2017 Wonderwalls Festival, at Pt Adelaide

Vans the Omega’s ‘Flower’,
on the side of YHA building in Adelaide.

Port Adelaide (South Australia), will once again become a giant, interactive canvas with the return of the hugely popular Wonderwalls street art festival this coming weekend (April 21-23, 2017).

This year will see more art unfold from huge international names such as Fats, Inti, Natalia Rak and Telmo Miel, as well as plenty of exceptional local artists, transforming the Port into an open air gallery with large scale murals, artist talks, live art, guided tours and entertainment during the free three-day festival.

The Wonderwalls Festival brings together the best mural artists from around the world and is presented by Renewal SA and artist collective The Hours and project managers Verb Syndicate, together with City of Port Adelaide Enfield and art suppliers Ironlak and Taubmans. Renewal SA is also working with the community to create a ‘living port’ that celebrates the maritime past while embracing the future.

The Wonderwalls movement was started by The Hours and Verb Syndicate in Wollongong in 2011 and is celebrated as one of the leading street art festivals in Australia.

FESTIVAL MAP

With so much to see and do in just three days, we’ve helped you figure out your every move with our Festival Map. The map features not only this year’s who, what, where and when, but also pinpoints the hot spots from Wonderwalls 2015. Download the PDF Map…

PARTICIPATING ARTISTS

Telmo Miel, Inti, Natalia Rak, Amanda Lynn, Fats, Georgia Hill, Merda, KAB 101, Masika126, Sam Songailo, Jake Logos, Claire Foxton, Elizabeth Close, Zedr, Fortrose, Jimmy C, Numskull, Muchos, Brigid Noone, Cam Kerr, Epyk, Fuzeillear, James Dodd, Josh Smith, J2SKE, Mimby Jones, Mimi, Rick Hayward, Sam Brooke and Vans The Omega.

Here’s a short promotion video for the event:

IF YOU GO

Friday, April 21

Public opening party, 6pm–11pm

Art exhibition, 6pm–11pm

Saturday, April 22

Canon photo tours, 9am–11.30am / 3pm–5.30pm

Artist talks, 3pm–4pm

Art exhibition, 11am–11pm

Street party, 6pm–11pm

Sunday, April 23

Canon photo tours, 9am–11.30am / 3pm–5.30pm

Artist walking tour, 11am–12.30pm

Art exhibition, 11am–5pm

More Information

InDaily article with images…

A 2015 Wonderwalls Gallery…

Things You Discover Walking #2

Roy 'Mo' Rene (1891-1954)

Image: Roy ‘Mo’ Rene statue

It just goes to show how rarely I walk down Adelaide’s Hindley Street. The statue of Roy ‘Mo’ Rene had been in place for at least four months in 2010 before my round the world trip, but if I had been on Hindley Street during those four months, I was completely oblivious to this wonderful statue.

Created by the South Australian artist, Robert Hannaford, to commemorate one of Australia’s most famous funnymen, the statue stands on the corner of Hindley and Leigh Streets.

The plaque set into the pavement at the foot of the statue states: “One of Australia's greatest and most loved comedians, Roy Rene was born Harry van der Sluys (or Sluice) in Hindley Street, Adelaide.

The son of a Dutch cigar merchant, and one of seven children, he loved to perform from a young age. His first professional job was at the Adelaide markets and his stage debut was as a singer at the Theatre Royal in Hindley Street.

The young Roy moved to Melbourne with his family to continue his acting career. He performed around Australia and New Zealand, eventually moving to Sydney where he joined the vaudeville circuit. Roy Rene became famous for his superb timing and funny gestures and for his distinctive make-up - a painted white face and black beard.

Later, by then known as 'Mo', he teamed with comedian Nat (‘Stiffy’) Phillips and the duo became the renowned 'Stiffy and Mo' comedy act. In the 1940s he turned to radio and his show McCackle Mansion was a huge success.

