News & Discussion: General CBD Development

[Alyx]

I wasn't quite sure where to put this, or whether it's important enough to post at all...

LIFE turned a darker shade of grey for inner-city workers today, as Topham Mall?s colourful array of street art was painted over.

The alleyway located between Waymouth and Currie Street has been a popular public canvas for local artists since early 2011.

Topham Mall’s "free wall" was one of six sites chosen as part of Adelaide City Council's initiative to add colour to dormant areas.

Painters on site revealed that Topham Mall's free wall is being relocated to an area near the North Terrace skate park.

Public street art advocates Adelaide Street Art were quick to notice. The group's 6107 Facebook fans are abuzz with speculation. According to group spokeperson, Adam Daze, the free wall’s cancellation is likely due to:

COLLATERAL damage such as tags on adjacent businesses.

TOO much general damage - paint clogging up access doors and floors.

PEOPLE painting during the day - fumes affecting business.

“In my opinion free walls is a great initiative, but sadly it's not a "set and forget" project,” says Mr Daze. “Support in the form of lip-service is not real support, at least not with such a limited shelf-life.”

According to Mr Daze, the walls should stay, but rules should be enforced and artists prosecuted if they break laws.

“Prosecute the rule-breakers, instead of everyone,” he says. “We don't revoke the entire state population's driving licence every time someone loses a few too many points.

“The artists aren't going away... the whole point of an 'outlet' was to concentrate street art activity. Revoking the mall forces artists into illegal areas, ultimately potentially damaging other business, the image of the art, and possibly budding youngsters' criminal records."

Local artist and Espionage Gallery owner Joshua Smith is disappointed but not surprised. The 27-year-old was one of the first artists to paint the wall on the day it opened, adding his most recent work on Sunday.

"I feel as if a mate has just died to be honest," says Mr Smith. "Due to a few people being rebellious and "sticking it to the man" an entire wall is shut down to legitimate artists."

http://www.adelaidenow.com.au/news/in-d ... 6372254162

[Waewick]

“The artists aren't going away... the whole point of an 'outlet' was to concentrate street art activity. Revoking the mall forces artists into illegal areas, ultimately potentially damaging other business, the image of the art, and possibly budding youngsters' criminal records."

I just don't get it.

It is illegal, which, the majority of, is not art.

They want to do something illegal, then they are going to get arrested, it is a fairly basic thing I would have thought.

[Nathan]

What's there not to get? It was an officially sanctioned wall, where people were to paint/spray/paste-up/whatever completely legally - with the idea being that it would draw (at least some) away from doing it illegally. However, there were some conditions/rules attached to it (such as where you could and could-not go, and the times allowed) which a small fraction couldn't adhere to, and thus it gets taken away for all.

[Alyx]

Stephen Yarwood's response on Facebook:

Re the removal of the "free wall" art in Topham Mall I can advise Council has made space available at SK8Park on North Terrace – there is no net loss of free wall space in Adelaide.

I am also pushing for more space under the Morphett Street Bridge.

Re Topham Mall, there were good safety reasons. Paint was gluing emergency exit doors shut and illegal day time tagging was putting fumes into food business.

A new mural project will be painted there soon, so effectively there will be more street art than there was before! Its new territory for council and they are learning as they go…

http://www.facebook.com/stephen.yarwood ... 3977355416

[metro]

what a joke. that image of the grey paint going over street art just shows that the typical old Adelaide is still here, people and businesses nearby had a whinge and thus something good is removed and put somewhere out of sight

Hope that "new mural" Yarwood is talking about gets done soon, that grey paint looks very.. grey

[Waewick]

What's there not to get? It was an officially sanctioned wall, where people were to paint/spray/paste-up/whatever completely legally - with the idea being that it would draw (at least some) away from doing it illegally. However, there were some conditions/rules attached to it (such as where you could and could-not go, and the times allowed) which a small fraction couldn't adhere to, and thus it gets taken away for all.

no doubt that wall is legit, I'm talking about the rest of the garbage.

but still, I walked past that site a number of times and it wasn't exactly alluring to the eye.


happy to let these so called "artists" do there thing, but it would it would be great if it was at least attractive to the eye.

