collective delusion

I had the day off from work today, so I ambled across the neighbourhood to visit my friend Bec, her husband Josh, and their l'il baby Gus.

As we adults all sat burning under the backyard sun,  Josh mentioned he'd seen a telephone pylon near the university that had knitting wrapped around it. Yes, Yarnbombing reached the apogee of its urban cultural moment about five years ago. The Craftivists have since moved onto other Statements. I was cheered to think that rather than petering out altogether, the practice has moved out to us here in South Caulfield.

"That's completely great," I said. "How cool would it be if South Caulfield became Melbourne's next vibrant street art scene, a rival for your Northcotes, your Fitzroys." Bec and Josh laughed; a reasonable response. There's not even really graffiti round here, nor can I recall having spotted any stencils. Hey, not hatin', we love the place, it's just not very... happening. Notwithstanding the historical record pointing us to the tendency for areas surrounding universities to foment countercultural movements, if I were asked to describe the zeitgeist here in 3162, I would NOT say, "It's artistically fecund." Not much in the way of Contemporary Visual Culture. And yet-

"That's it." I stood- too quickly, and had to wait for my vision to fade back in before continuing, "We're forming an Arts Collective, now. Go get sticks, and wool." Perhaps worn down from nine weeks of tending to brand-new-baby Gussie and the incredible heat, they complied.

I showed them how to make these... thingies... which I learned how to do at the summer day camps of my Canadian childhood and hadn't ever thought about again until today's flash of inspiration (brought on by mild sunstroke?)

"We're going to make heaps of them, and then tie them to trees in the neighbourhood," I instructed.

We made two. Josh said he was fine to just watch, and the rest of the Collective really respected that, we understand that sometimes some of us really need to go into that liminal, dormant space and let the ideas percolate. He said he'd hang them on the trees for us.

Well, I ended up being the one to hang them, on my way home. The rest of the Collective needed to nap. I thought I'd better not put them in trees on nature strips in front of people's houses because the homeowners might not like that. I know Art is all about provoking people but it was just too HOT for confrontation this afternoon! So I climbed this paperbark opposite the park, pulling a hamstring in the process (still so sore) and tied them on.

You can hardly see them. I didn't want to put them too far out on branches over the road in case they fell on someone's car or distracted drivers. And, because we used brown, green, red and pink-yarn-that-looks-white-from a distance, anyone who spots them will mistake them for Christmas ornaments instead of Statements. But that's cool. It may take our Artistic Collective awhile to really get moving, develop our ideas and philosophy, but I feel we've made a very strong start.