Arts Design & Architecture

Publication Search Results

Now showing 1 - 10 of 64
  • (2021) Senior, Caitlin
    Thesis
    Australia and Canada are similar countries regarding their history, economy, culture, and many social values. Their education systems, however, perform differently in international comparisons. In this study I compare educational equity in South Australia and Alberta during the first two decades of this century. This research uses qualitative data from semi-structured interviews with ten key high-level education system leaders and experts in South Australia and Alberta to explore how policies and reforms have addressed educational equity in these jurisdictions from 2000-2018. Three main findings of this study are: education policies and strategies in Alberta have facilitated equity more directly as part of educational improvement than in South Australia; collaborative professionalism has been a key driver of policy implementation in Alberta whereas South Australian policy implementation has relied more on compliance and competition between schools; and Albertan and South Australian policymakers have understood equity in education differently, especially how equity and excellence relate to one another.

  • (2020) Moncrieff, Abigail
    Thesis
    In a rich and growing field of writing around socially engaged curatorial projects, the role and impact of these projects in rural and regional Australian communities remains under-examined. Australian research on creative activity in general has been characterised as susceptible to an “urban bias”, in which scholarship is dominated by a focus on work taking place in metropolitan contexts. This reflects the international discourse on socially engaged practice since the 1990s, which has highlighted its relationship to new genre public art and its ability to engage with urgent social issues or conditions, with attention primarily paid to urban contexts and communities. Curating socially engaged projects in regional or rural Australia necessitates a different kind of engagement, which offers rich possibilities for curatorial research. In this project, I have applied a model of ‘conversational curating’ to the decisions and processes of curatorial practice-based research in a regional Australian context. Conversational curating characterises the engagement between artist and curator, along with a spectrum of potential relationships, that include a network of locally embedded creative agents, which is crucial to curating in regional locations. My case study of Cementa 17 has helped illuminate the conditions for curating in rural and regional Australian contexts and inform key understandings brought into the practice component of my research. The practice component of my research consisted of a residency and exhibition, titled Sentient, at Murray Art Museum Albury; this project was realised with the Sydney- based artist James Nguyen and local communities living along the Murray River in the twin border cities of Albury- Wodonga. This project concerned people’s personal accounts of origins and migration, intertwined with the environmental and social complexities of the Murray River’s usage over time. Research in the process of curating Sentient has explored duration as a key part of the conditions of making; this allows for a cumulative and dynamic engagement with place and communities—a specific requirement of rural and regional curating. My research uncovers some of the specific challenges and opportunities of working in rural and regional settings and demonstrates an effective curatorial approach that prioritises collaboration and relationship building through dialogue.

  • (2020) De Oliveira Yonamine, Mariana
    Thesis
    When faced with culturally anchored terms, subtitlers can render the translation closer to the foreign language and culture, adopting a strategy of foreignization, or closer to the domestic audience, thus adhering to a strategy of domestication (Venuti, 1995). This dissertation examined how strategies of translation used to render idioms (Gottlieb, 1997) in interlingual subtitles affect viewer’s processing (Ghia, 2012; Perego, 2010; Kruger & Doherty, 2016), focusing on the effects of domestication and foreignization on translation form recognition (Bisson, 2013; Perego et al., 2010), and also exploring translation meaning recognition, audiovisual content processing, and viewer’s self-reported viewing experience. The investigation method was an online survey, answered by 79 native speakers of Brazilian Portuguese based in Australia. During the 25-minute experiment, participants watched an 11-minute movie-clip with scenes extracted from the Australian movie The Dish, with subtitles embedded including idioms translated using domesticated and foreignized strategies. Domestication resulted in statistically significantly higher translation form recognition. No significant difference in translation meaning recognition was verified between both translation conditions. Participants stated usage of audiovisual content for language learning showed significant interaction with translation form and meaning recognition. Participants processed effectively the experiment’s audiovisual content, dense in idioms, scoring high in general comprehension, face–name association, scene recognition, subtitle recognition. The self-reported cognitive and evaluative response of participants signalled satisfaction with subtitles and low difficulty and effort to follow them. The findings expand the evidence-based knowledge in the audiovisual translation field on subtitle processing and the effects of translation strategies on the subtitles as a product. Based upon these findings, it is argued that the domestication of idioms could be used to promote targeted use of translation strategies to accelerate learning using subtitles (Pavesi & Perego, 2008; Ghia, 2012; Ragni, 2018), for purposes that could benefit from higher translation recognition, as language learning, didactic videos or informative material, as public health or community service campaigns. For other uses in which conveying meaning is deemed sufficient, as entertainment, the findings suggest that domestication or foreignization yield similar meaning recognition. The dissertation concludes by presenting the limitations of the experiment and avenues for future research.

