Commissioned by Metro Tunnel Creative Program

Curatorial Advisor - Global Art Projects

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City Square Hoarding, Swanston Street, Melbourne, 2018

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RAILway is a project that explores our collective social, cultural and personal narratives through the abstract, obsolete designs of suburban train tickets issued between 1920 and the late 1980s that departed from or arrived into Melbourne.  When people first encounter this work along Swanston Street, I expect they will be provoked into a very personal response, perhaps triggering narratives or memories of journeys undertaken with family and friends between particular destinations - the daily trip to school or to work, shopping in the city or weekends away with friends.  These tickets represent a complicated and fascinating visual coded language that is particular to Melbourne.  RAILway distils the original tickets and strips them of unnecessary details, focusing instead on the beautiful geometric abstraction underneath.  What is revealed is an extremely evocative collection of readymade forms that resonate with us all.

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Peter Atkins

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www.peteratkins.com.au

@peteratkinsta

www.metrotunnel.vic.gov.au/about-the-project/creative-program

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