Melbourne's love affair with lanes

We love our laneways so much that we are trying to make new ones, writes Suzy Freeman-Greene.
What's in a lane? It depends where you are. In Drewery Lane, you'll find the back end of shops, locked gates, hanging pots, the Celebrity Wig Store, trees, distressed bricks and second-hand books. Posters for a concert - Music For a Cleaner Future - are stuck on a freshly painted, tan wall.
 
 
In Hosier Lane, you'll see bluestone pavers, a slash of sky above a wedge of Fed Square and some amazing graffiti and stencil art. The National Trust should classify the walls of nearby Rutledge Lane. There's a Keith Haring homage; a cute little space alien in pink undies and Colonel Sanders with a skeleton face and rotting teeth. The best stencil shows a cop in a chequered cap waving a spray can. Irony spills from our city walls.
 
 
Sydneysiders envy Melbourne's lanes. They have an intimacy, a palpable history, you won't find amid northern skyscrapers and harbour panoramas. Lanes are textured, their past vivified in old bricks, torn posters, faint signs. Lanes give us strange new views: the arse-end of buildings; a kitchen hand slumped on a back step during smoko; bits of towers looming above brick walls.
 
 
Lanes are surprising. I remember the first time a friend dragged me down a stinking, winding lane, full of overflowing garbage bins, to a bar called the Croft Institute. Such a low-rent entrance only added to its appeal. I tried to find it again the other day but got disoriented by daylight and fresh air.
 
 
I remember, too, stumbling upon the camouflaged street art in Heffernan Lane, off Little Bourke Street. We walked past those priceless "Commit No Nuisance" signs, on past the Kum Den Bar and Restaurant and Wing Cheong Food Service, then glimpsed what appeared to be a council No Parking sign. It said: "The fairest universe is but a heap of rubbish, piled up at random." Other signs offered more Zen-like aphorisms. "It is the opposite which is good for us." "We listen to it and do not hear it."
 
 
Recently, a new kind of lane has come to Melbourne. You might call it the designer lane. At New Quay, at Docklands, there is St Mangos Lane. It is wide and squeaky clean, with polished stone pavements, clipped hedges and smooth, grey concrete walls. It houses a bakery, an ATM, a gallery, a juice bar, a hair and beauty parlour, a public toilet and a chemist called Compoundia. St Mangos meets the windswept Caravel Lane. It has delivery entrances and a hot-pink, automatic DVD rental machine. known as Bug Eye.
 
 
At the new QV development, Artemis Lane is full of shops: Rebel Sports, Matchbox, a bike store called Simple Harmonic Motion. It's a lane, technically, but it feels mall-like. A grey, concrete wall dominates one side of it. There are no billposters other than the ones saying I Love QV. More convincing is the lane leading from the Max Brenner chocolate store to Swanston Street. You can see snatches of architectural features, some cute shops and lots of people.
 
 
I'm pleased that developers are trying to create intimate spaces, human-scale walkways amid massive buildings. But these lanes feel sterile, with a singular focus on spending. Writing in the current Arena magazine, Ben Gook sums up the problem. A complex such as QV, with its sparkling new laneways, shows how urban malls are now trying to recreate the city, in the city. But while they simulate a "street" vibe, these spaces, he says, are a constructed, middle-class fantasy, closely controlled and patrolled by security guards. Consumption is the job here. The urban underclass is "tactfully, if not tastefully, invisible".
 
 
In the made-over Melbourne Central mall, old-style street signs point to tarted up lanes: Menzies Place (entirely undercover) and Menzies Alley (lined with cafes). But these lanes, like their new siblings, desperately need to be roughed up by the street.
 
 
On Dudley Street, near New Quay, there was once a wall painted in fluorescent colours. Stencil artists and graffitists flocked to it, covering the lime and orange bricks with kooky and witty designs. This wall was an oasis amid all the concrete and asphalt. Then it got painted over: a deathly, thick grey.
 
