The Opportunist Tourist

Sinclair (1997) noted that walking is the best way to explore and exploit the city, and it truly is the case for this tour, because you can’t possibly explore the small laneways through a car can you?

This tour is inspired by the ideas of the “Situationists”, who is the avant-garde, artistic, and political group that has their practices centred on walking or drifting through the city to explore and exploit the environment, with a subversive intent (Bassett, 2004). This is also a personal principle that I adore and practice as well.

The tour aims to draw tourists with interest in the facades of street art but simply do not have the luxury of time to plan their own tour, and most probably are pressed for time due to their tight travel schedules. Through this tour, tourists would be able to gain a tasteful blend of the different styles of street art works across some of the heavily influenced alley ways of this city which prides itself in being the melting pot for this culture.

To help our “distressed” tourists, this tour is specially designed for exploration in the early periods of the day (i.e. morning to noon), and with the sun being our best friend in vitamin D provision and lights on the art pieces, what a better way to enjoy these pieces to start of your last day in Melbourne (just to leverage off that few hours you have before hotel check-out).

Stop 1: The Default Place For Your Street Art Fix

Street art is and always have been a form of free art and free expression and is accessible to all - this has always been the advocate for street art artists like the world renowned Banksy. This is reflected in his comment on his work in “Banging…

Stop 2: Another Nearby Art Heaven

Head westward along Flinders lane and you will find yourself in another art heaven, with plenty of depictions and inference awaiting your curious mind. The 1st piece shows a young man here where he might just be seeking greener pastures with what he…

Stop 3: Get The Sun In!

Continue to get the sun in, as you explore your way through the treasures of the city by heading northward, and arrive at this seemingly dodgy looking lane. Looks can really be deceiving, and I guess tourists may be forgiven for thinking that this…

Stop 4: Pastries and Walkabout

Catch the tram up a little further north and this hipster suburb awaits your arrival and curious eyes. Take the opportunity to immerse yourself in this area full of cultured residents, bump into street artists at work, and walk along this area with a…