here/there/then/now

here/there/then/now was a practice-led research project that brought together 10 independent artists in dance, music, theatre and visual/media arts to create a site-specific program within the walls of the Brisbane Powerhouse. The purpose was to explore how to best conceive flexible performance platforms, theatricalise site-specific work and engage new audiences through forms of promenade experience that could provide open choices on how and where to view it. The sold out season of 6 performances, which took place 14-19 May 2002, presented three discrete performance installations set in intimate parts of the building, each with their own aesthetic and communicative intention, culminating in a fourth in-theatre installation, where memories of the first three coalesced and were reinterrogated. Each site thereby investigated meaning-making via the moving body and its critical relationship with space and objects, in a dramatic re-contextualisation of traditional solo dance forms, now re-articulated through interdisciplinary practices. The benefit of this approach was the creation of a layered and multimodal experience that could be both shared and subsequently critiqued by performers and audience alike.

Eco-retrofitting with building integrated living systems

Building integrated living systems (BILS), such as green roofs and living walls, could mitigate many of the challenges presented by climate change and biodiversity protection. However, few if any such systems have been constructed, and current tools for evaluating them are limited, especially under Australian subtropical conditions. BILS are difficult to assess, because living systems interact with complex, changing and site-specific social and environmental conditions. Our past research in design for eco-services has confirmed the need for better means of assessing the ecological values of BILS - let alone better models for assessing their thermal and hydrological performance. To address this problem, a research project is being developed jointly by researchers at the Central Queensland University (CQ University) and the Queensland University of Technology (QUT), along with industry collaborators. A mathematical model under development at CQ University will be applied and tested to determine its potential for predicting their complex, dynamic behaviour in different contexts. However, the paper focuses on the work at QUT. The QUT school of design is generating designs for living walls and roofs that provide a range of ecosystem goods and services, or ‘eco-services’, for a variety of micro-climates and functional contexts. The research at QUT aims to develop appropriate designs, virtual prototypes and quantitative methods for assessing the potential multiple benefits of BILS in subtropical climates. It is anticipated that the CQ University model for predicting thermal behaviour of living systems will provide a platform for the integration of ecological criteria and indicators. QUT will also explore means to predict and measure the value of eco-services provided by the systems, which is still largely uncharted territory. This research is ultimately intended to facilitate the eco-retrofitting of cities to increase natural capital and urban resource security - an essential component of sustainability. The talk will present the latest range of multifunctional, eco-productive living walls, roofs and urban space frames and their eco-services.

The moment of exchange : risk, vulnerability, responsibility

Any cycle of production and exchange – be it economic, cultural or aesthetic – involves an element of risk. It involves uncertainty, unpredictability, and a potential for new insight and innovation (the boom) as well as blockages, crises and breakdown (the bust). In performance, the risks are plentiful – economic, political, social, physical and psychological. The risks people are willing to take depend on their position in the exchange (performer, producer, venue manager or spectator), and their aesthetic preferences. This paper considers the often uncertain, confronting or ‘risky’ moment of exchange between performer, spectator and culture in Live Art practices. Encompassing body art, autobiographical art, site-specific art and other sorts of performative intervention in the public sphere, Live Art eschews the artifice of theatre, breaking down barriers between art and life, artist and spectator, to speak back to the public sphere, and challenge assumptions about bodies, identities, memories, relationships and histories. In the process, Live Art frequently privileges an uncertain, confrontational or ‘risky’ mode of exchange between performer, spectator and culture, as a way of challenging power structures. This paper examines the moment of exchange in terms of risk, vulnerability, responsibility and ethics. Why the romance with ‘risky’ behaviours and exchanges? Who is really taking a risk? What risk? With whose permission (or lack thereof)? What potential does a ‘risky’ exchange hold to destabilise aesthetic, social or political norms? Where lies the fine line between subversive intervention in the public sphere and sheer self-indulgence? What are the social and ethical implications of a moment of exchange that puts bodies, beliefs or social boundaries at ‘risk’? In this paper, these questions are addressed with reference to historical and contemporary practices under the broadly defined banner of Live Art, from the early work of Abrovamic and Burden, through to contemporary Australian practitioners like Fiona McGregor.