  • (2020) D'Ascenzi, Eleonora
    Thesis
    The role of Italian architects has changed during the last ten years evolving from traditional architectural design work to small design-maintenance interventions. In addition to the recent European economic crisis, other factors have contributed to this transformation. The aim of this study is to evaluate these factors and their significant impact on the profession by providing an overview of both the practice of Italian architects over the last decade and the changes affecting the profession in recent times. This process has involved investigating the specific causes of this evolution and identifying the broader and contextual factors that have contributed to this situation. Various methods have been adopted to include architectural historiography, analysis of existing data and oral history interviews. The results showed that although the impact of the economic crisis has been critical, the transformation of the role of the Italian architects depends also on the geographical location, the educational background and the socio-cultural mindset. Further, this study revealed that the Italian situation evaluated against the European economic recession might be considered unique in particular because the role is still evolving. In-depth studies of the influence of geographical, cultural and social aspects over a wider time-frame may produce further insights into the profession. In addition, this research might be applied to other European countries in the common interest of a cross-cultural comparisons.

  • (2021) Hammad, Amber
    Thesis
    Contemporary Muslim feminist artists, such as Cigdem Aydemir, Sarah Maple and Shirin Neshat, tackle the representation and misrepresentation of Muslim women, within both patriarchal Muslim cultures and the Islamophobic Global North. As this thesis shows, such artists often use the veil to perform Muslim womanhood and their unveiled bodies to claim agency both in and outside of Islamic countries. This practice-led research MFA, developed by Amber Hammad, positions itself in the field of veiling and unveiling Muslim woman’s bodies, building on the work of the aforementioned artists. Drawing on Hammad’s experiences of living in Pakistan and Australia, it analyses the politics of performing Muslim womanhood from a feminist standpoint, utilising strategies of the performance lecture and video art in particular. In the video work The Nude Dupatta — A Performance Lecture (2021) Hammad draws on the work of Hito Steyerl on the politics of images and Andrea Fraser’s work on gendered institutional critique to galvanise her agency as a Muslim female artist. In particular, the work examines the female nude in Islamic art history. In Lower the Gaze: Manuscript Page from خاتون نامه Khatoon Nama #1 (2021) Hammad builds on Shahzia Sikander’s techniques of animation and appropriation and Sara Ahmed’s intersectional feminist theories to connect ideas of visibility and invisibility with the sounds of the Quranic phrase “lower your gaze.” Through these works Hammad expands understandings of Muslim female artists’ engagements with hypervisibility and the politics of veiling.

