hosts Layla Adem, Hamdi Ali, Shamsi Ali, Daniel Rechter, Ahmed Sayed, Maurice Wilson, Samarawit Yohannes

LiveHouse Artistic Direction Mick Douglas, artist & senior lecturer RMIT University School of Architecture & Design

LiveHouse Modified Shipping container design Jason Parmington, Mick Douglas and RMIT University students of Industrial Design with estate tenants.

LiveHouse Vehicles 2008 Tutors Jason Parmington & Mick Douglas; Workshop Andy McKlusky Students Philippa Abbott, Stephen Auchettl, Matt Browne, Fiona Buchanan, Brittany Carver, Damien Cunningham, Ghill de Rozario, Kei Kai Kay Fung, Austin Hall, Amanda Kwok, Darren Lewis, Luke Palmer, Isabel Prochner, Matt Toebelmann, Jason Wylie, Tsui Yuk Fai.

Project Coordinators Fiona O’Grady, Donna Kennedy, Michael McMahon, Trudy Hayter Live House Print and Web Communication Design Neal Haslem Project assistants to Mick Douglas Rob Eales, Jess Bird Still photography Angela Bailey, Rob Blackburn, Jacob Walker Supporting Artists Mammad Aidani, Amie Batalibasi, Mama Dosa, Claudia Escobar, Jorge Levia, Ruth Rogers Wright, Fadil Suna.

Project Producer City of Melbourne Arts and Participation Program Project partners RMIT University, Victorian State Government, Office of Housing, Department of Human Services.

Special Thanks Carlton Local Agencies Network, Carlton Housing Estate Tenants, Carlton Housing Estate Resident Services, Carlton Primary School, Opportunities for Carlton Network, DRUM womens sewing group, Carlton Neighbourhood Learning Centre, YMCA and DRUM Youth program, CHERS workshop, Sorghum Sisters AMES catering, Horn of Africa, Men’s Employment Training & Advocacy Project

38

Share 2008 Tutor Mick Douglas Students Wan Lee Foo, Christopher Hayes-Kossmann, Ko Wei Ho, Ben Hurt, Winaya Suwarnaga Kamaputri, Joshua Kua, Elisa Kutsuwada Madeira de Carvalho, Ellyse McInnes, Amaranta Nehru, James Patrick, Tristan Tait, Di Tan, Ellen Grace Tanoemarga, Youssef Tayeb, Rene Walk, Hui Ming Wong, Elaine Yi Ling Yeo. Motion Emotion 2009 Tutor Mick Douglas Students Nicholas Bowe, Ploy Chavalparit, Robert Fitzgerald, Astrid Gilchrist, Greg Halliday, John Cheng-chih Huang, Euna Ji, Jack Kaiser, Krijstelle KaiYueh Liao, Tim Kwok, Daniel Moller, Cho Sek Ng, Theo Pelz , Warwick Perrin, Reavath Phlong, Shenn Rhun Tan, James Wynn, Guangyi Zhu. LiveHouse modified shipping container 2009 Tutors Jason Parmington & Mick Douglas Students Iain Archibald, Jessica Bird, William Campbell, Benjamin Creek, Samantha Duzenman, Greg Halliday, Ingrid Jager, Patrick O’Connell, Sebastiaan Pijnappel, Simone Steel, Inge Thomassen.

39

LiveHouse

The sense of creative possibility LiveHouse fostered will be feeding future projects for a long while yet.

— Daniel Rechter, tenant host.

I like it. It’s funny and enjoyable. Now Carlton looks so ugly without the LiveHouse! Seriously, we are missing alot from LiveHouse!

— Layla Adem, tenant host.

Live House is part of the Carlton Flats Arts Project produced by the City of Melbourne Arts and Participation Program in partnership with RMIT University School of Architecture and Design and is supported by the Office of Housing, Department of Human Services.

Creative Resident Interaction toplum üyelerinin yaratıcı etkileşimi Deganayaasha isdhexgalka hal abuurka ah leh

I learnt that… people are alive.

— Shang, tenant

40

41

42