Can't see the water for the trees

The work was both conceived and constructed in-situ within Gnombup Swamp a seasonal water body at Bremer Bay, Western Australia. The work interacts with site-specific conditions including wind patterns and a datum of seasonal water levels marks. The work is the result of collaboration between soil scientist Paula Deegan and Ian Weir. The installation was documented with a series of 30 still digital photographs, later animated in Microsoft Powerpoint.

H-house

The author's approach to the problems associated with building in bushfire prone landscapes comes from 12 years of study of the biophysical and cultural landscapes in the Great Southern Region of Western Australia - research which resulted in the design and construction of the H-house at Bremer Bay. The house was developed using a 'ground up' approach whereby Dr Weir conducted topographical surveys and worked with a local botanist and a bushfire risk consultant to ascertain the level of threat that fire presented to this particular site. The intention from the outset however, was not to design a bushfire resistant house per se, but to develop a design which would place the owners in close proximity to the highly biodiverse heath vegetation of their site. The research aim was to find ways - through architectural design-to link the patterns of usage of the house with other site specific conditions related to the prevailing winds, solar orientation and seasonal change. The H-house has a number of features which increase the level of bushfire safety. These include: Fire rated roller shutters (tested by the CSIRO for ember attack and radiant heat), Fire resistant double glazing (on windows not protected by the shutters), Fibre-cement sheet cladding of the underside of the elevated timber floor structure, Manually operated high pressure sprinkler system on exposed timber decks, A fire refuge (an enlarged laundry, shower area) within the house with a dedicated cabinet for fire fighting equipment) and A low pressure solar powered domestic water supply system.

Bushfire responsive architecture : strategies for reconciling bushfire and biodiversity with daily life

My perspective on the problems associated with building in bushfire prone landscapes comes from 12 years of study of the biophysical and cultural landscapes in the Great Southern Region of WA which resulted in the design and construction of the ‘Hhouse’ at Bremer Bay. The house was developed using a ‘ground up’ approach whereby I conducted a topographical survey and worked with a local botanist and a bushfire risk consultant to ascertain the level of threat that fire presented to this particular site. My intention from the outset however, was not to design a bushfire resistant house per se, but to develop a design which would place the owners in close proximity to the highly biodiverse heath vegetation of the site. I was also seeking a means—through architectural design—of linking the patterns of usage of the house with other site specific conditions related to the prevailing winds, solar orientation and seasonal change.

Contemporary dramaturgy in theatre for young people : the conceptual shape of displacement and installation

This thesis investigates Theatre for Young People (TYP) as a site of performance innovation. The inquiry is focused on contemporary dramaturgy and its fieldwork aims to identify new dramaturgical principles operating in the creation and presentation of TYP. The research then seeks to assess how these new principles contribute to Postdramatic Theatre theory. This research inquiry springs from an imperative based in practice: Young people under 25 years have a literacy based on online hypertextual experiences which take the reader outside the frames of a dramatic narrative and beyond principles such as linearity, dramatic unity, teleology and resolution. As a dramaturg and educator I wanted to understand the new ways that young people engage in cultural products, to identify and utilize the new principles of dramaturgy that are now in evidence. My research examines how two playwright/directors approach their work and the new principles that can be identified in their dramaturgy. The fieldwork is scoped into two case studies: the first on TJ Eckleberg working in Australian Theatre for Young People and the second on Kristo Šagor working in German Children’s and Young People’s Theatre (KJT). These case studies address both types of production dramaturgy - the dramaturgy emergent through process in devised performance making, and that emergent in a performance based on a written playscript. On Case Study One the researcher, as participant observer, worked as production dramaturg on a large scale, site specific performance, observing the dramaturgy in process of its director and chief devisor. On Case Study Two the researcher, as observer and analyst, undertook a performance analysis of three playscripts and productions by a contemporary German playwright and director. Utilizing participant observation, reflective practice and grounded analysis the case studies have identified two new principles animating the dramaturgy of these TYP practitioners, namely ‘displacement’ and ‘installation.’ Taking practice into theory, the thesis concludes by demonstrating how displacement and installation contribute to Postdramatic Theatre’s “arsenal of expressive gestures which serve as theatre’s response to changed social communication under the conditions of generalized communication technologies” (Lehmann, H.-T., 2006, p.23). This research makes an original contribution to knowledge by evidencing that the principles of Postdramatic Theory lie within the practice of contemporary Theatre for Young People. It also contributes valuable research to a specialized, often overlooked terrain, namely Dramaturgy in Theatre for Young People, presented here with a contemporary, international and intercultural perspective.

