by Beatrice Chew

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Some shots from a tour of the Underbelly Public Lab where emerging artists talked about their upcoming works for the Underbelly Arts Festival this coming Saturday 17 July. The festival is in Chippendale, Sydney. More details soon.
underbellyarts.com.au/2010

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The new site for the Sydney precinct where we work will be up by Tuesday 11 May.

Both the Hill Street Precinct and the Tokyo Bike sites reflect some of our current explorations and likes: little videos of small places in cities, bikes, a kind of elegant disorder…and dots…

Conceptual approach: Heidi Dokulil, Graeme Smith. Editing and writing: Heidi Dokulil, Graeme Smith. Web design: Lee Wong, Graeme Smith. Creative direction: Graeme Smith.

Please visit
hillstreetprecinct.com

Tokyo Bike launched in Marys Place, Surry Hills, on Saturday 8 May.

Besides showing a range of beautiful, pared-back bikes and some smart (and kooky) accessories, the web site will run a series of feature stories throughout the year. The first is Yanaka Story—a story in still photography and video by the Japanese photographer Kento Mori.

Conceptual approach: Heidi Dokulil and Graeme Smith. Editing, writing, photo direction: Heidi Dokulil. Web design: Lee Wong, Graeme Smith. Identity design, creative direction, Graeme Smith. Principal photography and filming: Kento Mori. Shop design: Richard Peters, Heidi Dokulil. Badges: Beatrice Chew.

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11 April, 2010, Wat Phrayort Kheo, Edensor Park

In April I met two Aboriginal Elders who had just performed a smoking ritual as part of Lao New Year celebrations at a Buddhist temple in Edensor Park, Sydney. When the speeches were over they walked slowly through the park at the back of the temple with a big, fragrant clutch of eucalyptus leaves smouldering away in a perforated metal bucket.

Lao New Year (my first experience of it) appears to be a happy time; the reverence is clearly there but it’s colourful, crowded, family-orientated, and tolerant (someone had managed to give the littlest kids balloons with the Uniting Church logo on them but no-one seemed to mind)—and with non-stop music and a high volume public address system going full pelt with announcements…it’s loud.

What struck me then, was how the two elders—Uncle Greg and Uncle Wes—just quietly got on with it. I don’t think anyone else noticed them as they slipped away from the reception tent and walked along the path towards the bridge, cleansing the park with smoke along the way.

The bridge they’re standing on is over Clear Paddock Creek. I haven’t researched the name but I can guess how it happened and I wonder what the creek was called a few hundred years ago, before the bush was taken away to turn it into pasture. As obvious as it is, it always intrigues me that names are echos of things that went before. Clear Paddock Creek runs into Orphan School Creek which becomes Prospect Creek then the Georges River and Botany Bay.

At the end of their walk Greg and Wes stopped at the bridge for ten or so minutes, allowing the smoke to drift through the steel mesh, and talked about the polluted appearance of the stream. Bits of plastic and food wrappers had snagged in the flattened reeds and  the sluggish creek had that dull-grey, soapy bathwater look that indicates nothing much in it is likely to be alive*. Uncle Greg said, “You could drink that water once.” Uncle Greg is the one in the vest.

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Fairfield City Council has a project called Restoring the Waters. Sections of Clear Paddock Creek and the land it runs through have been turned from concrete drains in bleak settings back into a more natural form. The Restoring the Waters site says, “The Project has developed an urban landscape of bio-diversity with clean, clear waters to be enjoyed by all.” Looking at this, and their Creek Care Program it’s easy to see that they have completed an enormous list of works.

Bike riding in Japan is part of life, it’s about enjoying the ride, exploring the city, and the freedom that goes with that.

Tokyo Bike is a small and independent bicycle company which launched in the old Tokyo suburb of Yanaka eight years ago.

More about slow, than fast, Tokyo Bikes were designed for a city where destination is only part of the story, and losing yourself in the small back lanes and expansive parks and gardens is a way of escaping the crazy pace of Tokyo.

Tokyo Bikes are light in weight (between 9 and 11 kilos), easy to carry up to your apartment, and light on graphics and logo, with new colours released each season.

Tokyo Bike opens its first shop in Australia in May 2010.

Writer/photographer: Heidi Dokulil. Designers: Graeme Smith, Lee Wong.
A holding page giving access to more information will be up after Friday 19 March.