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
Art in conflict: transforming contemporary art at Australian War Memorial. This project aims to investigate conflicts and compromises arising within official schemes for commissioning Australian contemporary war art, in partnership with the Australian War Memorial (AWM). The AWM has built on its Official War Artist scheme to transform the commissioning of war art, engaging high profile contemporary artists to produce often challenging work. This project will focus on this important yet under-res ....Art in conflict: transforming contemporary art at Australian War Memorial. This project aims to investigate conflicts and compromises arising within official schemes for commissioning Australian contemporary war art, in partnership with the Australian War Memorial (AWM). The AWM has built on its Official War Artist scheme to transform the commissioning of war art, engaging high profile contemporary artists to produce often challenging work. This project will focus on this important yet under-researched national collection of art, placing it at the centre of current discussions around contemporary art and war. The project seeks to continue to transform the AWM’s curatorial approaches and build an enduring digital archive of analysis and interpretation.Read moreRead less
Aesthetic Education and Public Galleries. To study how galleries can enhance the quality of public engagement with the works of art on show. All galleries want to do this, but there is much uncertainty about how to understand 'quality of engagement' and about what galleries could and should do to enhance this. We shall provide conceptual analysis and a practical model for the provision of aesthetic education in public galleries. This will be a substantial contribution to a widely acknowledged p ....Aesthetic Education and Public Galleries. To study how galleries can enhance the quality of public engagement with the works of art on show. All galleries want to do this, but there is much uncertainty about how to understand 'quality of engagement' and about what galleries could and should do to enhance this. We shall provide conceptual analysis and a practical model for the provision of aesthetic education in public galleries. This will be a substantial contribution to a widely acknowledged problem. We hope to provide a workable model which can be used in gallery practice.Read moreRead less
Transforming rehearsal design using an interactive spatial aesthetic. The Project aims to investigate an interactive spatial aesthetic that facilitates modelling of operatic rehearsal design. It will do this through application of an experimental artistic system that reshapes concepts of spatial design through collaborative interaction between creative teams and digital systems. It demonstrates how creatives can immersively design a rehearsal in real time at up to 1:1 scale, assisted by an evolv ....Transforming rehearsal design using an interactive spatial aesthetic. The Project aims to investigate an interactive spatial aesthetic that facilitates modelling of operatic rehearsal design. It will do this through application of an experimental artistic system that reshapes concepts of spatial design through collaborative interaction between creative teams and digital systems. It demonstrates how creatives can immersively design a rehearsal in real time at up to 1:1 scale, assisted by an evolving database. It transforms our understanding of rehearsal design and the way it can be aesthetically explored, with outcomes that optimise and streamline design processes in the performing arts industry.Read moreRead less
Determining the age and origins of Indonesian and Indian trade textiles: multidisciplinary research in art history and conservation science. The National Gallery of Australia holds a world-renowned collection of Asian textiles and Australian art historians, conservators and curators are international leaders in the field of research, conservation and exhibition of Asian textiles. On this project they join forces to advance international understanding of the antiquity and identity of historical ....Determining the age and origins of Indonesian and Indian trade textiles: multidisciplinary research in art history and conservation science. The National Gallery of Australia holds a world-renowned collection of Asian textiles and Australian art historians, conservators and curators are international leaders in the field of research, conservation and exhibition of Asian textiles. On this project they join forces to advance international understanding of the antiquity and identity of historical production centres in India and Indonesia through selected carbon dating and physical analysis of key textile types from museum collections and the field. The results will assist in the reliable, inexpensive and non-intrusive guidelines for other collecting institutions to assess the age and origins of textiles in their care.Read moreRead less
The twentieth century in paint. The art market is a major contributor to the Australian economy worth over $500M per annum. However many modern works created with new materials introduced in the 20th century in Australia and Southeast Asia exhibit problems with deterioration, and there is little research on the use and effects of these materials. Without answers to material based preservation questions collectors, curators and conservators cannot make informed decisions. This project, with partn ....The twentieth century in paint. The art market is a major contributor to the Australian economy worth over $500M per annum. However many modern works created with new materials introduced in the 20th century in Australia and Southeast Asia exhibit problems with deterioration, and there is little research on the use and effects of these materials. Without answers to material based preservation questions collectors, curators and conservators cannot make informed decisions. This project, with partners in Australia, Asia, US and UK will provide fundamental information to assist in formulating management strategies, inform curatorship and develop innovative approaches to conservation and the manufacture of art materials.Read moreRead less
Dialogue with difficult objects: Mediating controversy in museums. This project aims to support proactive engagement with controversial objects in Australian museums. With the Eureka Flag as a case study, new tools for community dialogue and engagement will be developed using innovative methods for voicing and mediating difference. Expected outcomes include new strategies for developing museum exhibitions, publications, and educational resources, as platforms for diversity and tolerance. The pro ....Dialogue with difficult objects: Mediating controversy in museums. This project aims to support proactive engagement with controversial objects in Australian museums. With the Eureka Flag as a case study, new tools for community dialogue and engagement will be developed using innovative methods for voicing and mediating difference. Expected outcomes include new strategies for developing museum exhibitions, publications, and educational resources, as platforms for diversity and tolerance. The project aims to provide significant civic benefits by developing a transferable framework equipping museums to counter social fragmentation with respectful debate and inclusive engagement.Read moreRead less
Australian art exhibitions 1968-2009: a generation of cultural transformation. The years 1968 to 2009 witnessed a transformation in the way Australians saw the art of their country. This project investigates the impact of increased funding (government and private) and new scholarship on the curating of art exhibitions, and traces the reconfiguration of Australia’s art history that took place in exhibitions during this period.
memorySCAPE: the commemoration of war using a database narrative framework. This project aims to develop an innovative interactive war archive using an intelligent database narrative framework. The framework will be experimentally applied to transform the display of the Australian War Memorial’s Afghanistan collection. It aims to demonstrate how users can interactively organise, explore and interconnect a digital material related to the experiences of defence force personnel. The project is expe ....memorySCAPE: the commemoration of war using a database narrative framework. This project aims to develop an innovative interactive war archive using an intelligent database narrative framework. The framework will be experimentally applied to transform the display of the Australian War Memorial’s Afghanistan collection. It aims to demonstrate how users can interactively organise, explore and interconnect a digital material related to the experiences of defence force personnel. The project is expected to furnish the Australian War Memorial with a comprehensive legacy system for managing intelligent collections that can efficiently analyse, catalogue and deploy its Afghanistan material. It is also expected to reformulate commemoration as a dynamic dialogue between visitors and memorial archives. Read moreRead less
Facing new worlds: comparative histories of Australasia and North America. This project aims to develop comparative research into Indigenous and settler experiences in Australasia and North America in order to discover new connections or distinctions between the two regions for both public and academic audiences. The project will centre on a major exhibition with a focus on biography and life representation and will develop new methodologies for examining the shared or different histories of com ....Facing new worlds: comparative histories of Australasia and North America. This project aims to develop comparative research into Indigenous and settler experiences in Australasia and North America in order to discover new connections or distinctions between the two regions for both public and academic audiences. The project will centre on a major exhibition with a focus on biography and life representation and will develop new methodologies for examining the shared or different histories of complex indigenous-settler relations across "New World" sites. The expected outcomes of this project are to promote a deeper appreciation of Australia’s place in a Pacific world with as yet unexplored links to the Americas, and also to model new ways for art history and socio-cultural history to come together to explicate a shared, complicated past.Read moreRead less