Grounded Light

A promenade performance. This research produced a unique combination of performance using electronically augmented costuming, site-specific discrete electronic lighting and video projection and sustained mountainside/top choreography. The work was examined and expanded in two subsequent peer reviewed papers which scoped out the emerging field of ‘Grounded Media’. Curator and writer Kevin Murray further accorded and enhanced these ideas in subsequent critical writing and the work was also featured in a two page major profile in RealtimeThe work was commissioned by the long established Floating Land Festival and involved extensive on-site work as well as a residency, production and artist talk series at the Noosa Art Gallery. A documentary film of the work was subsequently presented in the three-month exhibition ‘Lines of Sight’ for the Nishi Ogi Machi Media Festival, Nishiogikubo Station Platform 1, Tokyo, Japan, curated by Youkobo Art Space.

Towards sustainable urban futures : evaluating urban sustainability performance of the Gold coast, Australia

Creating sustainable urban environments is one of the challenging issues that need a clear vision and implementation strategies involving changes in governmental values and decision making process for local governments. Particularly, internalisation of environmental externalities of daily urban activities (e.g. manufacturing, transportation and so on) has immense importance for which local policies are formulated to provide better living conditions for the people inhabiting urban areas. Even if environmental problems are defined succinctly by various stakeholders, complicated nature of sustainability issues demand a structured evaluation strategy and well-defined sustainability parameters for efficient and effective policy making. Following this reasoning, this study involves assessment of sustainability performance of urban settings mainly focusing on environmental problems caused by rapid urban expansion and transformation. By taking into account land-use and transportation interaction, it tries to reveal how future urban developments would alter daily urban travel behaviour of people and affect the urban and natural environments. The paper introduces a grid-based indexing method developed for this research and trailed as a GIS-based decision support tool to analyse and model selected spatial and aspatial indicators of sustainability in the Gold Coast. This process reveals parameters of site specific relationship among selected indicators that are used to evaluate index-based performance characteristics of the area. The evaluation is made through an embedded decision support module by assigning relative weights to indicators. Resolution of selected grid-based unit of analysis provides insights about service level of projected urban development proposals at a disaggregate level, such as accessibility to transportation and urban services, and pollution. The paper concludes by discussing the findings including the capacity of the decision support system to assist decision-makers in determining problematic areas and developing intervention policies for sustainable outcomes of future developments.

An innovative modelling approach to assess stormwater pollutant loads from the Port of Brisbane, Australia

Port land uses are subjected to unique anthropogenic activities compared to typical urban land uses. This uniqueness results in distinctive stormwater quality characteristics. Such distinction in stormwater quality has made conventional approaches used for pollutant load estimations inaccurate. This is also the case for the Port of Brisbane (PoB). The study discussed in the paper was conducted to estimate the pollutant contributions from Port specific land uses at PoB. For estimation, software modules embedded in Mike URBAN were used. An innovative approach was adopted in modelling where the conventional model calibration step was not needed to be performed to generate suitable site specific parameters. Instead, equations and site specific parameters that replicate pollutant build-up and wash-off were generated from an extensive field investigation. Models were simulated incorporating site specific parameters from six different Port specific land uses and rainfall events from three representative years. Outcomes of the modelling exercise were used to identify the distinct pollutant contributions from different Port land uses.

