“Opening up doors, that literally, haven’t been opened in a long time”

Contemporary Site Investigations: Flinders Street Station

By unlocking the doors of Flinders Street Station’s dormant interior spaces we facilitated a nostalgic exploration of the histories of this cultural site and brought them to life through contemporary works by a collective of artists. Despite being predominately used as a transport interchange today, this building has supported a rich and varied social history over more than a century. Contemporary Site Investigations revealed the myriad of meanings this space has held within the Melbourne community over time, its past functionalities as an integrated public space, and its future potential to be thoughtfully reactivated through community curiosity, creative imagination and collaboration.

Due to the space’s limitations in terms of public access the works were broadcast across the platforms, audio systems, and various screens in the surrounding 1 kilometre radius of the Ballroom (including Federation Square and the Young and Jackson screen), centred on the idea that the creative works were reverberating out into the surrounding urban fabric and stirring the reactivation of the grand old spaces and community importance of the Station. 

This was the first time that these hidden spaces had been accessed in over 30 years. And Projects was the Creative Producer of this work and navigated complex stakeholder dynamics to gain access to this space. The work was commissioned by City of Melbourne and was acknowledged by the City as the most impactful public artwork they had commissioned. The work also set a precedent for others to gain access to the space and for the restoration of the Ballroom.