Iranian venacular ice- houses: Notable example of a traditional architecture in proportion to its climatic conditions

ABSTRACT
Iranian architecture is shaped in related to its Hot - Dry climate and has provided interesting answers to the Iranian's needs. In this climate, most of the buildings are constructed by mud or sun - dried bricks. There are so many facilities that Iranian architecture has provided for better living such as: Wind - Catcher (which exhausts warm air from buildings during the day), Cisterns (which have a cylindrical store place in the depth of the earth for storing the cold fresh water during the hot seasons), Ice - Houses with walls behind which water in shallow channels friezes at nights, etc. The great heritage of Iranian architecture and traditions are still not known until now. The cons- tructing traditions of vernacular architecture in Iran, reveals the mystery of using natural energy sources that reduce the need to fossil fuel. Among different Iranian cultural heritage, Ice-Houses are selected as the main subject of this article.

13th Dong Gang International Photo Festival: Episodes Australian Photography Now

Curated group exhibition entitled Episodes: Australian Photography Now, part of the Dong Gang International Photo Festival

13th Dong Gang International Photo Festival 2014

Curated group exhibition entitled Episodes: Australian Photography Now, part of the Dong Gang International Photo Festival.
An exhibition book produced by the Dong Gang Museum of Photography for the Dong Gang International Photo Festival. Special Exhibition curated by Natalie King and Olivia Poloni entitled Episodes: Australian Photography Now featuring the following artists: Patrick Pound, Christian Thompson, Destiny Deacon and Virginia Fraser, Martin Smith, Michael Cook, Paul Knight, Polixeni Papapetrou, Polly Borland,Tracey Moffatt, Trent Parke, William Yang.

Accommodating taboo language in English language teaching: issues of appropriacy and authenticity

Culturally specific language practices related to vernacular uses of taboo language such as swearing represent a socially communicative minefield for learners of English. The role of classroom learning experiences to prepare learners for negotiation of taboo language use in social interactions is correspondingly complicated and ignored in much of the language teaching research literature. English language teachers confront not only obstacles to effective development of sociolinguistic and cultural knowledge in classroom instruction, and failure of course-books to address taboo language, but also uncertainties they themselves have about addressing such obstacles and omissions. In this paper, we draw on interview data from three experienced teachers of English as an additional language, to explore their perceptions and classroom practices in relation to taboo language. In particular, we explore the situational appropriateness of mild taboo swearing using the lexical item, bloody, which has a strong positioning in Australian language culture. Dilemmas surrounding this potentially troublesome item of Australian English are foregrounded in relation to the extent to which often neglected, but widely used taboo language is actually ‘taboo’ in the classroom.

Australia’s Colombo plans, old and new: international students as foreign relations

This article draws on recent research and policy developments to make a case for considering international students as an important component of Australian foreign relations. It links historical and contemporary Australian experiences of international students, especially in the Colombo Plan and New Colombo Plan, to the field of public diplomacy, and sets an agenda for further research in this direction. It highlights the need to recover student voices and to be sensitive to the emergence of everyday or ‘vernacular’ internationalism, as a phenomenon of international students visiting, traveling and otherwise encountering different groups of Australians. It suggests a need to take up anew this form of inquiry for both earlier postwar student experiences and the post-1980s period, in which international students’ voices are frequently silenced by debates over commodification, funding needs, and neo-liberal economics.

The afterlife of found photographs

The world is scattered with unhinged vernacular snaps. EBay is a giant and ever-changing album of examples for sale. Each of these photos is past its original use. Found photographs are at once replete with life and hearsed in death. Adding to this, the analogue vernacular snap is itself a type of photography that is essentially past its use-‐by date. If photography is the medium of record, what are we to make of these recently redundant records? Do they capture Benjamin’s idea of the dialectic at a standstill or just mum in her pyjamas? They concertina time and make trouble for it — and us. This paper will look at what might be made of found photographs: what meanings might be gleaned from them, and what we might find in the accumulation of details. We will closely look at examples that press the limits of photographic representation as if on a dare.

