There are few places in the world where 40 artists are willing to converge on an abandoned school to adorn the walls and floors with their work.
Melbourne is one of them. And I was fortunate to visit the Intermission Project in Collingwood on its final weekend of showing earlier in the year.
I was curious about how the artists used and interpreted the neglected space. Below is a collection of photographs from my two and a half hour yonder through.
They capture the abandonment, but they also capture the vibrant life injected from the exhibition into the old Collingwood School of Art building.
The first room I entered in the exhibition had three walls swallowing you into a calming deep forest green. The piece on the fourth wall felt like an urban pastel coloured street-scape clashing with mother nature. It was a visually striking contrast which drew the eyes in.
I grinned gently and knew this would be an exhibition filled with little moments of wonder.
This was perhaps the loneliest room. An older gentleman with overly sophisticated photography gear stood in the middle posing oddly for some stylistic shots.
The piece is quite dark, but I was impressed with the form and the pose of the subject in relation to the room.
When I saw "fancy art" written in basic typeface reminiscent of 1970's Australia, I had a feeling this would be my favourite room. I don't think there was anything spectacular in this room, but I enjoyed the variety of works.
I like how art is so subjective and so unique to each individual - every person's experience is different, and often how you experience a piece of art is more important than the art itself.
There were pieces which incorporated elements from the old school.
This room reminded me of how beautiful and complex seemingly simple geometric shapes can be. I felt nostalgic about primary school and all the abstract thoughts I couldn't string together coherently as a child.
There were rooms which remained as they were, reminding people that this was the building's last hurrah - a firework fading into a dusty smoke.
Yet in its final moments, the old Collingwood School of Art did what it always had done: provided a space for local artists and inspired people to run wild in their imagination.
© 2026 Thomas Feng
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