Time • RONE

The Flinders Ballroom has had an air of mystery and fascination looming over it since its closure in 1985. Originally opening in 1899 as a staffing space for the Victorian Railways Institute, it then evolved into a ballroom due to the popularity of dance events, lectures and recreational activities in the 1930s. After closing fifty years later, it remained barely touched and out of reach for the Melbourne public. Until recently.

Critically acclaimed street artist RONE has built his twenty year career by constructing his art in and amongst abandoned spaces – ideally ones set to be demolished. His work a blip in time that disintegrates with the building’s physical history but lingers on the patrons’ minds well after the fact. His new exhibition Time, his largest project to date, could not have found a better home than that of the long-abandoned Ballroom.

Spread across the entire third floor of Flinders Street Station, RONE transforms eleven dust-gathered rooms into a time capsule of the working class of post-war Melbourne. Typing rooms with half-typed letters, water bottles, papers scattered on the floors, equally as abandoned as the space it occupies. Classrooms with pencil shavings, textbooks and student graffiti. A switchboard room jumbled with cables, family photos and red lights signalling connection. Anything and everything is blanketed in cobwebs and personalities that attendees can acknowledge are lost forever.

Time not only leaves an imprint of the lives of many with RONE’s astonishing attention to detail, but it also creates a sense of swift abandonment. Blue-collar workers fleeing without time to pick up their coffee cups or turn off machinery. It is a universe our parents and grandparents can identify with, and I’m sure some will have quite a visceral reaction to Time’s set pieces. The accompaniment of Nick Batterham’s score and the impeccably timed lighting design also heighten the emotions felt through the halls.

Time is many things. It’s a nod to previous working-class generations who built our city. It is a love letter to our iconic Flinders St Station and the deep history it carries in its walls. It is a rekindling of love between the ballroom and the Melbourne public, or to some a beautiful introduction. And while some might question the presence of RONE’s signature paintings of his muse Teresa Oman in relation to the clear themes of the exhibition – the questioning itself is likely something RONE himself hopes to achieve. Because what is art without some healthy debate?

Time has recently been extended to April 2023 due to high demand. It is a wonderful tribute to our beautiful city and an even more wonderful space to get lost in. Don’t miss this one.

Time • RONE
Flinders St Station – Level 3. Enter via door at 273 Flinders St.
Runs until April 2023.
Tickets available here.