Treatment: six public artworks at the western treatment plant

This large scale curated Public Art project responds to the landscape, histories and technologies at Melbourne Water's Western Treatment Plant, Werribee. TREATMENT, with curator David Cross, associate curator Cameron Bishop, and six leading Australian artists - Bindi Cole Chocka, Megan Evans, Shane McGrath, Catherine Bell, Techa Noble and Spiros Panigirakis - have been supported to research the site and create artworks experienced by bus, across the plant. The artists have been commissioned to develop projects at a variety of sites. Sensory, technological, community and historical engagement are key aspects of this high profile project.

TREATED

The exhibition and community engagement hub, TREATED (the sublime passage), is at the Wyndham Art Gallery. The show allows a greater number of people to reflect on and engage with the works completed on-site, engage with the practice of the artists, and to consider ideas around process, elimination and purification as seen in the public art event, TREATMENT. There are tensions to explore here for as sewerage is transformed into liquid gold (water), ideas take form through material processes to become artworks. The exhibition also reveals much more about the artists’ research and aspects and factoids about the site. Architectural elements (installed by Bishop and Reis) referencing Melbourne Water’s Information Centre will activate the space – in displays, archival material, discarded materials and unused footage, diary notes and documentation of the project including video interviews with key people involved in the project. Two workshops will run with artists and members of the community, inviting participants to respond to the work, a particular process and prompt. This is a feature of the project that will allow for collaboration with a wide range of community stakeholders as workshops would draw on the histories and technologies of the site to provoke reflection and a material response from participants.

Making sense of heritage mining landscape conservation in Malaysia: potential and challenges

Landscape is interpreted as the creation of a cultural expression through human ideology and representing a living heritage. Since landscapes are continually evolving, it arouses challenges for sustainability in preserving significant cultural landscape which rested in evolving and transitional world. Kinta Valley former mining landscape can be described as ‘relic landscape’ and this landscape type is one of the sub category under organically evolved cultural landscape (or vernacular landscape) as incorporated in UNESCO Operational Guidelines [18:8]. The main contribution of this paper lies within the gap of knowledge and practise of cultural landscape conservation in Malaysia emphasizing on the cultural values embedded within the heritage mining landscape of Kinta Valley of Perak State, Malaysia. Concerning to the significance heritage values that lies within the Kinta Valley former mining landscape through the lens of cultural landscape theory and practice, this paper highlights on the potential and challenges faced by the Perak state government in establishing mining cultural landscape conservation which can be incorporated within the state and districts planning gazetted documents. Palang & Fry [15] remark that the interface between culture and landscape is very important to understand as it will lead to interpretations of future and current issues of past landscape developments and interventions. United Nations [17] emphasize that sustainable cultural landscape composing of ‘socially, economically and environmentally durable’ and therefore preserving the heritage mining landscape will unravel and unveil the valley sustainability. In addition, qualifying the cultural landscape significance crafted by past tin mining activities in Kinta Valley has resulted in the establishment of heritage values of state and national significance. Therefore potential and challenges of preserving this heritage landscape will be disclose and thereupon embellish the Malaysian culture heritage in general especially in enduring Perak State culture heritage and sustainability.

Colourful language: researching architects' knowledge and use of colour

The development of architectural materials and technology is transforming the colour palettes and identities of cities by juxtaposing or replacing vernacular colours with global and often contextually meaningless colours. As Built Environment designers have significant roles in determining city colourscapes, it might be expected that th ese professionals have considerable knowledge. However, there is largely an absence of colour training in the majority of built environment degree programs. While colour has been studied in a broad range of disciplines, very few studies have focussed on architecture and even less on colour in architectural education. This paper reports on the early findings of research into what informs architect’s understanding and use of colour. Data was analysed from a survey of 33 practicing architects, academics and postgraduate students from Melbourne, Australia. The findings indicate that built environment designers see the need for increasing their colour knowledge. In line with previous studies, there was no evidence of correlations between gender and age, but findings suggest cultural differences in the level of colour education depending on country of architectural study. The wider research that this study is a part of ultimately aims to inform education around the use of colour in the built environment.

