Public Transport and Pedalling as Public Art: The Work of Mick Douglas

Abstract

Over the past ten years, artist Mick Douglas has developed a series of tramways projects resulting in an art that explores imagining a city and its sustainable future. These projects are collaborative in nature, and are formulated around the idea of a dialogue or exchange between two similar but different entities. Like the experience of a city by tram, these dialogues engage and disengage, occurring between cities such as Kolkata and Melbourne, between conductors and passengers, and between the act – and the metaphor – of being transported. The passengers in Douglas’ projects can be real (experiencing a performance by Melbourne conductors on a tram in Kolkata, India), imagined (exploring th..