Melbourne’s Laneways: Places of Mystique and Hidden Senses
Melbourne City’s Laneways were a by-product of surveyor Robert Hoddle’s Grid in the early nineteenth century; Hoddle’s Grid provided the foundational layout of the city (Bate, 1994). Being plain narrow offsets from buildings on adjacent blocks of land, the laneways were essentially only used as walkways or entry/exit points. By the mid-nineteenth century, and due to the discovery of gold and migration flux, the laneways became associated with marginalised ethnic populations living in the surrounding areas and an undesirable environment known for its poor sanitation and criminal behaviour (Fung, 2006). It was not until the 1970s and 1980s that Melbourne began to consider "laneway heritage" and preserving the urban character. And as a more recent project that began at the turn of this century, Melbourne’s city council initiated the Laneway Commissions program as part of a contemporary project aiming to explore the hidden possibilities of these laneways through temporary artwork and art-related events (City of Melbourne). Whether it was graffiti, video installations or text, artists and designers had sought to involve their creations in those laneways aiming at evoking the passer-by’s senses and memories. And thus, in this case study I will be focusing on the development of laneways in the city, from dark, enclosed and undesirable spaces to places of light and space and positive communication; places of mystique. On a two-dimensional surface; a map, laneways are those thin lines that separate the built forms from each other and create a positive and negative distinction, but in the third dimension, they are the intricate cracks that create their own sense of spatiality. This case study will analyse some of the interesting laneway projects throughout the city that involve this interplay of spatial and temporal experiences through various forms of installations.
The History of the Hoddle Grid and the creation of laneways Laid out in a grid system that dates from 1837, Melbourne’s city centre was designed by surveyor General Robert Hoddle (Bate, 1994). According to Andy-Brown May in Melbourne’s Street Life, this grid imposed a new spatial order on a landscape which for thousands of years had been subject to a different and intimate relationship between Aboriginal people and the land (May, 1997). May argues that upon the arrival of European settlers, a new cultural expression took place as a response to the new landscape; a response to what the settlers perceived as “wilderness to be tamed or a garden paradise” ready for their arrival (May, 1997). But most significantly, the laying down of the grid, the proposal of wide-open streets and the creation of buildings and other social and civic amenities proved to newcomers that the city was in a state of continuous progress and that Melbourne had its future clearly laid out before it (May, 1997). The rectangular Hoddle Grid, measuring 1.6 km by 0.8 km, gives the most formality to its wide and airy main streets which in effect alternate with intimate and less formal laneways and alleys (MacMahon, 2001). The next part of this case study will hence focus on the development of those laneways, from their previous connotations of being poor relations to the wide-open streets, to the contemporary belief that they are an integral part of the grid, merging with the main streets and creating a shared atmosphere, whilst retaining their uniqueness.
The creation of Melbourne’s laneways:
Before we understand Melbourne’s lanes from the contemporary point of view as being places of mystique and interesting spatiality, located away from the busy main streets of the city, it is essential to acknowledge the lanes’ history, when they were merely narrow pathways off of buildings, and unappreciated as a result. In Melbourne’s Street Life, May defines Melbourne’s lanes as intended back entrances to buildings, i.e. setbacks, that became populous streets within a couple of years containing significant buildings (May, 1997). Being narrow, enclosed and dark, the laneways were only used as walkways or entry/exit points. But they were mostly unfavoured and disreputable for being sources of endangerment to public health through the overcrowding of tens of dwellings on blocks intended for only one or two (May, 1997). And so, the laneways and alleys of the 19th century city, which developed off the main streets, developed a social stigma as they became associated with deviant behaviour (May, 1997).
From a more geographical perspective, Weston Bate argues in 'Essential but Unplanned' that the best way to understand Melbourne’s lanes is by imagining the city halved and then quartered (Bate, 1994). That aside, Bate supports the previous point made by May about the problem of overcrowding in laneways and the social stigmas associated with it. Bate argues that in the 1840s, the status of the lanes was set by „miserable‟ subdivisions to provide housing for labourers and craftsmen (Bate, 1994). Some of those lanes were private and locked at night with fine wrought-iron gates (Bate, 1994). In this picture that Bate delivers, it is possible to imagine the status of the 19th century lanes and alleys, being poorly related to the main streets, badly lit and places of disorder.
The loss of valuable elements like light and space order imposes an overall negative impact on the spirit of the laneways by making them all the duller and more undesirable. The next area of this study aims at analysing the “revival of the senses” through contemporary 21st century projects that add colour, light and space to the dull, narrow and grey laneways.
