Review Scene: TIME . RONE Exhibition, Flinders Street Station, Media Preview, 27th October 2022

Photo: Mary Boukouvalas
Photo: Mary Boukouvalas

An abandoned ballroom becomes an epic time capsule

Photo: Mary Boukouvalas
         Photo: Mary Boukouvalas

The rediscovery of the mysterious Flinders Street ballroom has fueled our imaginations in recent years. Its intrinsic connection to the history and fabric of Melbourne cannot be overlooked which is why the new TIME exhibition by Tyrone Wright, ‘Rone’ has been greatly anticipated.  Wandering up the fabled corridors of the long-closed off areas of Flinders Street Station we reached the expanse of its mid-century ballroom, to find it filled with a large, ornate glasshouse, in dilapidated condition complete with overgrowing vines.  Etherial music played in the background in complete harmony with the golden light that radiated through the glass. Looking out from the back of the glass is a large mural of a serene beauty in Rone’s unmistakable style. This ethereal mood set the tone for the rest of the installation.

Photo: Mary Boukouvalas

This latest project is the realization of a concept that has been over three years in the making. Rone has created a time capsule of post-WWII Melbourne, honoring its mostly migrant blue-collar workers and their pivotal role in the rise of Melbourne.

“The station is such an Australian icon, yet the wonderful stories of its heyday are largely unknown to people today.” RONE states.

       Photo: Mary Boukouvalas

This is Rone’s most ambitious project to date which reimagines and takes over 11 rooms on the previously deserted third floor of Flinders Street Station.  Each room encompasses elements of the building’s history while honoring many of the post-WWII era’s industries.  There is a large typing pool, a sewing room, a telephone exchange, a library, an art room, a classroom, and more. Each room has been meticulously recreated and seamlessly blended into the original building, making it hard to distinguish the real from the imagined.  

Photo: Mary Boukouvalas
                  Photo: Mary Boukouvalas

There is an overwhelming air of nostalgia and it is evidently clear that this project has been an absolute labour of love. Each room has been meticulously recreated and seamlessly blended into the original building, making it hard to distinguish the real from the imagined.  There is an overwhelming air of nostalgia and it is evidently clear that this project has been an absolute labour of love.

                          Photo: Mary Boukouvalas

Rone has a number of key collaborators on the project. Their all-encompassing work and meticulous attention to detail has helped facilitate this truly immersive experience. The haunting music in each room has been created by sound composer Nick Batterham, once a member of indie pop rock band the Earthmen. “I’m happy to leave those days behind” Nick tells us, when asked if he missed his band days. Nick has been collaborating with RONE on the sound throughout the entire 3 year process.  Set builder director Callum Preston, set decorator Carly Spooner, as well as a team of more than 120 Victorian creatives and professionals were required to help realise every element of the exhibition’s vision.

Photo: Mary Boukouvalas

It is difficult to take in all of the details in just one visit and there is much to appreciate. The set decoration and vast number of historical items is awe-inspiring, most that have been painstakingly weathered, aged and covered in cobwebs. As you linger in the rooms you notice subtle changes to lighting which flows with the lengthy musical score. I was impressed to discover the sound coming from high tech speakers hidden things like gramophones and vintage answering machines.

               Photo: Mary Boukouvalas

Each room is presided over by a large scale mural of an other worldly beauty, in this case Rone’s long time muse Teresa Oman featuring different expressions that convey a sense of sadness and reflection.

Photo: Mary Boukouvalas

       Photo: Mary Boukouvalas

There are also a few Easter eggs, such as the retro Aspro Clear poster that hangs in the abandoned pharmacy. When asked if this was a nod to his previous project ‘Empire’, where he took over a mansion in the Dandenongs, once owned by the pharmaceutical company’s founder, RONE replies: ‘Nothing is accidental in this place’.

In the end, you feel like you’ve been transported to a different time and place.  Somewhere between past and present and you’ve thoroughly enjoyed the journey.

Tickets on sale now    Runs 28 October 2022 – 23 April 2023

Photo: Mary Boukouvalas

TIME • RONE
Opens 28 Oct

Closed Public Holidays
Closed Tuesdays
THU, FRI, SAT 10 – 9pm
SUN, MON, WED 10 – 6pm

ABOUT THE EXHIBITION

Created and developed across the past three years, this truly exceptional site-specific experience is Rone’s most ambitious project to date. Profoundly atmospheric, Time captures both the grand scale and character of the site and the minute detail of a period of Melbourne’s history long lost to progress.

A fictional history that transports audiences to post-WWII Melbourne, Time is inspired by an era when European migrants powered the city’s booming manufacturing industries. A vignette of mid-century working-class life and an ode to the faded yet enduring beauty of this forgotten place, Time captures the spirit of the city’s industrious past while offering glimpses of the station’s role as a once-glorious hub of work, learning and social life.

Eleven installations, each room adorned with Rone’s haunting signature murals, the artist and his team have created an immersive, multi-sensory installation that audiences will remember for time to come.

ABOUT RONE

Over the past two decades, Melbourne-based artist Tyrone ‘Rone’ Wright has established an international reputation for his distinctive large-scale portraits and hauntingly atmospheric multimedia installations – which, since 2016, have pursued an increasingly ambitious scale. Through his sensitive, detailed transformations of derelict and forgotten spaces, Rone invites audiences to engage in richly sensory experiences that present intriguing fictional histories and explore the divergent themes of beauty and decay, materiality and loss.

His ground-breaking projects Empire (2019), The Omega Project (2017), and Empty (2016) have drawn broad audiences and gained international media attention, cementing his role as a genre-pushing innovator. Most recently, the site-specific Rone in Geelong (2021) installation saw the artist explore his signature style at Geelong Gallery in regional Victoria, developing a narrative that responded to the gallery’s collection and the architecture and history of the building. The exhibition also presented the first significant survey of Rone’s career thus far, charting his early stencil works and street art alongside photographs documenting his major installations.