Op Shop Series

This series of works by the Melbourne collaborative group, Bozo Ink, in undermines the art gallery’s system of exchange and representation. They make the observation that as a site that supposedly reflects and critiques contemporary cultures, histories and practices, the gallery is merely a space of exhibition. Like many contemporary artists, and the critics and academics who assess their work, they are aware of the inherent paradox of exhibiting a work critical of commodity culture since we enter into a process of consumption that actually magnifies commodity culture when we place work in a gallery context. Bozo Ink’s project, The Op-Shop Series, offers a critique of consumptive practices in the art gallery and looks to entwine art, everyday practices and resistance strategies. They do this to test the potential of the gallery as a site for resistance, and to reconsider its function in the age of “consumption and spectacular exhibition” (Agamben 2007, 82). In linking the counter-practices of profanation (Agamben 2007) with the Situationist strategy of détournement (Debord 1994; Wark 2013) they hope to recast the art object as one without currency in the gallery. They propose that it is possible for the art object to unsettle both the image and the system of exchange within which it operates.

The new wilderness: A practice-led model for arts based enquiry

The New Wilderness is a practice-led, multidisciplinary arts project first piloted by artists, writers, teachers and academics from Geelong, Deakin University and Courthouse ARTS Centre in 2013. In a series of workshops run by artists, and working to specific themes, the project provided a platform for participants to explore and respond creatively to change in the community; it culminated in a large-scale installation at Courthouse ARTS Centre’s main gallery. Our paper positions the project as a able to cut across convention, empowering young artists to respond to ‘big questions’ of relevance to the changing material, spatial and social relations within their communities. In questioning and seeking to transform communities into sustainable media, economic, environmental and social ecologies, this emergent model begins with a localised focus, which is designed to travel across time and place, and pedagogical frameworks. The paper positions Geelong as a community under radical transformation in its economic foundations and demographics. As artists and academics living and working in the region we see it as an experimental ground for investigations into a series of provocations that mirror the shape of the paper we intend to give. The provocations, as outlined in the workshops, might also be envisaged as new relations to:Object – From consumable to unusable to play. In revisiting the first iteration of The New wilderness in 2013 we discuss the ‘superfictional’ (Hill, 2000) enquiry that participants were asked to engage with. Its premise described Geelong as an abandoned, post-apocalyptic site. Participants were asked to imagine themselves as a group of future explorers and excavate objects from the city’s old tip. In unearthing their choices and re-presenting the objects in the gallery the participant was prompted to analyse site, situation, object and process as phenomena for ‘being’ or ‘telling stories’, providing insights into wider realms of cultural experience (Ellis, Adams and Bochner, 2010). Parallel to this ‘autoethnographic’ reflection our paper uses the philosopher Giorgio Agamben’s analysis of consumer and material culture. He traces the subject’s relation to objects from use-value, to exchange-value and in the era of extreme capitalism, to pure exhibition-value. He searches for ways that the objects produced in our material culture can be ‘profaned’ (Agamben, 2007). Space – From the material to the spatial to the situation. We are interested in how objects and the practices they elicit can be ‘profaned’ by their situation (Agamben, 2007; Wark, 2103). To profane, according to Agamben, is to open up the possibility that the object loses its exhibition-value to ‘a special form of negligence’ (Agamben). He uses the example of the child’s ability to insinuate any object into a new logic of play (Agamben). Like the objects excavated for The New Wilderness they could be from a variety of spheres – business, household, industry, health etc… The child, like the artist, reconstitutes, reorders and assembles new relations between things. In reflecting on the first New Wilderness project the paper correlates the creative response of the participant (student, child, artist) with the occupier. The Occupy Movement, which took up residence in many of the world’s cities’ financial districts in 2011, used a number of strategies commensurate with both Agamben’s notion of profanation and McKenzie Wark’s reading of the Situationist International’s use of détournement - as a strategy that releases objects and subjects back into the field of play (Wark, 2013). The field was taken by the occupy movement to be the space in which they occupied – capitalism, its logic and its practices, were, for a short time, redundant in the occupied field. The New Wilderness conceptualises the city as a localised field, from which its discarded objects can be ‘profaned’ or, repurposed, to reflect on shared histories, responsibilities, pedagogies and future action. Subject: self/other– As much as we propose New Wilderness to be a pedagogical initiative we see it as personal, critical and political. In the themed workshops, designed to elicit personal responses to the object and the site, which culminated in a multi-disciplinary installation, performance and/or text based work, participants were encouraged to think critically, and importantly, collectively. Through the four workshops run in the first iteration of the project participants were asked to re-consider their material value-systems, much as the occupy movement was trying to do, and like the occupiers, participants were empowered to be agents of change. Our paper reflects on the practical outcomes and the conceptual, political and pedagogical strategies embedded in The New Wilderness project. The paper affords us the additional opportunity to imagine a life for it in other geographical, socio-economic and educational situations. Merinda Kelly and Cameron Bishop, 2013Bio: Merinda Kelly is a sculptor and installation artist, educator and PhD student at Deakin University. Her research interests include Visual Culture, Practice Led Research, the Ontology of Art, and Autoethnography. Her most recent work includes the Pop Archaeology' and the Globo-Touro Projects.Bio: Dr Cameron Bishop is an artist and academic working in Visual Arts at Deakin University. He exhibits regularly and has written a number of journal articles and book chapters. His research has focused on the philosophical and postcolonial dimensions of space and subjectivity and more recently has evolved into an active interest in strategic interventions into space and practice.