The senses:
This case study will describe Melbourne’s CBD laneways as triggers of the human senses. The interplay of light and shadow, music and calm and colours are an example of what people may experience in those laneways. The sense of scale is undoubtedly an important part of this case study as well, as it gives us an insight into the general macro context in which those laneways are situated and then allows us to see the micro context of each individual lane. Moreover, understanding the sense of scale, i.e. how big or small, wide or narrow those laneways are, allows us to understand the effect of space availability on people and their experiences. City of Melbourne’s Laneway Commissions: The Laneway commissions program by the City of Melbourne is a contemporary project that began in 2001 and is still ongoing. It aims at enriching and celebrating Melbourne’s laneways through a series of contemporary artwork, projects and events by various artists (City of Melbourne). The City of Melbourne thus provides annual laneway commissions in the form of temporary artworks in the public realm (City of Melbourne). This source is particularly significant for this case study as it provides the ideology behind the utility of laneways as an art exhibit, the artists‟ perspectives on their art and how it corresponds to the laneway and the surrounding environment, and the public acceptance, or unacceptance, of these projects.
The Aesthetics of Light:
Good lighting conditions are a crucial factor in creating welcoming and desirable spaces. Daylight is essential in providing a pleasant visual environment and contributing to a feeling of wellbeing (Phillips, 2004). Open spaces are known to have the utmost exposure to light, but this is not the case in Melbourne’s laneways and alleys. Though they are not covered, little light penetrates the narrow space, making it generally dark, and they are often open only from one side. Since light is dependent on orientation, seasons and weather conditions, people can experience different effects of light, reflections and shadows in laneways at 6 different times. The Duration Light Project is an art installation that explores the effects of light in a narrow unknown laneway running on a north-south axis between the Lindrum Hotel on Flinders Street and Shell House at 1 Spring Street (Johnson, 2009). Created by artist Geoff Robinson in 2009, as part of the Laneway Commissions Program, the work consists of a series of coloured reflective panels positioned and angled to reflect direct sunlight onto the laneway passageway.
According to Anna Johnson’s essay on Robinson’s project, the artist’s aim through this installation was “to create a work that draws people’s attention to time and the sun’s movement relative to the city” (Johnson, 2009). Each reflective panel has its own colour, as seen in figure 3 above, and will thus reflect individually coloured and identifiable patterns. Colour becomes an integral part of this project, identifying it as a signifier of time. The experience of the passers-by will be dependent on what time of the day they pass this laneway and what colour(s) they see reflected onto the laneway and the polished gray wall (Johnson, 2009). But whether the reflective panels were coloured or not, the central aim of this project is to bath the dark narrow laneway with extensive rays of light. The success of this project lies in Robinson’s ability to connect our senses of space, light and time in places as dark and narrow as laneways, and transforming them into places of light and openness through simple installations of coloured reflective panels.
Graffiti Art and the Power of Colour Giving Colour Another Chance:
Smells, sounds, textures and even people are valuable elements that help us characterise where we live and impose our perceptions of places; whether it was the vibrant metropolitan city or the quite suburb. Colour, however, is an element embedded into the roots of every building and every corner of the street, without which defining a particular place is meaningless. Vegetation is inevitably a crucial element in giving a certain type of landscape that sense of liveliness and vibrancy through the Flora’s different shades of colour, but in Melbourne’s CBD it’s the colourful streets and laneways, with their textures and colours, that impose an even greater effect on the overall city environment. The emphasis here is on the laneways, which despite being tucked-in and hidden from the main open spaces and streets are arguably a fundamental part in Melbourne’s art scene (ABC, 2008). Melbourne’s laneways give colour another chance to be appreciated by a busy, working public. The revival of colour, in what were dull and unwanted places in the nineteenth and early twentieth century, is achieved by attention-grabbing Graffiti art and painted murals that often connote social, economic and political statements. This will be the debate of the next part of this study where I will analyse the role graffiti has in defining Melbourne’s laneway atmosphere and its impact on the viewing public.
As has been mentioned earlier in this study, Melbourne’s Laneway Commissions program aims at enriching the city’s laneways through various art works and installations of artists and designers from various different backgrounds and influences. Acting with the laneway commissions program to preserve the laneways of Melbourne are Australia's National Trust and Heritage Victoria (ABC, 2008). They are both supportive and protective of laneway art, especially graffiti, which is a form of representation that raises a lot of controversy about its metaphorical stature within the city. One of the main questions that graffiti raises is whether it is a form of art or a source of vandalism. The National Trust has been supportive of the idea of graffiti as “an art form in its own right gaining momentum locally and abroad” since 1999 (ABC, 2008). However, the idea of graffiti as an art with which Melbournians could engage and upon which they could reflect and share thoughts, the fact that it is being preserved and 8 legalised “opens the floodgates to vandalism” according to the chief executive of „Graffiti Hurts Australia‟ Scott Hilditch (ABC, 2008). According to Jeff Stewart in “Street Art and the City”, graffiti is a product of an urban environment with which local governments need to engage; creatively and with tolerance (Stewart, 2011). Tolerating this vigorous and diverse form of expression is itself a form of appreciation to what graffiti artists have to offer and most importantly, to be distinguished from „vandals‟ (Stewart, 2011). Through legalising street-art projects, the City of Melbourne’s Laneway Commissions provide this distinction between “artists” and “vandals”. However, Stewart argues that the problem in this case lies within the plan of the commission program itself, as it restricts the artist to one sanctioned space and the work produced must be of high-quality (Stewart, 2011). For high-quality work to be produced years of expertise in the art field have to be gained by the artist through various apprenticeships and for the work to be admired by the public (Stewart, 2011). Hence, it is the early beginnings that determine this distinction, because for a graffiti artist the start is always through tagging on trains and in railroads and on residential walls (Stewart, 2011). A project like Citylights, for instance, has allowed graffitists and street artists to come into laneways and add their work to the walls (Burridge, 2003). Citylights has seen graffiti not as a source of vandalism that destroys the aesthetics of a space, but as a representation of colour in a unique manner that increases the identity of the space and adds to its charisma (Burridge, 2003). Citylights, founded by artist Andrew McDonald, is a laneway project that allows graffitists and street artists to engage with the wider community and hence the opportunity to be accepted by the general public (Burridge, 2003). And through an interesting and thought through interplay between light and shadow and colour and its degrees, the laneway project is also successful aesthetically. One of Melbourne’s most obvious attractions is Hosier Lane, which the Citylights project had transformed from a concrete jungle into a colourful passage (Case, 2009). The general themes of graffiti in this lane are cartoons, shrooms, vampire faces, Brixton briefcase, girls, monsters and ninjas, which, despite seeming like mainstream-style 9 street art, may carry a significant cultural and social meaning (Laneway, 2009).
