Up in lights
June 1, 2003
When I arrived to interview Andy Mac at his studio, he offered me a cup of green tea and he excused himself explaining, 'I've been up partying all weekend; celebrating the next 15 years of my life.' Andy Mac, founder and curator of the laneway based Citylights Project is the man behind many-a-street party.
The party's began in 1992 when Andy lived in a warehouse, off Flinders Lane in Melbourne's CBD, in a space that over looked what is now the Citylights Project. With over 2000sq ft to play in, Andy built a skateboard ramp with a half pipe, a darkroom, and created a space to shoot stills. At the time Andy was completing photography at VCA, shooting skateboarding, fashion, snowboarding, BMX, bands like Magic Dirt and Something for Kate, but Andy's entrepreneurial ways landed him elsewhere.
Andy explains, "it was accidental; I never intended to run a gallery space. The whole process was totally organic; when we put up the light boxes we were only going to have one show … we never planned how long it would go." In 1996. Andy and three other artists were given the opportunity to establish a public art space. Parodying advertising, they installed four giant bus‑stop light boxes in an obscure alleyway. Andy explains "people are flooded by messages in advertising; we have developed finely tuned skilled for deciphering visuals and we wanted to play on that." Since then, a second space has been installed in Hosier Lane opposite Misty bar, which he also co‑founded. "When we started Citylights I wanted to show political and street based art. I thought there must be work out there like this, but no gallery was showing it."
Citylights has exhibited work by: Space Invader, Lance Mountain, Perks, ex Mambo and Mooks designer Richard Allen, Shut up and shop and Marcster.
In 2001 Citylights exhibited skate photographers Mike 0'Meally and Max Creasy, "I was interested in that show because skateboarders' and street artists use the city in a similar way ‑ they both find uses for public space that was unintended by the designer and that is often deemed illegal; they both utilise a very sophisticated sense of aesthetics and geography." Citylights exhibits art from the street, on the street, for the street.
Around 1997 the laneway walls in Centre Place became a gallery of their own - a Citylights Guest book. Street art is massive in Melbourne and its opened new doors for Andy, he says "I'm curating an international street‑postering show of Australian work ‑ it will tour the world later this year, I'm working with stencil-lists to stage exhibitions in Adelaide and Perth, running graffiti karaoke nights at Misty bar. And, recently the National Gallery of Australia asked me to research and assemble a stencil collection within the Prints department."
Soon Andy is opening Citylights in Sydney and later Melbourne's international sister cities. In the past eleven years Andy has made his mark on Melbourne and soon the rest of the world. Cheers to that.
Writer: Sophie Pike.