17 February 2009

Get on board the in2CHANGE

| johnboy
Join the conversation
22

(Photo by Barbie Robinson)

Simone Penkethman has put out a media release on the very exciting in2CHANGE project which will be a celebration of the life and death of the Belconnen Bus Interchange.

    in2CHANGE is a community arts project that will see Belconnen Bus Interchange become an arts installation during the last days of its life. Artists working individually, in groups and with members of the community will adorn the space during the April school holidays from April 18-26. in2CHANGE will culminate in a night of performance in the interchange on April 26. The performance will use the interchange’s many unique spaces in creative ways. The audience will be guided through the interchange as a living breathing work of art. The show will culminate in a spectacular finale against the brutalist concrete backdrop of the bus parking area. Belconnen Gallery will run a complimentary exhibition of arts and memorabilia during April, depicting and responding to this unique urban space. In2CHANGE is an initiative of the Belconnen Community Centre’s Arts and Cultural Program.

If you have photos, records, or stories from the interchange to be incorporated into the project Simone would love to hear from you (details on the release).

Join the conversation

22
All Comments
  • All Comments
  • Website Comments
LatestOldest

yeah, good riddance. It’s such a gloomy place, one that looked like you’ll be mugged anytime and no one will bat an eyelid. But I can’t wait to see the arty-farty stuff in April. Will be interesting.

Hells_Bells74 said :

Okay, amazing was a little much. I still have to give dagger looks and keep my composure of an afternoon trying to get past mountains of high school kids acting cool in the middle of the walkway. I meant basically speaking, despite the ugliness and moral kept down round there, the ACTION staff are friendly and out there assisting when they can and the majority of travellers also polite, friendly and colourful.

we never stood in the walkway, when i was a teenager. that would earn you a clip on the ear from a very large guy who lurked in wait for you to do it. action used to ignore him….

it was an easy shortcut from the mall to labor club after work, on a friday night. The sights, the sounds, the people, the things that were also people…

The smell, sights and sounds of Belco interchange….. Good riddance I say. Like someone else said, mall was supposed to be all the way down at the lake and the interchange on the other side and more integrated. I’m looking forward to the new place though, but yea I’ll miss it in some morbid way.

Hells_Bells7411:26 am 18 Feb 09

Okay, amazing was a little much. I still have to give dagger looks and keep my composure of an afternoon trying to get past mountains of high school kids acting cool in the middle of the walkway. I meant basically speaking, despite the ugliness and moral kept down round there, the ACTION staff are friendly and out there assisting when they can and the majority of travellers also polite, friendly and colourful.

Hells_Bells7411:03 am 18 Feb 09

It’s butt ugly!

It’s seats are so uncomfortable and you are left to dangle on half the seat.

It has no toilet whatsoever, it was already on shocking lockdown practises 20 years ago when I was a teenager and must’ve closed shortly after that, cause by the time I was a young mum letting my hubby take the car to work and ferrying up to 3 small children on the buses, there was no toilet when we were waiting, so you gotta use the Labor Club (if you’re adult), the community centre or the mall, the latter two useless after shopping hours almost, nor real close if your bus is nearing.

It was put in the wrong spot too, the whole kit and kaboodle was meant to be on the other side of the mall.

I noticed in the last few years that they hardly if ever open those little closed room areas when I’ve been almost blown away or frozen solid.

But in it’s defence, I will say.. the people are amazing, a stint in Woden interchange will cement that one. Oh look at the crap that came over to Belco when they were trying to disperse it from Woden recently. Plus I was recently impressed somewhat with their musical additions, very nice for when I haven’t got my mp3 player or my son is with me and can’t use headphones. Music is your only sanity saver in bus travel.

All of which can still function in a nice new home, cause let’s be honest, was there anyone who looked at it back in the day and thought, oh what a lovely place, they oughta heritage list it? No, we all thought it a monstrosity like the rest of Cement City, known as Belconnen.

Oh, I went to school with that young bloke that was pushed off in front of the bus, he was in a year below me at Kaleen High, but some of my friends were his and he used to wait for me everyday to catch up and we’d walk home to the shops together then go seperate ways. Then when I was working at Franklins Woden a few years later, I used to take home his girlfriend everyday coincidently. A sad loss to his family and friends, he was a great guy! But… even he would say.. DOWN with the interchange, im sure!

Lady_from_Holt said :

I for one am excited!

It does seem nice, except there will be 4 bus stations rather than one interchange. Bus trips will take longer, there’ll be more traffic congestion and less parking for all.

Lady_from_Holt10:32 am 18 Feb 09

For those of you interested, here is the design concept for the Belconnen Town centre public transport improvements and transit oriented development if you would like to see what the new interchange will look like.
http://www.actpla.act.gov.au/__data/assets/pdf_file/0008/9827/btc_concept_report.pdf (its a bit big)

I for one am excited!

I’m glad they’re doing something like this before the interchange gets smashed.

Although it’s pretty much an eyesore now, the idea of futurstic tunnels over the road has always been pretty funky.

Here’s hoping that whatever they replace it all with, works just as well. Somehow I doubt it will.

