LiveHouse

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WARNING—

CONTAINS AND RELEASES POTENTIAL

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The LiveHouse project is part of the Carlton Flats Arts Project produced by the Arts and Participation Program City of Melbourne and is developed by artist Mick Douglas of RMIT University School of Architecture & Design with residents of the Carlton Housing Estate, supported by the Office of Housing, Department of Human Services.

In July 2006 the City of Melbourne’s Arts and Participation Program initiated the Carlton Flats Arts Project, a long term arts project based at the Carlton Public Housing Estate. The implementation of the project was inspired by the State Governments’ announcement in the same year that the entire precinct would be redeveloped and be the largest public housing redevelopment undertaken.

In 2008 Mick Douglas, artist and senior lecturer of RMIT University, was invited by the City of Melbourne to lead a stage of the Carlton Flats Arts Project. The resulting LiveHouse project engaged with the changing contemporary reality of housing and life on the estate, involving tenants of the estate and students of the School of Architecture & Design at RMIT. The installation of the LiveHouse modified shipping container on the estate for summer 2009-2010 activated many community led celebrations and marked the concluding chapter of the Carlton Flats Arts Project.

www.melbourne.vic.gov.au/arts+ 61 3 9658 9658

The LiveHouse project changed the sense of what is possible here on the Carlton housing estate. —Daniel Rechter, tenant host.

It’s live and open – anyone can come. —Layla Adem,tenant host.

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If you watch the short film ‘The City Speaks’ (1965) that the Housing Commission of Victoria made about the 1950s and 60s conversion of ‘slums’ to Melbourne’s walk-up flats, you might notice the dramatic contrast between the depicted Anglo-Celtic tenants of housing back then, and the cosmopolitan mix of tenants of the Carlton Housing Estate now. It is a stark reminder to me of the ‘White Australia’ immigration policy operating then, and the global mobility and forces of migration we live with now. The Estate currently houses a high proportion of established and newly-arrived migrants, with half the residents having been born overseas. Almost half the households are a lone person, and almost half of all families are one-parent families. Housing is again undergoing another wave of significant change. If the Carlton Housing Estate were to ‘speak’ in this current state of affairs, what might we hear?

LiveHouse is an arts project that explores the potential of creative social inter-action. The project developed at the Carlton Estate in Melbourne over 2008-2010 through processes that steadily enlivened the potential for social encounters. There are three elements to the project: physical infrastructure, a social structure built upon hospitality, and creative tactics of working with space and time to enable events.

The physical infrastructure of LiveHouse is based upon a customised shipping container and a set of mobile props that extend from and retreat back to the container. Celebrating acts of hospitality gave focus for a core group of Estate tenants to realise themselves as the hosts of LiveHouse. These hosts gently enabled encounters to take place amongst tenants and Carlton neighbours in an obligation-free setting centrally figured in the public thoroughfare of the Estate. Their interests, capabilities and generosity came to actively shape the project’s development as they hosted weekly creative social activities including a micro-market, tenant musical performances and theatre-making workshops. Every time we opened -up and closed-down the LiveHouse it seemed we were animated a simple rhythmic tension of containing and releasing potential.

FOREWORD ­—MICK DOUGLAS

Opposite—

LiveHouse Container

Last summer the weekly patterns of estate life were punctuated by LiveHouse open-air events and happenings. Behind the scenes RMIT design students, tenants and local agencies had been collaborating in numerous ways. It gets you wondering about the relations between host and guest; participant and audience; housing and life. Thank you to the tenants of the Estate for having fellow travelers of this world in your midst.

Mick Douglas, LiveHouse Artistic Director

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Gathering—Photo: Rob Blackburn

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LIVEHOUSE ­—VEhICLESMarch to June 2008RMIT students research, design and make vehicles that enable mobile, outdoor performance uses for Estate groups.

Performance vehicle:Austin Hall, Kei Kai Kay Fung, Tsui Yuk Fai, with resident musicians.

Food vehicle: Stephen Auchettl, Matt Browne, Jason Wylie, with Sorghum Sisters AMES catering.

Coffee vehicle Ghill de Rozario, Amanda Kwok, Isabel Prochner, with Horn of Africa women tenants.

