I investigated the effect of war on informal urban practice.

Leading into wartime, public space be-

comes aggressive - a place for people

to speak their mind.

During war time, people are often forced

out of their homes and into public

space. Urban practuce becomes less

recreational and more associated with

the simple act of survival. Private acts

become public, and everyday practices

such as eating and seeking medical

treatment become communal activities.

:: urban practice in civil warI carried out an investigation of local town,

North Melbourne to see what sorts of urban

practices occur in our own city.

Results were fairly predictable - much

activity characteristic of any cafe strip

in Melbourne. Open-air dining, window

shopping, dog walking and talking on the

phone were some of the practices I

witnessed. In pairs, we then speculated

what would happen if we slightly changed

an element of these activities. A major

question that came up was that of public

acceptance - WhAt Is ACCEPtABLE IN

PUBLIC sPACE?

:: exploration of north melbourne

In groups of 4 we staged a series of interventions in the public realm to see how people would react to unusual urban practice.

:: intervention We staged an “urban fashion show” back in North Melbourne where we provided a commentary on the outfits of passersby.

the idea was to activiely intervene and

engage with passersby. Also to further

define informal urban practice indicative of

Nth Melbourne.

We occupied at 7:30 on a Friday evening,

and again at 10am Monday morning.

Reactions were mostly good humoured and

we gained a more obvious

acknowledgement than with the

interventions in Melbourne.

:: occupation

We tested three different scenarios, with the most volunteered engagement from

the general public happening when we wove a ball of string along Bourke street,

between Exhibition and swanston streets.

1. LEAvINg A PhONE IN PUBLIC 2. “ghOstINg”

3. tRAIL OF stRINg - BOURkE stREEt

through the work so far, I have a few major themes emerging and areas of interest to look towards. In my final project I am working towards a few aims:

++ DIRECt CONNECtION AND ENgAgEMENt FROM thE PUBLIC WIth INtERvENtION

++ INvOkINg sURPRIsE OR REvELAtION

++ CREAtINg A tRAIL AND CURIOsItY

++ CONNECtINg PEOPLE - CREAtINg COMMUNItY

++ CREAtINg sOCIAL COMMENt ON sUstAINABLE LIvINg

:: interests and themes

the trading market provided opportunity to share our discoveries and interests that we have developed over the first half of the semester.

It also provided us a

chance to stage our own

informal practice as a

group. Unfortunately not a

lot of engagement with the

public occured, however

much engagment with my

peers occured and I

discovered I share many key

interest areas with my peers.

hence I have decided to

work within a group for my

final project.

the project is entitled “the

habitallery” and aims to

create a projection gallery

somewhere in Melbourne. It

will encompass all of the key

aims listed to the left.

:: trading market day

Quinn Delany s3105624