Subscribe to RSSManukau Getting Hooked Up
It was almost around now that the new Manukau rail line was to have opened.
While that has been delayed until next February, good to see the track work continues.
Here is how it is looking today:
I see the walls have been blessed with train art already.
25 Comments
What does the junction to the main look like?
Nice to see some progress, not so nice to see those “artists” yet AGAIN!
Oh, I didn’t know it was going to be double-tracked. Good!
Has the operational scheme already be finalised - i.e. which trains stop here and go back to the city, which avoid the station, and which stop and then go on?
Karl - it is mostly double tracked, it extends from the platforms almost all the way to the main line where it goes back to a single track to get through the junction.
Manukau will also be the terminus as there is no connection to the south, as far as we know the operational plans aren’t finalised but the talk has always been of eastern line trains terminating at Manukau with Southern line trains going via Newmarket and further south.
for grey walls in industrial areas like this should invite artists along to paint them, otherwise they will forever be painting over crap graifti
There is no difference between good & bad graffiti! It is all done by vandals.
^ I’ve had this debate before, there is when its commissioned.
Street artists that are “allowed” to do it, still call it that.
Melbourne is an awesome example.
ads color and taste.
tagging, which is this crap above, is not cool.
Watch style wars or wild style, you’ll learn the difference.
Someone said it should be opened up to for someone to do something good.
As long as they pay for it themselves go for it.
invite people along, draw up some sketches and go for it.
maybe the kids might learn that “tagging” is rubbish, but Street Art style Graff in a controlled environment is good.
Who ever is doing it, has an issue with something.
that issue needs to be dealt with. Saying its bad, is only going to make them do it again and more often.
The fact of the matter is, this person probably actually doesn’t understand any better because he has seen his/her mates do it and think its ok.
Its not ok, but it is also not bad. Its something that needs to be brought to a head and talked about.
and through this comes change.
sorry guys but from what I’ve seen, only way it works.
So of these pieces in other places, are actually really good and these people just need some guidance to put there stuff in the right place.
on canvas or paper.
Matt L, seems a bit daft that all Eastern trains will end at Manukau, it will cause all sense of confusion, surprised there isnt a t junction so that trains can go South or Northbound, it makes more sense. Or else our timetable south of Manukau will be seriously screwed! From what I see on a personal perspective, Manurewa Station has plenty of passengers using both Eastern and Southern lines. Or will HOP integrated ticketing allow us to use the buses as well as the trains at Manukau to Manurewa for one integrated cost, with timetables that match the trains…lets hope so or all this will count for nothing.
Aaron I think the idea is that with Integrated Ticketing if you want to go from Manukau to Newmarket say, you change at Otahuhu for no extra charge
Carl, the quality invested is usually related strongly to how long the artist/tagger thinks their work is going to remain visible.
Unless you paint over things immediately, almost everywhere, you invite random little tags. Big, expensive (paint ain’t free), risky projects are usually done where those doing them think they’ll get the most exposure, which is highly related to the time the wall remains unpainted, and the potential audience.
Melbourne produced some of the best work in the world until it was all painted over for the Commonwealth Games. People knew their work would remain. Much returned, but many places descended into awful scribbles.
Half-hearted approaches produce the worst of all worlds. Grey paint, AND messy ugly scrawls. You can’t have it both ways.
George D - Have made two trips to Melbourne in the last 6 months.
am going again the next few weeks, maybe it was painted over, but the stuff that is there now is just as good.
Me and a Mate actually applied for a permit so that next time we go we can put our piece up.
I did something last time i was there, it lasted a night.
Point is, like most art, it was seen.
clearly a train tunnel is no place for kids to be doing stuff, let alone teens or adults, but closer to the opening date,
get a bunch of people in there, with plans, layout and control it.
nothing offensive, nothing polictal, nothing racial, get there and mix it up.
once the power is up, i’ll be fenced off.
and then maybe when the do the rail shut down days, get there and start again.
make it fun.
getting people involved in “controlled” environments sharing there talents, there ideas, leads to better understanding of why, going off on your own and “tagging” is dangerous.
because lets face it, if people have nowhere to put stuff out there, they are going to go to great lengths to make sure its seen.
Cover it with grey paint as fast as possible. Teach the morons to destroy their own property.
Owen - grey paint(ing) is expensive too. I think we should be creating retaining walls that can’t be tagged (for example because they are covered with creeper plants, or use rock / material broken up in a way that doesn’t lend itself to contigous surfaces of paint).
I mean, try tagging any of these. It is (almost) impossible:
http://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Walking_Path_Along_Oakley_Creek_IV.jpg
@Paul in Sydney: Single lead towards Puhinui
Owen, to say there is no difference between good and bad graffiti is a logical fallicy. I suppose you mean to say all street art is bad?
Personally I draw a distinction between messy tags and throw ups (I.e scribbling ones pseudonym on a wall) and proper pieces (I.e actual art with effort and skill applied to design, style and colour). Inviting skilled artists to paint the latter is a great way to avoid the former. The mural at kingsland station (now gone) and the big piece about Maui slowing the sun on customs St (still there?) are good examples of street art in a style appreciated by the general public.
I think that developers who create structures with expansive blank concrete walls are morons, they are basically vandalising the public realm. Private property rights become less relevant when the property impacts so heavily on the public sphere.
lol I was waiting for Owen to comment as soon as I saw where the conversation was going. Same conversation all over again.
lol I was waiting for Owen to comment as soon as I saw where the conversation was going. Same conversation all over again.
@ Nick R - your on the money there!
That’s because I own property! These vandals destroy others property.
I have some friends in Brisbane who got paid a substantial amount of money (think 5 zeros) to put theyre ‘graffiti’ skills on a 2km wall running paralell to the train lines.
The guy who got the contract is responsible for this wall for the next 7 years, so if the mural him and 12 others painted gets ‘tagged’ he has to go and repair it.
Why not follow this example and pay someone who is a ‘vandal’ or ‘street artist’ to do this and make them liable if it gets painted on?
Its a win win situation.
@Aaron, the plan has always been to run 50% of Manukau trains via Orakei, and 50% via Newmarket. I haven’t heard of any change to that plan.
@Owen, I own property too, what’s your point?
In Melbourne property owners get protection orders established to stop the council or anyone else from removing grafitti from their walls, because significant pieces add value to the property and enhance the desirability of the neighbourhood.
To say they ‘destroy’ property is foolish, how exactly is a wall destroyed by being painted with a mural instead of your favourite shade of dreary grey? I’ve never heard of spray paint causing a building to collapse or property to cease functioning in any way.
Perhaps you should invest is some grey tinted glasses while the rest of us get on with enjoying a vibrant and interesting urban environment.
Nick, Owen is clearly talking about graffiti vandals, not commissioned murals.
@Geoff yes totally understand that, but don’t understand why all the Eastern line trains would terminate at Manukau…that is what is being suggested and that is my concern.
Can we please stop ignoring the distinction between painting something on a wall that doesnt belong to you and painting on a wall that does belong to you or that you have permission to paint on.
If someone tagged my fence without permission it is vandalism plain and simple.
If I ask someone to tag my fence, it is not vandalism no matter how good or bad it looks.