Splitting centre : directing attention in trans-media dance performance

In theatrical vernacular, the term ‘splitting centre’ refers to two performers staged at an equal distance from a centre point and sharing the focus of the audience. This term encapsulates the notion that two people (or, in the case of trans-media dance, two or more performance entities) are dividing the attention of the audience, operating as equal collaborators in a performance context. The augmentation of live performance with 3D projected scenography and mobile devices offers a starting point for discussions on the potential for dramaturgy, choreographic process, and changing expectations for audience behaviour in the theatre. In 2014, Deakin Motion.Lab premiered The Crack Up, a trans-media dance work that incorporated live performance, 3D digital scenography, and The Crack Up App, an app for mobile devices that audience members were invited to interact with during the performance. This investigation into the potential of trans-media dance performance, (defined here as a live performance in which both the digital and biological elements are choreographed as artistic equals within the theatrical context) with the addition of a mobile device raises questions about how the makers of trans-media dance might direct the attention of their audiences when the work is performed simultaneously across multiple platforms.

The big sleep

Artist book of found photographs of people who are in repose (either sleeping or dead) with an essay entitled 'The Long Sleep of Photography' by Dr Daniel Palmer. Published to accompany an exhibition at Paris Photo, 2015.

Intercultural engagement through pedagogical practices

Previously, in Victoria, Intercultural Understanding was embedded in the context area of ‘Languages Other than English' and taught by LOTE specialist teachers. Positioned in the new National Curriculum as a ‘General Capability' it will become the shared responsibility of all Australian teachers and so directly impact on them and their pedagogical practices. This prioritizing of Intercultural Understanding acknowledges the role of pedagogical practice in developing national and international social cohesion as well as meeting national economic imperatives (MCEETYA 2008, Banks 2011). The diverse social context of schooling is one in which many students experience negative intercultural experiences (Mansouri et al 2010) and yet it is also a site rich with potential for positive intercultural experiences and development of cosmopolitan dispositions (Noble, 2013 Rizvi 2009; Lo Bianco 2006); particularly ‘vernacular' cosmopolitanism (Robbins, 1998; Turner 2010). Drawing on case studies from two primary schools participating in an ARC-funded national research project, this presentation considers the impact on teachers' attitudes and pedagogies as they reflect on and enact teaching to promote intercultural understanding. With a focus on critical engagement with texts (including student, teacher and community multimodal texts) the teachers design pedagogies to support the three key areas recognising culture and developing respect; Interacting and empathising with others; and reflecting on intercultural experiences and taking responsibility (ACARA, 2012). Vicarious, virtual and face-to-face opportunities for enhancement of self-awareness and cultural acknowledgment; experiencing and exploring cultural difference; and for critical reflection on cultural encounters (Bredella, 2003) will be explored. Of interest is teacher and student agency (Fielding, 2001; 2004) in the selection of resources, development of knowledge, critical reflection and approaches to dealing with sensitive issues.

'Iconic development' : is there such a thing?

By way of definition, dictionaries such as the Oxford Dictionary note that the word ‘icon’ is a noun meaning ‘a person or thing regarded as a representative symbol or as worthy of veneration’ (p. 654). More recently, the phrase ‘iconic development’ has crept into the town planning vernacular making reference to built or planned works that are intended to be an urban ‘benchmark’. However, in terms of planning practice in the State of Victoria, Australia, the meaning of ‘iconic development’ is unclear amongst property development professionals – one only needs to peruse the local newspaper, The Age on any given week and publications by key bodies such as the Planning Institute of Australia, the Victorian Planning and Environment Law Association, the Urban Development Institute of Australia and the Property Council of Australia on their websites and in professional newsletters, to appreciate the different ways the phrase is used in the property development context. This paper reports on key themes arising from interviews with 52 Victorian property development professionals, who were interviewed to determine their perceptions about what constitutes ‘iconic development’ in Victoria. Arising from the interviews, the study confirms that ‘iconic development’ is the new buzz phrase in property development circles, it is no longer just being used as a sales and marketing tool, but has been appropriated by technical professionals and introduced into different planning documents including certain local clauses in the Victorian Planning Provisions. Different professionals in the development industry, such as architects, planners and lawyers ascribe different meanings to this phrase, thereby presenting confusion in the property development industry. By understanding what these different professionals mean by the phrase ‘iconic development’ a more collaborative understanding of the phrase is arrived at to provide the practitioner and public with a more informed understanding to review realised and/or planned 'iconic development’.