Intimate transactions : art, exhibition and interaction within distributed network environments

The broad research questions of the book are: How can successful, interdisciplinary collaboration contribute to research innovation through Practice-led research? What contributes to the design, production and curation of successful new media art? What are the implications of exhibiting it across dual sites for artists, curators and participant audiences? Is it possible to create an 'intimate transaction' between people who are separated by vast distances but joined by interfaces and distributed networks? Centred on a new media work of the same name by the Transmute Collective (led by Keith Armstrong), this book provides insights from multidisciplinary perspectives. Visual, sound and performance artists, furniture designers, spatial architects, technology systems designers, and curators who collaborated in the production of Intimate Transactions discuss their design philosophies, working processes and resolution of this major new media work. Analytical and philosophical essays by international writers complement these writings on production. They consider how new media art, like Intimate Transactions, challenges traditional understandings of art, curatorial installation and exhibition experience because of the need to take into account interaction, the reconfiguration of space, co-presence, performativity and inter-site collaboration.

Bouncing back : Resilient design for Brisbane - Exhibition

"Bouncing Back: Resilient Design for Brisbane" was an opportunity for QUT students to communicate their inspiring design responses to adversity, to the larger Brisbane community. The exhibition demonstrates new and innovative ways of thinking about our cities, and how they are built to be resilient and to suit extreme environmental conditions. The challenge for architecture students is to address the state of architecture as a reflection of today's world and to consider how design fits into the 21st century. Students have explored notions of 'Urban Resilience' from multiple perspectives, including emergency design while facing flooding, flood proof housing and urban designs.

Rooms on view : home and design exhibition

The expression of a narrative realized through a constructed interior environment provides a significant and engaging response that falls between the realms of design and theatre in which the space itself provides the role of actor.

Unleashed : roadshow finale 2010 exhibition

This exhibition, as part of the Queensland Government Unlimited: Designing for the Asia Pacific Program, showcased the unleashed: queensland design on tour 2010 Exhibition and outcomes from the aligned goDesign Travelling Workshop Program for Regional Secondary School Students, delivered concurrently by the Design Institute of Australia Queensland Branch and QUT, between February and September 2010 in the six regional Queensland towns of Chinchilla, Mt Isa, Quilpie, Emerald, Gladstone and Bundaberg. Mirroring the delivery of the exhibition opening in the local gallery of each regional town, student design work produced during the workshop program was displayed alongside the award winning work of professional visual communication, interior and product designers and design students from the DIA qdos Awards Program of 2008 and 2009. The resulting linkages and connections made possible by the aligned programs, and the students’ creative product, based on their own interpretation of the local culture, environment, economy and politics of their town developed through a design process, were the subject of the exhibition, captured through photos and dialogues (digital and print format) and sketchbooks. The two programs and resulting final ‘retrospective’ exhibition, addressed the key objectives outlined in the Queensland Government Arts Queensland Design Strategy 2020 (2008-2012 Action plan), which focuses on the promotion of a better understanding of the value of good design across all of the state, by enhancing the collaboration between industry, the professional body for design, the government and the education sectors, and by providing opportunities for young people to engage in design. The exhibition highlighted the benefits for regional communities in being exposed to design exhibitions, and linking with tertiary educators and design practitioners to participate in design-based learning activities which broaden student understanding of their learning and subsequent career opportunities, by establishing a meaningful connection with real world issues of place, identity and sustainability.

YODEX (Young Designers Exhibition)

The annual YODEX (Young Designers Exhibition) in Taipei as the largest student design show in Asia presents a substantial opportunity as a profiling event for QUT. In 2011 an interactive and highly engaging QUT exhibition ensured direct communication with participants and first hand exposure to innovative design approaches.

