LOST AND FOUND VOLUME 2 ISSUE 6

Guest Editor, Katie Boyd

Katie Boyd is a Sydney fashion designer and co-founder of The Cassette Society – a label inspired by music, streetwear and up-to-the-minute fabrics. Now in its third season and incorporating graphics by some of Australia’s best design talent, The Cassette Society is, as they say, ‘boomtastic’. Or, in other words, these clothes will make you dance until you split your pants. As guest editor for this issue, Katie didn’t split her pants but she did enjoy a lot of good cheese and burned off the calories exploring exhibitions, gigs and bright pink street art.

ARTS / CULTURE

If you’ve ever thought that the main problem with enjoying contemporary art is the gallery security, then Experimenta Playground is the exhibition for you. All touching, playing and riding of the artworks shall be permitted (mostly) in Experimenta’s latest biennial of interactive and immersive media art.

Or, if you like the idea of taking art home with you and enjoying it from the comfort of your own couch/bed/bathtub, the 2007 Portable Film Festival (PFF) might be your ticket. Featuring the best in short film and internet video culture, PFF 2007 is coming to a laptop, mobile phone or video iPod near you, all the way through August (whenever you like, wherever you like) via the Portable Film Festival website. Cheaper than a movie ticket (hell, it’s free!) and you’re always guaranteed the best seat in the house/tram/hovercraft.

Experimenta Playground, August 25 - September 23, Blackbox Theatre, the Arts Centre, 100 St Kilda Road, Melbourne,
tel: (03) 9281 8000
Portable Film Festival 2007, until August 31

Arts / Culture – Katie Boyd

Famous in the ’80s for creating the triangular-shaped garments that our mums all went ape for, Katie Pye had a very individual mindset. This exhibition at NGV Australia is definitely worth a look.

Located at the City Square and in other trees around town, the Pink Pigeons installation by Omega Goodwin takes the cake. A modern spin on the most common of city creatures having a glorious time nestling in a tree.

‘Twas also a pleasant surprise to stumble across some Fafi street art in a side alley. Fafi is in a realm of her own. Love, love, love Fafi.

Katie Pye: Clothes for Modern Lovers, until January 13, 2008, The Ian Potter Centre: NGV Australia, Federation Square, Flinders Street, Melbourne, tel: (03) 8620 222

FASHION

From September 3 until September 9, Motorola Melbourne Spring Fashion Week (MMSFW) will be taking over bars, galleries and boutiques city-wide in an urban ode to style. The Town Hall will be catwalk central (even more-so than usual), with evening parades and locals like Alpha 60 strutting their stuff.

The rest of the city will not be immune. Order a flat white and take in Sue Barnes‘s fashion portraits at Journal; revel in the latest street kit when Fat GPO hosts Gareth Moody and Marvin Scott Jarrett; strut down Flinders Lane to Craft Victoria for jungle-inspired jewellery then straighten your shoulder pads for NGV International’s Super Bodies: Heroic Fashion from the ’80s. High teas, underground parties and Salon Shows are also on the cards, and if you nab a seat now, $1 from every ticket purchased will be donated to the Heart of Melbourne Appeal. Who said fashion has to be flippant?

Motorola Melbourne Spring Fashion Week (MMSFW), September 3-9, Melbourne Town Hall, corner Swanston and Collins streets, Melbourne. Tickets available online, $17.50 (reserved seats), $14.50 (standing room), tel: (03) 9658 9658

Fashion – Katie Boyd

Shag in Centre Way (off Flinders Lane), much like various other Melbourne stores, is literally off the hook! The store initially grabbed my attention because of its insanely merchandised window display. Once inside, it became clear that this store was my new clad home. The manager was giggling like a billy goat because of the hole I put in my wallet. I seriously bought that store dry. Hooray for Shag.

Shag, Centre Way Arcade, 259 Collins Street, Melbourne,
tel: (03) 9663 8166

EVENTS

For the past 25 years, the Melbourne Fringe Festival (or MFF), has staged an annual two-week arts program encompassing all who stand up to be counted under its trusted banner. The festival prides itself not only on its accessibility and the exposure it offers for artists, but also on its, well, fringeness. Typically more than 3000 artists are involved each year, performing in at least 100 venues across Melbourne. Such is the festival’s enthusiasm for growth that this year’s theme for submissions is ‘MATERIAL/ISM’. Expect a variety of works straddling all known (and unknown) artistic genres, united by a deep contemplation of surface existence. Ironic? Perhaps. At an average of less than $20 and with plenty of free events included, you definitely won’t be arguing with the deeply superficial ticket prices. Look out for the full program in The Age, or on a cafe table near you.

The Age Melbourne Fringe Festival, September 26 – October 14,
tel: (03) 8412 8777

DESIGN

While Nigella and Martha Stewart were tethering the idea of domestic endeavour to heaving bosoms and prison time, Third Drawer Down were busy elevating it to an artform. Their limited-edition runs of screen-printed linens, embellished by artists from around the world (including iconoclasts Chicks on Speed) bring a touch of the marvellous to any kitchen, whether it’s stocked with truffle oil or instant noodles. Third Drawer Down‘s wares are collected at their new gallery-cum-store in St Kilda, including Artprons (to protect your Cheap Mondays from bolognaise stains), Artkerchiefs (for sneezing in) and Lapkins (napkins for hungry giants). New exhibitions land regularly, so you can get your art on and banish that 1976 Big Pineapple souvenir teatowel forever!

