no eye dear

This was cool - Suse and I went to the Missing the Mark exhibition at the Old Treasury Building. In what appears to be an attempt by the public archives office to prove they are in fact interesting (who knew?), they are showcasing entries for a little remembered competition held in 1978.

The 'landmark ideas competition' asked people to contribute what they thought could go in the space that is now Federation Square. And the people responded!

With a 6 legged crocodile:

A giant "m":

and some wickets:

Pictures from here.

And these were the better entires. For, in the late 1970's nothing it would appear, said 'Marvellous Melbourne' like a revolving restaurant. Particularly if said restaurant was placed in the head of a giant kangaroo not only affording patrons a 360 degree view of the city but also one can assume, those on the ground the rare treat of an enormous marsupial experiencing an exorcism.

As is often the case in exhibitions staffed by volunteers, we encountered an extremely passionate archives enthusiast who assisted us by pointing out what he deemed the interesting bits and lingering for our reaction. Awkward.

The fun continued downstairs, where there are permanent exhibitions set up in the old vaults. I must say, while I am a big fan of the full sensory experience (i.e. sight, sound, touch, etc) at these sort of things, here this was all rather eerily executed. The use of 'surprise' audio was rather disconcerting... For example, walking into one of the dark and dreary rooms set off an imagined conversation with members of the long dead family that used to live there. Shudder.

Anyway, we liked it. Best you go see for yourself if you've got a few minutes up your sleeve and are near parliament station.

Kitty x