River Studios Carpark, West Melbourne - Kate Meakin

This video catalogues a panorama of details from the car park next to my studio building in West Melbourne across the span of a day. The carpark is framed by many cacti, trees, a road, the Maribyrnong River, a cement mill, a shipping dock . It is used the tenants of River Studios , and recently a new church named Life . The church have renovated their section of the carpark, the rest feels like a by - product of different tenant interventions across the decades. People park, smoke and sometimes eat lunch in the carpark. One cactus has s tarted to lean , or collapse in a way that reminds me of Rodin’s The Thinker . Perhaps it’s a monument to thinking without purpose. Location: River Studios Carpark , West Melbourne. KateMeakin is a Narrm/Melbourne based visual artist working with photography, film and sculpture. She is currently undertaking a practice-based PhD with RMIT School of Fashion and Textiles exploring the representation of aesthetic labour in documentary film. Her work has been exhibited at NGV, Gertrude Contemporary, TarraWarra Museum of Art, Berlin Biennale of Art, ASVOF Film Festival, Paris, and Green Papaya Art Projects, Philippines. She also works as a cinematographer, recent collaborations have included working with artists such as Ruth Höflich, Shelley Lasica and Jennifer Sun Baulch. ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ This video is included in the exhibition 'Exterior Monologue', curated by Olivia O'Donnell and Virginia Overell as part of the 2024 MSD x Melbourne Design Week program. See videos from all contributors on the Exterior Monologue playlist: https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLgGN9A-SZN9mxcQzaFljG-bxaSRPv5jTa https://designweek.melbourne/ Melbourne Design Week and The Victorian Design Program are initiatives of the Victorian Government through Creative Victoria. #MelbourneDesignWeek #NGV @NGVMelbourne