I remember going to a similar thing a few years back. Not sure if it was part of the Fringe Festival or a Belconnen Arts Festival or what, but it was pretty cool. It was kind of a tour through the interchange with little performance pieces along the way (inlcuding a group of people dancing inside a bus). It was a freezing cold Winter night so there weren’t many people there watching, but it was well worth it.

As for stories and memories of the interchange – sadly, they mostly relate to some kind of violent, racist or antisocial behaviour (quite often all at once) I’ve witnessed (usually involving a group of young kids from the public housing up the road).

Can’t say I’ll miss the Belconnen interchange really.

I remember it when it was new. We thought it was amazingly funky. We’d go off for a swim in Lake Ginninderra then come back and sit around in our swimmers and towels on the warm asphalt while we waited for our bus home.

Bumming cigarettes before school on wintry mornings in our trench coats with the belts tied behind at the back.

Kissing someone amazing on the top of the mall and carrying home the flower he picked for me, now crumbling away in an album.

Innocently teetering along in stiletto heels and eighties glam on our way to meet a visiting soccer team.

Nearly getting thrown off the bus at the interchange with my boyfriend because we could hardly wait to get home.

Lugging bags, bottles, babies. Mean, spiteful comments. Kind gestures and smiles.

Free rides.

Wheeling kids along in prams while others straggled front and rear. Having to run all the way back to the other end when somebody needed to go to the toilet now. Sitting cross-legged on the ground when we couldn’t get a seat. Being really, really tired.

The smell of the exhaust. Smoke blowing all over me wherever I sat.

I think this lady just spoke at the Belconnen Community Council. I had trouble not laughing. She seemed nice, but it went over the heads of a couple of people who were there to discuss water security.

Die Lefty Scum said :

Remember when that dude got pushed off the top level of the interchange by his ‘mate’ to his untimely death? I heard he landed in front of a bus full of people.

He did. not at all pretty.

I had mates who used to run across the top of the interchange. amazed that they never fell through or off.

Die Lefty Scum9:07 pm 17 Feb 09

Remember when that dude got pushed off the top level of the interchange by his ‘mate’ to his untimely death? I heard he landed in front of a bus full of people.

The Belco interchange is such an eyesore. Good riddance.

The blue heart – funny stuff – I remember that.

I am sad that Belco interchange is up for demolition. Year by year, the Belconnen town centre is losing its character as the futuristically brutal concrete buildings of the ’60s and ’70s make way for characterless identi-constructions.

Sure, old Belco buildings were crap (I spent many icy evenings waiting for the 400 trying to stay warm listening to Sepultura on my walkman, watching bombers wearing Colorado boots, 26 Red pants and Cross Colours jackets smoke durries and strut around as they hung out for as long as possible before catching the last bus home) but I have no faith whatsoever that the new buildings and interchange will be any better.

All the best in2change – may you let the Belco interchange depart with style.

Pommy bastard said :

Artists working individually, in groups and with members of the community will adorn the space during the April school holidays from April 18-26. in2CHANGE will culminate in a night of performance in the interchange on April 26. The performance will use the interchange’s many unique spaces in creative ways. The audience will be guided through the interchange as a living breathing work of art. The show will culminate in a spectacular finale against the brutalist concrete backdrop of the bus parking area

The arty-farty crowd really do speak a different language, do they not?

will they mug you creatively?

Pommy bastard4:46 pm 17 Feb 09

Artists working individually, in groups and with members of the community will adorn the space during the April school holidays from April 18-26. in2CHANGE will culminate in a night of performance in the interchange on April 26. The performance will use the interchange’s many unique spaces in creative ways. The audience will be guided through the interchange as a living breathing work of art. The show will culminate in a spectacular finale against the brutalist concrete backdrop of the bus parking area

The arty-farty crowd really do speak a different language, do they not?

My 70 year old friend urinates on the trees because they’ve locked the men’s restroom. I think he uses his age as an excuse.

I wonder how they’ll make getting your wallet stolen or your face re-arranged into an installation piece?!

That said, I have six years worth of memories memories of sitting at the interchange at 07:30am waiting for the bus to Civic (and later the express service to Woden) so I could get to school. And then doing it in reverse coming home and running like buggery to get the 415 or 414 service at 5:15am is I didn’t have to wait for the area service which kicked in at about 6pm.

A cold and miserable place in winter, hot in summer. Yet I’m strangely nostalgic for it now it’s going (and I’m getting older).

^^
We always said it would ruin your love life if you walked on it.

wait to see what the stories are re the blue heart on the interchange walkway from the mall… there are many.

Stories from the interchange…

Once when I was about 15 I saw a hot girl in short shorts that I followed for about 4 minutes not realising I was walking away from the Belconnen Mall and not toward it.

…well worth it.

Daily Digest

Want the best Canberra news delivered daily? Every day we package the most popular Riotact stories and send them straight to your inbox. Sign-up now for trusted local news that will never be behind a paywall.

By submitting your email address you are agreeing to Region Group's terms and conditions and privacy policy.