By Lauren Hermon
South Australian artist, James Dodd, is on a mission to ‘save’ Adelaide, but he’s not the only one.
More than 100 drawings illustrating how people can improve the city and environment have been created by the public in a series of City Library workshops led by James.
The drawings will soon feature on a bicycle displayed at Francis Street, the laneway from Rundle Mall to the library, as part of James’ new project Ideas for machines to save a city.
Known for his street art, James Dodd hopes his new project will make people talk about Adelaide
Known for his street art, James hopes his latest work gives city goers something to talk about.
“Ultimately, I’m hoping the project will be an art experience encouraging people to have a conversation about Adelaide,” James says.
“While art doesn’t always give you a solution to problems, it will make people have a chat about how to make this a better city,” he adds.
Ideas for machines to save a city drawings will cover a bicycle to be displayed at Francis Street
For James, out-of-the-ordinary ideas to ‘save’ Adelaide is exactly what he was hoping for.
“There have been some classics, like the idea of a ‘suburb eater’ which is a big machine eliminating urban sprawl and replacing it with trees,” he says.
“Or rocket propelled pavement that throws rubbish back at people who litter the street… there has been a lot of fun things like that.”
Then there’s the mobile floating street stage which is a platform Adelaide buskers can use to perform bigger and better shows.
“It’s creative and doesn’t have to be practical… we can let our ideas and creativity drive us to a place of innovation.”
The Suburb Eater which eliminates urban sprawl and replaces it with trees is one of James’ favourites
James’ own idea for the project came from his love for art, Adelaide and bicycles.
“I have ongoing interest in bikes and art that happens in urban space, or art that can be created by community groups,” he says.
Kids and some of James’ South Australian artist friends, as well as anonymous contributors, were involved in coming up with some of the drawings and ideas.
While James admits to Adelaide being one of the best places in the world, there’s always space to grow.
“Art is always an agency for soft change… it can change people’s minds, but at some point you have to hope that a conversation will be started,” he says.
A drawing of a mobile floating street stage where Adelaide buskers can perform bigger and better shows
“Hopefully with this project people can go home and say to their friends or family, ‘I saw a weird art thing today and it was full of ideas about how we can make Adelaide a better place. What do you think about that?’”
For James, it’s these smaller victories he celebrates the most as an artist.
“If we don’t spark conversations as artists, we’re not going to genuinely capture people’s attention. If you can create smaller sparks that keeps someone wanting to chat about something, then that’s a better thing to aspire to,” he says.
The ‘Ideas for machines to save a city’ bicycle will feature at Francis Street in a couple of weeks until August.