The art of looking is a detailed one, driven by curiosity, hunger, delight. It is a fine art, like painting – the more we practise looking, the better we get at it. I read about looking and about public space greedily; I want to know how other people, other artists improve their looking skills, and how it impacts their work. When I went to see The Invisible Opera as part of Melbourne’s RISING Festival, I was also halfway through Flâneuse by Lauren Elkin, a book that turned out to be a rather apt companion read to this live performance. Elkin’s writing focuses on the great joy communities can or should take in public spaces, and therefore, the absolute importance of continued support and advocacy for those spaces, the way they impact communities – mostly for the better but perhaps, sometimes, for worse. The latter raises the question: what happens when not all people are permitted (not literally, of course, but sociologically, culturally) in public spaces? This seems to be a major thread pulsing through The Invisible Opera by Sophia Brous with Lara Thoms, Samara Hersch, and Faye Driscoll.