"Invisibility, improbability, empty shoes and insistent communities: temporary public art strategies and cultural citizenship"

Lecture 1: Saturday 5 October; 9.00am – 12.30pm
Mildura Palimpsest #9 Symposium
Brian Grogan Theatre, La Trobe University, Benetook Avenue, Mildura, VIC, Australia

Lecture 2: Tuesday 8 October; 6.00pm
Lecture Series, Palimpsest at La Trobe
LUMA | La Trobe University Museum of Art; La Trobe Melbourne
State Library of Victoria, Melbourne, VIC, Australia

Abstract:
The presentation considers a number of temporary public art projects and strategies for community engagement and aesthetic activism, selected for what they might tell us about our way ahead. Looking ahead necessarily involves us in a dialogue with an historic process of which we are all, already a part. In exploring a burgeoning trend for participatory culture and political activism we will traverse 30 years and touch down in places as diverse Taksim Square in Istanbul; a watchtower in Treptow, Berlin; the gardens of Venice; bombed and burnt out ruins in Gdańsk, Poland; a storefront in Rogers Park on Chicago’s far north side; a housing estate in London’s Elephant and Castle district; a London battle of the bands; a claustrophobic basement in Sydney; community committees in France; and a wasp nest.
 

Slide show: