PAP’23 Information Pack (Example)

Testing Grounds
Located at Market Square in the Queen Victoria Market Precinct Testing Grounds is a creative infrastructure project providing spaces in public for creative practices across art, performance, design and education, and flexible spaces for works in development within Testing Grounds Emporium.

Programmed through a simple EOI process, Testing Grounds is a place where people at all stages of practice are welcome to test, develop and share their work, and the infrastructure can be used to present new work, run workshops or community activities, and host festivals or events.

These Are The Projects We Do Together (The Projects)
The Projects is an interdisciplinary team operating creative spaces and designing and delivering a wide range of creative projects, focusing on education and experimentation across all projects and sites. The Projects has been operating Testing Grounds since 2013. Others sites we operate include Siteworks and The Quarry.

Public Art Park Team
Testing Grounds is operated by a team skilled at managing loose and flexible spaces, driven by a core agenda of access and experimentation. Testing Grounds is collaborating with Ilana Russell and Lana Nguyen for Public Art Park ’23.

Ilana Russell – Lab Lead
Lana Nguyen – PAP Lead
Joseph Norster – Testing Grounds Co-Director
Millie Cattlin – Testing Grounds Co-Director
David Leslie – The Projects Comms & Admin

This year’s program includes a six-week lab (7 August — 22 September) culminating in a two-week public program during Melbourne Fringe Festival (7 — 22 October).

Public Art Park is a program of contextually-led ideas for public spaces across a range of mediums. The EOI intentionally focused on questions relating to interests and initial ideas about working in public space and within the Market Precinct, because we want to foster a place where ideas can be developed together, with plenty of time and in response to the environment.

Core motivations:

• Foster cultures of place.
• Advocate for public spaces that can support live experimental processes of learning.
• Position creative practice as an essential element of a market precinct.
• Present works in production as a viable alternative to art objects.
• Celebrate that particular energy from works being in production and working in public.
• Hold space for live processes, risk and experimentation.
• Timely, generatively critical, and actively engaged with context.

The agenda for the program:

Civic; relating to and involving –

• being of this time and place, and negotiating public spaces collectively; 
• long-form discourse – conversations rather than declarations; and
• awareness of agency and obligations.

Conceptual; relating to and involving – 

• thoughts, beliefs and principles;
• collaboration and generation of ideas; and
• acts of learning and experimentation.

Collegial; relating to and involving – 

• shared responsibility, warmth and generosity;
• learning alongside each other through doing; and
• fostering group culture and cultures of place.

Convivial; relating to and involving – 

• being friendly and lively; and
• being accessible and hospitable; and 
• being thoughtful and engaged with the communities of the market.

Observation
How do we position ourselves within this place?

• How do we experience, navigate and communicate within a market ecology?
• Where are the points (places and times) of overwhelm, where are the points of repose?
• How do we orientate ourselves within this site?

Landscape & Ecologies
What are the material and immaterial features of this place?

• What has been intentionally placed here, and what finds a way to exist?
• What are the depths inherent in this site?
• How do we understand and map the layers of this site

Time
How do we measure time on and through this site, considering not only its current market context, but what this place has been before (and before that, and before that, and before that)?

• What are the rhythms and cycles of this place?
• How is time held within this place?

Publics
What is a public?

• How do we participate and contribute to the ecology of public and civic spaces?
• What are the exchanges and dialogues generated by the public here?
• What are the human and non-human relationships in this place?

Speculation
What can we imagine here?

• What are the possible futures for this place, and how might we co-author these as a group and as a public?
• Who will this space be for?

Public Art Park and the Lab program will be intersecting with other programs at Testing Grounds throughout August-October.

RMIT Master of Art in Public Space (MAPS) students will join the lab program on Thursday, and will be developing and testing work within the PAP program. Thursday’s will be the day where everyone comes together at the site, and where dialogue is supported and encouraged.

Fringe Festival — Fringe Festival will be co-located at Testing Grounds between 5-22 October with two geodesic dome theatres (250 + 350 pax), a festival hub and a licensed area within the Precinct.

Overshare (Melbourne Emerging Screen Festival)  — In collaboration with Garden Reflexxx, Overshare is a 17-day screen based festival within Testing Grounds Emporium. There will be a single large screen in the outdoor area of Testing Grounds for the duration of Overshare, which is running at the same time as Fringe Festival and Public Art Park. As this program continues to develop, we will share information about it and if opportunities arise for cross-programming, we will encourage and support this.

Open EOI programming — Testing Grounds is always available through its program of open EOIs, which will continue to provide access to both sites for creative experimentation during Public Art Park. As projects come through the EOI we will look to make connections with Public Art Park and continue with our agenda of access to public space for creative experimentation.

Testing Grounds Open EOI programming currently includes the following:

• Dan Koop – Market Research
• Collective Polyphony / Gudskul Collective workshop
• Collective Polyphony / Chinese Museum Artists Collective
• Rhys Cousins – CTRL.

The Lab program will be focused on Thursdays with a core program between 11am-1pm, which includes curated conversations, workshops and lunch. Following lunch, there are opportunities for one-on-ones, tests and skill sharing until 5pm within the shared studio space and outside at Testing Grounds.

Curated conversation/workshop (11am – 12pm) — Invited guests speak with the group, take a tour or run a workshop responding to the thematic of each week.

Shared Lunch (12pm – 1pm) — Each week lunch will be bought from the Markets, prepared and shared.

One-on-one/development time (1pm – 3pm) — Conversations with the Public Art Park team providing support throughout the project development phase.