Communications vehicle Philippa Abbott, Fiona Buchanan, Brittany Carver, with radio 3CR.

Information Exchange vehicleDerrin Lewis, Luke Palmer.

Play VehicleDamien Cunningham, Matt Toebelmann.

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Food vehicle

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Performance vehicle

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Performance vehicle and food vehicle in transportation

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Information Exchange vehicle

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Performance vehicle

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Information Exchange vehicle

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Coffee vehicle

Vehicles subsequently used by tenant groups at public events:

The Big Photo Party:Elgin St Estate, 4 June 2008

housing Week expo: Drummond St Estate, 2 Septemeber 2008

Urban Livability Collective Exhibition: Yarra Sculpture Gallery, October 2008

The Big Game day, with Polyglot Puppet Theatre: Carlton Primary School, October 2008

harmony Day:Drummond St Estate, February 2009

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Food vehicle

Photos:—

John Paul Tansey

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SHARE + MOTIOn EMOTIOn —RMIT DESIGN STUDENT PLACEMENTS WITh ESTATE GROUPS March to June 2009

Students assist an Estate group with their activities, interact with residents and produce storyboards about a ‘thing’ important to tenants, and what tenants like to ‘make’. The storyboards were exhibited at a Housing Week expo in September 2008.

– DRUM womens sewing group– Carlton neighbourhood Learning Centre

English class– YMCA Youth program– CHERS workshop– Sorghum Sisters AMES catering – Horn of Africa Men’s Employment Training & Advocacy Project

These drawings had actually broken some barriers between us, better than a conversation could have. When I showed her the storyboard about her, she liked it and told me the story of how […]. It sounds a bit funny perhaps but I felt this love for the woman. I did not want to ‘observe’ her… she had become someone dear. This project gave me the space to empathise with people I felt I could relate to as well as the space to express the isolation I experienced.—Amaranta, RMIT student visiting on exchange from India.

I learnt how to trust, to let people put trust in me… to respect and listen to each other in order to get trust, in order to share. —Elisa, RMIT student

Drawing:—Amaranta nehru

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LIVEHOUSE —PARTICIPATORy DESIGN WORKShOPSMarch to June 2009RMIT design students and estate residents collaborate in design workshops led by Mick Douglas and Jason Parmington to clarify the desire for a LiveHouse, develop principles by which it could develop, and design the physical, mobile ‘LiveHouse’ by customising a shipping container. A core group of participating tenants become LiveHouse hosts.

Drawing:—

Youssef Tayeb

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Design workshop

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LIVEHOUSE IS…—Led by tenants The LiveHouse is led by a group of Estate tenants who agree to be the Hosts each time the LiveHouse is used. A simple training program assists tenants to become Hosts.

Creative resident inter-action The LiveHouse is best used for activities that encourage interaction between people. This may be for performing music, theatre and presentations like Harmony Day; for coffee ceremonies and sharing food and games; for creative activity workshops; for a community market; for making a community newsletter or for community creative gatherings.

Creative use by community-groupsThe LiveHouse is accessible to community groups to book for creative uses. These may be one-off activities or regularly repeated activities. A community Group Leader must participate when using LiveHouse.

Open-air open accessThe LiveHouse is an undercover public location open to the weather. Uses that are open to the public are encouraged.

Shared space The LiveHouse is used in different ways by different groups at different times, or at the same time, managed by a calendar booking system. Bookings are prioritised by the decisions of the group of Hosts. Video and photos of activities at LiveHouse are shared and able to be discussed on the project website.

Welcoming visible, diverse expressions The LiveHouse gives expression to the diverse communities of residents on the estate. These expressions aim to inspire interest and participation in tenants of the Estate and in the broader Carlton community.

Surface for stickersThe exterior of LiveHouse is for stickers made by residents. Workshops are taking place to hand-make and computer-cut stickers. A training program will assist tenants become operators of the computer-cut sticker process.

Creative opportunities for personal and community developmentThe LiveHouse supports people developing their creative interests. LiveHouse can act as a stepping stone for activities that could grow to attract further support and become independent.

