The currency of cultural chaos

Hey! Have you seen what’s been going on at Harbour Town Shopping Centre?

Recently renamed The District Docklands, the shopping centre has embarked on an artist in residency program unlike any other.

Named the Docklands Arts Precinct, The District has curated a whole wing of the centre into a giant arts precinct.

With more than 15 art spaces opening over the next month, these art spaces include the Australian comic museum, performance spaces, four galleries, studios, puppeteers, Loose Print and the Yarn Collective just to name a few. The spaces are being managed by Re-new Australia.

The Docklands Art Collective is a clever initiative by The District to create a creative and interesting Docklands.

I’m aware of the past projects that have been trialed in the area to little or no reward.

Some great art passed through this project, particularly the D11 gallery.

However, these projects were over-managed and Docklands as a whole has matured a lot since then.

It’s the holistic approach that will be the difference between what’s happening with the Docklands Arts Precinct and failed attempts in other places and other times.

All together, its the murals and urban art, the art market and the art precinct, along with the Blender Studios, Dark Horse Experiment and the street art tours, that will help keep this space activated and cool.

It will naturally happen as the residency progresses. And it will be interesting to see how much the arts precinct and the commercial areas co-exist and cross-pollinate with each other.

As the space slowly opens up over the next few weeks, it will be awesome to watch the transformation that the arts precinct will have not just at The District but on Docklands as a whole.

So get down to the Blender Market on Fridays during summer and check out all the new and creative things that are happening.

Give your support to the artists and mostly to Docklands.

See ya punkz. Happy New Year.

Doyle