Melbourne
Art Trams
October 2019
—August 2020
FREE
festival.melbourne
Melbourne’s grandest festival is indelibly
linked with one of its most visible expressions:
the annual transformation of trams into
moving canvases proudly wearing some of
our most arresting artworks.
Welcoming all comers and weaving their
way through the city, these trams are as
much a part of Melbourne’s fabric as the
Festival itself.
Melbourne Art Trams takes as its inspiration
the original Transporting Art project, which
from 1978 to 1993 saw iconic local artists
the likes of Mirka Mora, Howard Arkley
and Reg Mombassa transforming historic
W-class trams with their vivid art. The Festival
reignited this spark in 2013 and ever since
has been inviting artists to submit their ideas
for rich and illuminating new designs.
Valerie Tang.
2018 Melbourne Art Tram.
Photo: James HH Morgan
Presented
with
Every year eight creative minds from Victoria
make over a tram each, with one given to
a recreation of an original Transporting Art
work. This year that entry will be inspired
by Lesley Dumbrell’s 1986 tram, whose
vibrant design will again bring colour to
Melbourne streets.
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