Wrongtown

In August 2010, I was involved in a really fun group exhibition titled Wrongtown. It was held at a house in Toorak, a well-heeled area of Melbourne, in which the owners had given complete control to the curators and artists to do whatever they so desired to the property. There was a very large number of artists involved, from different backgrounds - street art, video, sculpture, performance etc.

Most artists were given a room in which to wreak creative havoc, whilst some utilised the outer walls, the garage, the windows and the basement of the house. The result was a truly macabre and occasionally quite confronting array of art installations. A definite favourite was the guys from U.V.M. [Urban Village Melbourne - click here to see more photos on their website] in the front room, in which they tore up the floorboards to expose the bunker-like cellar below, and during the opening event, Michelle from the group was sleeping in a bed, just perceivable when you peered down through the splintered floorboards...

To see a brief video of Wrongtown from ABC's Art Nation about the project, click here.

The Wrongtown flag.

Part of the UVM installation. 

 Simon Pericich's Protex us...

I was given the kitchen to work with, which was somewhat ironic because I work as a cook. The work was titled Sinkhole, after the incredible sink hole that appeared in Guatemala City [which my friend Thom pointed out was kind of like a Meta-Gordon Matta-Clark] The idea was not exactly complex - to make a pun about the hole in the kitchen sink, whilst creating an immersive, tactile installation.

For this work, I pretty much destroyed the inside of the kitchen. I can definitely recommend taking to a bunch of fancy shelves and cupboards with a crowbar and hammer if you're looking for relaxation therapy. using the materials I had gleaned from this process - lots of plywood and mdf panels, plus a few pieces of hardwood - I constructed a tunnel that led from the doorway of the kitchen and curved around to the sink. I wanted to make the tunnel just narrow enough for one person to walk down, with a light emanating from the hole in the sink and some kind of sound element. For this, I ended up recording the sink as it drained of water, and the resulting sucking and gurgling sound I slowed down and made really reverby.

The next part of the process involved me digging a hole in the back garden, and transporting the soil into the tunnel, where I mixed it with glue and water to make a really sticky mud. This was then applied to the walls of the tunnel...

 The hole in the back yard.

 The first part of the process: tearing the cupboards apart to construct the walls of the tunnel.

...lining the inside with mud.

...[near enough to] the finished tunnel.