RADICAL UTOPIA___ AN ARCHEOLOGY OF A CREATIVE CITY
In the late 1970s and in the ‘80s, Melbourne, Australia was being transformed – in architecture, fashion, contemporary jewellery and the decorative arts. Magazines, such as Transition, POL and a host of small publications, were showcasing some of the city’s emerging talents – many who came into the spotlight through grit, determination and simply hard work.
The exhibition, titled Radical Utopia, showcases the work of numerous local creatives working at the time including: architectural practice Built Moderne, now Wood Marsh, Kate Durham, Clarence Chai, Sara Thorn and Bruce Slorach, who formed Galaxy Emporium, Jenny Bannister, Gavin Brown, Mimmo Cozzolino, and the work of illustrator, Robert Pearce. With most of the items brought from RMIT University’s Design Archives, founded by Professor Harriet Edquist, this exhibition not only captures an important period in Melbourne’s history, but also globally, when creatives were making an indelible mark on their own ‘turf’.
“There have been retrospectives of the 1980s by institutions such as London’s Victoria & Albert Museum, but this one is about celebrating local talent and how it reshaped our culture, as much as the spaces they occupied in the city,” says Dr.Helen Stuckey, senior lecturer in the Bachelor of Design (Gaming) at RMIT University, who co-curated the exhibition with Edquist. “Before these creatives started occupying some of the small studios, the place was fairly lifeless,” she adds.
Some of the spaces featured in Radical Utopia, which became a drawcard for such talent, included the Inflation Nightclub (circa 1985) and the Metro, established at the top of Bourke Street a couple of years later in 1987, both fitted out by Built Moderne’s Roger Wood, Randal Marsh and Dale Jones-Evans. Like the steel trusses expressed in these nightclubs, the furniture they designed – and elevated on a plinth in this exhibition – is edged with trusses and graphic steel backrests. While this furniture doesn’t look particularly comfortable, it was, like Pearce’s illustrations, strong in its silhouette. As impressive is the work of jeweller Susan Cohn, with her mid-1980s ‘doughnut bracelets’ and her Cohncave bowl, produced for Alessi at the end of that decade.
While films of fashion parades exemplify the energy of the time, with models gyrating on the catwalks, the front room in the gallery is given over to architecture, with the discipline expressed as ideas as much as the built form – architects Peter Corrigan and Maggie Edmond’s illustration of the Church of Resurrection, located in Keysborough and designed in 1980, is beautifully illustrated by Robert Pearce with dudes donned in the sharpest clothes. There’s also a black and white photo of some of the women pioneers who led the charge in architecture – including Anne Keddie, Anne Cunningham and Suzanne Dance – in what was then a predominantly male bastion.
For those who lived during this period, including this writer who designed and manufactured high fashion knitwear during the 1980s, each image, film and creative resonates – including places such as the Stalbridge Chambers at 443 Little Collins Street, where fashion designer Martin Grant, now based in Paris, made his mark from a small atelier. And there were others, such as Empire, who, along with Kara Baker, shared a retail outlet in Myrtle Street, South Yarra, a stone’s thrown from my own house and which my partner regularly visited. One of Robert Pearce’s illustrations feature an Empire bolero jacket and full circle skirt, the very same design that was purchased by her at the time – living history as one would say. And, of course, those living through this period would fondly recall the graphic creations by Plain Jane and Galaxy, the latter represented at Masons, one of the premier boutiques established in Melbourne (and later in Sydney) in the late 1970s. There’s even a wonderful photograph of Sara Thorn and Bruce Slorach, appearing quite menacing in their leather jackets and Doc Martins. And, of course, as with the level of detail and expertise one can expect from the curators of this exhibition, there’s also a dedicated space given over to the emergence of technology – demonstrated by the work of Lyn Tune, who created her jewellery and objects aided by a computer.
While 1980s Melbourne is beautifully represented at Radical Utopia, there are also remnants of what was brought to Melbourne at the time, such as a performance by Leigh Bowery, dancer and choreographer Michael Clarke (UK) and British fashion label, Body Map who created a performance at the Melbourne Town Hall. “It was a time when small creative studios made things happen, embraced ideas and enlivened spaces at the same time. And they weren’t looking to Europe for inspiration, but in their own ground,” adds Stuckey.
Radical Utopia: An Archeology of a Creative City is on at the RMIT Gallery until 27 May 2023.
–
Text by Stephen Crafti.
–
Our mission is to enlighten you, our readers, a global community of creatives through stories and human experience. Subscribe to connect with us and be informed of all changes and feature stories as they come.
