Taking a Strand
The recent comunity cultural development project ‘ The Strand’ by Melbourne based company Trax Arts was an impressive insight into the less seen life of the shambolic and character laden environs of the Preston MArkets in the Northern Suburbs of Melbourne caught in a flux of gentrification and the squeezing of public space to make way for characterless development.
Arriving a little late I was a bit confused about what I was about to see. My partner had seen it prior and I was excited about this idea… a show and exhibition developed from a 1 year residency at the Preston looking at the reaction and effect that redevlopment of this market has from the persepctive of the stallholders. Hmm big stuff, big project , big expectations.
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With many conversations with the directors and brief visits to the site I was extremely impressed by the vision and commitment of both B Cohen and Tara Prowse. Two years ago a planning process was occuring to revamp the markets into something a bit more .. hmm modern, with aims for larger carparks , a three storey space , possibly Mc Donalds, Sportsgirls , and other plethora of franchise stores chains choking what was there prior. Trax made a commitment to capture and document this incredibly lively spot with the overall project umbrella of ‘The Market Value’ project. ‘The Strand’ was the performance outcome of this ongoing project and one that was a summation of groups activities over the past year.
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While waiting around for the show, I heard a sound like a muffled mixture between crappy video-audio and a eighties pop song. This young man walked out with a backpack holding a a projector projecting an image a small girl on a space ship. He moved it like a puppet utilsing the awnings and architecture to great effect. Splashing onto a piece of butchers paper which was abruptly torn down to reveal the corridors of the Delicatessan area of the market.
The audience was invited in to the corrdor where their where around ten monitors displayed with vignettes montages , and character profiles . It was promenade installation at its best, revealling stories of children , shop owners , developers , activists, all types of people , faces and ‘culture’. Here was an snapshot of what was happening those that wanted the re-development , those who were opposed and those who will be most likely affected by it.
It really was incredibly warm and touching. Two particularly outstanding video works showed an insight into this world that could only occur if it was created in-situ. The first was a teenage love story of a break-up between an emo girl and asian boy and culiminated in a beautiful and serene operatic rendition of Edith Piaf’s ‘Non, je ne regrette rien’ ’ by the girl to call back her lover. The other was a Jacques Tati inspired doco of the messiness and chaos of the carpark. The latter had particular appeal to me as I had , at times, been afflicicted by the shambles of Saturday carparking.
After this we were called to the centre space. It was central part of the mall with a large sign , showing the different regions of this sprawling space. The perfomance gave snapshots of the different stallholers lives. One was a zippy fruiterer , another a CD shop owner played brilliantly by a man called Zorro . When an ex-stallholder daughter comes back to space she meets the stallholders who she had known, but she had changed somehwhat and followed a ‘proffessional’ career as a designer. The acting was precise but at times a little forced , but it was understandible as the acoustics of working in a non -theatrical space can be little daunting.
There were non-naturalistic moments of bike riding gangs and the kooky construction – developer types zipping randomly and commenting on the its ‘european’ aestheic not being ‘in’ , at the moment. These characters contrasted strongly with the others , as they were agenda driven , comical and self-interested.
The culimnation came with the cleaner falling in love with the desginer. The other charcters relize that she is one of the people involved in the re-development. Zorro made it very clear that it seemed as if no-one in the markets was consulted in the re-development. I thought about what this meant. I has seen all of these people in the videos, and the perfomance , and I became aware of all these peoples lives , entwined in this space and place , its stories , its dramas all revolved around the banter, chaos and commerce of a diverse and unique environment. It was under threat, on the cusp of change , at the whim of the encroaching wave of gentrification that has afflicted many of the inner city areas of the Western world.
By the end of the show , I wanted more. I was pulled into this world and was entertained and a little sadened if the proposed development takes palce and the characters showed that life occurs in vibrant ways under the radar of governments, developers and managment. I wanted more of this rich understanding of how people survive in this market. I wanted more of this meaningful showcase of a public space such as this. This project is an outstanding example of what art can achieve , highlighting politics and the divisive means at destroying something that has inherant ‘cultural’ value beyond the franchise flicker of development. True public space is not a shopping mall, it is a space where the public can take control of their own commercial destinies.
The Strand part of the Market Value Project by Trax Arts
19th-29th November Preston Markets, Victoria.
