Bourke Street is one of Melbourne's most famous thoroughfares – so it makes perfect sense to transform it into an outdoor gallery celebrating the city and its people. Uptown: an art exhibition about our city is a free, 24/7 outdoor gallery running across Bourke Street's eastern end this summer.
Curated by longtime friends and local creatives, Fiona Scanlan and Robert Buckingham, Uptown is intended as a gesture of goodwill towards, and a celebration of, Melbourne's arts and artists after a bloody hard year.
The al fresco exhibition features works from 26 of Melbourne's top artists including Kenny Pittock, Destiny Deacon, the Huxleys, Polly Borland, Kent Morris, Su San Cohn, John Gollings and Elle Shimada. Their work will be plastered across Bourke Street business exteriors, shop windows, vacant buildings and laneways. Key works include Death in the Disco (a pop-up disco installation channeling Leigh Bowery by the Huxleys), a massive 17m by 9m billboard featuring a classic Bill Henson work, Kerrie Poliness's community drawing project, Peter Atkin's ode to 1980s TV culture in Mitty's newsagent and Louise Hearman's window paintings at Grossi Florentino.
Uptown is free to visit and runs from December 15 until February 28. Visit the website for the full program.
