Understanding collaboration between the arts and sciences. This project aims to undertake a detailed examination of how the arts and sciences can work together to address the complex challenges of contemporary life. This will be addressed by undertaking the first cultural history of the experiment. Experimentation is common to the arts and sciences, and thinking about the long history of experimental practices in both fields will help build a bridge between them. This project will examine in de ....Understanding collaboration between the arts and sciences. This project aims to undertake a detailed examination of how the arts and sciences can work together to address the complex challenges of contemporary life. This will be addressed by undertaking the first cultural history of the experiment. Experimentation is common to the arts and sciences, and thinking about the long history of experimental practices in both fields will help build a bridge between them. This project will examine in detail past and present collaboration. An expected outcome is the development of models to support solving of complex contemporary problems. It will also raise awareness about the importance of the arts to knowledge-making practices.Read moreRead less
Real-time Porosity: Using computer gaming technology to map and analyse pedestrian movement in public and private space. This project will make a major, and ongoing, contribution to our understanding of urban space in a major Australian city. The Porosity Lenses will enable a more complete understanding of pedestrian movement that the Emergency Information Coordination Unit (EICU) believes will directly contribute to protecting Australia from terrorism and crime. In the case of terrorism the soc ....Real-time Porosity: Using computer gaming technology to map and analyse pedestrian movement in public and private space. This project will make a major, and ongoing, contribution to our understanding of urban space in a major Australian city. The Porosity Lenses will enable a more complete understanding of pedestrian movement that the Emergency Information Coordination Unit (EICU) believes will directly contribute to protecting Australia from terrorism and crime. In the case of terrorism the socio/economic benefits of even the smallest success can be immeasurable. The need to anticipate and mitigate the impact of catastrophic events on the city will be balanced, in this study, by a concern to maintain freedom of circulation and promote civic opportunities within previously under-utilised zones.Read moreRead less
Inner Eurasia: A World History of Eurasia's Heartlands. Inner Eurasia has played a distinctive and significant role in world history, particularly in the twentieth century when it was the heartland of world communism. Australia's history has been shaped profoundly by the political, military, cultural and commercial impact of the region's great empires. This project will expand Australian understanding of the region, and raise Australia's international visibility and competitiveness in both Inner ....Inner Eurasia: A World History of Eurasia's Heartlands. Inner Eurasia has played a distinctive and significant role in world history, particularly in the twentieth century when it was the heartland of world communism. Australia's history has been shaped profoundly by the political, military, cultural and commercial impact of the region's great empires. This project will expand Australian understanding of the region, and raise Australia's international visibility and competitiveness in both Inner Eurasian and World history. It will attract undergraduate and graduate students and international scholars. Its world history approach will augment Macquarie's significant contributions to the Australian National History Curriculum.Read moreRead less
Surfacing urban wetlands in two urban renewal sites in Sydney. Urban wetlands in Australia provide benefits for climate change mitigation, pollution reduction, habitat provision and socioecological connection. However, in large cities like Sydney, urban wetlands are unseen because undergrounded, and, therefore not adequately understood. This illegibility, and loss of understanding by residents, planners and policy makers impedes wetlands' good management. This project surfaces wetlands through v ....Surfacing urban wetlands in two urban renewal sites in Sydney. Urban wetlands in Australia provide benefits for climate change mitigation, pollution reduction, habitat provision and socioecological connection. However, in large cities like Sydney, urban wetlands are unseen because undergrounded, and, therefore not adequately understood. This illegibility, and loss of understanding by residents, planners and policy makers impedes wetlands' good management. This project surfaces wetlands through visualisation in a multimodal knowledge platform focusing on two urban renewal sites, Green Square and Marrickville South. We leverage design ethnography to develop resources for strengthening multiple stakeholders’ socioecological engagement through methods empowering just, creative and open participation.Read moreRead less
