My proposal is called urban camp, its a work to raise awareness about homelessness, the unsustainable model of fringe housing and cost of living crisis in Victoria.
The proposal will take form in 3 main nodes, its initial stages of marketing, the following stage of occupation and finally published findings.
I’m sure that there are people who choose homelessness as the street is better than their home, or simply because they wish to have the ‘unique experience to sleep beneath the stars and by the high rises’ as opposed to taking on a mortgage. For some I believe there is a lack of understanding, of empathy, for the homeless, that the homeless are often viewed as ‘other’, and not largely identified with. The idea of this hoax is twofold, in part as a deception but also to give some semblance of understanding and empathy to these people, to show that it’s not unjustifiable. I think the fact that this experience will be marketed as free will further this point, people will seek out the rent free experience of living in the city, not knowing their own choice to essentially live like the homeless.
The main subject of the proposal is an urban camp ground located on the site. This campground will be marketed as ‘Urban Camp’ a fun installation/ event located in the city for the ‘unique’ experience of camping under the stars and by the high rises. With marketing like ‘by all the best restaurants but with the unique experience of the great outdoors’, ‘fall asleep under the stars and make your way to your favourite Cafe’ the entirety of the marketing campaign is intended to function as a sort of hoax ‘the unique experience’ being not that unique at all. This came about as a result of the opinions some people have of the homeless in Melbourne, that their homelessness is a choice. I wanted to highlight the almost exclusively negative connotations of this, and see how many people I could trick into agreeing with this ‘choice’ by simply marketing it, highlighting all that’s great about living on the street.
This idea came about in part as a result of the uptick in glamping or glamorous camping, and other accommodations such as Hotel No, a Melbourne rooftop populated with Airstream caravans fitted out with new luxurious interiors.
The main external influence being the concept of ‘Van Life’ a lifestyle where you choose to live in your car and go from place to place, but it’s not called ‘living in your car’ essentially the reframing or rebranding of a version of homelessness. More directly it was the result of a homeless encampment on the corner of Victoria and Therry Street, this had originally been built as a communal gathering space and garden but is now populated by the homeless. This area appeared to have cultivated a good community from what I could see, potentially a result of the amenity and comfort provided for them. The space evolved into a version of its original intent, a space where community gather as a result of the amenity provided, just now for sleeping and living day to day as opposed to sitting for lunch or studying. This work attempts to kind of replicate this shift or change.
I cannot be sure but would expect that the marketed intent of the ‘Urban Camp’ would only last so long, if at all before dedicated urban campers moved in. While I would like to believe that tourists and locals could cohabitate, with no overwatch or security I feel that one group would likely take over the space, and the more dedicated typically win. The homeless already inhabit the space and I can see why, it’s a quiet, cool, peaceful area with park benches, shade, a toilet block just adjacent for the day and a 24 hour McDonalds down the road for any other time. These aspects will be advertised in the marketing too, a means to provide a more in depth understanding of the homeless. The potential take over of the urban camp would then stand as an occupation.
Double Bed with platform and aboe storage
Kitchenette with simple sink and storage
Seating/shade with draped netting for seating
Seating and table interweaving single beds framework
Camping Platform potentially with vented heaating for tents to be set up on top of
The area would be populated with movable pieces of furniture, shading and infrastructure, in part as a means to give agency to the homeless. Allowing them to be the creators and to allow some form of sprawl, to give freedom to those occupying and not have them feel commodified or used, but as active contributors in the process. These pieces will actually be built from building waste, collected from demolition companies over the span of a year and formed into individual pieces for the site, such as raised bedframes, tent platforms, seating, shading systems and tables. All means to create a home. The use of building materials from demolished homes that would otherwise be sent to landfill is also a commentary on Victorias unsustainable fringe housing model. One which develops areas with poorly built housing at a ridiculous mark up and seemingly intended to last for only a few decades before being demolished and put into landfill. Housing which moves people further and further from the city and areas of business while providing less and less infrastructure, making it harder and more expensive to work, while providing less and less downtime.
As part of that initial marketing stage a website would be set up to inform the people of ‘Urban Camp’ and room would be given to leave reviews and complain. At a certain point after the closing of the installation these complaints would be shown on the website with new explanation of the work and its original intent as a useful piece of infrastructure, a means to foster or locate community and finally as a way to bring issues forward. As a protest to the current housing and cost of living crisis, giving voice to people with the people, while also providing actual help to them. An explanation would be given that the entirety of this work was put forth to bring the issue to the forefront, such that it can’t be ignored. Each complaint would be responded to with this newly revealed intention and pose the question in light of complaints ‘what is our role in fixing this’, Is it just to complain without a proposed solution?
Upon the shutting down of this project the furniture pieces would be donated to restaurants and other establishments throughout melbourne. These pieces being moved from the community of homeless to the establishments throughout melbourne would serve as an invitation to the people now intimately familiar with the furniture. Allowing them to feel comfortable in these places.
