City Image Tour Melbourne
City Image Tour is created and delivered by Anthony McInneny, a visual artist, academic, and urban researcher who lived in the city centre in the 1980s, and returned in 2003 to create public artworks, and was part of the City of Melbourne's Arts Advisory Committee between 2004 and 2008. Anthony taught in RMIT University's Master of Art, Art in Public Space program from 2008 to 2014, and he has exhibited and published widely about public space for the last 10 years. The tour is designed to be walked and read as the story of the two Melbournes that have made this city the Cultural Capital of Australia. Art meets architecture in unique public spaces created in the transformation of the historic city to a riverfront city. Pivoting on the iconic Federation Square, we'll explore the city form, its cobblestone alleys and contemporary bluestone laneways, its pedestrianised heritage bridges, postmodern plaza, riverside promenade, and newest park that links the cultural and sporting precincts
Options
City Image Tour Melbourne
What's included in City Image Tour Melbourne
(Subject to Option Inclusions)Itinerary
ACMI
The Australian Centre for the Moving Image (ACMI). ACMI was designed by Lab Architecture Studio and Bates Smart (2002) and its interior and public spaces renewed in 2021 by BKK Architects and Razorfish. ACMI anticipated the ubiquitous nature of digital screen culture and its collection of 21C content and technologoy builds on the basis of the State Film Centre library of film and television, established in 1946. Through the postmodern façade of ACMI we connect to Federation Square, Melbourne’s iconic public space, the Ian Potter Centre at the National Gallery of Victoria, and onto the Yarra River.
Hosier Lane
The cobblestone alley of Hosier Lane is a prime example of the original 1837 design for the city grid by Robert Hoddle. Heading north from ACMI, we experience Melbourne’s famous street art culture. Hosier Lane became an outdoor gallery in 1996, when City Lights studio began to appropriate this space with lightboxes and street art. Hosier lane attracts annually as many visitors as most museums of art. Local, National, and International street artists come to Melbourne create works in this landmark site.
Melbourne Town Hall
Between Flinders Lane and the Town Hall is the site of Melbourne’s original City Square, established in 1980. This controversial space was cut in half in the 1990s and is the area now known as the New City Square. The Vault (1980-1981), a modernist sculpture by Ron Roberston Swan in the original square, was immediated removed back in the 1980s and is now situated at the Australian Centre for Contemporary Art. The new New Melbourne City Square (2025) was designed by a collaboration of architects RSHP, Hassell, and Weston Williamson + Partners. Contemporary Art. The New Melbourne City Square hosts the entrance to the Town Hall Station (2025) and a digital interpretation of the Mockridge Fountain that was an integral part of the first New City Square (1996-2017).
Inclusions
- The material to make the momento in Federation Square.
- Infants and small children can ride in a pram or stroller
- Service animals allowed
- Public transportation options are available nearby
- Travelers should have at least a moderate level of physical fitness
Meet
Pickup and Dropoff
You will make your own way to the meeting points
Meeting Points
- We meet at the Flinders Street entrance to the Australian Centre for the Moving Image (ACMI), on the bluestone pavement
End Points
- We end at the public artwork Federation Bells in the park called Birrarung Mar. From here, it is a 10 minute walk to the starting point or a five minute walk to trams in Flinders Street.
