The Null Device

Smith Street, Fitzroy's most character-rich street, has a posse blog. (via cnwb)

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As yuppification and noise complaints force venues in Melbourne's traditional live music heartland (Fitzroy and environs) to close, go all-acoustic or become wine bars or boutique apartments, the scene is moving further out, and is apparently about to cross the barrier into Northcote; the people who run the Corner Hotel in Richmond are opening a new venue there next year, and looking for a name for it. Which could be a good sign for Northcote, which has mostly been a folk/roots/blues/feral-techno sort of place until now, though should have the demographics to support a live rock scene. I wonder whether it'll be the seed of a new local scene, or just an isolated venue like the ones which opened up in other "one-further-out" areas (Preston, Footscray, Sydney Rd. and such).

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The Between The Spires art opening went quite well. There were some 63 works by 37 artists, presented in a large and quite pleasant gallery. Most of the works were pictures (photographs, prints, paintings, etchings, Photoshop work, &c), though there were a few mixed-media sculptures (notably Bruce McLaverty's glasses full of drugs, cigarette butts, silk ties and Italian banknotes), and one neon sign reading "HISTORICALLY INSIGNIFICANT LOCATION" (or something to that effect); nobody submitted any video installations or iMacs running Flash animations or anything like that. Though one work did include a tower of matches, which was demolished by an enthusiastic toddler an hour into the exhibition.

The works were all Fitzroy-related, though the connection was somewhat tenuous in some cases; though there were quite a few photographs, streetscapes and renderings of landmarks, not to mention one embroidered street map, and a piece titled "www.urbanjoke,cheese grater,young st.", which seemed to be about a controversial luxury apartment building plan opposed by residents.

My two pieces (which were the only ones of the Punters Club in the entire show) were on the wall in the corner; they attracted some attention, and a few compliments (some even from people I didn't know personally). (I didn't win any of the prizes, in case you're wondering.) Incidentally, when asked if I wanted to sell them, I put them up for $50 each. Whether anybody actually decides to part with $50 for one of them is an entirely different question.

All in all, it was a good event; I'm now even more tempted to print out more of my digital images and have an exhibition somewhere; probably late this year or early next.

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A while ago, the Found Project Space gallery in Brunswick St. (which had previously hosted things like Cameron Potts' photography exhibition) announced that they were hosting an exhibit/competition for art representing the changing face of Fitzroy. Shortly afterward, the gallery was evicted from the space it was occupying (a former warehouse behind an Internet laundry) by rising rents and avaricious landlords eager to sell the space to a DJ bar or yuppie lifestyle apartments or something.

Meanwhile, across the road, the teen-oriented pizza bar that will be taking over the shell of the Punters Club has announced its own competition for a promotional photograph; the new face of Fitzrovian creativity (much like Sam Newman's Pamela Anderson mural was the new face of St Kilda quirkiness). And then there's the cancellation of the Fringe parade, and the continuous closure of shops that don't sell expensive designer fashion items.

I think what Brunswick Street really needs now is a Starbucks or three, and I mean that seriously. That would finally put the last nail in the coffin of the obsolete notion of the area being a hotbed of creativity, or indeed having any sort of authentic culture, or being about anything other than artifice and consumerism. And I think the location of PolyEster Books (or Records) would make a good Starbucks location, don't you?
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A piece on public radio station PBS, which has been forced out of St Kilda by rising rents and yuppie pinks who don't like that noisy weird shit taking over, and is moving to Collingwood. (Collingwood? They'll probably have to move on from there within 10 years once yuppification takes hold. And anyone want to bet on how long 3RRR will stay in Fitzroy (just off Brunswick Street latté-land, where the Punters Club won't be for much longer), before being moved on to an industrial park in Lalor or someplace?)

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