This location was chosen in part because the Queen Victoria Market was once the living and breathing heart of the city, it held an imperative practical purpose, it now exists more as an area for excursion, a tourist attraction. This work will bring purpose in the form of shelter back to the space but also provide an audience to the public artwork. I’m sure that there will be various objections and complaints against this work, particularly from those who came to the city for the marketed ‘urban camp’. With enough protest the encampment would surely be shut down as a result. The issues would be brought forth to the publics eye and I’m almost sure that it would be shut down with little work on the problem of housing these people ‘if not here, then where?’. I would propose that this installation would have no advertised end date but be given a slot of at least a month. I believe that enough upset would have been caused within that time to have made an impact.
Public art is universal, invites all without pretension, facilitates change planting seeds either physical or in the form of ideas and that’s exactly what this work does. It reframes homelessness changing the way its thought of and potentially putting members of the houses population in their mindset giving some understanding and potentially inciting empathy. The work brings a current issue to the public, it does so not through symbolism or any other subversive means but with the presence of the people affected, showcasing an indisputable truth. The work provides a direct action toward the subject it tries to bring awareness to, providing comfort and shelter to the homeless. There is meaning imbued in every aspect of the work, its conception, production, existence, its reception and its life after its conclusion. The work seeks to both disrupt and harmonise, providing an understanding of a marginalised group, bringing an issue forth, highlighting the issues and showcasing the response while questioning ‘what is our role in fixing this’, and then going on to integrate the work and hopefully the activism into the larger community of Melbourne planting seeds of change in the form of furniture.
DEVELOPMENT OF CONCEPT
INTRODUCTIONS Lie of the Land 8 Hours Monument
Initial classes in this elective introduced me to the ideas of agency and its relationship to the size and permanence of our works. The idea that works short lived allow for more agency, while there is less independent control over larger more permanent works. This called into question the meaning of my own practice in architecture, one which focuses on large scale permanent works, often limited by rules and regulations, and multiple people involved in production. It caused me to interrogate my area of practice, namely how and where it’s most impactful. How a building can move, organise and connect people to place appears to have been the largest takeaway.
Investigations of works such as Lie of The Land showed an attention to the lifecycle and every aspect of work in materiality, construction, placement on site and the life of work after its instillation. This is something that carried through to my own work in it’s use of material, life after death and down to its flexibility
The 8 hours monument introduced the concept of location as a defining factor in the reactions to monument, how a public artwork can be a lightning rod in one area and a trophy in the next. Queen Victoria Markets location, the concentration of people, and the presence of homeless people in this area make it an ideal candidate for an occupation and protest. The fact that this area feels at the edge of the city, with a cool breeze and the sounds of far fewer cars particularly as the day comes to a close, the sounds of birds that appears increase the closer you get to site all make this site a perfect camp spot.
Investigations into Richard Serra proved the need for ubiquitous understanding of concept, even if ineffable. Serras works sought to do so through atmosphere, having a direct impact on its habitants, one which could be felt but not necessarily explained. For a public work to truely take advantage of its placement, it should be universally understood, or at least something should be able to be taken from it.
THE POLITICS OF PUBLIC ARTS
MPavilion Hammer Thrower
MPavilion showcases a disconnect between public arts and the public, it illustrates the true value of public arts as universal element of culture and how debilitating it is when it denies this aspect of itself. Public Arts should be open to all, how can it call itself public without being open to it.
MPavilion is a power play between the NGV and those who they have pissed off, kind of a representation of the 1% and ‘open to the public’ with restricted access through overwatch. It operates less like a public work and more like a maxed out gallery space, heavily controlled and curated. The MPavilion while a contribution to culture is not really public art, not universal, not open.
Hammer Thrower showed the importance of discourse between public art and the public, how powerful an evolving work can be with the input of others, that the growth of an artwork beyond its initial instillation can be what connects it to context.
Hammer thrower is an interesting work, not only for its artistic show of physics. The tension in the throwers body, the implied motion, the opposing forces in seemingly perfect balance. It’s placement by the road, giving the appearance that the thrower is swinging the hammer as it should be as you watch the work while driving by. Beyond its artistic form is its provenance, being rented by the city of Melbourne from Rio Tinto who had commissioned the artwork for their head office. The dynamic of a city renting from such a powerful organisation, the government almost positioning itself as a customer. The art being set in a place that it was intended to be and the problems associated. It’s original intended site is probably tied into its vandalism problem, with the hammer having been frequently stolen leaving the thrower seemingly mid way through falling. The fact that this gave way to artistic intervention with the hammer soon being augment into a glode and the statue renamed ‘atlas’ and new meaning, with big business having the world on a string. Being placed in public and becoming public art. This is a living artwork, not intended as one but a show of a true reaction, a true dialogue between the work and the public.
A severely rejected artwork now relegated to the back of nowhere. A misunderstood piece, it was rejected on the basis of public opinion. Shown in different contexts it’s been given differing purposes, shown to work in different ways, as an obstruction, a shelter, a stored and hidden item. This class and particularly this work introduced me to the importance of public reception and the changing understandings of works. I would suggest that the most important aspect of this work was its rejection, the protests, the publics involvement and say over the work. It was such a powerful force and in my own proposal I wished to harness this for the cause brought forth.