Illustrating fashion - Brisbane Square Library exhibition

Creative Practice exhibited at the Brisbane Square Library Illustrating Fashion exhibition. Accompanied works from acclaimed fashion labels, Easton Pearson Julie Tengdhal and Dogstar.

Couture Academy Exhibition : a curation of the story behind a couture design

Research background: The general public is predominantly unaware of the complexities and skills involved in the fashion supply chain (design, manufacture and retail) of couture/bespoke garments. As cited in McMahon and Morley (2011) “While a high price tag is widely accepted as a necessary element of luxury products (Fionda &Moore, 2009) this must be accompanied by a story that gives the items intrinsic as well as extrinsic value (Keller, 2009). Research question: Is it possible to simulate a fashion couture studio environment in a non-traditional public space in order to produce and promote the processes involved in couture designs; each with their own story and aligned to the aesthetic of six collaborating high profile couture fashion retailers? Research contribution: The Couture Academy project allowed the team to curate the story behind the couture design and supply chain process. It was an experimental, curated, ‘hot-house’ fashion design project undertaken in real time to create one-off couture garments, inspired by key seasonal fashion trends as determined by leading Westfield retailers. The project was industry based, with Westfield Chermside as the launch pad for six QUT fashion students to experiment with design nuances aligned to renowned national fashion industry retailers; Cue, Dissh, Kitten D'Amour, Mombasa and Pink Mint. Industry mentors were assigned to each student designer, in order to heighten the design challenge. The exhibition consisted of a pop-up couture workshop based at Westfield Chermside. A complete fashion studio (sewing machines, pattern-cutting tables and mannequins) was set up for a seven day period in the foyer of the shopping centre with the public watching as the design process unfolded in real-time. The final design outcomes were paraded at the Southbank Precinct to a prominent industry and media panel, with the winner receiving a $2000 prize to fund a research trip to an international fashion capital of their choice. Research significance: This curated fashion project was funded by Westfield Group Australia. "It was the most successful season launch Westfield Chermside has ever had from both an average volume for exposure perspective, and in terms of the level of engagement with retailers and shoppers," said Laura Walls, Westfield Public Relations Consultant. Significant media coverage was generated; including three full pages of editorial in Brisbane’s Sunday Mail, with an estimated publicity value of $95,000. And public exposure through the live project/exhibition was estimated at 7,000 people over the 7 days.

EMAGN2012 Exhibition

The EMAGN2012 exhibition, a partnership between the Australian Institute of Architects ‘2012 National Architecture Conference: EXPERIENCE’ and State Library of Queensland’s Asia Pacific Design Library. The exhibition was held in the Asia Pacific Design Library from the 10 May-10 June 2012. The EMAGN2012 exhibition celebrates the diversity, quality and experimental nature of emerging architectural work undertaken in Australia in the last 10 years. The annual exhibition is an initiative of the Emerging Architects and Graduate Network (EMAGN) currently active in all Australian states and territories. The EMAGN national group established in 2006, seeks to provide a vehicle through which the practice and production of architecture can be engaged with and reflected upon by the public, with the aim of fostering a much broader cultural awareness of Australian architecture.

"Food For Thought" Selected Design Installation DIA Homegrown 2011 Life In the Slow Lane Exhibition: Little Stanley Street, South Bank, Brisbane

'Homegrown is an initiative of the Design Institute of Australia–Queensland Branch to promote the collaboration and cultivation of local design talent in Queensland and strengthen the connection between design, plate, planet, people and culture.' Homegrown 2011 Exhibition Catalogue Excerpt

Bouncing back : homegrown. Curated exhibition of student work and design workshop

Bouncing Back Architecture Exhibition: This exhibition showcases interpretations of urban resiliency by 2nd and 4th Year undergraduate architecture students who explore the notion of Bouncing Back from the 2011 Queensland floods, in the context of contemporary Brisbane built environment. Design solutions have been expressed in a variety of forms including emergency shelters, flood-proof housing and a range of urban designs, some of which address extreme environmental conditions. Design Process Workshop | Architecture Workshop with Queensland Academy of Creative Industries Students: In collaboration with Homegrown Facilitator Natalie Wright, Lindy Osborne and Glenda Caldwell and some of their architecture students from the QUT School of Design, extended the university design studio experience to 18 Secondary School students, who brainstormed and designed emergency food distribution shelters for those affected by floods. Designs and models created in the workshop were subsequently included in the Bouncing Back Architecture Exhibition.