ACMI Mediatheque Project 2012
Australian Institute of
Architects _ MAA
I curated the following program
for MAA 2012:
Architecture, Film & Music:
Carlton in the Sixties [Framed by Now]
A film program at the Mediatheque in ACMI
The selection of films in this program is centred on the
artistic community of Carlton in 1960s and 1970s. These films implicitly
explore ideas about the inner city and suburbia and what these different urban
arrangements mean in terms of enabling a community interaction. These films are
important because they gives us the opportunity to look back to the 1960s and
70s at what the urban environment offered and the cultural changes that were
happening at this time. The films tell us something about who we are and the
interconnections between culture and the urban fabric.
The three Carlton films have been influenced by the French New
Wave and like the New Wave films tend to these films also tell the story of an
individual or individuals within a place. Together these films ask questions
about the suburb and the city. How we live in these spaces - what the
architecture enables?
The Carlton films are framed by two more recent films. One
exploring the idea of the image and the virtual being a more dominant
experience of the city; the other suggests the design of some spaces within the
present city is so dismal that it actively discourages people coming together.
In this inter-disciplinary exploration we ask did the urban
fabric of Carlton support the artistic community in the 1960s and 70s or could
it have happened anywhere?
Mapping a City of Fragments v.2 (1997) Dir: Chip Lord 9.31
Mapping a City of Fragments v.2 begins with a clip from Alphaville
(1966) by Jean Luc Godard. In Alphaville, a futuristic Paris, the city is run
by a computer - Alpha 60. The computer controls everything in this thoroughly
technological world.
Chip Lord’s film is a montage of fiction films and clips taken
by the director of various cities around the world. These clips are intercut
with images of Silicon Valley. The film suggests we no longer enter a city
through physical (architectural) gates. The point of entry now is the image.
Pudding Thieves (1966) Dir: Brian Davies 53.48
Pudding Thieves stars George
Tibbits and Bill Morgan – George & Bill attempt to make a living through
pornographic photography. This film
explores questions about the shock, mores and feminism of a changing modern
city. It’s dedicated to the Bug House – sadly neglected today.
Bonjour Balwin (1972) Dir: Nigel Busset 1.05
Bonjour Balwin is a film, in
part, about a man who runs a magazine. In the film we see a similar image of
the city to one Robin Boyd uses in his book “The Australian Ugliness”, which in
turn is one of the topics for a magazine article under discussion in the film –
the characters discuss the development of a point system for the most dreadful
town in Victoria.
Boyd’s book in part asks us questions about who we are. In this
light it’s important to look back at these films because they do tell us
something about who we are, what we might have in common, and how our
architecture shapes us and the way we live.
Nimmo Street (1962) Dir: Tom Cowan 11.10
Nimmo Street is about a
girl, a boy, a fight and Middle Park in 1962.
Expectant Spaces (2002) Dir: Ben Speth 32.35
Expectant Spaces is a montage of various empty places, waiting
for someone to arrive. These spaces are reflective of the images of Silicon
Valley seen in the first film. This film asks question about the ways
architecture enables or doesn’t enable people to come together.
Louise Mackenzie_copyright_2012
Photography by Jane McDougall