Tests and skill sharing (3pm – 5pm) — Opportunities to test at 1:1 in the outdoor areas or within the Emporium, focusing on material testing and AV tests. This is also a time when we can arrange for skill- sharing sessions between the group.

Public Art Park: 7 October – 22 October
Installation period: 2 – 4 October

Opening Celebration: We are planning an opening celebration during the day on Saturday 7th October.

Flow of the program during Public Art Park: Public Art Park programming will be predominantly on Thursdays, Fridays, Saturdays, and Sundays during this period.

Thursdays — Open installs and group lunch
Public install days including lunch and conversations on Thursdays. Interested in keeping the activity of the installation process open and in public.

Fridays — Teaching and Learning
Offer an opportunity to focus on education, school groups, workshops and walkthroughs.

Saturdays — Big market energy
Big market day so there is an idea to build upon this energy with demonstrations, showings, performances and events.

Sundays — Slower and closer with conversations with group discussions.
Busy market days, but often with a slightly slower pace so there is an option to program conversations and group discussions on Sundays.

Monday-Wednesday — Resting-state / experiments 
All other times are resting states, where remnants of works are left and held by the space and the structure. This time is optionally also an opportunity to come to site and continue testing work.

Shared Studio Space at Emporium

Testing Grounds Emporium is a loose and flexible warehouse space within the Queen Victoria Market precinct, across the road from Testing Grounds. It’s a three-level building, and the shared studio is on the top level, with views to Testing Grounds.

Shared space is available from 10th August through to 30th October. There is a large space within an open studio with three large tables set up for the Lab. Internet, power and lighting is all provided.

Tech and Other Loose Parts

Testing Grounds has a variety of technical gear available for use. This includes monitors, projectors, speakers, microphones and other bits and bobs available during the Lab.

In the spirit of The Whole Earth Catalog, other loose parts include plinths, tables, white boards, building materials, and books

Resource Page

The following documents contain a wealth of information about the two Testing Grounds sites and are the same as the documents we provide to artists coming through our regular EOI stream.

Market Square Site Induction PackEmporium Site Induction Pack

Please review the Terms and Conditions and fill out the Project Agreement form 

Project Agreement Terms & Conditions

To receive your participation fee, please submit an invoice. You can submit your invoice whenever you would like, we are happy to process them before, after or during the lab process.

All invoices must be submitted through the invoicing portal below on The Projects website:

Submit an invoice

Click the button below to link to a PAP’23 comms pack. The pack includes logos, Instagram tiles and an Instagram reel and will be updated as we get closer to Public Art Park.

Download Comms Pack

What if it rains?
Rain is a delightful occurrence that we negotiate regularly, and have plenty of options to capture it, or cover ourselves from it. Walking and talking sessions will generally happen irrespective of rain so it would be great to be prepared for anything and bring an umbrella or rain jacket. But if it gets too intense, we can always come inside and continue our sessions at the Emporium.

How will lunch work?
Lunch will be prepared and shared collectively with the group, with everyone involved in the process. All meals  will be vegetarian with gluten free options included. Food will be bought from the Markets each morning and then washed, sliced, diced and laid out for communal eating. We are very excited about this!

Can I leave valuables at Emporium?
We have never had any issues with theft, and we feel comfortable having valuables in this building, particularly on the top floor, but we are unfortunately not insured against theft, so ask that everyone take responsibility for their own belongings. It’s important to keep the front door closed and keep the lockbox scrambled.

Who can I talk to if I have more questions? 
Us! The Testing Grounds team are based at the Emporium site every weekday and are always happy to chat in person if you wanted to drop by with a question, or to work on/from the site on days other than Thursday. 

Generally, if your questions are:
Testing Grounds / production / equipment / site based – talk to Joe and Millie

PAP and lab based:
Talk to Ilana and Lana

Will there be someone around to help me install my work?
The PAP project team will be on-site from the 2 – 4 October during the day (and some evenings if needed) to help out with install, or anything else you might need to get your work in the space. 

What if my ideas have changed since I submitted the EOI?
That’s great, we’re always open to change. We anticipate that most people’s ideas will evolve and shift during the lab program, and we encourage you to chat to us about your project during the Thursday 1:1 sessions if you need a sounding board. 

What happens after Public Art Park?
We’ll figure this out together. 

We hope that collaborations and friendships form through this time that continue in unexpected ways and Testing Grounds would be delighted to host and support future projects following Public Art Park.

How is Public Art Park funded?
Testing Grounds at Queen Victoria Market is supported through Covid Recovery funding from the City of Melbourne. Specific funds through this stream have been allocated to the 2022 and 2023 Public Art Park programs.

How is Public Art Park funded?
Testing Grounds at Queen Victoria Market is supported through Covid Recovery funding from the City of Melbourne. Specific funds through this stream have been allocated to the 2022 and 2023 Public Art Park programs.

Can the Testing Grounds infrastructure be used for installations?

Yes! All the Public Art Park projects will be situated at the Testing Grounds site, and we encourage you to make full use of the infrastructure there, including the hanging systems, speakers, shipping containers, screens and any other ways you can think of to intervene with the site. 

We know that some works will venture into the Market Hub, which we’re really excited about, but we’ll use TG as the home base for these works to begin or end at. 

The PAP project team can help to test hanging, broadcasting, screening, cooking, or anything else you might need our support with onsite. 

What spaces are available for PAP artists to use in the lead up to and during PAP?

The whole of Emporium is available for you to use during the lab program, and in the lead-up to PAP.

The Testing Grounds team (Joe, Millie and Dave) are on site every weekday from 9am – 5pm, and you can access the space after hours via lockbox; please reach out directly to be taken through the access process.