RONE transports us to post-WWII Melbourne at Flinders Street Station

Pushing the boundaries of art, installation and museum, Melbourne artist RONE has undertaken an ambitious project that sees Flinders Street Station’s secret upper levels transformed into a time capsule.

With 11 rooms in total, each space has been painstakingly turned into an extraordinary installation that transports viewers to another time and place. Appearing as if every object has been left behind for 60-odd years, each room is themed around what life was like in mid-century Melbourne.

Inspired by the post-WWII blue-collar workers that would have travelled through the station to work in nearby factories, offices and shops, each space brings history to life in the form of a typing pool, classrooms, a work room full of sewing machines, a mail room and more.

RONE referenced historic photos to create the vision, a nod to both the work of the era and the building’s history.

The exhibition perfectly captures the labour and technology from the time, showcasing it as if it has been sitting abandoned for decades – chairs strewn, cobwebs collecting, newspapers dated to 1954 pinned to the windows. Even the flooring, custom designed and made by GH Commercial (which worked with RONE on his Geelong Gallery 2021 exhibition), speaks to the immersive experience.

Each room is accompanied by a signature painting of a girl’s face, a model that the artist has worked with many times before. The combination is haunting and transportive, blurring the line between what is art and what may have already been there, which is precisely what the artist intended.

“There is so much detail in each room you could never see it all in one visit,” says RONE. “The aim is for audiences to be unsure where the artwork ends and where the original building starts. I like the idea that someone could walk in here and think, ‘He’s just done a painting on a wall,’ and that everything else they see is a legitimate, original part of the building. And perhaps they’ll think it’s kind of disrespectful that I’ve done that, that I’ve disturbed this space,” he continues. “For me, that’s the ultimate end goal – it means it has worked.”

Time also features collaborative works by sound composer Nick Batterham, set builder and director Callum Preston, set decorator Carly Spooner, as well as a team of more than 120 Victorian creatives and professionals to help realise every element of the exhibition’s vision.

Time runs until April 2023, tickets can be booked here.

RONE
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Photography
By RONE, unless otherwise stated.

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