CITY HALL COAL FACE

Council defends political mine protest on town hall during After Dark event:

GEELONG council has defended allowing a political display to form part of a publiclyfunded exhibition on Friday night.

A projection that compared the controversial Adani coal mine project with the size of Geelong was flashed up onto City Hall during the Geelong After Dark event.

The mega coal mine — proposed for central Queensland by Indian mining giant Adani — has been a contentious issue in Australian politics, with opponents fearing its potential impact on the environment.

But the issue was brought much closer to home on Friday with the display on the City Hall building.

City of Greater Geelong arts and culture manager Kaz Paton defended council’s decision to allow the artwork, saying the event was meant to be “edgy”.

“For some, the artwork might have been challenging, but Geelong After Dark is intended to be a discovery, where artists can present edgy, risky and thought-provoking works, spurring us to think more deeply and make up our own minds about topical social issues,” she said. “Art throughout history has questioned, challenged and provoked, with Picasso’s famous anti-war painting Guernica or Andy Warhol’s pop-art commentaries on modern America being just two very famous examples.

“I think our community should be very proud of what we’ve achieved in showing just how clever and creative our regional artists are.”

Geelong After Dark receives significant funding from both Geelong council and the State Government.

The exact contributions for this year’s event was not immediately known. However, in previous years the council has spent more than $100,000 on it and the coinciding Mountain to Mouth walk.

The event brings together dozens of artists showcasing projections, performances and art installations.

Ms Paton said more than 20,000 people attended Geelong After Dark on Friday night, with wet weather seemingly causing a slight dip from last year’s crowd of 26,000.

Despite the minor decrease, Ms Paton said City Hall was “delighted” with the turnout.

‘The key areas of activity were our glorious cultural precinct, Johnstone Park, the vibrant Little Malop St laneway area and on to the National Wool Museum,” she said.

‘The Gathering of the City finale included around 200 community members and many local artists — many (who were) moved to tears.”

Geelong After Dark is an annual event that was first held in 2014.