Experimental

Solace: The Launch

Be among the first to experience Solace, a new digital sensory experience at State Library Victoria.

Dates 10 Oct
Time 1:00pm (60 minutes)
Venue State Library Victoria - Conversation Quarter

FREE EVENT

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A person in headphones holds a mobile phone in front of them. They have their camera open on their phone. In front of them are yellow benches, green lamps and white walls.

Past Event

Experimental Fringe Fund

Image Credit: Pia Johnson

Created by: Melinda Hetzel & Co.
Presented by: State Library Victoria
Commissioned by: State Library Victoria as part of the Alchemy program

Experience a moment of respite on World Mental Health Day with the world premiere of Solace, a mini-library of interactive sensory artworks streamed directly to your device.

Discover insights on the artwork, explore sensory stations curated by collaborating artists and follow a giant rabbit through the Library on a journey of respite, comfort and imagination.

Auslan interpreters, audio description and tactile tours will be available on the day.

Commissioned as part of State Library Victoria’s Alchemy program, Solace is a brand new work by Melinda Hetzel & Co, an artist-led collective, known for creating deeply evocative, immersive experiences within public space. Solace will be available to stream free to your device at the Library for 12 months from the launch.

Solace was co-created by:

Melinda Hetzel (artistic direction)
Steph O'Hara (software/sound design)
Pia Johnson (videography)

in collaboration with:

Nick Barlow (performer/collaborator), Samuel Gaskin (performer), Wen-Juenn Lee (associate writer), Aaron Moodie (Digital/UX design), Hannah Murphy (associate producer), Matt O'Hara (voice artist), Sunday Smith (camera assistant, Kate Sulan (dramaturgy), Lenka Vanderboom (consultant/collaborator).

in consultation with:

Aunty Diane Kerr OAM (Welcome to Country), Aunty Julianne Axford, Aunty Gail Smith, Charley Woolmore (Wurundjeri Woi Wurrung Cultural Heritage Aboriginal Corporation).

Supported by City of Melbourne Arts Grants.

This project received Cash to Create and Cash for Equity through the Fringe Fund, with thanks to the Pulse Giving Circle.

About Melinda Hetzel & Co.

Melinda Hetzel & Co. collaborate to create extraordinary site-responsive and participatory artworks, which invite audiences to experience and participate in art in new ways.

Melinda Hetzel and collaborators are known for creating deeply evocative, visually stunning performance experiences and can be found working at the edges of our respective forms. A multi-talented group of artists, we persist in raising questions about the complex and evolving relationships between the human animal and the natural and human-built worlds, evoking collective memories of grief, loss, longing and transformation. Collaboration and meaningful audience connection are at the heart of our work. We specialise in creating intimate art experiences within public space, which simultaneously form a spectacle for passersby, creating room for unexpected discovery and possibility. Based in Naarm (Melbourne), we pursue a fascination with how live arts, in combination with new technologies, can affirm threads of interconnectedness between human beings and the rapidly changing world in which we live.

Since 2013 this artist-led collective has created a diverse suite of works including - participatory performance-installation, Urban Cocoon, augmented reality experience, Fly By Night, live fortune-telling machine, Madame Tulalah's Magnificent Box, interactive, musical tree-installation, Between the Trees, durational, live and live-streamed performance-installation, Conservatory, and photographic pavement exhibition, Here We Walk. This body of work builds on Hetzel's decade as artistic director of visual theatre company Peepshow Inc.

Duration: 60 minutes
Event Accessibility: Blind or Low Vision Rating: Partially Accessible, Deaf or Hard of Hearing Rating: Partially Accessible
Age suitability: G
Event warnings: High Level Of Audience Participation.

Audience need to bring a charged mobile device and headphones to be able to experience the work. There is free wifi available at the venue. They will need to provide their email and postcode via the State Library Victoria website to be able to access the experience.

The Tactile Tour will take place from 12:45pm - 1:15pm.

Click HERE for the Access Pack.

State Library Victoria - Conversation Quarter
328 Swanston St, Melbourne, VIC, 3000

Wheelchair Access

State Library Victoria - Conversation Quarter is wheelchair accessible.

Assistive Hearing

State Library Victoria - Conversation Quarter is hearing loop accessible. Please advise of access requirement when buying tickets.

Wheelchair access
Swanston Street Welcome Zone: use the ramp at La Trobe Street, near the corner of Swanston Street.
Russell Street Welcome Zone: use Entry 5 via La Trobe Street, near the corner of Russell Street.
Conference Centre and State Library Victoria Theatrette: access via Entry 3 on La Trobe Street.
Cafes: visit Mr Tulk via Entry 5, La Trobe Street. Enter Mr Tulk via the ramp at La Trobe Street, Entry 2.

There are three two-hour disability-permit parking spaces in La Trobe Street, outside Mr Tulk.

There are two two-hour disability-permit parking spaces in Little Lonsdale Street, between Swanston and Russell streets (outside the Wheeler Centre).

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