overview
It's not just a bridge. Not just a river. It's the sprawling, sinuous host of a visual story - an historical revelation - a tour of the events that shaped a culture, represented in art. The Bridge Art Project aims to provide a visual record of Australia's cultural development and is a collaborative concept being developed by indigenous and non-indigenous Australians who seek to:
- Inspire a broader understanding of indigenous history and culture and its place in a modern epoch.
- Engage international and metropolitan visitors to the region with an edifying and challenging cultural experience.
- Reflect the influence and experience of post 1788 ethnic influxes.
- Encourage artistic expression of both the broad and specific aboriginal experience in pre and post-colonial Australia.
- Recognise and highlight the unique story of the original custodians of the Yorta Yorta region's incorporated clans.
- Nurture and strengthen a national reconciliation.
- Exhibit the work of internationally-acclaimed artists within the framework of historic and social reference.
- Offer emerging and established indigenous and non-indigenous Australian artists opportunities to contribute to the project and win prestigious art prizes whilst engaging with complex subject matter and specific themes.
- Facilitate education and tertiary research into Australian indigenous and non-indigenous socio-cultural evolution.
vision
The Bridge Art Project aims to be recognised nationally and internationally as an iconic centre for postmodern art and education on the history and culture of indigenous and post-settlement Australians.
Based near bushland close to the Murray River on land traditionally inhabited by Yorta Yorta Nation people, the project will utilise the sides of the new Murray River Crossing Bridge causeway, bridge supports and surrounding approaches to fulfill the mission statement. A sculpture space around walking and cycling tracks will complement the vision. 35 acres of land adjoining the bridge on the NSW side have been made available for the project.
The Bridge Art Project will become a major tourism development that artistically interprets established and undiscovered histories - both from a local and broader, nation-wide perspective.
Using contemporary art in an outdoor environment to illustrate pivotal moments in the country's evolution (or devolution), the project calls for creative solutions from artists to design and construct works with specific outdoor requirements. Using hardy mediums such as metal, stone, ceramic, mosaic, timber, glass, concrete, paint and other materials, we envisage that artists of all cultural backgrounds will be able to apply to receive historic research and arts grants from sponsors and government bodies to contribute to a postmodern artscape showcasing Australia's rich heritage using the new bridge, easement and pylons as the canvas. Major art prizes will be awarded to artists whose work fulfils the mission to the most extraordinary degree. The project will have a section dedicated specifically to local Yorta Yorta Nation history - exclusively overseen by Yorta Yorta Nation members and elders.
The overall outdoor visual arts narrative will be complemented by an historical interpretive centre, contemporary gallery, educational/conference centre, walking tracks, sculpture space and a fauna park.
Set by the Murray River, the project will be sympathetic to the environment and will enhance the unique natural assets of the surrounding bushland. Using walking tracks and nature-based tourism concepts, the project will lead the visitor on a path of historic exploration, artistic stimulation, cultural inquisition, confrontation and education.
With a focus on Australia's indigenous culture, expressed through modern and traditional artforms, the project will provide insight and interpretation of authentic histories. It is designed to fulfil the curiosity of art lovers, culture-seekers and international visitors. We aim to reach the international market through a range of internet marketing activities, frenetic word of mouth and wholesale inbound tour operator relationships.
Australia has valuable cultural assets, including Indigenous and non-Indigenous artists that create works representing vast spans of social, environmental, and geological history. This project will utilize this talent in a coordinated way, providing creative conversations and depicting stories that explore Australia’s social challenges, such as past Indigenous disadvantage and the hardship of pioneering in Australia.
philosophy
The Australian Indigenous experience, particularly within the European settlement and post-colonial eras, is certainly not one of our confident strides toward a successful and prosperous nation. Australian aboriginal history both locally and nationally is, in fact, intimately linked with the dark underbelly of colonial history: violence, dispossession, exclusion and oppression. The story Echuca-Moama's Yorta Yorta people have to tell about the recent past is a familiar one to all Australian aboriginal nations. It is not a positive or nation-affirming one. Instead, it is one that forces us to question the nature and legitimacy of our settler society. It exposes a past that many would prefer to be kept in the closet. Part of the Bridge Arts Project will take on this story and will allow artists of all backgrounds, via specific and mixed artistic mediums, the opportunity to provide levels of reconciliation through newly discovered stories of the aboriginal experience and Australia’s pioneering past.
It is our hope that this project will accept the open challenge put forth by former Prime Minister Paul Keating, for a nation to devise a reconciliatory path forward in his iconic 1992 Redfern Address.
