Lighting designer Joseph Norster was honoured when he received a brief from Federation Square to transform the iconic space into a Christmas-themed wonderland. Norster, who is just one half of the multidisciplinary design practice These are THE PROJECTS we do Together, explains how he had a vision of creating something totally peculiar, almost other-worldly.
“We got riffing about the idea of what would you do if you had a square over Christmas,” says Norster. “We instantly said we wanted to carpet the whole space in trees. No grotto, no Santa, just a forest of trees. There are all those lovely, mostly European folk stories about forests and woods, like Little Red Riding Hood and we liked that notion of getting lost in a public space.”
The Projects was established by Norster and Millie Cattlin in early 2009. With an interest in design, built environments and public spaces, the two artists create projects that touch the surface gently and are portable, rechargeable, demountable and flexible at a human scale.
“It was like sitting around thinking of great album covers or a 1001 different book titles. We came up with a bunch of ideas of what it is we exactly do? Essentially we develop self-generating projects that are all different and collaborative.”
Over the past two years The Projects have worked in diverse mediums, from projections and film to music and photography. For the NGV’S 150 birthday pARTy, they created 38 silhouettes each with cloisters of very large, glowing orange balloons. The silhouettes stood alongside the artworks in the walk. It was fun, kooky and made people laugh.
They have also designed a Projector Bike – a three-wheeled cargo bike, purpose built with a high-powered LCD projector, a car stereo sound system, iPad and a deep-cycle battery that will allow about 2½ hours of movie screening time. In a bid to tell stories in the public realm while surprising pedestrians, the bike has projected images for the Darwin festival, Sydney Fringe and Federation Square’s Light and Winter program.
“With all of our projects there is a genuine funniness to them. There is nothing finer than when a group of people are standing in a public place and you see that moment of when they’re about to laugh. There is probably some multisyllable German word for it, that transitional moment where someone goes, ‘oh that’s really funny.’ It happens in a split second.”
On December 1, The Projects installed 150 plastic Christmas trees, found in so many lounge rooms at this time of year, into the unique typography of Melbourne’s urban heart. There will be a maze, family portraits, a gigantic game of hide-and-seek and lots of red picnic rugs providing Melburnians with a unique opportunity for stillness.
“The typography of Fed Square is really challenging, so we have placed the trees where we can. There is flat access issues, tendency issues, and we’re sharing the square over the month with a dozen other events. There might be a marquee one day and the trees will have to scuttle away and we liked this idea very much, of the forest constantly changing. It’s almost like in The Lord of the Rings, where they have got the trees and they’re walking through the forest and they look behind and the forest has changed.”
Along with entertainment, there will also be spontaneous acoustic musical renditions of the traditional folk song In the Pines. Dating to the 1870s, the song is believed to be Southern Appalachian in origin, and forms the basis for more than 160 different recorded renditions, which span across generations.
Norster explains how he believes “that the folk tradition of Christmas lends itself to the same sort of multitude of meaning and as such has the ability to escape a fixed or conservative single interpretation. And it is with this in mind that we have linked the iconic Christmas pine with the song In The Pines to allow a rich and diverse response.”
Norster says In the Pines, was essentially inspired from his childhood experiences of growing up in the bush. From an early age, Norster had a keen fascination with architecture and light and how this interacted with the landscape.
“I grew up in the country and right next to the primary school there was this ubiquitous pine forest. The pines, being this monoculture, were a very different space because you could step into this pine forest in the middle of summer, and the temperature would drop 20 degrees. It would be completely dark with just a carpet of pine needles and maybe the occasional blackberry bush struggling, but it was a very different experience stepping from one space into another.
“I wanted to re-create it, this feeling, so that you’re still in Federation Square but you have stepped into another realm. I think those ideas will be well translated, especially for anyone who is under five foot. There is a really nice moment of having kids, being completely engulfed by the trees.”
Activities \ In the Pines
Family Portraits
A professional photographer will be in residence at Fed Square to capture candid snaps amidst the pines.
» Main Square, Every Saturday in December, 10am-2pm. (Free)
Trees in Your Backyard
Take part in a mass planting that extends to gardens far beyond the square. On receiving a
small olive tree (traditionally a symbol of peace) you will be asked to plant this tree, photograph the planting and send the photo to inthepines@theprojects.com.au.
Hide and Seek
Children are invited to take part in a round or two and make new friends. The last person found is the winner and gets to choose the next person to be ‘It’.
» Main Square, Until Tuesday, December 13, 2-4pm. (Free)
Music Nights
Find one of the bright-red picnic mats and settle in for the evening of Appalachian mountain music and renditions of old folk song In The Pines from Craig Woodward and special guests. Woodward is one of the founders of well-known string band Headbelly Buzzard, who held the famed Friday night residence at North Fitzroy’s The Railway Hotel for 14 years.
» Main Square, Wednesdays, December 14 and 21, 7.30-10.30pm. (Free)
Outside The Square
Invited artists will create an artistic response to the lyrics of In The Pines and design a poster. Fifty posters will be put up in key locations along Melbourne’s 15 suburban train lines. Original works can be viewed in the Fracture Gallery at Fed Square.
» Fracture Gallery, entrance of The Atrium. Until December 25, 24 hours. (Free)
Christmas Day Picnic
Also known as an orphans’ picnic, the lunch will provide a venue for those of us who don’t necessarily have a place to spend Christmas. Come and join your fellow exiles for a long lunch on the picnic rugs at Fed Square. Bring your hamper. Spaces are limited, so registration is required. Please note that alcohol is not permitted in public areas of Fed Square.
» Main Square, Sunday December 25, 12.30pm. Registrations: inthepines@theprojects.com.au by December 20. (Free)
Lost in The Woods
Taking a cue from the confusion and anxiety that often accompanies last-minute Christmas preparations, a classic garden maze made up of 80 trees, will lead visitors on a playful journey through the square.
» Main Square, December 22-24, 24 hours. (Free)
» www.fedsquare.com/events/in-the-pines