Takeover is a program of public events that celebrates the agency of our communities of diverse young and emerging creatives and creates the opportunity to take back public spaces following Melbourne’s successive COVID-19 lockdowns. Activations include a poster project taking over the city streets celebrating young creatives and exploring the reasons they make and create, produced by The Social Studio; a public dance workshop and performance of music, choreography and singing led by Outer Urban Project’s performers at the State Library of Victoria forecourt on Saturday 15 October, 2pm; as well as a looped screening of Youthworx artists’ audio visual works at Composite, Collingwood Yards also on Saturday 15 October, 12-7pm. These events are free and all are welcome to attend.
Young artists from Outer Urban Projects, The Social Studio and Youthworx will team up with international students to present works that activate Melbourne’s public spaces during The Big Anxiety.
Young, culturally diverse people have been impacted by the pandemic including the public housing towers lockdown, racialised and heavy handed police enforcement of restrictions, barriers to homeschooling due to limited access to personal computers and reliable internet, as well as disruptions to casual and precarious employment. Conversely, the last year has also seen an eruption of youth-led creative community organising, mutual aid and inventive public protests in response to the global COVID pandemic and the Black Lives Matter movement.
Takeover will showcase the talented contributions of our young emerging artists and their communities. It will challenge the stereotypes and stigma directed at young people and instead promote diverse and unique perspectives, creative skills and aspirations for a better, diverse city post-pandemic.
Image: Documentation from Takeover at Parliament Steps (2022), taken by Keelan O’Hehir.
Takeover was collectively produced
Curated by Grace McQuilten and Amy Spiers, with Dewi Cooke and The Social Studio, David Mackenzie and Youthworx, and Irine Vela and Outer Urban Projects
Dewi Cooke
Dewi Cooke is a creative leader and CEO of The Social Studio, as well as an experienced reporter, editor and producer of digital media and podcasts. She was a print reporter at The Age newspaper for more than a decade writing on migration and multicultural affairs.
David MacKenzie
David MacKenzie is a video artist, filmmaker and media trainer/mentor at Youthworx. He has worked across video art, documentary and collaborative media for over ten years.
Grace McQuilten
Grace McQuilten is an Associate Professor at RMIT School of Art and a curator with a passion for contemporary art and community development.
Amy Spiers
Amy Spiers is an artist and researcher specialising in socially-engaged and public art, and currently a Vice Chancellor’s Postdoctoral Fellow at RMIT School of Art. Spiers has also produced and curated a number of public programs, symposiums and exhibitions including Counter-monuments: Indigenous settler relations in Australian contemporary art and memorial practices symposium with Genevieve Grieves hosted by ACCA in 2021.
Irine Vela
Irine Vela is a composer, director, musician, producer, dramaturg, theatre maker and artistic director of Outer Urban Projects. She has collaborated with many of Australia’s finest performers, writers, directors and theatre companies including the MTC, Melbourne Workers Theatre and Brunswick Women’s Theatre.