Luminous presence: Using early mosaics and gilded aureoles to augment the interface between holographic images and the beholder. This project seeks to develop a new style of representation for holographic subjects through the modulation effects of "scintillating" backgrounds. As the purpose of holographic displays moves away from the replication of extant objects towards the artistic generation of synthetic/creative content, holographic images call increasingly upon conventions of pictorial sty ....Luminous presence: Using early mosaics and gilded aureoles to augment the interface between holographic images and the beholder. This project seeks to develop a new style of representation for holographic subjects through the modulation effects of "scintillating" backgrounds. As the purpose of holographic displays moves away from the replication of extant objects towards the artistic generation of synthetic/creative content, holographic images call increasingly upon conventions of pictorial style as well as the tacit perceptions of beholders for their successful interpretation. In this study the reflected light of traditional mosaics is used to modulate projected light articulating the holographic subject. The augmented image activates cues such as occlusion and retinal disparity employed by beholders in the perception of holograms.Read moreRead less
Posters of the Cultural Revolution: Contemporary Chinese perspectives on an era of propaganda. China's recent history is of less interest to public commentators than its current extraordinary era of reform and expansion. This project is based on the assumption that the images and memories of the immediate past are clues to the meaning and communication patterns of the present. Accessible works of cultural history, such as is proposed here, will give the broad Australian public, including citizen ....Posters of the Cultural Revolution: Contemporary Chinese perspectives on an era of propaganda. China's recent history is of less interest to public commentators than its current extraordinary era of reform and expansion. This project is based on the assumption that the images and memories of the immediate past are clues to the meaning and communication patterns of the present. Accessible works of cultural history, such as is proposed here, will give the broad Australian public, including citizens of Chinese origin, as well as the extensive scholarly community, access to a nuanced and emotional view of our largest trading partner, and its attitude to communication, visual culture and the past.Read moreRead less
THE UNWRITTEN HISTORY OF AUSTRALIAN MODERNISM. Most histories treat modernism in Australia as a phenomenon of ?fine art,? or simply painting. This project will instead reveal modernism's highly public impact across a range of media (design, photography, advertising, architecture and art). This new history will better explain how modernist visual idioms became ubiquitous in everyday contemporary design and our built environment after their initial, often hostile reception. The project will provid ....THE UNWRITTEN HISTORY OF AUSTRALIAN MODERNISM. Most histories treat modernism in Australia as a phenomenon of ?fine art,? or simply painting. This project will instead reveal modernism's highly public impact across a range of media (design, photography, advertising, architecture and art). This new history will better explain how modernist visual idioms became ubiquitous in everyday contemporary design and our built environment after their initial, often hostile reception. The project will provide an integrated research analysis of the extensive, but disparate, archives on Australian modernism. It will communicate its research findings through a new scholarly study, a major large-scale travelling public exhibition, a CD, and a website.Read moreRead less
What is successful public art today?: exploring how contemporary public art and memorial design shapes public engagement, perceptions and behaviour. Much public money is invested in public art and memorials. The research explores critical questions of value: what the public enjoys about such artworks, if and how artworks contribute amenity to public spaces, and whether recent artworks engage effectively with social memory, identity and politics. The research situates local practice within intern ....What is successful public art today?: exploring how contemporary public art and memorial design shapes public engagement, perceptions and behaviour. Much public money is invested in public art and memorials. The research explores critical questions of value: what the public enjoys about such artworks, if and how artworks contribute amenity to public spaces, and whether recent artworks engage effectively with social memory, identity and politics. The research situates local practice within international trends, to inform Australian designers, policymakers, art patrons and public space managers about recent innovations in technology, craft, creativity and critique, so they can create and choose public artworks and memorials which engage with the potentials of contemporary arts practice, the complexities of contemporary culture, and the diversity of social behaviour in public spaces.Read moreRead less
Destination: developing hologram recording and replay technologies to enable the world's largest mass audience viewing of deep volume water images. The exhibition of 'Destination', the world's largest hologram installation at Federation Square in Melbourne, will impact both local and international audiences through engagement with the globally important subject - WATER. Wide public access to the new perceptions of water available though the holograms will be accessible in progress via web interf ....Destination: developing hologram recording and replay technologies to enable the world's largest mass audience viewing of deep volume water images. The exhibition of 'Destination', the world's largest hologram installation at Federation Square in Melbourne, will impact both local and international audiences through engagement with the globally important subject - WATER. Wide public access to the new perceptions of water available though the holograms will be accessible in progress via web interface, broadcast live video and an international conference hosted at Federation Square. The technological advances forged by the international and national multi-disciplinary expert team (media art, urban design, holography and laser technology) will establish a strong knowledge base and expertise in Australia thus providing opportunities for PhD students.Read moreRead less
The reformulation of narrative within digital cinema as the integration of three models of interactivity. The rise of digital media has led to a decline in the use of traditional single-layered narrative and the corresponding loss of a major instrument of cinematic representation. This study investigates the reformulation of narrative within digital cinema through the integration of three models of interactivity so as to produce a new emergent digital narrative form. The study tests the proposit ....The reformulation of narrative within digital cinema as the integration of three models of interactivity. The rise of digital media has led to a decline in the use of traditional single-layered narrative and the corresponding loss of a major instrument of cinematic representation. This study investigates the reformulation of narrative within digital cinema through the integration of three models of interactivity so as to produce a new emergent digital narrative form. The study tests the proposition predicted in revisionist cinematic theory that narrative, when generated as a complex of digitally interactive forms, provides the opportunity to recapture the representational significance of narrative within digital cinema, through its enactment within a multi-layered, emergent virtual space.
