FOOTSCRAY ON THE EDGE is a first of its kind public art festival initiated by the City of Maribyrnong as part of its Spring/Summer 2012 Festival City Program. This festival promises to further activate central Footscray through the spectacular photographic images of Grant Hobson in the F5: Footscray in Transition exhibition; the technically complex marriage between art and engineering of Myths and Legends; Western Lights transformative projections on the façade of Town Hall; and the provocative and socially engaging artworks created through a collaboration between local artists and Kendal Henry as part of the Artist in Residence Program.

Line Up

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The day began with an overview of confirmed artists and their ideas. What a line up! Such an eclectic group with varied concepts and materials while the site-specific element is the commonality. Many of the artists haven’t exhibited in a public space before while some are well known public artists, so it will be an interesting and exiting outcome. Kendal has been guiding some of the artists through conversation. We visited one of the artist’s studio called Baby Guerrilla whom many locals will be familiar with. The artist works across many mediums but in public, abandoned buildings, forlorn walls, empty and isolated street surfaces are the artist’s life size sketchbook. Paste-ups of floating and gravity defiant figures capture your imagination as they appear randomly through the urban streets of the West. This is going to be one of the artist’s biggest artworks so far as part of the Couples series. We then visited the site, which the artist chose. The challenge is permission to use the site; that can be the most difficult part. More so, determining who owns a site and whom to negotiate with. Will keep you updated on that minor conundrum. Kym Ortenburg who was the co-founder and 2012 director of the Gertrude Street Projection Festival is coming on board with a projection on the council offices. The link gives you a tasty time lapse. In the afternoon, we met with Cate Broadbent who will be contributing a specially designed flag reflective of contemporary multicultural Footscray. This is no easy task so the result is much anticipated. There are more artists to come but enough added zest.

Your loyal public art servant.

Chantal Wynter






Baby Guerrilla's work in the streets. 
Images by Chantal Wynter

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