Media
Media Release
Download the following media release here.
Counter Point Media Release v2
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Department of Counter Culture presents:
Counter Point – retelling the retail story
As part July’s State of Design festival, art and design collective ‘The Department of Counter Culture’ will be turning the culture of ‘shop till you drop’ on it’s head, they’re dropping the shop and instead setting up a retail space that trades in ideas, smack bang in Melbourne’s consumerist heartland, Melbourne Central.
July 14-24.
Launch Thursday July 15. From 6.3opm
Level 1 & 2 Lonsdale st Bridge,
Melbourne Central
Specific program times at www.counterculture.net.au
For two weeks in July, the Lonsdale Street Bridge adjacent to Melbourne Central will come alive with a series of installations, interventions, discussions and exhibitions that feed an alternative economy – one that pivots around cultural and social capital.
“It’s an area that Melbournians are known to flock to for retail therapy,” says project coordinator, Lynda Roberts, “We’re going to offer them some alternative medicine which we think will be much more effective in curing social ills – art and design therapy.”
The project , produced by artist and designers, Lynda Roberts, Caroline Vains and Anthony McInneny (collectively known as The Department of Counter Culture), in collaboration with students from RMIT University’s Schools of Architecture and Design and School of Art, will challenge Melbournians to confront and re-assess their consumerist tendencies.
“We’re encouraging the public to participate in a social exchange that’s not based on the buying and selling of stuff,” says Vains, “It’s quite a radical idea, particularly considering the location of the project, but one that can be exciting and entertaining, rather than scary.”
Highlights of the project include:
- An exhibition of a range of project outcomes from the Dept. Counter Culture’s six month design/art research project, workSHOP, including: ‘Mapping Melbourne Central’ – insitu public art installations, ‘Relation-Scapes’ – designed interventions that enable face-to-face exchange, and ‘City-Suburbia’ digital installations.
- A series of talks exploring consumerism, alternative retail economies and social entrepreneurship with speakers including Professor Kim Humphrey, Shanaka Fernandoz, Rebecca Scott, Professor Soumitri Varadarajan, Architects for Peace, Anthony McInneny, The Social Studio, Craft Cartel, Clothing Exchange and Citizens of Elysium.
- A pedal powered participatory retail platform for The Social Studio, textile training organization for refugee communities, including a gala fashion parade.
- ‘Alternative Directory’, a self-guided alternative-to-shopping tour of Melbourne Central.
“Counter Point will reflect and assess the culture of consumption in Melbourne and explore real alternatives of social exchange,” says McInneny, “Now that’s a concept we can really buy!”
For details check the Department of Counter Culture website: www.counterculture.net.au
MEDIA CONTACT:
Lynda Roberts phone: 0418 218 081 email: lynda@publicassembly.com.au
IMAGES:
The following images are available as high resolution jpg. files upon request.
IMAGE ONE: Mapping Melbourne Central_Pixi Mix
IMAGE 2: Relation-scapes_ Lingas Tran
IMAGE 3: No Fixed Address_ Raphael Kilpatrick
