Overview
Born in 1996, the City Lights Project is an urban staple of Melbourne's contemporary art scene. The outdoor gallery aims to reinterpret the ‘act’ of viewing art. Throwing aside the age-old idea of the ‘patron visiting the art,’ founder Andy Mac brings the art to the viewer. In 1996, the City Lights 24 hour light box gallery was born smack bang in a cul-de-sac off Centre Place. Two years later a second light box project took precedence over the city’s night sky. This time it was Hoiser Lane’s turn to play host to a free public art space where a mélange of permanent light boxes and paste-ups decorate and graffiti concrete walls.
With a focus on collaborative projects, each month the urban space is revamped and rejuvenated by more than 200 different innovative and international contemporary artists. Rewind to June 2010 and you’ll see the trademark Obey Giant work of American illustrator and artist Shepard Fairy, creator of the now famous Barack Obama 'Hope' piece.
With an interest in the way individuals interacted with advertising, first passively then actively, the aim was to mirror that relationship - only with art. And this time there was no hidden agenda. Just pure observation. With a mere $6,000 in hand, Mac and three friends successfully put their plans into action. The City Lights outdoor gallery exists to put an end to that alienating aspect of art. Where art was once seen as pompous and 'high brow' it is now communal, sans pretense.