  • (2021) Xia, Jing
    Thesis
    This thesis examines Lu Xun’s last short story collection, Old Tales Retold, from the perspective of influence from the translations Lu Xun’s made from foreign languages on the composition and content of his own short stories and essay. Examples include Akutagawa Ryūnosuke’s “Rashōmon”; Nietzsche’s Thus Spoke Zarathustra, Kuriyagawa Hakuson’s literary theory, Symbols of Anguish; as well as Tsurumi Yūsuke’s cultural critique, Thought, Landscape and Characters. Chinese mythology, the works of Wang Chong, Sima Qian and Zhuangzi are also sources and materials Lu Xun draws on in Old Tales Retold. Inspired by literary techniques and ideas from these sources, Lu Xun creates a brand new style of modern story whose satire targets both antiquity and the present, serving his ultimate purpose of criticising of the Chinese national character. The first chapter is a detailed analysis of the first story “Mending Heaven”, focusing on techniques and images Lu Xun borrows from Akutagawa Ryūnosuke and Nietzsche, and an ongoing theme throughout the collection of failed communication. The second chapter interprets the stories, “The Flight to the Moon” and “Forging the Swords”, in terms of symbolism in Kuriyagawa Hakuson’s Symbols of Anguish. The two stories, based on Lu Xun’s own experience, reveals the writer’s anxiety over his family life and reflection on the spiritual revolution he personally engages in. An analysis of the remaining five stories is included in the last chapter, detailing Lu Xun’s criticism of certain characteristic traits of the Chinese intelligentsia and his covet criticism of China’s dictatorship in two political allegories, “Gathering Vetch” and “Curbing the Flood”. The cruelty inherent in wangdao 王道 (the Kingly Way) and the truth behind shanrang 禅让 (abdication in favour of the worthy) are the focal points of these two allegories respectively. In addition, Lu Xun’s endeavour to promote a language for the masses (dazhong yu 大众语) and put it into practise it in the last story “Resurrecting the Dead”, is also discussed. In conclusion, Old Tales Retold can be deemed as Lu Xun’s criticism of the Chinese national character in a story form. The epitomisation of characters of various social classes, briefly and ingeniously depicted through their conversations and actions in this collection, highlights positive characteristic traits of sincerity, faithfulness, rationality and sacrifice, as opposed to negative ones such as glibness, self-aggrandisement, withdrawal and vulgarity in the Chinese. Tsurumi Yūsuke’s view that liberalism must be based on individuality, contributes to Lu Xun’s unique perspective on reforming the national character through language as a significant pathway towards a liberal society.

  • (2022) Patterson, Kate
    Thesis
    3D computer generated biomedical animations can help audiences understand and contextualise scientific information that can be challenging to communicate due to resolution and complexity. Biomedical animators bring together multiple sources of authentic scientific data, to translate abstract information into a visual form through storytelling and visualisation. The field of biomedical animation has emerged from a long history of science visualisation and science-art endeavours, and despite there being rich discourse in the fields of data visualisation and science communication, the academic literature in the field of biomedical animation is limited, and focussed on the technical methods for visualisation, or the role these animations play in scientific research, rather than the processes through which they are created. However, as the field matures, there is a need for a deeper understanding of the creative process, and the field is now poised to expose and characterise these aspects, particularly from the perspective of the practitioner. This practice-based research project aims to expose and characterise both the visible and invisible factors that influence my personal process of creating a biomedical animation, and the tacit dimensions that influence orchestrated design choices. This research project employs a multi-method and reflective practice approach with disciplined capture and documentation of critical moments of self-reflection, that ultimately comprise the data for analysis. Thematic analysis was then used to analyse the data, and to identify themes that could contribute to frameworks that represent my personal process(es) in creating 3D biomedical animations. This has allowed me to identify and contextualise my creative process both in terms of my personal and professional position as well as within the field more broadly. I am now able to better advocate for the intangible and often undervalued aspects of my creative practice, and can articulate how a hierarchical decision matrix that considers multiple inputs contributes to my creative process. These insights will also be relevant to others in the field of biomedical animation and in the field of design more broadly, who may gain a deeper insight into their own processes of working and ways of exploring creative practice.

  • (2021) Gardner, Kristy
    Thesis
    This study takes a deliberate strengths-based approach to identify the sources of sexual health information accessed by Aboriginal young people from one community in Western Sydney, and the role of technology in their information seeking. The research design draws on Aboriginal Ways of Knowing, Being and Doing (Martin & Mirraboopa, 2003) to position Aboriginal young people’s knowledge and experiences as central to the research as participants, peer interviewers and ultimately peer researchers. The research methods were qualitative; peer-led interviews with 23 Aboriginal young people in Western Sydney were conducted. Peer interviewers were selected in consultation with members of a local Aboriginal community. Three male and five female interviewers were selected to ensure that cultural expectations were met regarding the need to discuss issues around sexual health with a person of the same gender. The findings showed that participants used the internet to access information about physical symptoms because searching for information online allowed privacy. Participants then approached trusted sources, including those with whom they had formal relationships (doctors, teachers, counsellors) and informal relationships (family members, friends), to check that the information participants found online was correct and trustworthy. In this context young people used the internet as a triaging tool. The participants were also aware that their formal sources of help and advice, such as teachers, might have to undertake mandatory reporting if certain subject matter were discussed, although the parameters around this obligation and their understanding of which particular professionals were required to do so were not always clear. The research findings therefore have important implications for how sexual health education programs for Aboriginal young people living in urban areas should be targeted.