Potential to tourThe LiveHouse is portable and has the potential to tour to locations beyond the Carlton Estate. LiveHouse could become a unique creative expression of Carlton Estate that could tour to community events at other Housing Estates, ethnic community events and at arts festivals in Melbourne and regional Victoria.

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11 & 12—Photos: LiveHouse host

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LIVEHOUSE—hOST TRAINING Tenants of the estate undertake a program to prepare themselves for the role of LiveHouse hosts and community leaders.

Round 1: Men October to november 2009 Hamdi Ali, Daniel Rechter, Ahmed Sayed, Maurice Wilson

Round 2: Women December 2009 Layla Adem, Shamsi Ali, Samarawit Yohannes

LIVEHOUSE ­—SUMMER 2009 – 2010An arts platform for the creative inter-action of residents of the Carlton Housing Estate at the corner of Palmerston & Drummond Sts over summer 2009-2010. Open air, free, all welcome.

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14—LiveHouse hosts, estate tenants & RMIT students

LiveHouse provided opportunity to show and encourage others to participate, to learn more of other people in the estate, and to gain people skills and confidence.—hamdi Ali,tenant host.

It’s rare around here that we have the opportunity to make choices. The result of that seems to be a community de-skilled in this regard. We want everything but are resigned to getting nothing at all. LiveHouse broke down that polarised position by giving us a chance to engage with the complex reality of bringing our hopes to fruition.—Daniel Rechter, tenant host.

I’ve learnt to never judge people from the outside... there is a lot once you get to know them!—Layla Adem, tenant host.

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LIVEHOUSE—OPEN hOUSEFridays 4 to 7pm 9 October to 13 november 2009 (6weeks)

Everyone invited: stickers, coffee, food, music, performance, workshops. Regular tenant musician: Fadil Suna

I was able to interact with people around me.—Wu Shang,tenant.

LIVEHOUSE—OPEN PERFORMANCEThursdays 6 to 8pm 19 november to 17 December 2009 (6 weeks)

A kaleidoscope of different performances from the lives of people around Carlton.

hORN OF AFRICA, november 19Playing traditional and contemporary music of Eritrea, Ethiopia, Somalia, Sudan.

JOSEPh ZAMMIT, Decemeber 3Playing pop folk with Maurice Wilson on vocals.

ThE CACTUS ChANNEL, rescheduled to December 16A Princes Hill Secondary College band (winners ‘battle of bands’ northern region) playing funky music, plusCARLTON RESIDENT MUSICIANS joining for an open jam.

All photos:—LiveHouse hosts

LiveHouse —

Horn of Africa performance

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LIVEHOUSE—OPEN PERCUSSION GROUPWednesdays 5 to 6.30pm18 november to 16 December (5 weeks)

Making rhythms with a variety of percussion and a variety of people. It’s free.

– 5 to 5.30pm: Kids – 5.30 to 6.30pm: Percussion group Led by Jorge Leiva with a Latin bent.

All photos:—

LiveHouse hosts

LIVEHOUSE —OPEN MICRO-MARKETFridays 4 to 7pm 20 november to 18 December (5 weeks)

Open for you to swap, sell, bargain, buy or busk, to offer your service or to just have a rest at LiveHouse on a Friday afternoon before dusk. This is micro-economics and micro-enterprise at work.

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LiveHouse restored a sense of community; even to those who only watched it from afar. —Daniel Rechter, tenant host.

LIVEHOUSE —SATURDAy SITUATION12 December 2009, 4 to 9pm

Performances by guests Son Corners & Horn of Africa, with performances by residents Joesph Zammit, Rosanna, Samya Bashir, Fadil Suna group, Ruth Rogers Wright ensemble, percussion group plus micro-market, coffee across cultures, stickering, shadowplay and food from the Asylum Seeker Resource Centre caterers.

All photos:—Rob Blackburn

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15—Photo: Angela Bailey

16 & 17—Stickering

Photos:—Jacob Walker

LIVEHOUSE—STICKERINGThe exterior surface of LiveHouse invited all to stick to it.