Suzy Freeman-Greene is a staff journalist.
"Melbourne's love affair with lanes - Opinion - www.theage.com.auu

i LiKE the CiTY because

I like the city because it shelters my madness from those who can not appreciate it's a labour of love.

I  like the city because it allows my dreams to rest in the gutter or take refuge in a young urban girl's hair.

I like the city because I  ride  the trains and  realise how insignificant we are.

I like the city because I can pretend to be in a hurry and apologise for arriving early.

I like the city because  street beggers  allow me to feel pity and indifference with simultaneous movements.

I like the city because I can watch  people as they would like to be.

I like the city because I can flirt with my own image.

I like the city because it knows I'm a fraud but it's willing to look the other way.

I like the city  because  filth can be easily replicated.

I like the city because normal people can be easily overlooked.

I like the city because all men are created equal, at least at Steamworks.

I like the city because Hosier Lane has never heard of Sir Arthur Streeton.

I like the city because you can find Albert Tucker everywhere.

I like the city because everyone seems to be heading in the same direction.

I like the city because  taxi drivers have some idea where they are.

I like the city because it smells like me.

Homeless and without a permit

Everyday i come out of Parliament station and there on the corner is this homeless guy.He sits on the pavement and  attempts to sell drawings to the people walking by.. Sometimes he draws  directly on the pavement with pastels. The output  is quite bad and overall the whole image is pathetic and sad. No one seems to take much notice of this poor creature but i figure he must make   something, he is there everyday.

The other  day I walked past and the drawings were gone. The dirty cardboard on the ground quickly explained the situation. Apparently he had given it up because he was being fined for not having a permit.

Not only did this poor bastard have to put  up with the humiliation and injustice  of poverty and homelessness, he had to cop an infringment as well.

 So where we had a person trying to maintain a shred of pride, albeit by selling crappy drawings that no one  really wants.. we now have a person begging.

What has been achieved? He is still there...less dignified..probably with less money at the end of the day... and definitely with less hope.

 IT is OK to have any crap shoved in your face ...be offered any kind of subscription service... ironically even asked to support the poor at the traffic lights,  but you must have a permit  to  draw a stick figure on the pavement.

 I understand the reason behind  the permit thing ....but this poor guy is down..very down ....to enforce such a law  is harsh even for a heartless town like Melbourne.

The Orangutans and the Palm Oil Crop

 Yesterday I was at the Melbourne Zoo. Good crowd, fine  whether..Melbourne at its casual best. It had been sometime since I had visited the Zoo and I was impressed by the look of the place. Of particular interest was the new Orangutan enclosure...well relatively new...open for 2 years. It was certainly a step up from the previous pit they were housed in and i thought these guys  have got it made.

Just as I was about to move on the Zoo Keeper presentation started, so I thought I would take in the show.Not knowing much about these amazing creatures I found the presentation informative.

It all turned soar when I heard that their cousins in the wild were not doing so well. Apparently the Palm Oil cash crop is devastating their land. By all accounts if this continues they have less than a decade before extinction.So what is this Palm Oil stuff? As recommended by the Zoo keeper I googled palm oil action ... and there it was...all the nasty details.

Apparently, it is used in almost everything.....from lollies to KFC.

Fortunately, there are some people more savvy than myself who have already taken the necessary steps to get this stuff under control.

