MEL 23

Zixia Li

table of contents

DAY 1

additional bird photos

DAY 1

flight to MEL, LUME: interactive museum

It was epic seeing the actual architectural elements of the Melbourne skyline in comparison to what I had envisioned MEL to be like. The place across the river from our hotel felt very NYC esque, although much safer and a bit less metropolitan.

LUME museum

The LUME exhibition was so surreal to see in person— the walls, floor, and ceiling were all screens showing 4 exhibitions, one of them being Monet's works. The filling of space with geometric structures that were also screens added to the ambiance of this room.

(not shown) A small cavity among the screens was a normal museum room showing the artists inspired by Monet's impressionist style, their works, and a summary of their life. I found it interesting that many of the works that made an imprint on my memory were by artists who lived and died rather tragically.

Graffiti tour

DAY 2

Graffiti tour, graffiti workshop, beach festival, anti-vax rally, dinner around Yarra River

(left) The person who made this also worked at the graffiti workshop we went to later in the day!

(left) YOU ARE ALL THE SAME (Not me!)

The tour guide said that artworks can get painted over by anyone at anytime. This perspective is interesting since typically we want precious art to last forever (thus the existence of prestigious museums). Part of what makes these works so special is the chance of them disappearing the next day; what I think makes some art forms very valuable of our time to appreciate is their temporariness.

Graffiti workshop

We also went to a beach festival and got churros

(1 photo above, center) I was gifted this by the graffiti instructor after winning a competition of works in which he picked the one he liked the most. I went for a birthday business mouse, holding his briefcase.

(above, right) On our way back from the workshop we passed through an anti-vax rally. My friend got a pamphlet that detailed why we shouldn't trust the vaccine and what good the government has for lying to us. Funnily enough, this fits the theme of day 2's planned activities of ways people spoke out about their beliefs— most graffiti works represented some form of contemporary and sometimes far-fetched ideas, though most were political or at least regarding social issues. Despite disagreeing with anti-vax sentiments, it was intriguing to see the way they protested. We might disagree with what messages people are putting into their art, it can be fun to speculate about them.

(far left) After dinner, we passed by a man who ate, and later, juggled fire sticks. Also very interesting.

DAY 3

Yarra River kayaking, reformed prison, phone photography at a university

Prison tour & phone photography

The pavement around this police station had to be repatched due to a bomb explosion from years ago.

(not part of the phone photography course)

I love magpies

(right) We saw this on the way back to the hotel. Never seen this model before

For half the kayak tour, Natalie and I talked with the coworker of the guy who toured us about the social and political climate of MEL vs SG. He thought it was insane we couldn't even drink water on the MRT, but I thought it was more insane that Australia had a serious money laundering issue. The money is laundered through various or just one unregulated casino, and the reason (despite heavy backlash) is because of the powerful figures that lobby against it. For example, almost a decade back, Troy Stolz spoke out against this and became hunted down by casino enthusiasts. So yeah, the tour guide and us spoke about topics like such, and overall it was very enjoyable.

(white bordered) From photography course. We used Snapseed to edit our photos.

(four on the left) Also taken with iphone, although I didn't present them in the workshop.

Our tour guide showed us rooms related to their latest show, Phantom of the Opera, which is also one of my favourite musicals.

(below) One of the rooms, in particular, had walls and pillars made from materials of departments that helped build the show. I thought this was a very thoughtful.

DAY 4

Arts Center backstage tour, puppet workshop, Alexander McQueen exhibition

Backstage tour & puppet workshop

The guide also told us about the dedication of the prop team leader who drilled 5 holes into thousands of tiny golden metal cups that were hung below the controls above the audience seating area to ensure there was no fire hazard if the sprinklers were to ever go off. Instead of working around the problem, the guy when through it; I thought the prop team leader was pretty admirable.

Alexander McQueen exhibition @ NGV

DAY 5

Healesville Sanctuary, chocolate factory, makeshift dinner

I've always greatly appreciated sanctuaries more than zoos because a sanctuary is responsible for raising awareness and teaching others about animals through ambassador animals. The animals kept in sanctuaries are typically ones that are unreleasable due to injuries, confiscated from illegal trades, or are population-wise secure species kept in environments that mimic their natural habitat.

My group and I tried to walk around and see every type of animal. Sure enough, we saw my favorite marsupial enjoying its time in the sun, beautiful avians, curious reptiles, and a white-black bird that escaped its enclosure.

(right) It was boiling but we sat down for the bird show that was very informative yet entertaining.

Chocolate factory & makeshift dinner

We didn't want to travel to elsewhere in the city so some friends and I stayed back at the hotel. Because I was living off protein bars we decided it would be a good idea to buy some semi-real food like shown the in the (center) picture: canned tuna, naan bread, brie cheese, some herbal tea, and wooden forks I bought on the first day.

National Gallery of Victoria

DAY 6

Victoria Market, National Gallery of Victoria tour and workshop, Mary Poppins musical

I had never been to a marketplace like this one and everything was so fun. There was this guy who tried to sell us "the most accurate" maps of the world. In the end I got a steel ring that had that had its birth date and year engraved on the inside.

The tour guide showed us various paintings that had significant historical value to Australians and we became more culturally competent after 👍

The vases also looked stunning in low light

Mary Poppins: a musical

I tried these new chips at dinner and was very sad to find out they don't sell these in Singapore

The actors could sing really well and hold long notes. Not sure if this was intentional, but Mary Poppins's vs the dad's nanny's sweet vs bitter syrup can be applied as a lesson that reward is usually more motivating than punishments.

Blindside exhibition

Avatar: Way of Water

DAY 7

NIDA costume design, Blindside exhibition, botanical garden/ outdoor cinema

My friend and I talked with the owner of the exhibition there. She agreed that the venue itself is part of the exhibition. The room was very different from the sterile, white, bright museum exhibitions we were used to— I think both have their advantages and functions to showcase different styles of works. The projector exhibition was just a simple animation of a statue falling apart softly while a voice narrates the poem on the left. In the connecting room was a projector with headphones that played low sound quality piano music while words like the above pictures changed. I think while it's important to recognise polished products like hyperrealism paintings, it is equally important to give time to very authentic-feeling pieces, too. This made an impact on the way I thought about what an exhibition is, as the site itself can be an art.

DAY 8

closing thoughts

This trip went unexpectedly well, and I'm glad I have been introduced to Melbourne!

I thought the tram experience was also wonderful. It was especially interesting that the tram showed all the wires and tracks in comparison to Singapore. It was also fun to learn that cars turning left had to drive on the lane closer to the middle to give the driver as much time as possible to see trams coming from their left.

additional bird photos

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