Nite Art presents SPACE WALK: Art Lost and Found in Transformation. On this third walk in a series led by emerging curator Rachael Paintin, we explore the ever-transforming and ephemeral landscape of contemporary art spaces.

We meet at KINGS Artist-Run. Formed in 2003, KINGS is communally driven by a collective of artists, writers, curators and academics that provide a platform to explore, interpret and participate in discursive approaches to contemporary artistic practice. Currently on show are: Pucker, Anna McDermott, Kaitlyn Hickey, SAY HI TO YOUR MUM FOR ME, Camille Cargill and Several beautiful angles, Nina Gilbert.

Departing KINGS, we journey to the unique inner-city precinct of Guildford Lane, which from 2010 housed Beam Contemporary, Fehily Temporary, Guildford Lane Gallery, Screen Space and Utopian Slumps.

Screen Space co-directors and current co-directors of Kuiper Projects in Brisbane Simone Hine and Kyle Weise describe their departure from the lane as “reflecting the ebb and flow of arts precincts, but also the constant and inspiring diversity and spirit of invention (and re-invention) that defines the Melbourne arts community, and its abundance of small and transient galleries: ‘minor’ voices that offer an alternative to institutional histories.”

This art and heritage landscape reveals a city’s transformation and its socio-economic, cultural, political and architectural histories. To witness the evolution of the lane, we finish at Krimper Cafe for coffee, cake and conversation with Mun Soon of MGS Architects and the café’s founder. In the 19th century the site housed a sawmill, then cabinet-making factory. More recently, it was home to Guildford Lane Gallery.

KINGS Artist-Run is a member of All Conference, a recently established collaborative network of fifteen artist-run organisations that, through their programming, support the practices of living Australian artists.

SPACE WALK is a ticketed event designed to financially support the work of artists, curators and art organisations.

We acknowledge the Wurundjeri people of the Kulin Nation as the Traditional Custodians of the land on which we meet and walk and offer our respect to Elders both past and present.

Photo: Courtesy of Kings Artist-Run. Map design by Rachael Paintin.