It is our hope that this project will accept the open challenge put forth by former Prime Minister Paul Keating, for a nation to devise a reconciliatory path forward in his iconic 1992 Redfern Address.
"We cannot imagine that the descendants of people whose genius and resilience maintained a culture here through fifty thousand years or more, through cataclysmic changes to the climate and environment, and who then survived two centuries of disposession and abuse, will be denied their place in the modern Australian nation...
We are beginning to more generally appreciate the depth and the diversity of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander cultures. From their music and art and dance we are beginning to recognise how much richer our national life and identity will be for the participation of Aboriginals and Torres Strait Islanders. We are beginning to learn what the indigenous people have known for many thousands of years - how to live with our physical environment. Ever so gradually we are learning how to see Australia through Aboriginal eyes, beginning to recognise the wisdom contained in their epic story.
Aboriginal Australians have been included in the life of Australia they have made remarkable contributions. Economic contributions, particularly in the pastoral and agricultural industry. They are there in the frontier and exploration history of Australia. They are there in the wars. In sport to an extraordinary degree. In literature and art and music. In all these things they have shaped our knowledge of this continent and of ourselves. They have shaped our identity. They are there in the Australian legend. We should never forget - they have helped build this nation.And if we have a sense of justice, as well as common sense, we will forge a new partnership."
Paul Keating, The Redfern Address.
We are beginning to more generally appreciate the depth and the diversity of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander cultures. From their music and art and dance we are beginning to recognise how much richer our national life and identity will be for the participation of Aboriginals and Torres Strait Islanders. We are beginning to learn what the indigenous people have known for many thousands of years - how to live with our physical environment. Ever so gradually we are learning how to see Australia through Aboriginal eyes, beginning to recognise the wisdom contained in their epic story.
Aboriginal Australians have been included in the life of Australia they have made remarkable contributions. Economic contributions, particularly in the pastoral and agricultural industry. They are there in the frontier and exploration history of Australia. They are there in the wars. In sport to an extraordinary degree. In literature and art and music. In all these things they have shaped our knowledge of this continent and of ourselves. They have shaped our identity. They are there in the Australian legend. We should never forget - they have helped build this nation.And if we have a sense of justice, as well as common sense, we will forge a new partnership."
Paul Keating, The Redfern Address.
Inspired by the success of the private arts enterprise, the Museum of Old and New Art in Hobart, the Bunjilaka Aboriginal Cultural Centre in Melbourne and the sprawling public art galleries of the Berlin Wall and Stockholm Metro, Barry Donchi and the Bridge Arts Project Steering Committee will mount Australia's most extensive landmark outdoor arts project, engaging Indigenous and non-Indigenous artists to work together.
The project aims to strengthen reconciliation, establish social partnerships, revitalize folklore, and attract the attention of international visitors, as it portrays our local and nation-wide history and maps Australia’s untold stories through art - the most audacious, engaging and liberating of story-telling mediums.
strategy
The Committee will recruit nationally acclaimed and highly qualified cultural consultants, architects, and landscape designers to undertake the project. This will ensure that a strong framework and qualified master plan are delivered and key recommendations are provided to guide the infrastructure and operational investment in the project. Risk evaluation is an imperative. Sound due diligence is essential for the long-term sustainability of this unique, nationally acclaimed tourism project.
The Bridge Art Project is a unique and innovative concept. The process of collaboration between private investors, corporate stakeholders, the national arts community, local Yorta Yorta Nation representatives, state governments, and public authorities will encompass elements of product innovation, process innovation, and organisational innovation. Motivated by this vision, Barry Donchi has had influential conversations with NSW and Victorian bureaucracies including road construction authorities, environment and sustainability, national parks, tourism, arts, Indigenous affairs, state art galleries, and education providers.
Bringing State Government departments together to plan for a significant tourism icon is a first for the Victorian and NSW tourism sector on the Murray River. It also highlights to government departments such as Vic Road and NSW Road Traffic Authority the role tourism plays when planning new bridge infrastructure and the role of private investment in strengthening regional economies.
The Bridge Art Project site in Echuca Moama will showcase acclaimed Indigenous and non-Indigenous artists, as well as local Yorta Yorta Nation visual story-tellers and emerging artists of all backgrounds. It is poised to become an iconic tourism destination for Echuca Moama and the Murray River region.
innovation in tourism
Whilst the project is fundamentally an artistic endeavour, the extraordinary scope for public engagement is enormous, therefore it pitches itself confidently to earn a place at the forefront of the Australian tourism market. On a local scale, tourism in Echuca Moama is in a rapidly changing environment; this has been altered by changes in the way consumers think, behave, and travel. The scene is changing, as noted in the recent Data Snap Shot provided by Vic Tourism, December 2011. Domestic and international visitation to the Murray region are in decline. The Murray region received nearly 2.1 million domestic overnight visitors, down by 2.4% at year’s end on December 2010. Visitors spent over 6.5 million nights in the region, down by 8.1% at year’s end on December 2010.
