Welcome to 'Lost and Found', an email publication that explores Melbourne's hidden creative spaces and the myriad of interesting events that keep the city buzzing through October and November.

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Artist Run, Artist Hide

Melbourne is home to a web of artist-run initiatives, presenting a rich program of exhibitions, installations and performances all year round. Finding them is the first challenge. The best resource available is TheMap, published twice a year by Via-n (Victorian Initiatives of Artists Network). It offers a straight-to-the-source guide to contemporary art in Melbourne, and mixes the old with the new. BUS was established in 2001 on Little Lonsdale Street. On the second floor of a warehouse, the gallery has three exhibiting spaces, including a dedicated sound gallery. In October, check out 'No Artificial Flavours' by Estelle Ihasz. 24seven is a 10m by 3m street-fronted window display on Flinders Street in the CBD. Founded in 2002, this gallery encourages socially challenging work that engages with the exhibiting space itself. It's like warped visual merchandising. Blindside was established on the light-filled seventh floor of the (possibly haunted) Nicholas Building in 2004, it supports contemporary art practice and encourages experimentation and critical discussion among artists. In October see 'Flying for Dummies' by Wanda Gillespie.

Stats:
Australian Centre for Contemporary Art, 111 Sturt Street, Southbank. 03 9697 9999.
TheMap online.
Bus Gallery, 117 Little Lonsdale St, Melbourne.
03 9662 2442.
24Seven, 32-44 Flinders St, Melbourne.
Blindside, Level 7, Room 14 The Nicholas Building,
37 Swanston St, Melbourne. 03 9650 0093.

Fashion Plus

Sometimes, when you have an amazing retail space, selling clothes just isn't enough. In Melbourne, stores like Alphaville, Someday, All Of The Above and Alice Euphemia realise that retail is equal parts community and creativity. Alphaville, located in both Fitzroy and Prahran stock in-house label Alpha 60, Umbro by Kim Jones and Cheap Monday but have also hosted exhibitions and events such as Down We Go Together and the launch of Adicolor shoes. Similarly, the Someday store and gallery houses Bernhard Willhelm, classic Nike, Supreme and house-label Perks and Mini as well as exhibitions from such international designers and artists as Genevieve Gaukler and Kostas Seremetis and locals such as Beci Orpin and Dylan Martorell. All Of The Above, just off Brunswick St, is a shop come gallery come design studio come screen printer run by a group of individuals who intend never to be bored. They stock Little Brother, Rebel 8, Rag & Bone and Upper Playground. Last but not least, Alice Euphemia has recently launched its residency program that is part exhibition, part mini-store and part playground for designers such as Romance Was Born, Mala Brajkovic and Elke Kramer. 'Alice' also publish Shop Girl an e-newsletter with snapshots and features of all that inspires them.

Tried + True

When spending a lot of money, the only shops you choose should be the ones that you trust; where the fashion filtering process is so assured that it's nigh on impossible to buy something you'll regret. Enter Chiodo, Marais, Assin and Christine. All located within a few city blocks of each other, these stores are tried and true to the point that three out of the four don't even need a proper website to attract clientele. Chiodo was voted one of Wallpaper* magazine's top ten boutiques and stocks Y-3, guerrilla store gurus Comme des Garçons as well as Chiodo's eponymous house label. On the other side of the basement wall is Assin, run by fashion matriarchs the Pinto family (aka The Girls From Ipanema). Assin stocks Dior Homme, Viktor + Rolf, Marni and State Of Design Award shortlist nominees Material by Product and constantly prove that they have mastered the middle ground between classic and contemporary.

Down Little Collins hides Marais, a boutique with the hush of a gallery that stocks designers such as Balenciaga and Maticevski for men and Atsuro Tayama and Sharon Wauchob for women. Nearby in a Flinders Lane basement lies Christine, home to Vivienne Westwood among others, and run by former Georges 'accessory buyer' Christine Barro. With purses, jewellery, hats and bags Christine is also perfectly suited to the Melbourne climate by stocking the best range of umbrellas in the city.