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LIVEHOUSE—GAThERINGFriday evenings 7 to 9pm5 February to 5 March 2010 (5weeks)

Micro-market, Horn of Africa coffee, mint tea and…ThEATRE MAKING WORKShOPS

Estate residents gather to develop live theatrical performance in word, song and shadow-play. Workshops explore ‘LiveHouse’ as a unique performance setting for the expression of lives on the Carlton Estate. Workshops led by theatre-makers Mammad Aidani (University of Melbourne), Claudia Escobar and Mick Douglas.

People come for the coffee and they share their life ideas!—Layla Adem, tenant host.

LIVEHOUSE—COFFEECoffee ceremony from the Horn of Africa at most LiveHouse events provided a way to gather.

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Theatre Making Workshops

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Coffee

Photos:—

Mick Douglas

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LIVEHOUSE—VIDEO STORIESFridays, 12 February to 5 March 2010 (4 weeks) – 1.30 to 3.00pm: Women– 3.00 to 4.30pm: Children

Workshops for children and women to make video tales of living and moving here, there and elsewhere, led by filmmaker Amie Batalibasi, screened at LIGHTS-OUT.

LIVEHOUSE—LIGhTS-OUT7 to 9pm Friday 12th March 2010

The final event of the LiveHouse project, involving residents in word, song, shadowplay, video-stories, coffee ceremony, micro-market stalls, and you.

Livehouse hostsLayla Adem, Hamdi Ali, Shamsi Ali, Daniel Rechter, Ahmed Sayed, Maurice Wilson, Samarawit Yohannes

Artistic DirectionMick Douglas

DrammaturgeMammad Aidani

Shadowplay drammaturgeClaudia Estobar

Performers Adbirizak, Anna, John, Maurice, Ruth, Samya, Shang

Song Ruth Rogers Wright & Mama Doesa, Fadil Suna and Theo Chen

Video StoriesAmie Batalibasi

Video Stories—

Photo: LiveHouse host

Lights-out performers—

Photo: Angela Bailey

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LiveHouse Lights-out performance—

Photos: Jacob Walker

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LIVEHOUSE—hARMONy DAy2 to 7pm, 18 March 2010

LiveHouse provides a hub for the annual community celebration day led by the Carlton Housing Estate Residents association (CHERS) and local agencies.

LIVEHOUSE—MIGRATION SOUThA repeated action midway through LiveHouse events involving all hosts and audience becoming partici-pants in a migration south – from the northern side of the LiveHouse to the southern side of LiveHouse – creating a shift in inter-actions, orientations and relative outlook.

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Migrating South, Photos: Rob Blackburn

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Photo: Angela Bailey

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The community feel it’s part of LiveHouse cuz no one is special. I never knew people other than people from my country. LiveHouse brought all the people together. It brought a new life into Carlton. It made us feel like one family with all of the different people in Carlton. The opportunities to get to know them were something different.—Layla Adem, tenant host.

The LiveHouse project changed the sense of what is possible here on the Carlton housing estate. It also brought together a great bunch of people, who live on and around the estate, but had never had a chance to meet. I’ve lived here for over 10 years, and I’d never seen anything like this on the estate before. —Daniel Rechter, tenant host.

It was great experience to be part of LiveHouse. Lets go for another longer LiveHouse. …l o n g e r !—Fadil Suna, tenant & regular Livehouse musician.

I like it. It’s funny and enjoyable. now Carlton looks so ugly without the LiveHouse! Seriously, we are missing alot from LiveHouse! —Layla Adem, tenant host.

CARLTOn SOnG—RUTh ROGERS-WRIGhT & FADIL SUNA

Since 1880s many cameFrom all parts of the worldThe streets paved with hope and goldnew ways to work were soldAll along Lygon ... in Carlton

In these concrete blocks and bricksWe raise the kids and growIn this multicultural rainbow… in Carlton

Hand in hand living in peace and harmonyso you and I, yes, we careStrong community spirit what an estateoh yes we shareHere we are friends playing music, sharing foodAnd chatter everywhere,Place of plenty, latte on Lygon, Learning Centre on Princes streetLa Mama just over there … in Carlton

We traveled by boat and planeFrom this big world to make this placeOur house and home… in Carlton

Let’s celebrate our veggie garden of all nationsGather together at LiveHouse what an inspirationLet’s be proud of our neighbourhood of great combinationOur place of common memories from many destinations to Carlton

Photos:—LiveHouse hosts

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CREDITS—Livehouse hostsLayla Adem, Hamdi Ali, Shamsi Ali, Daniel Rechter, Ahmed Sayed, Maurice Wilson, Samarawit Yohannes

Livehouse Modified Shipping container designJason Parmington, Mick Douglas and RMIT University students of Industrial Design with estate tenants.

