Metro Tunnel Creative Program and The Huxleys

The Metro Tunnel Creative Program aims to soften the edges of construction and keep the city moving and vibrant.

The Huxley’s creative response is a joyful and bright approach to the industrial aesthetic of construction.

The representation of sequins, glitter and magical characters on the vinyl construction hoardings helped the city celebrate one of its iconic festivals - Melbourne Fashion Week.

A exciting and unique design teamed with high production values resulted in an excellent temporary public art experience.

Despite being a massive 40 metres long and 2 metres high, the human scale of ‘Wrap your troubles in dreams’ on City Square allowed city workers, visitors and commuters to walk past and interact with a playful ‘family portrait’ – divine characters humanising the heart of the CBD.

The \'Pink Fit\' artwork on the hoarding in Scott Alley (a laneway that backs directly onto a construction site) was also part of the Flinders Quarter Augmented Reality Art Walk enticing people into the laneway to find the VR opportunity and hence keeping foot traffic passing local businesses.

The pop-up runway culminated in a performance by the artwork Scott Alley – the performance drew big crowds into Alley and delighted patrons at local businesses.

Using creative practitioners rather than a marketing or design agency provided a truly unique and creative result – setting a new benchmark for temporary public art.

The Metro Tunnel Creative Program delivered by the Cross Yarra Partnership, in collaboration with Rail Projects Victoria, recognised that the project’s social licence is improved due to an active program designed to keep the city quintessentially Melbourne.

The Huxley’s artwork and subsequent public response on social media has proven the value of this.

Large scale infrastructure construction is not traditionally associated with bringing the streets to life but that’s exactly what the Metro Tunnel Creative Program and the Huxleys have achieved with this multifaceted approach.

The design contained costumes, photography, graphic layout and then was bought to life by Virtual Reality and live performance.

The design also ensured that city goers could experience the glitz, glamour and magic of Melbourne Fashion Week despite the impact of construction in the CBD.

It also demonstrated Melbourne’s values as a socially inclusive city, celebrating it’s LGBTI culture on billboards in the middle of the CBD.