ALLYOURWALLS – Melbourne Graffiti & Street Art Now – brings together some of Melbourne’s finest graffiti crews/collectives and street artists in a major makeover of Hosier and Rutledge Lanes, in order to celebrate the significant role street art and graffiti continues to play in the cultural life of this city.
Located in central Melbourne (between Flinders Lane and Flinders Street and running parallel to Russell Street), Hosier Lane, along with its cobbled ‘anabranch’ Rutledge Lane, first came to prominence as a venue for street art and graffiti in the 1990s. Since then, the walls of the lanes have functioned as an exhibition site for local and visiting international street artists.
Over a period of two massive painting sessions during November, both Hosier and Rutledge Lanes will be completely transformed, top to bottom, by over 50 local graffiti and street artists – all of which will culminate in an event in Hosier Lane in homage to Melbourne graffiti and street art.
This event is proudly brought to you by Invurt.com, one of Australia’s leading online underground art magazines, Just Another Agency, one of Australia’s foremost creative management agencies and Land Of Sunshine, a notable Melbourne street art photo blog. This team also has the kind support of The National Gallery of Victoria, along with Hosier Inc, a community association comprising residents, property owners and artists, and is kindly sponsored Ironlak.
To be held on Friday November 29th from 6pm-9pm, the ALLYOURWALLS event will feature live art, music, food and a large animated graffiti piece using 3D mapping technology as highlights of the night, with artists and the public invited to celebrate one of Melbourne’s unique cultural locations, as well as the artists who have made this city’s graffiti and street art a world class treasure.
The ALLYOURWALLS team would like to thank the following supporters for their assistance with this event and helping to make it all happen: NGV, Ironlak, Hosier Inc, The Forum, Peril, Auslift, Melbourne Youth Projects, Misty, Movida, residents of Hosier Lane and the City Of Melbourne.
#MelbourneNow #Allyourwalls
For information on the event, download the press release in PDF format, or contact Facter on info@invurt.com
For a full run down on all the questions we’ve been asked about ALLYOURWALLS, see the FAQ section below.
FREQUENTLY ASKED QUESTIONS
So, you’ve heard about ALLYOURWALLS. You’ve heard that we’ll be painting the entire laneway – and you probably have a bunch of questions or have heard a bunch of rumours.
So, we decided to make this FAQ so you could have all of the information about what is going on – this is an event by the community, for the community, and we want to tell you all about it.
Why are you buffing Hosier Lane, again??
Well, only Rutledge lane was buffed previously, and, we’re not buffing Hosier lane, we’re transforming it with the assistance of over 50 Melbourne graffiti and street artists.
Yes, we will be “buffing”, in a sense, but only for the specific purpose of providing a united backdrop across the laneways for all of the artists to paint upon. These artists are kindly donating their time to bring something really special to a laneway that has seen better days.
Who is involved in this event??
Invurt.com, Just Another Agency and Land of Sunshine are the directors for the event. We all have a lot of experience, passion and knowledge of that have enabled us to put something like this together.
NGV has given us their support in this, but it is entirely operated and directed by the ALLYOURWALLS team.
Ironlak has very generously sponsored this event.
Hosier Inc, a collection of representatives of residents, business owners, owners and artists who use the lane have also given us their support.
We’re not going to name artists names right now, but suffice to say the Melbourne graffiti and street art communities are both well represented and will be working together on this project. If you have an artist you love, chances are they might be involved. From old school to new, street to graff, no beef and just doing what they love – painting Melbournes walls.
What parts of Hosier and Rutledge lane will you be painting, exactly?
All of it. There will be some pieces that will remain, including some recent work (including Debs freshly painted Ganesh piece!), but we will be painting most of the spaces in both laneways.
When will this be happening?
The painting will be done in two sections – “highs” between November 8th and November 10th, and “lows” between November 27th and November 29th.
You have permission to do this?
Funnily enough, most people think that painting in Hosier Lane and Rutledge lanes is actually legal – but its not. Its tolerated by the building owners, but without their consent … So, yes, we have the full endorsement and permission from the residents, owners and businesses within the laneway, and the City Of Melbourne, to paint – again, something that has never happened before. We have done all of the paperwork, we have all the permits. We have generous supporters in both the NGV, Ironlak, Hosier Inc and many more. We have the artists generously donating their time and a great group of people helping us out.
Can I come down and check it out?
We will be closing the laneway to traffic between November 8th and 10th. It is a public space, so we will not be closing the laneway entirely – there are businesses and people who live there. That said, there will be heavy equipment operating in the laneway (under very strict supervision), and we ask if you could minimise your time down there between November 8th and 10th.
We also ask that everyone respect the artists at work, and refrain from taking photos of them.
I want to be involved in this – can I paint something?
We put out invitations to artist about two months ago, as we needed to work out the entire logistics of it, and we had to close the participants list not too long after that. That said, after the initial “high” painting session is completed, we will be looking to see what other “low” spaces will be available to paint during the 27th to 29th November. You can email us your interest, but there are very few spots left over and we just can’t guarantee anything.
So is all this work being commissioned/curated?
No. Artists are free to paint whatever they like. The ALLYOURWALLS team are merely facilitating the event (including funding of paint and equipment such as scissor lifts).
Does this mean I, or others, cant paint in Hosier lane anymore?
NO. This is just a project – once we’re done, it will be business as usual. For many years Hosier Lane was a “curated” laneway under Andy Mac, it was never a free for all until the past two or so years when he left the Until Never Gallery and it was no longer curated. That said, there is no plan to change the fact that people can go down and paint in Hosier Lane – at all – this is one of the most important things about Hosier Lane. We just wanted to do something with some of Melbournes finest, to show people how awesome the talent is here in Melbourne it’s no difference to artists going down there and having a paint on their own, this is just a larger scale.
Whats your commission out of all of this?
$0. Every cent has gone towards paint, equipment and the necessary paperwork. We have been planning and working on this event for over six months. It has, at times, been a logistical nightmare, and we have all of us put in a lot of time, effort and energy in doing something that was, at the beginning of this year, a bit of a crazy idea ….
“Imagine if we could paint all of this, top to bottom …”
Hang on, top to bottom?
That’s right. See all those spaces that have never been painted before, way up high?
Wait for it.