In the foreword to the Victorian Regional Tourism Action Plan 2009-2012, Tim Holding, MP, Minister for Tourism and Major Events, recognises that there is a “range of challenges faced by regional Victoria including a stagnant domestic tourism sector, growth in low cost carriers, an increase in outbound travel and low investment attraction and skills shortages” in the tourism sector.
These factors are at work in the Echuca Moama tourism economy, which has also faced the climatic disasters of drought and floods, which have impacted bookings and perception of the region as a holiday destination. Tough times demand creative solutions. The Bridge Arts Project will help Echuca Moama become a nationally recognised tourism product and place of great social integrity which will build the region as a destination renowned for artistic and cultural exhibitions that attract international visitation. It will help transform these challenges into opportunities and risks into rewards.
Innovation is about doing new things and doing existing things in new ways. By introducing better tourism products, improving hospitality services, and establishing processes, delivery mechanisms and marketing techniques, the Bridge Arts Project will attract international visitation. Through partnerships and collaboration with such local tourism operators as Murray Regional Tourism and Echuca Moama Tourism, the Bridge Arts Project will compel the local accommodation and hospitality sector to become more responsive, productive, and competitive when hosting international visitors to the region. Increasing our capacity to create knowledge and find new ways of expressing new and imaginative tourism products is the key to building an innovative modern tourism economy in the Murray region.
Innovation involves generating, diffusing, and applying knowledge. The Bridge Arts Project is not only committed to researching and delivering the best opportunities for art and Indigenous tourism; it also has a clear plan for sharing knowledge across the tourism industry. The project outcomes and results will be recorded and integrated into the Murray Regional Tourism Strategy, where it will focus on the development of Indigenous, creative, and nature-based tourism.
key elements & staging
Over a time frame of five years, this private development will be constructed in stages.
STAGE ONE
1. Bridge Structure
2. Information Centre
STAGE TWO
3. Tour Centre / Interpretive Hub
4. Gallery
5. Sculpture Space (Outdoor)
STAGE THREE
6. Conference/Education Centre
7. Fauna Park
STAGE ONE
1. Bridge Structure
2. Information Centre
STAGE TWO
3. Tour Centre / Interpretive Hub
4. Gallery
5. Sculpture Space (Outdoor)
STAGE THREE
6. Conference/Education Centre
7. Fauna Park
corporate structure
The Steering Committee is in the process of establishing a trust/foundation with tax deductibility as the formal structure to manage the project.
This will be a streamlined group to drive the project, having constant contact with other stakeholders.
Initial funds to establish the foundation will be provided by the members and friends.
When this group has established its role, it will involve the community in the project.
- Membership of the foundation will comprise; Barry Donchi and members from:
- Business.
- Yorta Yorta Nation.
- Government.
- Community arts.
This will be a streamlined group to drive the project, having constant contact with other stakeholders.
Initial funds to establish the foundation will be provided by the members and friends.
When this group has established its role, it will involve the community in the project.
funding
Project funding will comprise:
Corporate and Governmental sponsorship shall be sought from major public companies, arts bodies and cultural councils for:
- State and Federal Grants
- Private tax-deductible donations.
- Membership
- Admission fees
- Corporate Sponsorship
Corporate and Governmental sponsorship shall be sought from major public companies, arts bodies and cultural councils for:
- Overall sponsorship.
- Prestigious acquisitive art competitions
- Purchase or exhibition of existing traditional and contemporary artworks.
- Grants for artists to create contemporary art.
- Research grants for artists to investigate history before depicting or interpreting it.
- Outdoor Sculpture Space.
- A Street Art Showcase (impermanent artistic interpretations for Banksy-style artists)
- Mural Walls (permanent artistic interpretations as time capsules).
partnerships
The Steering Committee are currently developing close relationships with :-
- Yorta Yorta Nation.
- Campaspe and Murray Shires.
- Echuca/Moama Tourism.
- Department of Environment/Parks in both states.
- Departments Indigenous Affairs in both states and Commonwealth.
- Road construction authorities.
- National and state art galleries.
- Educational bodies.
about echuca/moama
The Bridge Art Project: Bridging History on the Murray has found its logical geographical location in Echuca/Moama - a place where two border towns will host a reconciliatory arts project across the iconic Murray near a riverway junction.