Stats:
Alpha60, Level 1, 262 Brunswick St, Fitzroy.
03 9416 4296.
Someday, Level 3 Curtin House, 252 Swanston St, Melbourne. 03 96546458.
All Of The Above, 109 Victoria St, Fitzroy
03 8415 0461.
Alice Euphemia, Shop 6, Cathedral Arcade, 37 Swanston St, Melbourne. 03 9650 4300.
Chiodo, 114 Russell St, Melbourne. 03 9663 0044.
Marais, 314 Little Collins St, Melbourne.
03 9639 0495.
Assin, 136 Little Collins St, Melbourne.
03 9654 0158.
Christine, 181 Flinders Lane, Melbourne.
03 9654 2011.

Of Rice and Men

Ever wondered what 33 tonnes of rice looks like? The 2006 Melbourne International Arts Festival will reveal this and more in its opening show 'Of All The People In All The World: Pacific Rim' - a performance installation presented by British artist group Stan's Café. The show uses one grain of rice to represent each person living in our region. Carefully measured quantities of rice are used to represent a range of human statistics, both current and historical, from city populations to numbers of daily births and deaths. The results can be funny, informative, sad and sometimes shocking. Did you know the number of people who eat McDonalds each day in the world is the same figure as the population of Poland?

Stan's Café (pronounced 'Caff') has presented this show internationally, always varying the rice quantity based on regional populations. In June last year they realised their dream of representing the entire world's population, at a festival in Stuttgart, using 104 tonnes of rice. The statistics are always arranged in labelled piles to create an ever-changing landscape of rice. Stan's Café invites you submit your own statistics, to revisit the installation as the festival unfolds, and 'to compare the one grain that is you to the millions that are not'.

Fringe Cuts

It might be fringe, but that doesn't mean it's low-fi. This year, The Age Melbourne Fringe Festival is embracing fancy technology with its huge 'Digital Fringe' project, presented by Horse Bazaar. From September 27 until October 15, Digital Fringe is running a program of international digital art, in a variety of odd places around town. The curated work is viewable on over thirty screens in the city, from the public iHubs to the back room at Loop. At Federation Square, you can text or mms the big screen and see your message transformed into an art piece in real time. The most renegade element in all of this is the 'Mobile Projection Unit' (MPU for short). Basically, it's a van decked out with a high-powered projector, and a wireless internet connection, ready for guerrilla activity. Creative groups including Is Not Magazine, Citylights, Museum Victoria and the Portable Film Festival will take charge of the MPU each night from dusk til dawn, projecting their own stuff onto the city. Sort of like non-stick graffiti. Check out the live stream at www.digitalfringe.com.au.

Stats:
Stan's Café as part of the Melbourne International Arts Festival. From October 12-28, citywide.
Melbourne Fringe Festival. From September 27-October 15, citywide.
Digital Fringe. From September 27-October 15, citywide.

Design Hub

With its glass walls, the National Design Centre (NDC) at Federation Square, actually resembles a display cabinet. A gleaming showcase created to support leading Australian designers. The NDC is at once a resource centre, a gallery and a retail space and stocks all things creative from guest editor Kate Bezar's Dumbo feather, pass it on magazine to local jewellery designer Susan Cohn's 'A piece of Melbourne' badge. You'll also find Abi Crompton's Third Drawer Down and a collection of industrial design objects.

The NDC is also home to the Melbourne Design Festival, which trains a spotlight on Melbourne's creativity and design obsession each year, and the Melbourne Design Market (formerly the ReadyMadeMarket) - an irresistible Mecca for Sunday browsers - which will take over the Federation Square car park again on Sunday December 3.

Premier's Design Awards (exhibition)

The competition in the Premier's Design Awards has been fierce and the 2006 exhibition at the Melbourne Museum gives you the chance to view the work of the finalists, while the Winner's Showcase lets you in on the thoughts and processes of the victors. On display will be the modern house disguised as a weatherboard cottage by Jackson Clements Burrows, paradoxical publication Is Not Magazine, cutting edge installations from ENESS, Steven (the paper with a personality) from Pip & Co and many other weird and wonderful design innovations.

Stats:
The National Design Centre, cnr Russell and Flinders St, Melbourne. 03 9654 6335.
State of Design. From October 4-14, citywide.
Premier's Design Awards, The Melbourne Museum,
11 Nicholson St, Carlton. 03 8341 7777. From October
5-December 23

The Establishments

For two of Melbourne's most established restaurants a rule of thumb is that nothing beats French, even if it's whipped up by an Australian and an Englishman. It seems everyone else agrees. Vue de Monde (pictured) has consistently earned three Good Food Guide hats and a 'Restaurant of the Year' tag, but hasn't grown too big for its apron. Despite the accolades, the service remains friendly and professional and the food quintessentially French; delicately flavoured but unpretentious. During the week, a two-course lunch with wine sits at a very digestible $38 - whoever said that price is indicative of quality obviously never scored the chef's table here. Around the corner, the Trust is another institution that takes hint of France and blends it with wider Europe. Woven beneath the majestic pillars of the former Port of Melbourne Authority Building, the bar, café and restaurant doesn't cater for disappointment, or indigestion.

