Introduction to a Recreation of the Melbourne Central Shopping Complex



When beginning work on this project I wanted to do something which looked at the site of The Westwing, the Melbourne Central shopping complex. The theme of the show “zero dollars” seemed to be such a great contrast with an internationally financed mall and entertainment complex.

I also got to thinking about MP3s and how they're free and how they've changed the way I access information and the amount of information I access. I seem to be constantly listening to podcasts wherever I am and it builds these informational associations with different places. There's a corner of the park I associate with the Global Economic Crisis now. So I knew from early on I was going to make an audio tour of the complex. The content is more slippery I guess the atmosphere of mall are pretty unreal, especially this one with its animatronic fob watch and 19th century shot tower in the middle of the arcade, so I wrote a fantasy about the space.

The work takes the form of an introduction to a virtual (or equivalent) recreation of the mall, and the idea is that you should listen to it whilst in the space. I have always read sci-fi and now since been introduced to the idea of the technological singularity I have been obsessing over the future but can't decide whose side I fall on Kurzweil's or Kaczynski's. Anyway the piece deals with the future of capitalism, and what could be more central to an exhibition with the word "dollar" in the title?, and of course I offer my work here free of charge.


Introduction to a Recreation of the Melbourne Central Shopping Complex 
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Thanks to Greg Wadley Research Fellow in computer science at the University of Melbourne who narrated the piece, I chose him because of his work with second life.
Featuring Charlie Sofo, Christopher Carmody, Christopher LG Hill, Karena Keys, Zanny Begg, Taree MacKenzie, Dan Bell, Rowan McNaught, Sean Bailey, Nathan Gray, Trish Roan, Vivienne Binns, Helen Shelley, Lisa Radford, Brie Trenerry, Bababa International, Mary MacDougall
The West Wing is located on the second level of Melbourne Central,
opposite Gloria Jean’s Coffee and adjacent to the ‘hanging garden’.
 
11.01.11 – 16.01.11
Closing celebration Sunday 16 January, 4-6pm