LAUSR

In a similar vein, Fiona Hillary and Geoff Hogg’s Interrogating Space: The Urban Laboratory (Chapter 7) also examines how public art and the ‘curation of “live test sites” for public art’ (p. 121) might be utilised to shape experience and perception of cities, namely perspectives of safety in public spaces. The authors focus on the Urban Laboratory, a year-long collaborative project in Melbourne, Australia, which involved the commission and curation of the work of five artists in two laneways in the inner city district of Melbourne, during 2013. The aim was to build solidarity, activate space and facilitate public discussion about perspectives of safety in Melbourne’s public spaces. The authors first describe the artistic works – an interesting mix of citizen-engaged performance art, painting, and projection – and then draw on ethnographic observations and interviews to discuss resulting public engagement with each. They conclude that the success of the Urban Laboratory project suggests activation of spaces via public art is a positive way to enhance perceptions of community safety and also to ‘facilitate a ground for engagement that challenges conventions of identity and ... behavior’ (p. 133).