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Sustainable Public Art: Testing experimental technologies and ecological models for new interdisciplinary installations aimed at regenerating degraded sites. The project develops new models of public art that combine natural and manufactured energy in ways that promote a culture of awareness about pressing environmental issues. The research highlights the need for an environmentally sustainable Australia and effective management of the nation's biodiversity by embodying these concerns in novel a ....Sustainable Public Art: Testing experimental technologies and ecological models for new interdisciplinary installations aimed at regenerating degraded sites. The project develops new models of public art that combine natural and manufactured energy in ways that promote a culture of awareness about pressing environmental issues. The research highlights the need for an environmentally sustainable Australia and effective management of the nation's biodiversity by embodying these concerns in novel aesthetic systems that test clean energy production and its efficient storage. The latter have implications beyond the project for light industry, telecomunications and public utilities. Utilizing a range of adaptive technologies and natural elements in experimental ways, the project offers creative responses to critical questions of sustainability capable of being profiled internationally.Read moreRead less
The War Rug: the history, iconography and theory of the war art tradition of the Baluch of Afghanistan 1979-2004. The 'war rugs' of Afghanistan, a new topic of art-historical, sociopolitical, and cross-cultural communications, reflects an Indigenous perspective of twenty five years of conflict in the region. This project will: *Produce new knowledge on a regional topic of considerable sociopolitical relevance *Enable Australia to take a leading role in the articulation of new fields of knowledg ....The War Rug: the history, iconography and theory of the war art tradition of the Baluch of Afghanistan 1979-2004. The 'war rugs' of Afghanistan, a new topic of art-historical, sociopolitical, and cross-cultural communications, reflects an Indigenous perspective of twenty five years of conflict in the region. This project will: *Produce new knowledge on a regional topic of considerable sociopolitical relevance *Enable Australia to take a leading role in the articulation of new fields of knowledge and academic discourse, enhancing both our international reputation and knowledge of the region *Provide an exemplary model for the role of museums in the conceptualisation of artistic categories cross-culturally *Develop new applications of online database technologies *Develop new modes of integrating new digital technologies in an exhibition setting. Read moreRead less
Reformulating narrative in virtual heritage using a co-evolutionary model of immersive interactivity. The application of machine intelligence research within virtual heritage, interactive cinema and the entertainment industries, with its application across a range of new media art forms, home theatre, location based entertainment, and on-line education, captures pioneering cultural and economic benefits for Australia. This study integrates autonomous machine agent and interface technology with t ....Reformulating narrative in virtual heritage using a co-evolutionary model of immersive interactivity. The application of machine intelligence research within virtual heritage, interactive cinema and the entertainment industries, with its application across a range of new media art forms, home theatre, location based entertainment, and on-line education, captures pioneering cultural and economic benefits for Australia. This study integrates autonomous machine agent and interface technology with the artistic potential of digital cinema. It provides innovative ways of satisfying the voracious demand for sophisticated content and narrative enrichment in new media and of exploiting the intense global interest in digital forms of entertainment. Read moreRead less
Art and Human Rights in the Asia-Pacific: The Limits of Tolerance in the Twenty-First Century. The question of human rights is emerging as perhaps the most critical issue of the twenty-first century. This project aims to develop a cross-disciplinary methodology and a set of conceptual frameworks for analysing the interactions between contemporary art and global discourses on human rights in the Asia-Pacific. In the process we address the debate on universality versus cultural specificity in rel ....Art and Human Rights in the Asia-Pacific: The Limits of Tolerance in the Twenty-First Century. The question of human rights is emerging as perhaps the most critical issue of the twenty-first century. This project aims to develop a cross-disciplinary methodology and a set of conceptual frameworks for analysing the interactions between contemporary art and global discourses on human rights in the Asia-Pacific. In the process we address the debate on universality versus cultural specificity in relation to human rights issues, and we seek to place current Australian responses to human rights in the context of the dynamically changing region in which we live.Read moreRead less