Third Drawer Down Gallery, 52 Robe Street, St Kilda, tel: (03) 9534 4088

Design – Katie Boyd

The Hotel Lindrum is a boutique hotel, hot in the city on Flinders Street. The decor is super minimalistic, seamlessly blending modern luxuries with old-school groove. Talking cigar-puff-billiard-table hip – like the Rat Pack, baby – the waft of mahogany and bovine rich in the air. This luxury hang even boasts its own pillow menu. Whether you like it feathered by duck, bamboo-cottoned or fluffed, The Lindrum‘s got you covered when it comes time to rest your dome.

Hotel Lindrum, 26 Flinders Street, Melbourne, tel: (03) 9668 1111

CAFES / DINING

It’s been open for six weeks and so far a well-fed few know about Journal Canteen. Just upstairs from Melbourne’s favourite Art Deco coffee hub, Journal, and inside the hip-but-intellectual City Library, this new eatery is heaven for food-lovers on a number of levels. By day (Monday to Friday 12 – 3.45pm) it’s Rosa Mitchell’s Sicilian kitchen. The menu - made up of remembered recipes from Rosa’s childhood on the largest island in the Mediterranean Sea – changes daily. The kitchen is genuinely open, so you can sit at a communal table and chat with the chefs as though you were visiting their place for lunch.

By night and on the weekends, Journal Canteen is home to a new range of cooking classes presented by the Centre for Adult Education (CAE). Most of the classes are one-off, one-day affairs, perfect for fly-by-night chefs-in-the-making. From ‘More-ish Moroccan’ to ‘Everything You See I Owe to Spaghetti’ and the most popular course of all ‘Cupcakes Galore’, this program is spawning Nigella rivals faster than you can, um, lick the bowl.

Journal Canteen, Level 2, 253 Flinders Lane, Melbourne, tel: (03) 9650 4399 (ask to be transferred to Journal Canteen)
Centre for Adult Education (CAE),
21 Degraves Street, Melbourne,
tel: (03) 9652 0611

Cafes/Dining – Katie Boyd

Superfino Delicatessen stocks organic produce that’s super-flavoursome. Expect earthy staff and diligent service. Expect a perfected latte and a delectable lunchtime menu fit for a queen. Try the lavish minced lamb, pine-nut and haloumi wrap, toasted. Then the spinach and fetta filo pie. You won’t cope. They also offer gourmet salami sticks, Belgian chocolates and much, much more. If you don’t go there after reading this you are truly crazy and belong in a mental asylum.

Superfino Delicatessen, 275 Flinders Lane, Melbourne,
tel: 0407 773 754

NIGHTLIFE

Hells Kitchen sits one level above Centre Place, looking down on one of Melbourne’s busiest laneways. It’d be the perfect spot for spying, except that there are usually more interesting people inside the bar than there are down on the street below. Cafe by day, bar by night, Hells is populated by a staff whose other interests (there are artists, at least one musician, a fashion designer and a gallery owner) give it a casual, unbusinesslike charm.

The first Sunday of the month is Hells Kitchen’s regular band night, featuring acts from outside the mainstream, and there’s even a Cheers-inspired mural to make you feel at home - “Making your way in the world today takes everything you’ve got…” Manager Mace Williams says, “Hells Kitchen never tries to be anything other than what it is. It just is. If I figure out what it is, I’ll tell you.”

Hells Kitchen, Level 1, 20 Centre Place, Melbourne, Tel: (03) 9654 5755

Nightlife – Katie Boyd

I hadn’t heard much of Blonde Redhead until seeing them float through their set at the HiFi Bar & Ballroom. The lead vocalist is a sultry, mystical goddess of the eve. Pin-thin stilts to melt for, dancing and whirling her around the stage in an electric-blue smock mini dress. Her sound: melodic, haunting and seducing. The HiFi Bar turns ten this year – happy birthday to it.

Before you go to HiFi, go to Hairy Canary. They’ve been in the trade ten years apparently and it shows in their culinary skills. For mine, their flair is the oven-fried rosemary potatoes, the clams filled with bacon and tomato-basil puree and the calamari-and-rocket pizza. For maximum indulgence, wolf the deep-fried blue vein cheese and the selection of Victorian vino. But beware of the mirrored-mosaic prehistoric animal who lives in the bathroom.

HiFi Bar & Ballroom, Basement, 125-133 Swanston Street, Melbourne, tel: (03) 9654 0991
Hairy Canary, 212 Little Collins Street, Melbourne,
tel: (03) 9654 247

TRAVEL TIPS

Be honest. Were you one of those kids who used to cheat at ‘Choose Your Own Adventure‘? Unable to resist taking a sneak peek at what would happen if you followed Sam into the forbidden forest (turn to page 58); or stole your friend’s bike and sold it for lolly money (turn to page 39)?

If your adventures these days more resemble a weekend at the Yarra Valley wineries or catching several exhibitions in town than locating Blackbeard’s lost pirate booty, then the Melbourne Visitor Centre is your kind of cheatsheet. This basement-level bunker of information will leave you in no doubt about your happy ending, with free brochures and maps, ‘what’s on’ guides and public transport information. The centre is crewed by experts on all things Melbourne and Victoria to set you on the right track (turn to page 90).

Melbourne Visitor Centre, Federation Square, corner Swanston and Flinders streets, Melbourne, tel: (03) 9928 0096