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Live Lanes - By George!

Adam Norton - Tank Project

Where: Tank Stream Way, Bridge Lane, Curtin Place, Angel Place and Ash Street.
When: October 10-24

The laneways of the CBD bisect the major thoroughfares of George and Pitt Streets like hidden nerves running across city. The Tank Project is an opportunity to use the laneways as the site for a giant psychological experiment in the heart of the city. The early starters of the city’s business week catch glimpses of camouflaged military vehicles over-nighting in the shadows of the laneways. Office workers scurry past encampments of tanks in the deep shadows of the lanes. All day long, bus drivers, delivery guys, bike couriers and people nipping out of the office, spot armoured personnel carriers taking up positions at the head of the lanes. During the early evenings music fans hurry through the chill of the evening, making their way past these military vehicles on their way to the City Recital Hall. Weekend clubbers heading for the late night bars and clubs of the city pass a mini-squadron of tanks manoeuvring down the city lanes.

That first sight, brings up moments we all know from the News—like a recreation of the image of ‘shopping bag man’ in front of three Tanks in Tiananmen Square in 1989, or any of the footage of Coalition Forces moving through the streets of Baghdad or Kabul—for a brief moment one is forced to confront a frisson of danger. Not all cities of the world are always at peace. We have to guard against loosing our peace and democracy. Then the moment passes and only the theatricality of the moment is left.
The citizenry and visitors to the CBD carry on going about their business.

The Tank Project momentarily exposes questions of freedom and safety in the psychology of the cityscape. It also introduces parts of the city that may have been previously overlooked, namely the laneways of the CBD.

Adam Norton (Artist), Claire Taylor (Curator); production team: Eric Stevenson, Robert Dodds, Chris McGrail, and David Stevenson (Armoured Vehicle Adventures Pty Ltd)
www.peloton.net.au