Access all

Access All was performance produced following a three-month mentorship in web-based performance that I was commissioned to conduct for the performance company Igneous. This live, triple-site performance event for three performers in three remote venues was specifically designed for presentation at Access Grid Nodes - conference rooms located around the globe equipped with a high end, open source computer teleconferencing technology that allowed multiple nodes to cross-connect with each other. Whilst each room was setup somewhat differently they all deployed the same basic infrastructre of multiple projectors, cameras, and sound as well as a reconfigurable floorspace. At that time these relatively formal setups imposed a clear series of limitations in terms of software capabilities and basic infrastructure and so there was much interest in understanding how far its capabilities might be pushed.----- Numerous performance experiments were undertaken between three Access Grid nodes in QUT Brisbane, VISLAB Sydney and Manchester Supercomputing Centre, England, culminating in the public performance staged simultaneously between the sites with local audiences at each venue and others online. Access All was devised in collaboration with interdisciplinary performance company Bonemap, Kelli Dipple (Interarts curator, Tate Modern London) and Mike Stubbs British curator and Director of FACT (Liverpool).----- This period of research and development was instigated and shaped by a public lecture I had earlier delivered in Sydney for the ‘Global Access Grid Network, Super Computing Global Conference’ entitled 'Performance Practice across Electronic Networks'. The findings of this work went on to inform numerous future networked and performative works produced from 2002 onwards.

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.

The digital practice ecosystem : supporting change in the construction industry through digital practice

The Digital Practice Ecosystem is a network of professional architectural, engineering and contracting firms, government agencies and professional bodies, academic, educational, and research institutions that have the shared goal of fostering changes in the construction industry through applications of digital practice. Changing the process of designing and constructing buildings using digital models will improve quality and efficiency and reduce costs allowing completion on time and on budget.

Information technology support to improved construction processes : inter-disciplinarity in research and practice

Research and innovation in the built environment is increasingly taking on an inter-disciplinary nature. The built environment industry and professional practice have long adopted multi and inter-disciplinary practices. The application of IT in Construction is moving beyond the automation and replication of discrete mono and multi-disciplinary tasks to replicate and model the improved inter-disciplinary processes of modern design and construction practice. A major long-term research project underway at the University of Salford seeks to develop IT modelling capability to support the design of buildings and facilities that are buildable, maintainable, operable, sustainable, accessible, and have properties of acoustic, thermal and business support performance that are of a high standard. Such an IT modelling tool has been the dream of the research community for a long time. Recent advances in technology are beginning to make such a modelling tool feasible.----- Some of the key problems with its further research and development, and with its ultimate implementation, will be the challenges of multiple research and built environment stakeholders sharing a common vision, language and sense of trust. This paper explores these challenges as a set of research issues that underpin the development of appropriate technology to support realisable advances in construction process improvements.

Built environment education and research : making connections

This conference is a landmark gathering of those from around the world concerned with the future of Built environment education and Research. It takes place at a time of great change and opportunity. Around the world the long-standing principles of what, how and who we teach for graduate entry into Built environment professions, is increasingly under review. The need for research and the way in which it is funded, conducted and knowledge shared is also under increasing pressure. Both changes are being triggered by a fast changing and increasingly challenging competitive environment for education and research. Competition for the highest quality of graduate entrants in the right numbers is becoming more intense. Competition between Universities, as funding for education and research comes under ever close scrutiny, is intensifying and we are all being forced to look for more effective and exciting ways of recruting, retaining, enhancing and maximising the achievement of our students and of our staff in their research activities. Competition amongst employees in industry is becoming more intense as professional employers increasingly recognise that people and knowledge are their key strategic resources. Universities are increasingly looking to partnerships with industry, the professions and other Universities to further improve their eduacation, research and innovation activities. These challenges are unfolding at a time of accelerating development in information technologies and systems and in our understanding of principles of knowledge management and pedagogical advancement. This environment presents both opportunities and threats to the world of education.

Landscape symphonies : gardening as a source of landscape architecture practice engaged with change

The notion of designing with change constitutes a fundamental and foundational theoretical premise for much of what constitutes landscape architecture, notably through engagement with ecology, particularly since the work of Ian McHarg in the 1960s and his key text Design with Nature. However, while most if not all texts in landscape architecture would cite this engagement of change theoretically, few go any further than citation, and when they do their methods seem fixated on utilising empirical, quantitative scientific tools for doing so, rather than the tools of design, in an architectural sense, as implied by the name of the discipline, landscape architecture.

Governance and effectiveness in regional planning: an analysis of North American, European, and Australasian practice

Over the past several years, there has been resurgent interest in regional planning in North America, Europe and Australasia. Spurred by issues such as metropolitan growth, transportation infrastructure, environmental management and economic development, many states and metropolitan regions are undertaking new planning initiatives. These regional efforts have also raised significant question about governance structures, accountability and measures of effectiveness.n this paper, the authors conducted an international review of ten case studies from the United States, Canada, England, Belgium, New Zealand and Australia to explore several critical questions. Using qualitative data template, the research team reviewed plans, documents, web sites and published literature to address three questions. First, what are the governance arrangements for delivering regional planning? Second, what are the mechanisms linking regional plans with state plans (when relevant) and local plans? Third, what means and mechanisms do these regional plans use to evaluate and measure effectiveness? The case study analysis revealed several common themes. First, there is an increasing focus on goverance at the regional level, which is being driven by a range of trends, including regional spatial development initiatives in Europe, regional transportation issues in the US, and the growth of metropolitan regions generally. However, there is considerable variation in how regional governance arrangements are being played out. Similarly, there is a range of processes being used at the regional level to guide planning that range from broad ranging (thick) processes to narrow and limited (thin) approaches. Finally, evaluation and monitoring of regional planning efforts are compiling data on inputs, processes, outputs and outcomes. Although there is increased attention being paid to indicators and monitoring, most of it falls into outcome evaluations such as Agenda 21 or sustainability reporting. Based on our review we suggest there is a need for increased attention on input, process and output indicators and clearer linkages of these indicators in monitoring and evaluation frameworks. The focus on outcome indicators, such as sustainability indicators, creates feedback systems that are too long-term and remote for effective monitoring and feedback. Although we found some examples of where these kinds of monitoring frameworks are linked into a system of governance, there is a need for clearer conceptual development for both theory and practice.