Some of 'Mo's' favourite catchphrases are still part of Australian vernacular. For example: "Strike me lucky," "Fair suck of the sav," "Don't come the raw prawn with me," and "You beaut!"

The Australian entertainment industry's annual 'Mo Award' for excellence in live performance is named after him.

Commissioned by the Adelaide City Council, the sculpture was created by Robert Hannaford, and installed in Hindley Street in February 2010.

Solar Mallee Trees

The things you discover walking...

Image: Solar Mallee Trees, 2005. Artist: Anthony Materne.

So there I was, visiting the Adelaide Festival Centre (see my entry AdelaideFestival Centre) for the first time in years. As I wandered across the complex I came across Anthony Materne’s Solar Mallee Trees on the plaza between the Festival Theatre and the Dunstan Playhouse.

To my surprise, a plaque near the installation bore the date 2005, indicating the year the work was created and installed on the plaza. I was surprised, I suppose because it just showed how rarely I paid a visit to my home town’s principle arts centre.

Image: Solar Mallee Trees on the Festival Theatre plaza

Created in steel, aluminium, and fibreglass, and incorporating sound and lighting elements, Solar Mallee Trees is an “…interpretive sculpture developed to creatively exhibit solar power technology through its form, movement-activated messages, lighting display at night, and digital power generation display. The form is a contemporary interpretation of the indigenous Adelaide plains mallee tree.”

There is a lot of public art around Adelaide, and as I discover it for myself, I will present the best of it here.

Notes:

Name: Solar Mallee Trees, 2005

Artist: Anthony Materne

Location: Adelaide Festival Centre Plaza

View: All year round

Entry: Free

Walking Melbourne

~ I’ve kicked off the shackles of illness and hit the streets of Melbourne town with a vengeance and a good pair of walking boots.

I set off at midday for a walk from Fitzroy North into the city centre – a pretty easy and doable distance of around 6 kilometres (3.7 miles). The object of the exercise (no pun intended) was to walk, explore, enjoy the sights, take a few photographs, eat, drink and make the most of a perfect, cool, clear sky Melbourne day.

You can see a complete route of today's walk here. I should however, point out that the route as displayed between the 4km and 10km markers looks like the ramblings of a drunken man – and I can assure you I was not staggering around the streets of Melbourne in an inebriated state. I can only assume that Walkmeter, the iPhone app I was using to map my route, had trouble getting good GPS coordinates due to the many high-rise buildings around the city centre. And it probably didn’t help that I kept disappearing into one building after another to explore some point of interest along the way.

In the end I also walked home again, completing a good afternoon of exploration of around 13.5kms (8.3 miles), that took in Brunswick Street, Federation Square, ACMI, the Arts Centre, Lygon Street and more besides.

My overall impression of Melbourne remains much the same as it was after my visit earlier this year. That is, there seems to be a pervasive sense of forward movement, continued growth and excitement about the place. Unfortunately, these sentiments can’t be said about my home town, Adelaide. But don’t get me started on that theme!

Melbourne’s alleyways are renowned for the quality of the graffiti that covers their walls, but the alleyways are not the only place you will find great graffiti. Yes, I know “great graffiti” sounds like an oxymoron, but let’s be honest, there are artists and practitioners of graffiti who do have real skills and creative ideas that rise above mere spraying of tags everywhere. Which is why I’ve decided to illustrate this post with some examples of the graffiti I discovered during my walk today.

This wonderful mosaic bench was one of three I saw at various locations along Brunswick Street. This is a good example of the types of public art you can see all over the centre of Melbourne, and the inner suburbs. In this respect, Melbourne reminded me of New York City, which also makes a point of placing public art all over the five boroughs that make up greater New York.

Melbourne even produces a public art walking map which guides you around a collection of some of the best examples of the city's public art works, and another brochure detailing the graffiti covered alleyways that have helped to make the Victorian capital so iconic and well known internationally.

There is much yet to discover in Melbourne, and I will barely scratch the surface over the next three weeks, but you have to start somewhere, and this has been my beginning.

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