Carlton - Melbourne
Sound: Laneway Music
It is rather expected from laneways to possess much more calmness and tranquillity than its busy neighbouring main streets, with less businesses and shops and less passers-by. This calmness, however, is broken gradually with the chatter of people carrying on conversations and with the patter of dishes and cutlery coming from the few cafes in laneways. In Call Notes, artist Dan St. Clair proves that despite the overall calm with which laneways are generally associated, music can seep into the narrow spaces and resonate onto its surfaces (Samartzis, 2009). In this part of the study, Call Notes will be analysed from the descriptive and theoretical perspectives. Call Notes is a sound installation once located in Hardware Lane in 2009, as part of the Laneway Commissions Program. The installation consists of an array of solar-powered speaker devices, placed in branches of trees that play back the sound of synthesised birds singing melodies from pop culture (Samartzis, 2009). Aiming at evoking memories through music of the past, the journey of passers-by becomes more entertaining and their daily routine changes (Samartzis, 2009). Moreover, such a project activates the laneway’s energy through the melodies of birds which bring in the sense of nature, even if artificial, into the mostly commercial laneway. This project also operates on the availability of the sun; the brighter it is, the more the birds sing (Samartzis, 2009)
In an essay published by Philip Samartzis as a critique on St. Clair’s project, both the theoretical and the descriptive aspect of the installation are explained thoroughly. However, the greatest emphasis goes to analysing the sound installation from its relation to impacting on the listeners’ emotions and evoking their memories through music and sound (Samartzis, 2009). Samartzis describes Hardware Lane as one that is active with sounds generated from Figure 8- Hardware Lane (Google Images, 2011) Figure 9- Hardware Lane (Google Images, 2011) 11 noisy air-conditioners. And thus, what the bird melodies do is override that disturbing noise and harmonise the sound environment of the laneway and the neighbouring passages to which the sound reaches (Samartzis, 2009). Overall, a positive, cheerful environment is created through the music produced. As to the music itself, Samartzis informs us that the melodies sang by the synthesised birds are an eclectic range of pop and folk melodies stretching all the way back to the post-World War II period (Samartzis, 2009). Yet despite this being a positive and harmonious installation that aims at softening the overall environment of the laneway, the matter of acceptance remains at stake. It is unknown whether these melodies would appeal to all listeners who pass-by Hardware Lane, as “the emotional responses to music vary from individual to individual depending on their unique past experiences”, according to Carol Krumhansl (Krumhansl, 2002).
With a general consensus that laneways are merely tight spaces between buildings that only serve as passages to cross to the other side of a block, many of us fail to appreciate this urban phenomenon. Laneways resemble the thin branches of trees; they are often neglected as they are tucked-in the large tree, but they often bear fruit! Laneways are hidden away from the main streets of Melbourne’s CBD but this fact just makes the lanes all the more interesting with a contemporary view of them as "places of mystique". Certainly they weren’t so back in the 19th and 20th century, when they poorly related to the main streets of the city, where often dark and damp and unhealthy environments and where often associated with deviant behaviour. However, introducing new laws about the health and safety of laneways later on in the 20th century had led to an increase in their acceptability as an integral element in the city’s landscape. Soon enough, programs such as the City of Melbourne Laneway Commissions with the support of Australia’s National Trust and Heritage Victoria saw a great opportunity in enhancing those laneways and exhibiting them for the public to be admired. Art installations began to be commissioned annually in certain laneways and the hidden senses began to appear more each year. Light, colour and sound became embedded into every corner of Melbourne’s laneways through the installations discussed in this case study. It is not surprising that with the correct application of those powerful elements, a positive transformation may occur; laneways are now considered by many as airy and beautiful places where they are ready to visit constantly.
* I wish to acknowledge that I, Nora Massouh, have submitted this case study in 2011 as part of a Bachelor of Environments subject, at the University of Melbourne.
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