Avatars and Identities. The avatar, a virtual representation of its user, is the key element of interface technology for everyday computer use in the twenty-first century. While specialist aspects of the avatar have received intensive attention from the technology industries and scholars, the focus of the work to date has been on the technical efficiency of the interface, rather than understanding the full social implications of its use. Through a historical, ethnographic and critical analysis o ....Avatars and Identities. The avatar, a virtual representation of its user, is the key element of interface technology for everyday computer use in the twenty-first century. While specialist aspects of the avatar have received intensive attention from the technology industries and scholars, the focus of the work to date has been on the technical efficiency of the interface, rather than understanding the full social implications of its use. Through a historical, ethnographic and critical analysis of the role of the avatar, in consultation with industry, this project offers a unique opportunity to develop a wider perspective that will contribute to an understanding of the uses and policies for the digital economy.Read moreRead less
Exploring Botanic Gardens Herbarium's value, via Environmental Aesthetics. . The project aims to aesthetically redefine engagement with the plant collection at Royal Botanic Gardens Herbarium (RBG) Sydney and to communicate its artistic, cultural and heritage value to the public through a Public Program of creative arts case studies. It's expected that new insights will arise from an environmental art methodology utilising the digitisation of the Herbarium specimens, so that audiences can intera ....Exploring Botanic Gardens Herbarium's value, via Environmental Aesthetics. . The project aims to aesthetically redefine engagement with the plant collection at Royal Botanic Gardens Herbarium (RBG) Sydney and to communicate its artistic, cultural and heritage value to the public through a Public Program of creative arts case studies. It's expected that new insights will arise from an environmental art methodology utilising the digitisation of the Herbarium specimens, so that audiences can interactively experience the plant archive through narratives that activate plants as underpinning ecosystems. Benefits to partners RBG, Bundanon Trust and Open Humanities Press will include the digital expansion of audience engagement with the Herbarium at RBG and Mt Annan and communication of collection’s significance.Read moreRead less
Veteran Culture and the Military Memoirs of the Revolutionary and Napoleonic Wars. This project contributes to an understanding not only of veteran culture in early nineteenth-century France and Europe, but also of the ways in which veterans across western cultures assimilate, process and reconstruct memories of war. This necessarily will lead to a better understanding of role story-telling in the construction of national histories. In addition to offering new insights that will inform scholarsh ....Veteran Culture and the Military Memoirs of the Revolutionary and Napoleonic Wars. This project contributes to an understanding not only of veteran culture in early nineteenth-century France and Europe, but also of the ways in which veterans across western cultures assimilate, process and reconstruct memories of war. This necessarily will lead to a better understanding of role story-telling in the construction of national histories. In addition to offering new insights that will inform scholarship and teaching in the field history, it will also redress a significant gap in the international literature. The findings of this study thus assist in establishing Australian historical scholarship at the forefront of international research initiatives in memory, auto-biography and memoir writing. 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
Curating Cities: the social and ecological potential of public art practice. This project researches the contribution of public art to eco-sustainable development, focusing on world’s best practice and potential benefits to Sydney and cities in general. It seeks to establish how the arts can promote environmentally beneficial behaviour change and the development of green infrastructure.
Genocide: Critical History of an Idea. Australians have been accused of genocide against Indigenous peoples. Australian troops are sent abroad to participate in humanitarian interventions based on the occurrence of genocide. Yet its meaning is bitterly contested. By explaining the origins of the genocide concept, how and why it has changed since its codification after World War II, as well as how it is used today, I will clarify knowledge of genocide's meanings in international law, politics and ....Genocide: Critical History of an Idea. Australians have been accused of genocide against Indigenous peoples. Australian troops are sent abroad to participate in humanitarian interventions based on the occurrence of genocide. Yet its meaning is bitterly contested. By explaining the origins of the genocide concept, how and why it has changed since its codification after World War II, as well as how it is used today, I will clarify knowledge of genocide's meanings in international law, politics and diplomacy. Australia's status and role in the international community is based in part on its stance against genocide. It is imperative, therefore, that its meanings are accurately understood.Read moreRead less