[Nathan]

I did like the wall better when it first launched, as it was mostly the cream of Adelaide's street artists contributing. Over time, a lot of the more average artists and taggers started to take over - so agreed, at times it wasn't the best it could be.

[Will]

what a joke. that image of the grey paint going over street art just shows that the typical old Adelaide is still here, people and businesses nearby had a whinge and thus something good is removed and put somewhere out of sight

We must be in good company then....

http://www.theage.com.au/entertainment/ ... -tq3c.html

[mutt]

i guess if you had to work in one of those shops you'd get tired of smelling the paint fumes after enduring it every day
a simpler solution would be to leave it as is and say no more for this year

[crawf]

I did like the wall better when it first launched, as it was mostly the cream of Adelaide's street artists contributing. Over time, a lot of the more average artists and taggers started to take over - so agreed, at times it wasn't the best it could be.

It was brilliant when it was first launched, and then it went downhill.

[mshagg]

happy to let these so called "artists" do there thing, but it would it would be great if it was at least attractive to the eye.

I guess it's subjective. The space was quite dynamic; perhaps you never saw it on a good day lol. At any rate, a splash of colour to a god awful little space like that made a stroll down waymouth slightly more invigorating.

Not being a street art afficianado, I think I appreciated it more for what it represented moreso than the quality of the works. It was the anti-thesis to Adelaide's image. You'd almost call it progressive. Stashing it away in the newly appointed space (which is pathetic - a few small boards strung up along a cyclone fence) is classic Adelaidianism.... remain calm and paint it grey.

[Nathan]

I wouldn't call it Adelaidianism - remember even Melbourne got out the grey paint when the Commonwealth Games were in town.

[Will]

happy to let these so called "artists" do there thing, but it would it would be great if it was at least attractive to the eye.

I guess it's subjective. The space was quite dynamic; perhaps you never saw it on a good day lol. At any rate, a splash of colour to a god awful little space like that made a stroll down waymouth slightly more invigorating.

Not being a street art afficianado, I think I appreciated it more for what it represented moreso than the quality of the works. It was the anti-thesis to Adelaide's image. You'd almost call it progressive. Stashing it away in the newly appointed space (which is pathetic - a few small boards strung up along a cyclone fence) is classic Adelaidianism.... remain calm and paint it grey.

What a pathetic post.

Please read this article:

http://www.theage.com.au/entertainment/ ... -tq3c.html

[mshagg]

happy to let these so called "artists" do there thing, but it would it would be great if it was at least attractive to the eye.

I guess it's subjective. The space was quite dynamic; perhaps you never saw it on a good day lol. At any rate, a splash of colour to a god awful little space like that made a stroll down waymouth slightly more invigorating.

Not being a street art afficianado, I think I appreciated it more for what it represented moreso than the quality of the works. It was the anti-thesis to Adelaide's image. You'd almost call it progressive. Stashing it away in the newly appointed space (which is pathetic - a few small boards strung up along a cyclone fence) is classic Adelaidianism.... remain calm and paint it grey.

What a pathetic post.

Please read this article:

http://www.theage.com.au/entertainment/ ... -tq3c.html

[/quote]

I did read the article. Did you?

''As the street art capital of Australia, we are aware of the popularity of Banksy's works and have made exceptions to preserve them in the past,'' Melbourne City Council chief executive Kathy Alexander said yesterday.

''In hindsight, we should have acted sooner to formally approve and protect all known Banksy works. It is very unfortunate that that this Banksy artwork has now been removed.''

Council CEO apologises for accidental removal of Banksy. Council implements restrospective permits for other works discusses getting him back to restore the one that was removed.

Im struggling to think of how the Melbourne situation could be any more different to what happened in Adelaide yesterday?

[Will]

Oh OK, so it is OK for Melbourne to do it, but when we do it, we are a backwater?

The ACC has said they will provide other walls for street art, resulting in no net reduction in the space available for street art in the city. Furthermore they said that the space that was painted over will soon have a new mural painted on it.

Street art is not permanent. The article posted is relevant as it highlights that even in perfect Melbourne they too have covered up street art. Likewise I recall reading that something similar happened in London. I don't really see what the fuss is about, however I see that we are probably due for our monthly Adelaide-bashing ritual.