Kerri’s words on breaking the fourth wall informed my overall approach to this design. In my understanding to break the fourth wall is to remove the divide between artists and the public they make the work for. In some works the creator can be separated by a wall of symbolism, artistic intent and an often hard to read meaning or explanation to their work. With no direct impact or influence on people or place these works can feel reserved for the privileged few who can understand. Making this protest clear, even if only through feeling and not intent, if only through the eliciting emotion is the breaking of that fourth wall. Taking a problem or issue that seems seperate or other to the general public and bringing it into their world, breaking the fourth wall of ‘not my problem’.
John Robinson, Hammer Thrower
SITE INVESTIGATION
An exercies in deep Interogation of bilding 50, paying close atten tion to what we ay have otherwise glosed over
Classes in this course introduced the ideas of the Situationists such as Guy Debord, namely the concept of the derive. To distract and relinquish control in the effort to discover new things
Depriving one sense in an effort to change perspective, these earplugs were used to shift more concentration to all senses other than hearing on the path to and the area of the site. I found more importance upon subsequent trips to site, this exercise made me more aware of the sounds on the way to site.
The Flaneur
The choice to work in the medium of the written word, not my typical choice but a means of understanding the thinking of people in place and giving fairly direct voice to my thinking. This was an idea incited by some of the concepts talked about by Kerri in relation to the invention of written language, that it changed perception, seeing our words vs. hearing them, and then the same effects of the photograph and then screens, seeing our view of the world as an image, essentially believing our eyes to be the same as cameras. Documenting through written word allowed me to look more so at the factors of the site as individual objects, giving me a differing perspective to highly direct analytical documentation of site. Concentrating on these individual elements is also a practice in the interstitial beliefs of … a philosophy I came across in investigations for an architecture history assignment last semester. A concentration on individual elements dissociated from their framework as a means to better understand the space between them, the interstice.
Sticks
Provided with sticks we were asked to walk to site, tracing our path, reacting to elements on our walk. I think the largest impact was its distraction, the concentration on not using up all the chalk, forcing me to slow down and also shifting my view to it. My Stick was named Geof, it was first adorned with orange tape, and then with red, the chalk broke.
Sound
The sounds were taken note of on this walk, cars travel in mass down Victoria street, and hug the hoddle grid, sounds of engines at idle and acceleration are plenty but consistent speed is rare, everything is moving, stopping and starting. People walk by but rarely talking amongst themselves or to others. The city grows more quiet the closer you get to site, the sounds of the breeze and the birds becomes far more evident. A beautifully peaceful site.
Seen
Tall buildings tower over in the city and remain consistent in height until site. The site exists on a seemingly hard edge of the city and is largely surrounded to the east by residential towers but is flat and with clear views to the sky so immediately adjacent to the hoddle grid. This area feels free, almost like you could drop a house here and have a backyard bordered by towers, an area untouched by the city.
Felt
The air within the city feels stagnant, heavy and thick, compressed by the towers and held by masonry, concrete and asphalt that make up the majority of it. The walk to the site and as such itself is cooler, it gets progressively cooler as you grow closer and the breeze can be felt most in the open area of the site
An area intended to act as a community garden and gathering place on the corner of Victoria street and Therry street. This area was set up with a community garden, benches, trees and bordering fence with inbuilt seating. Each time that I walked by it was populated with multiple homeless people and their blankets, doonas, and pillows. They were often talking with one another, smiling and enjoying this sort of de facto encampment. It was the happiness and community that I saw here which drove me to create a space much like it. The fact that this place was intended to be a communal area where people could grow vegetables, sit and have lunch, study and meet up with friends and the fact that it turned into a community where people slept and lived was an immense influence. I saw this namely as an opportunity to have a direct positive impact with my work, to provide something useful. I saw this evolution from casual communal space available to the general public to living space as an interesting phenomenon as well, one which could be used to further or provide a point.
The Camp
On the day I moved around site, taking notes from different points to gain a different understandings, to quite literally see it from different perspectives. I sat in these areas for extended periods of time to best understand the place. To allow things to happen, to allow the life of the area to ensue.
Skoghall Konsthall 7000 Oaks
Skoghall Konsthall was the introduction of necessary infrastructure and the subsequent removal by fire as a show of the importance and need for this piece of infrastructure in the community. It was a dramatic act and caused uproar throughout the community, this upset led to complaint and subsequently change with installation of a new gallery/museum space in the area. Bringing an issue to the public, creating dramatic change/upset and garnering response. What I’ve learnt is that more people are more like;y to be invested in a solution and avoid a problem, so the marketing of a problem as positive first is the best way to gain investment in an otherwise difficult issue, to bring the community in and make it a part of their lives that they themselves have chosen.
Joseph Beuys work, 7000 oaks was a form of activism that sought to accomplish the clear goal of planting trees in the town of Kessel Germany. A cause and subsequently an effect. An entire community appeared to be behind this, working in the protest and the planting. This artwork was so simply direct and it caused immediate positive impact on its community, no subtlety, no subversive message just cause and effect, it didn’t facilitate change as much as it was change.
