Bauhaus Australia: Transforming Education in Art, Architecture and Design. This project aims to examine the influence of Bauhaus-inspired émigrés on Australian cultural life. An under-examined but profound influence on Australian cultural history was the forced migration of émigré and refugee modernists from Germany and central Europe, who transformed art, architectural and design education from the 1930s to the 1970s. German and central European training, inspired by the Bauhaus, centred on sys ....Bauhaus Australia: Transforming Education in Art, Architecture and Design. This project aims to examine the influence of Bauhaus-inspired émigrés on Australian cultural life. An under-examined but profound influence on Australian cultural history was the forced migration of émigré and refugee modernists from Germany and central Europe, who transformed art, architectural and design education from the 1930s to the 1970s. German and central European training, inspired by the Bauhaus, centred on systematic approaches to pictorial method and design, colour theory and art education, all underwritten by an all-encompassing social ambition. This project aims to provide a new cross-disciplinary history of modernism in Australia that shifts focus from solo contributions to the networks of education, where modernism’s impact was most public, widespread and influential.Read moreRead less
Is architecture art? a history of categories, concepts and recent practices. The project aims to link architectural theory with broader cultural theory to provide new ways for architectural theory to engage with creative practice. There is no simple answer to the recurring question of whether architecture is an art. Nevertheless, unpacking the historical and current interests at stake in this question will lead to a better understanding of architecture in contemporary culture. Current issues ari ....Is architecture art? a history of categories, concepts and recent practices. The project aims to link architectural theory with broader cultural theory to provide new ways for architectural theory to engage with creative practice. There is no simple answer to the recurring question of whether architecture is an art. Nevertheless, unpacking the historical and current interests at stake in this question will lead to a better understanding of architecture in contemporary culture. Current issues arising from the exhibition of architecture in art galleries and architecture’s classification in new measures of the cultural economy appear to be unconnected. The project plans to show that these issues are linked in the long history of systems of the arts and recent debates about the role of medium, discipline and aesthetic autonomy in defining the arts.Read moreRead less
How Meston's 'Wild Australia Show' shaped Australian Aboriginal history. How Meston's 'Wild Australia Show' shaped Australian Aboriginal history. This project aims to produce an authoritative and original interpretation of the Wild Australia Show (1892–93), staged by a diverse company of Aboriginal people for metropolitan audiences. The Show will be the focus of an interdisciplinary study of performance, photography, collections and race relations in colonial Australia, using archival and visual ....How Meston's 'Wild Australia Show' shaped Australian Aboriginal history. How Meston's 'Wild Australia Show' shaped Australian Aboriginal history. This project aims to produce an authoritative and original interpretation of the Wild Australia Show (1892–93), staged by a diverse company of Aboriginal people for metropolitan audiences. The Show will be the focus of an interdisciplinary study of performance, photography, collections and race relations in colonial Australia, using archival and visual records. The project will situate the Show in local, national and transnational narratives informed by contemporary Indigenous perspectives. This research should illuminate Aboriginal agency in the ensemble, reconnect Aboriginal kin to performers, and chart changing concepts of race at a critical juncture in Australian history.Read moreRead less