Do you spend a lot of time around Monash or in Clayton? Are you curious about outdoor public art? Are you a bird watcher or naturalist? Are you an “active relaxer” who enjoys the outdoors?

If you say “yes” to any of the above then you’re invited to join free community “walkshops” to explore the outdoor spaces and community knowledge that exists around the natural parks and waterways along the new Suburban Rail Loop East line.

Around Monash Dan Koop is joined by co-host Sarah Walker, who will together guide attendees through gentle activities that deepen knowledge of place to explore the possibilities of artist-led temporary public art in the area. At the Science Centre Lake you can expect to meet some new people, discuss the role of walking in art practice and walk about 1km while doing a little bird watching - bring your own gear or borrow our binoculars!

FLOWING LOOPS ~ LOOPING FLOWS is an outdoor public art work that takes inspiration from the new rail line that will alter the flows of people through our urban landscape will investigate the types of flow that already exist in the region, such as flows of water, exchanges of knowledge and the relationships between human, animal and plant species of the unique catchments of the Mordialloc Creek and KooyongKoot (Gardiners Creek).

We acknowledge Country, land and waterways of the Boon Wurrung & Wurundjeri peoples and pay our respects to the ongoing custodianship of elders, past, present and future.

More information is below or please see our website at www.flowingloops.com

Checklist to help you prepare and enjoy the walkshop:

To help you have an enjoyable walkshop we have a few quick tips that should help you to anticipate our activities and prepare in a way that suits you best.

Dress for the weather - It may be wet or cold and we will be doing some gentle walking so please come prepared for the outdoors. We’ll retreat to undercover seating areas if the weather gets too much!
Bring your binoculars and camera - If you have your own binoculars or cameras for bird watching please bring your gear, however we will have spare binoculars on hand so that you can give them a try!
Download Naturalist Apps - There are many apps that can help you contribute to citizen science by identifying flora and fauna and recording your sightings (we will also have good old fashioned pencil & paper!) Here are some suggested apps you can download on your home wifi to use out in the field:
- eBird from Cornell Lab - www.ebird.org/about/ebird-mobile
- iNaturalist from California Academy of Sciences - www.inaturalist.org

Access:

This is an outdoor experience that will engage multiple senses. When booking please advise us of your access requirements and we will endeavour to facilitate universal access to the walkshop. While we’re dubbing this a “walkshop” we know that not everyone walks to move around - wheelchair users are warmly encouraged to join our activities.

As we move around the Science Centre Lake the group will stay on paved surfaces. We anticipate traversing about 1km over the course of the walkshop.

Your feedback about access requirements will help us to prepare Universally Accessible walkshops in October 2023.

About the Artists:

Sarah Walker is a Naarm/Melbourne-based writer, artist and photographer.

Her writing is primarily creative nonfiction, considering issues of anxiety, control and intimacy. Her first book, The First Time I Thought I Was Dying, a collection of non-fiction essays about the unruly body in late capitalism, won the 2021 Quentin Bryce Award. She has been published in The Monthly, Overland, Meanjin, Kill Your Darlings, the AFR and The Guardian, reviews arts for the Australian Book Review and co-hosted the podcast Contact Mic.

Her art practice uses comedy, narrative and speculative fiction to create surprising encounters with tensions around death, disaster and catastrophe. She works particularly with immersive binaural sound works, video and text-based installation, and collaborates across live art, participatory performance and theatre. Recent work has included commissions by the NGV, Geelong Gallery, The Unconformity, Platform Arts, MoreArt and councils around Victoria. She is a current PhD candidate at RMIT.

She is one of Australia’s most experienced commercial theatre and festival photographers, shooting for hundreds of clients across Australia and the world and has been a winner of the Best Portrait prize at the CCP Salon, a finalist in the National Photographic Portrait Prize, a two-time finalist in the Maggie Diaz Photography Prize for Women and a semi-finalist in the Moran Photographic Portrait Prize.

Dan Koop is an Artist, Curator-Producer & Facilitator living in Narrm / Melbourne who explores public places and curious spaces to bring communities together through temporary public art.

Having spent much of his life living near Birrarung-ga on Wurundjeri Country and Narrm-ga on Boon Wurrung Country he is inspired by both fresh and saltwater places, ecologies and various water cultures. Since slowing from jogging to walking pace during the lockdowns of 2020, he belatedly noticed the incredible natural diversity along the suburban Merri Creek and now considers himself an emerging bird nerd.

Creatively, Dan has made participant engaging projects along and across rivers, at fresh food markets and in hotel rooms, receiving Melbourne Green Room Awards for his works. Professionally, Dan has worked in Curator-Producer teams for Flash Forward (City of Melbourne), Arts Centre Melbourne, Melbourne Fringe, Sydney Festival and Brisbane Powerhouse. Dan is currently a PhD candidate at Deakin University researching Situation, Participation and the Curator-Producer role in temporary public art, joining the curatoriate for Deakin’s Public Art Commission series of works for Front Beach Back Beach around the Mornington Peninsula. He has a Masters of Art (Public Space) from RMIT University and a Bachelor of Performing Arts from Monash University.

FLOWING LOOPS ~ LOOPING FLOWS is supported by:

Suburban Rail Loop - This artistic program has been supported by the Suburban Rail Loop East’s Community Projects Fund. Please see more about the Community Projects Fund here: www.suburbanrailloop.vic.gov.au/communityfund
Deakin University - Dan Koop is a PhD researcher at Deakin University, exploring the possibilities of Temporary Public Art in urban environments. Please see more about Dan Koop’s research here: www.flowingloops.com
With more community groups welcome to support and engage with the program! If you’re connected to a local community group that loves nature or works to enhance your local outdoor spaces, please get in touch here: dan@flowingloops.com