If you interested in learning more about this  topic, follow the link below.

http://www.palmoilaction.org.au/

Also, here is the link to the Zoo Keeper presentation.

http://aroundmelbourne.com.au/index.php?option=com_seyret&Itemid=28&task=videodirectlink&id=154

AM discusses the VCA with Manager of Corporate Affairs, Christina Buckridge

The dust may have settled following last week’s protests in which 2000 people lobbied to save The Victorian College of the Arts (VCA) but the public outcry continues.
What’s proving most problematic for those such as the Dean of the VCA Sharman Pretty, is the widespread negative media coverage. High-profile protesters such as Geoffrey Rush, RocKwiz host Julia Zemiro and Noni Hazlehurst have helped to make the story leading news.
Even without such high-profile supporters, things really couldn’t get any worse for the VCA thanwhen a graduating student was applauded at a presentation ceremony earlier this year for declaring ‘the people could thank the University of Melbourne for ripping the heart out of the VCA’.
But has the media given the VCA any sort of legitimate right of reply? The Age must be applauded for publishing an article by Professor Pretty that suggested the future of the VCA was not as bleak as most people think.
Around Melbourne interviewed the University of Melbourne’s Manager of Corporate Affairs, Christina Buckridge to find out if the controversy was all just a part of a media maelstrom.
In its quoting and coverage of Professor Pretty, the media has largely ignored her background. If you dug a little into the Dean’s past, you’ll find that the Professor is atrained oboist.
One could assume that given this, she may have a vested interest in preserving what is culturally rare. However, such assumptions are always dangerous.
But Ms Buckridge emphasizes the university’s stance in regards to preserving specialization in arts education and studio-based training.
She re-iterates that the new Faculty of VCA and Music (VCAM) has six discipline areas including Art,Drama, Dance, Production, Music and Film and Television. All will continue to be studio-based specializations.
The real question behind this statement is: is this just PR spin?
After all, many contend that upon acquiring the position of Dean of the VCA, Professor Pretty’s brief included faculty amalgamation and cost-cutting.
Ms Buckridge denies that this is the case as the amalgamation of the VCA and the University of Melbourne to form the Faculty of theVictorian College of the Arts took place in 2007. The new Dean arrived a long while after this took place in April 2009.
Interestingly, the Council of the former VCA actually voted to amalgamate with the University of Melbourne in the first place.
Ms Buckridge believes that the widespread negativism in relation to the merger between the two colleges is due to misinformation.
‘For instance, it has been claimed that the current curriculum has changed to the Melbourne Model. That is not so. While the New Generation Bachelor of Music is offered through the Faculty of Music (and has been for two years) the conversation about any change of curriculum in other areas of the Faculty ofthe VCA and Music has not begun.’
Furthermore, there also seems to be a misunderstanding of what the Melbourne Model actually is.Most see it as a strait jacket rather than an educational philosophy.
According to MsBuckridge, the Melbourne Model is a ‘process of curriculum development that will be carried out over the coming year and the Faculty has confirmed that it will consult widely with stakeholders (staff, students, alumni, art community etc) with the aim of ensuring the Faculty will be internationally-competitive and will offer the very best visual and performing arts education in the country.’
Another question surfaces here. Can we really trust these ‘stakeholders’ to form a worthy curriculum? Ms Buckridge explains that this will be done by releasing a discussion paper by the end of the year that will invite responses from the community.
But will this help to quell the argument that students are now required to take ‘irrelevant subjects’? The University believes its New Generation undergraduate programs allow students to take relevant ‘breadth’ subjects that enhance the core disciple.
Regardless of these processes the university plans to undertake, there is one issue that won’t go away: money. Many critics claim the administration has financial interests only.
Predictably, Ms Buckridge labels this as another misunderstanding and re-iterates that the University is not a profit-making organization. She explains that any ‘profits’or cost savings made are fed back into the teaching and research.
Between 2005-2011,around $100 million in additional funding will have been allocated towards(VCAM).
Ms Buckridge says that the University fought for extra funding from the Federal Government but was denied. While the Arts portfolio adequately provides for institutions such as NIDA, no funds are allocated to the VCA. One must ask, why?
So, in trying to make sense of what is and what isn’t to be believed in this debate, another important question arises. Can the university move beyond such wide spread negative publicity?
Will we see this new version of the university ever being praised for its contributions to society?
Ms Buckridge believes it can but this remains to be seen.

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