Public interactions: Dialogues on art and public space

Date & time

Wed 20 Jul 2011, 6pm – Sat 23 Jul 2011, 4.30pm

Location

ANU School of Art

Zoe Walker and Neil Bromwich, Love Cannon Parade 2005

Registrations now open!

The Australian National University School of Art presents Public interactions: Dialogues on art and public space, an international symposium to be held in Canberra from the 20th to the 23rd of July 2011.

International and local artists, architects, designers and public intellectuals will converge to explore the role of art in the public spaces of the contemporary community. Diverse practices will be revealed across digital, relational, guerrilla, ephemeral, heritage, commemorative and architectural spaces. Participants will discover Canberra’s vibrant public art scene, as well as glimpsing the failed dreams of those projects that might have been.

Canberra, Australia’s capital, was planned at a time when faith in the role of art and design in perfecting inhabited space was at its zenith. A remnant of this faith survives today and is visible in the ever-proliferating series of memorials, sculptures and designed environments scattered throughout the city’s official, mercantile and suburban spaces. Despite partisan coverage in the local press, there has been very little complex or sustained debate on the value of public art, or indeed what might be understood by the term.

This symposium will engage with what it might mean to locate art within public spaces. It will address ephemeral projects and guerrilla activities in the interstices of inhabited spaces alongside commissioned public works and official commemorative precincts.

Themes for the symposium include:

the role of new media and the digital on public projects;
guerrilla and ephemeral works and the politics of public space;
public art, commemoration and heritage spaces;
communities and public artmaking

Keynote speakers:

Andrew Shoben, co-founder of Greyworld, UK
Robyn Archer, Creative Director of the Centenary of Canberra
David Headon, historian and advisor to the Centenary of Canberra, Australia

Speakers:

Louise Tegart, Head of Special Projects and Exhibitions, Historic Houses Trust of NSW;
Clouston and Boyd, artists, Australia; David Cross, artist, director, Litmus Research
Initiative and co-convenor of One day Sculpture, New Zealand; Mini Graff, artist,
Australia; Rosemary Hollow, academic, Australia; Jonathan Jones, artist, Australia;
Kamin Lertchaiprasert, artist and co-founder of the Land Project, Thailand; Marco
Marcon, Director, IASKA, Australia; Scott McQuire, academic and writer, Australia; Alwin
Reamillo, artist, Phillipines and Australia; Peter Stanley, military historian and author,
Australia; Jennifer Turpin, artist, Australia; Zoe Walker and Neil Bromwich, artists, UK;
Ardi Yunanto, writer and curator, Indonesia

PROGRAM

Wednesday 20 July

6pm - 8pm Registration - ANU School of Art Gallery

Thursday 21 July
School of Art lecture theatre
Session 1: Border raids and ephemeral strategies: guerilla activities and temporary public projects
8.30am-9.00am Registration (continued)
9.00am-9.30am Welcome
9.30am-10.30am Keynote Andrew Shoben

10.30am-11.00am Morning tea

11.00am-11.30am Presentation 1 Mini Graff
11.30am-12.00pm Presentation 2 David Cross
12.00pm-12.30pm Presentation 3 Alison Clouston and Boyd
12.30pm-1.00pm Questions

1.00pm-2.00pm Lunch
Session 2: Reciprocal exchanges: Relational and community projects
2.00pm-2.30pm Presentation 1 Kamin Lertchaiprasert
2.30pm-3.00pm Presentation 2 Marco Marcon
3.00pm-3.30pm Presentation 3 Zoe Walker & Neil Bromwich 1
3.30pm-4.00pm Questions

4.00pm-6.00pm Tour of New Acton - Pamille Berg

6.00pm-7.30pm Pre-Show video artworks by Christopher Fulham ARC cinema

Friday 22 July
School of Art lecture theatre
Session 1: Intercultural exchanges and the politics of community
9.30am-10.30am Keynote Robyn Archer

10.30am-11.00am Morning tea

11.00am-11.30am Presentation 1 Ardi Yunanto
11.30am-12.00pm Presentation 2 Alwin Reamillo
12.00pm-12.30pm Presentation 3 Jonathan Jones
12.30pm-1.00pm Questions

1.00pm-2.00pm Lunch
Session 2: Media, Digital Technologies and public space
2.00pm-2.30pm Presentation 1 Walker and Bromwich 2
2.30pm-3.00pm Presentation 2 Scott McQuire
3.30pm-4.00pm Questions

Saturday 23 July
School of Art lecture theatre
Session 1: Heritage Sites and Commemoration
9.30am – 10.30am Keynote David Headon

10.30am – 11.00am Morning tea

11.00am-11.30pm Presentation 1 Louise Tegart
11.30pm-12.00pm Presentation 2 Rosemary Hollow
12.00pm-12.30pm Presentation 3 Peter Stanley
12.30 – 1.00pm Presentation 4 Jennifer Turpin
1.00pm-1.30pm Questions

1.30pm-2.00pm Lunch

2.00pm-4.30pm Tour