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
The role of recent international exhibitions in creating a new 'Asian Art'. The project will examine the reasons for the advent in the 1990s of many new international Biennales and Trienales in the Asia-Pacific region at Brisbane, Kwangju, Fukuoka, Shanghai, and Yokohama, alongside slightly older ones at Delhi and Sydney. It will investigate what role these played in the creation of a new 'Asian Art' by looking at the cycling of art works and artists between the domestic and international levels ....The role of recent international exhibitions in creating a new 'Asian Art'. The project will examine the reasons for the advent in the 1990s of many new international Biennales and Trienales in the Asia-Pacific region at Brisbane, Kwangju, Fukuoka, Shanghai, and Yokohama, alongside slightly older ones at Delhi and Sydney. It will investigate what role these played in the creation of a new 'Asian Art' by looking at the cycling of art works and artists between the domestic and international levels, between these new exhibition sites and older ones like Venice, São Paolo, and Kassel, and at the role of local, international and transnational curators as mediators in these processes.Read moreRead less
Explaining the Changing Roles of Collections, Curators and Exhibitions in the Production of Museum Images of the Pacific:1900-2000. This study advances the hypothesis, developed as the result of previous research, that museum representations of the Pacific between 1900-2000 were the result of the changing relationship between three factors: the construction of a particular cutural map of the region via the provenance attributed to collections, curatorial activities and exhbitions. It employs Edw ....Explaining the Changing Roles of Collections, Curators and Exhibitions in the Production of Museum Images of the Pacific:1900-2000. This study advances the hypothesis, developed as the result of previous research, that museum representations of the Pacific between 1900-2000 were the result of the changing relationship between three factors: the construction of a particular cutural map of the region via the provenance attributed to collections, curatorial activities and exhbitions. It employs Edward Said's post-colonial theory to explain the factors involved in the production of particular images and their transformation through the colonial and post-colonial periods. This is done in three case studies of two museum anthropology departments: The Australian Museum and the American Museum of Natural HistoryRead moreRead less