Echuca/Moama is a border-town hub located on the banks of the Murray and Campaspe rivers in Victoria/New South Wales, Australia. Echuca, a name meaning "Meeting of the Waters" in traditional Yorta Yorta language is indicative of the role rivers have played in the town's existence. Moama, also an Yorta Yorta name, means “Place of the Dead,” reflecting the use of the sandy soil there as burial sites.
Echuca/Moama is situated close to the junction of the Goulburn, Campaspe and Murray Rivers. Its location at the closest point of the Murray to Melbourne contributed to its development as a thriving river port city during the 19th century. The towns continue to attract substantial tourist numbers and the region is a developing centre for festivals, sporting events and dining culture.
The Bridge Art Project will be staged around the new Murray "Dhungala" River bridge crossing in Echuca/Moama which is part of widespread Yorta Yorta territory. Traditionally, the river was not a border to the indigenous people. Yorta Yorta Nation comprises all the Yorta Yorta speaking clans, including the following : Kaitheban, Wollithiga, Moira, Ulupna, Bangerang, Kwat Kwat, Yalaba Yalaba and Ngurai-illiam-wurrung.
Read more about Yorta Yorta territory on our affiliates page.
Echuca/Moama is a border-town hub located on the banks of the Murray and Campaspe rivers in Victoria/New South Wales, Australia. Echuca, a name meaning "Meeting of the Waters" in traditional Yorta Yorta language is indicative of the role rivers have played in the town's existence. Moama, also an Yorta Yorta name, means “Place of the Dead,” reflecting the use of the sandy soil there as burial sites.
Echuca/Moama is situated close to the junction of the Goulburn, Campaspe and Murray Rivers. Its location at the closest point of the Murray to Melbourne contributed to its development as a thriving river port city during the 19th century. The towns continue to attract substantial tourist numbers and the region is a developing centre for festivals, sporting events and dining culture.
- YORTA YORTA NATION
The Bridge Art Project will be staged around the new Murray "Dhungala" River bridge crossing in Echuca/Moama which is part of widespread Yorta Yorta territory. Traditionally, the river was not a border to the indigenous people. Yorta Yorta Nation comprises all the Yorta Yorta speaking clans, including the following : Kaitheban, Wollithiga, Moira, Ulupna, Bangerang, Kwat Kwat, Yalaba Yalaba and Ngurai-illiam-wurrung.
Read more about Yorta Yorta territory on our affiliates page.
WHY HERE? IN REGIONAL AUSTRALIA
A project of this magnitude could never be achieved in a metropolitan area. An outdoor art scape across Dungula (The Yorta Yorta name for The Murray River) opposite a thriving colonial port in Echuca with subject matter dealing with local indigenous history and national cultural development has found its place on sacred Yorta Yorta land. As a tourist mecca, Echuca Moama has the infrastructure to support this project and its potential popularity to visitors. With a pending bridge construction, the time is ripe to design a narrative in harmony with the environment and the bridge plans. The local aboriginal heritage, hosting Australia's largest indigenous nation along with the post-colonial preservations in the Wharf precinct, add unique credence to the project's location. The vast bush land surrounding the Murray River is the perfect bedland for this long term vision.
REFERENCE PROJECTS
- MONA
Website: www.mona.net.au
- STOCKHOLM METRO
Website: http://www.hellomagazine.com/travel/201202067151/stockholm-metro-art-sweden/
- BUNJILAKA
Website: http://museumvictoria.com.au/bunjilaka/
- BERLIN WALL
Website: http://www.berlinwallart.com/
SUMMARY
The Bridge Art Project: Bridging History on the Murray, aims to be a monumental contemporary public arts project which will interpret Australia's epic indigenous and post-colonial story on traditional Yorta Yorta territory in the Murray Goulburn region. "The Bridge Arts Project: Bridging History on the Murray," will faciliate the creation of a compelling visual narrative on and around the new Echuca-Moama bridge structure and to oversee the construction of an additional indoor contemporary art gallery, cafe, sculpture park and historic interpretive centre on the N.S.W. landing. An educational/conference centre will be added as a centre for international study groups. Inspired by the runaway success of the private arts enterprise of M.O.N.A. in Tasmania, the Bunjilaka Aboriginal Cultural Centre in Melbourne and the sprawling public art galleries of the Berlin Wall and Stockholm Metro, project conceiver Barry Donchi and the steering committee seek to mount Australia's most extensive landmark outdoor arts project. This collaborative project aims to strengthen social partnerships, revitalize folklore and attract international attention to a courageous acknowledgement of untold historical truths.