Physiological investigation of periosteum structure and its application in periosteum tissue engineering

Although many different materials, techniques and methods, including artificial or engineered bone substitutes, have been used to repair various bone defects, the restoration of critical-sized bone defects caused by trauma, surgery or congenital malformation is still a great challenge to orthopedic surgeons. One important fact that has been neglected in the pursuit of resolutions for large bone defect healing is that most physiological bone defect healing needs the periosteum and stripping off the periosteum may result in non-union or non-healed bone defects. Periosteum plays very important roles not only in bone development but also in bone defect healing. The purpose of this project was to construct a functional periosteum in vitro using a single stem cell source and then test its ability to aid the repair of critical-sized bone defect in animal models. This project was designed with three separate but closely-linked parts which in the end led to four independent papers. The first part of this study investigated the structural and cellular features in periostea from diaphyseal and metaphyseal bone surfaces in rats of different ages or with osteoporosis. Histological and immunohistological methods were used in this part of the study. Results revealed that the structure and cell populations in periosteum are both age-related and site-specific. The diaphyseal periosteum showed age-related degeneration, whereas the metaphyseal periosteum is more destructive in older aged rats. The periosteum from osteoporotic bones differs from normal bones both in terms of structure and cell populations. This is especially evident in the cambial layer of the metaphyseal area. Bone resorption appears to be more active in the periosteum from osteoporotic bones, whereas bone formation activity is comparable between the osteoporotic and normal bone. The dysregulation of bone resorption and formation in the periosteum may also be the effect of the interaction between various neural pathways and the cell populations residing within it. One of the most important aspects in periosteum engineering is how to introduce new blood vessels into the engineered periosteum to help form vascularized bone tissues in bone defect areas. The second part of this study was designed to investigate the possibility of differentiating bone marrow stromal cells (BMSCs) into the endothelial cells and using them to construct vascularized periosteum. The endothelial cell differentiation of BMSCs was induced in pro-angiogenic media under both normoxia and CoCl2 (hypoxia-mimicking agent)-induced hypoxia conditions. The VEGF/PEDF expression pattern, endothelial cell specific marker expression, in vitro and in vivo vascularization ability of BMSCs cultured in different situations were assessed. Results revealed that BMSCs most likely cannot be differentiated into endothelial cells through the application of pro-angiogenic growth factors or by culturing under CoCl2-induced hypoxic conditions. However, they may be involved in angiogenesis as regulators under both normoxia and hypoxia conditions. Two major angiogenesis-related growth factors, VEGF (pro-angiogenic) and PEDF (anti-angiogenic) were found to have altered their expressions in accordance with the extracellular environment. BMSCs treated with the hypoxia-mimicking agent CoCl2 expressed more VEGF and less PEDF and enhanced the vascularization of subcutaneous implants in vivo. Based on the findings of the second part, the CoCl2 pre-treated BMSCs were used to construct periosteum, and the in vivo vascularization and osteogenesis of the constructed periosteum were assessed in the third part of this project. The findings of the third part revealed that BMSCs pre-treated with CoCl2 could enhance both ectopic and orthotopic osteogenesis of BMSCs-derived osteoblasts and vascularization at the early osteogenic stage, and the endothelial cells (HUVECs), which were used as positive control, were only capable of promoting osteogenesis after four-weeks. The subcutaneous area of the mouse is most likely inappropriate for assessing new bone formation on collagen scaffolds. This study demonstrated the potential application of CoCl2 pre-treated BMSCs in the tissue engineering not only for periosteum but also bone or other vascularized tissues. In summary, the structure and cell populations in periosteum are age-related, site-specific and closely linked with bone health status. BMSCs as a stem cell source for periosteum engineering are not endothelial cell progenitors but regulators, and CoCl2-treated BMSCs expressed more VEGF and less PEDF. These CoCl2-treated BMSCs enhanced both vascularization and osteogenesis in constructed periosteum transplanted in vivo.