Upon my return from a frolic-filled trip overseas, I was greeted by the looming spectre of things to do: fend off the billing companies (by a clever strategy of sending them money); wage a dramatic war against the army of moths who had  invaded the panty; relocate the legions of spiders who decided that what my house was really missing was at least one of them in every nook and cranny, and tackle all the annoying little tasks that no one else wanted to do.

It was definitely not as fun as my time away, luxuriously spent bathing in various European cultures and savoir vivre in general (which I’ll talk about more in an upcoming blog). Luckily, the woeful battles were offset by some markedly more pleasurable activities, including a client who was looking for some art and had a deadline coming up fast (since all of our artists are local, getting the pieces in a hurry is no problem – luckily for us and the client!).

Infraplan, who are urban and regional planners, had organised a special event in their office space and wanted some art to punch up the ‘wow’ factor of the place. The venue itself is already beautiful – an open plan office right in the city centre in one of its few quiet streets, with a boardroom in a loft and large windows that not only let in an abundance of light, but also show off their surroundings to their full capability.

First we installed an art hanging system for them – sometimes the spots chosen to install them in are rather hard to get to!

Then there was the discussion phase – which artworks to choose – a phase that went on for quite some time, given that we have almost a thousand pieces. They formed an art committee that liaised virtually with their Managing Director on his iPhone at Brisbane airport. They eventually settled on works that were related to their business.

This one, according to one staff member, relates to the urban environments they transform:

Two of the other works they chose are a pair of quirky black, orange and white artworks by our Austrian born South Australian artist Stefan Bruneder:

“These artworks are perfect icebreakers.” said Gayle Buckby (one of Infraplan’s engineers). “I can say to our clients that this is the only kind of planning we don’t do: Space Planning.”

I think that maybe our Adelaide Infraplan will be the first in the world to take up this challenge – now that they have those artworks hanging in their meeting room to inspire them!