Project Coordinators Fiona O’Grady, Donna Kennedy, Michael McMahon, Trudy Hayter

Live house Print and Web Communication Designneal Haslem

Project assistants to Mick Douglas Rob Eales, Jess Bird

Still photographyAngela Bailey, Rob Blackburn, Jacob Walker

Supporting ArtistsMammad Aidani, Amie Batalibasi, Mama Dosa, Claudia Escobar, Jorge Levia, Ruth Rogers Wright, Fadil Suna.

Project ProducerCity of Melbourne Arts and Participation Program

Project partnersRMIT University, Victorian State Government, Office of Housing, Department of Human Services.

Special ThanksCarlton Local Agencies network, Carlton Housing Estate Tenants, Carlton Housing Estate Resident Services, Carlton Primary School, Opportunities for Carlton network, DRUM womens sewing group, Carlton neighbourhood Learning Centre, YMCA and DRUM Youth program, CHERS workshop, Sorghum Sisters AMES catering, Horn of Africa, Men’s Employment Training & Advocacy Project

—Livehouse Artistic Direction Mick Douglas, artist & senior lecturer RMIT University School of Architecture & Design

LiveHouse Vehicles 2008TutorsJason Parmington & Mick Douglas; WorkshopAndy McKluskyStudentsPhilippa Abbott, Stephen Auchettl, Matt Browne, Fiona Buchanan, Brittany Carver, Damien Cunningham, Ghill de Rozario, Kei Kai Kay Fung, Austin Hall, Amanda Kwok, Darren Lewis, Luke Palmer, Isabel Prochner, Matt Toebelmann, Jason Wylie, Tsui Yuk Fai.

Share 2008TutorMick DouglasStudentsWan Lee Foo, Christopher Hayes-Kossmann, Ko Wei Ho, Ben Hurt, Winaya Suwarnaga Kamaputri, Joshua Kua, Elisa Kutsuwada Madeira de Carvalho, Ellyse McInnes, Amaranta nehru, James Patrick, Tristan Tait, Di Tan, Ellen Grace Tanoemarga, Youssef Tayeb, Rene Walk, Hui Ming Wong, Elaine Yi Ling Yeo.

Motion Emotion 2009Tutor Mick DouglasStudentsnicholas Bowe, Ploy Chavalparit, Robert Fitzgerald, Astrid Gilchrist, Greg Halliday, John Cheng-chih Huang, Euna Ji, Jack Kaiser, Krijstelle KaiYueh Liao, Tim Kwok, Daniel Moller, Cho Sek ng, Theo Pelz , Warwick Perrin, Reavath Phlong, Shenn Rhun Tan, James Wynn, Guangyi Zhu.

LiveHouse modified shipping container 2009TutorsJason Parmington & Mick DouglasStudentsIain Archibald, Jessica Bird, William Campbell, Benjamin Creek, Samantha Duzenman, Greg Halliday, Ingrid Jager, Patrick O’Connell, Sebastiaan Pijnappel, Simone Steel, Inge Thomassen.

RMIT UnIVERSITY PARTICIPATIOn

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The sense of creative possibility LiveHouse fostered will be feeding future projects for a long while yet.—Daniel Rechter, tenant host.

I like it. It’s funny and enjoyable. now Carlton looks so ugly without the LiveHouse! Seriously, we are missing alot from LiveHouse! —Layla Adem, tenant host.

I learnt that… people are alive.—Shang, tenant

Live House is part of the Carlton Flats Arts Project produced by the City of Melbourne Arts and Participation Program in partnership with RMIT University School of Architecture and Design and is supported by the Office of Housing, Department of Human Services.

Creative Resident Interactiontoplum üyelerinin yaratıcı etkileşimiDeganayaasha isdhexgalka hal abuurka ah leh

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