The New Class

When it comes to scoring a well-priced feed mid-city, it's hard to go past the microcosm of cafes, colour, shops and suits that make up Centre Place. No Melbourne sidewalk is complete without a caffeine stop (or five) and Centre Place's answer is Degraves Espresso. Situated right on the laneway entrance, every day baristas power-out lattes, cappuccinos, flat whites and the revered espresso to groggy-eyed passes-by and occasionally feed them with focaccia. If lunch is on the cards, you can't bypass Jungle Juice. Home-made soup, thick chilli con carne, cheeky-kitsch Golden Book menus and soft bagels are all draw-cards. One way to take in all the coffee-swilling, lunch-gorging bustle of Centre Place is from up-above...in Hell's. With a privileged view of life below, Hell's Kitchen proves that sometimes a humble vista can be the most majestic. Nursing a beer, wine or something heavier, the rustic but comfortable interior is a perfect place to chat, or evoke James Stewart Rear Window -style and peer down at the oblivious world below.

Stats:
Vue de Monde, 430 Little Collins St, Melbourne.
03 9691 3888, bookings recommended,
reservations online.
The Trust, 401-411 Flinders Lane, Melbourne.
03 9629 9300.
Degraves Espresso, 23-25 Degraves St. 03 9654 1245.
Jungle Juice Bar, Shop 20 Centre Place. 03 9639 8779.
Hell's Kitchen, Level 1, 20 Centre Place.
03 9654 5755.

Water Flock

Melbourne can't rival Sydney when it comes to good-looking harbours. But if we're talking a café culture that extends from day into night, the southern city has an edge. Along the winding Yarra River, Riverland Bar and Café has recently popped up fresh as a daisy and ready to take on Federation Wharf. The reformed pump house or 'vaults' has been cleaned out, retaining the industrial feel of its mechanic past but with a warm edge. Outside, elevated benches make the perfect place to doze in the afternoon sun, while gorging on gourmet pizzas and pondering the world from a water's view. A stone's throw away from the Wharf below, The Transport Hotel is three levels catering to your liver, stomach and ears well into the night. If the buzz of ground floor bar Transport is too much, then shoot upstairs to the top floor of Transit. Whether for drinks or supper, the venue's soft sloping roof and fusion of jazz, wine and tapas croons "relax".

Alley Finks

Away from the water Melbourne's deep alleys swim with bars and restaurants drawing influence from all over the globe. We're a long way from China, but Mao's still managed to make his mark on one little drinking institution (he must be so proud). Set just off Little Bourke, Double Happiness serves up cocktails with kick amidst an interior so red that you should feel angry. Luckily the drinks here are so good that there's no time to fret while downing a house special Mr Fu, which seems more spicy Tom Yum than San Choi Bao and with mint, ginger and vodka, you'd almost believe that it's better for you than both. Across the other side of town, Japanese bar Robot is more Neo-Tokyo than Little China. Bursting with Japanese pop-culture before it became cool, the lounge-room come bar has long been the choice for the Otaku set (super-cool-geeks) and city locals. Asian beer, sake and customised Martini's are the specialty here and every Tuesday night you get to watch a free anime film while you drink.

Stats:
Riverland Bar and Café, Federation Wharf, Melbourne. 03 9662 1771. Mon-Sun 7am-late.
Transit, Federation Square, Melbourne. 03 9654 8088. Wed-Fri 5pm-late, Sat-Sun 6pm-late.
Double Happiness, 21 Liverpool St, Melbourne
03 96504488. Mon-Wed 5pm-1am, Thu-Sat 5pm-3am,
Sun 6pm-1am.
Robot, 12 Bligh Place, Melbourne. 03 9620 3646.
Mon-Thurs 5pm-late, Fri 5pm-very late, Sat 8pm-very late.

Kate's visual diary

Click below to discover Kate's Melbourne journey...