  • (2020) Holliday, Stephen
    Thesis
    A vast range of redundant buildings have been converted to various forms of tourist accommodation for thousands of years and Sydney has excellent recent examples of this phenomenon. This study has sought to understand why adaptive reuse hotels have been more prevalent in Sydney city since the 1980s. Research of academic, industry, authority & property documents have contributed to the creation of customized Tourist Accommodation Registers for all current and most former tourist accommodation in the city, to allow analysis and comparison of both adaptive reuse and custom-built establishments across all types including hotels, pubs, serviced apartments and backpacker hostels. A study of the characteristics and history of tourism, adaptive reuse buildings, heritage and property sector dynamics related to Sydney city have provided context for this thesis and revealed trends and counter-cyclical patterns of hotel development in the city. The effects of heritage awareness, legislation and fluctuating property fortunes since the late 1970s, together with the inherent suitability and sustainability of hotels for conversion from a wide range of building types, have combined to make adaptive reuse hotels a significant feature of Sydney’s tourist accommodation scene. The faster delivery, relatively smaller scale and good triple bottom-line ESD credentials of adaptive reuse hotels compared with custom-built hotels have made them flexible, viable and attractive to owners and developers and more prevalent since the 1980s. Although large custom-built hotels still dominate room numbers in the city, the challenges of site consolidation for large developments, and changing tourist patterns including more free-independent travellers from China and other huge growth markets, should continue to enhance the attractiveness of boutique and authentic establishments, especially those converted from obsolete heritage buildings in prime tourist precincts. Due to their long history of hospitality, hotels are usually perceived to be more public than other commercial building types and consequently more politically palatable for conversion of government assets, which will continue to be the source of adaptive reuse opportunities.

  • (2020) Yan, Meng Yu
    Thesis
    My research concerns Queer Spectrality - a term that encapsulates the erasure and absence of queer people throughout history, culture, and society. Queer spectrality is derived from Jacques Derrida’s theory of hauntology first introduced in Spectres of Marx (1993). It looks at history through the figure of the ghost - an entity that challenges ontological notions of being and exists in a liminal space, traversing categorical distinctions. The ghost parallels the marginalisation experienced by queer people as well as the way queerness blurs rigid boundaries created by Western, colonial, patriarchal systems. Queer spectrality challenges the histories created by such systems and invites a reimagining of lost histories and voices in order to create alternative futures. Queer spectral disruptions challenge the perception that time is inherently “straight”, suggesting instead that it is non-linear, and multiple rather than fixed. Using experimental paranormal methodologies my practice is an attempt to resurrect one specific queer ghost whose trace I followed throughout Paris in 2019. Her name is Qiu Miaojin and she is a queer Taiwanese writer who lived in Paris during the early 90s. In 1995 Qiu committed suicide at the age of 26 leaving behind her final novel Last Words from Montmartre. The book is written as a series of letters and diary entries dated between April to June followed by her death on June 25th. During my residency in Paris at the Cité Internationale des Arts I recreated a response to Qiu Miaojin’s novel through temporal, geographic, psychical and embodied practices. In 2019 I was also 26 and the residency took place at the same time as Qiu’s novel between April to June. In Paris I retraced her steps, reading and embodying her novel on the exact dates she wrote them. From this intensive three-month immersive performance I created video diaries relating to each letter by Qiu; the footage is taken from the specific places she visited or themes she wrote about on each day. Through this work I have attempted to place myself in her shoes and to act as a human mirror. My project involves a process of becoming a medium who has opened themself up to being haunted, allowing Qiu’s words to come alive again through my physical embodiment. These works explore the intermingling of our lives, the cyclical nature of history, and synchronicity. It is an attempt to reach back through time and through death to make connections with queer kin.