Is Art Electric?

Public art gets some people heated. Others it excites. Either way, art outside the gallery is here to stay and, increasingly, is making its way into spaces formerly considered the sole preserve of commerce. Lights On/Lights Off is one such example, a public art event mounted to help celebrate the opening of the Upper West Side development on the site of the old power station in the CBD. Indeed, it brings everything from paintings to augmented reality pieces into the new retail space of the Water Tank Way between Spencer and Lonsdale Streets.

The Lights team were approached by the developers to ‘activate’ the space and from there the appropriately electrical theme of lights being either on or off was born. “The idea of a light, whether it’s on or off, is a really powerful one for artists to engage with,” Saunders explains, “but it’s also very relevant to the location, so it seemed to make sense.”

Following that, eight emerging Melbourne artists were commissioned not only to create site-specific work but to think of ways in which their work could directly engage with the public; all of which taps into the ongoing kerfuffle about public art and its perceived value or otherwise. “The public is fascinated with art, even if they don’t understand it,” Saunders argues. “There’s a lot of misconceptions or fundamental misunderstandings about art, what it is and what it can do but I think we all enjoy engaging with it. Whether it’s a conversation around a piece of public art that’s obscure or takes up a lot of room, it’s something we all like to have an opinion about.”

In Melbourne, of course, there’s plenty of scope for those opinions to be aired, as the migration of art from the sanitised white wall gallery environment to laneways, walkways and retail spaces continues apace. In fact, according to Saunders, “Melbourne is probably very much leading that thinking. I mean, you look at the prevalence of the street art movement and the laneways and they’re a focus of our culture. The move away from the white walls of the gallery is certainly happening and we’re constantly looking at new ways to engage with the public and connect artists with everyday people, many of who don’t actually feel comfortable in gallery environments.”

For Lights On/Lights Off a broad and representative range of contemporary art practice was called for, and the result is a blend of photography, installation and music-driven pieces that sit alongside more traditional forms like painting and sculpture. “We actually tried to suit the space to the idea. We had to be conscious of what the artists were doing and then be conscious of how the spaces might help them achieve their work.”

Saunders feels this is exactly the kind of event we need, not only in Melbourne, but more broadly. “Could you imagine how boring the place would be without art?”