Edited Collections by Simon Dwyer
Rowan Moore, in his work Why We Build: Power and Desire in Architecture, notes that “most people ... more Rowan Moore, in his work Why We Build: Power and Desire in Architecture, notes that “most people know that buildings are not purely functional, that there is an intangible something about them that has to do with emotion” (16). Emotion is critical to why and how we build. Indeed, there is a basic human desire to build—to leave a mark on the landscape or on our society. This issue of M/C Journal unpacks this idea of emotion, examining the functional and the creative in the design process, for a range of building projects, from the tangible: building transport infrastructure, exhibition centre, or a new-style museum; to those building projects that are more difficult to define: building an artwork, a community, or a reputation. In addition, this issue looks at how we also ‘unbuild’ the world around us. In the feature article Aleks Wansbrough critically takes up ideas of ‘build’ and ‘unbuild’ through an examination of how the role that the death of Man, which follows the death of God, has had on the idea of creation, and how Man is unbuilt in three works by three different artists: Francis Bacon’s “Study of a Baboon” (1953), Jan Švankmajer’s Darkness, Light, Darkness (1989) and Patricia Piccinini’s “The Young Family” (2002).
In the first article, Ella Mudie also looks at ‘unbuild’. This is achieved with a review of how the Sydney Metro—a major transport infrastructure project—requires demolition work that will inevitably result in a reconfiguration of the character of Sydney’s inner city and the suburbs it intersects. Mudie questions unbuilding and rebuilding, drawing on literary texts in which demolition and infrastructure development are key preoccupations. In the second article on construction and destruction, Sarah Morley, looks at one of Sydney’s earliest iconic buildings. The Garden Palace—a purpose built facility designed to house the Colony’s first International Exhibition in 1879—was a famous, and favourite, building of New South Wales, prior to its destruction by fire in 1882. Morley explores the loss of the building and its contents; which included many Australian Aboriginal objects and ancestral remains.
Simon Dwyer looks at building a story with light. Drawing upon a range of historical documents, this article investigates how world-renowned architect Jørn Utzon envisaged the use of natural and artificial light. In this way, he showed how light could contribute to the final build of the Sydney Opera House, through giving additional expression to the traditional building elements that he had carefully selected. Nadine Kozak highlights much smaller structures in her qualitative analysis of comments made by stewards about their Little Free Libraries. This, increasingly popular, movement offers opportunities for reading and to build community networks as people come together to build, maintain and stock Little Free Libraries. Kozak’s work also acknowledges some of the resistance to this movement and how communities are strengthened in their efforts to protect what they have built.
The earliest detectives were forced to overcome significant resistance from a suspicious public. Rachel Franks investigates the efforts of Charles Dickens to change the perception of policing. Focusing on letters written about capital punishment and articles aimed at promoting the role of the detective, Franks unpacks how one of the great novelists of the Victorian age also assisted in building the reputation of a fledging detective branch. Moving forward in time, Hazel Ferguson also interrogates ideas of reputation. This work looks at the activities of early career researchers on social media which is increasingly being used to build communities around mutual support and professional development. Ferguson’s analysis, of the #ECRchat group on Twitter, aims to contribute to emerging discussions about academic labour and online reputation.
In noting how the babble of a crowd can indicate the presence of others constructing ephemeral emergent communities where the voice of an individual is often lost, Rebecca Collins, identifies how sound informs our experience of space. In this article, she discusses the potential of sound to construct fictional spaces, build individual identities and evoke the presence of a crowd in relation to two artistic installations. Ben Egliston takes on another type of creative output with videogames. Egliston’s work considers how players build ingame competencies by engaging with media beyond the game itself; such as walkthrough guides or YouTube videos. This article provides a re-framing of the relationship between gameplay (and the development of competency) and the elements of games existing beyond the screen. Creativity is also central to George Jaramillo’s article which focuses on the relationship between Ionad Hiort and the Glasgow School of Art’s Institute of Design Innovation as a case study for understanding how design innovation can engender and build community capabilities. This work studies the development of a new type of heritage centre on the western coast of the Isle of Lewis in Scotland and the idea of a “place of interpretation” as an alternative to the “visitor centre”, to go “beyond the museum”.
We bookend this issue with another piece on building infrastructure in the city of Sydney. Nicholas Richardson interrogates the New South Wales Government’s ‘making it happen’ campaign. This research explores whether the current build-at-any-cost mentality behind ‘making it happen’ is in either the long-term interest of the New South Wales constituency or the short-term interest of a political party.
To build is to embark on a multi-disciplinary and multi-faceted project. These articles demonstrate the wide-ranging potential of exploring how different interpretations of, and ways to, build impacts our cultural, emotional, intellectual, private, and public lives.
Acknowledgements
Our sincere thanks to our enthusiastic contributors, to those who gave their expertise and time in the blind peer review process, and to Axel Bruns.
Reference
Moore, Rowan. Why We Build: Power and Desire in Architecture. New York: HarperCollins, 2013.
Bookmarks Related papers MentionsView impact
This Special Issue of TEXT presents writing at the betwixt and between: in a space that is an int... more This Special Issue of TEXT presents writing at the betwixt and between: in a space that is an intimate act between a writer and their practice and is simultaneously the result of a shared space – a creative discussion between editors and fellow contributors. In April 2015, a diverse group of scholars – from those embarking on their research careers to very experienced academics, representing a range of disciplines and from many different countries including Australia, Canada, England, Fiji, Georgia, India, New Zealand, South Africa and the United States of America – met over three days for the inaugural conference of the Institute of Interdisciplinary Inquiry held at the State Library of New South Wales, Sydney, Australia. The main objective of the conference, and the overall mission of the Institute, was to promote multi-, inter- and transdisciplinary research as part of a broader effort to connect different experiences, research fields and spheres of knowledge. This Special Issue looks at how the objectives of the conference were achieved through explorations of different types of storytelling.
The theme of the 2015 conference – ‘Re-visioning Space(s), Time and Bodies’ – allowed for these three elements to unfold in a way which encouraged deep exploration of the individual elements as well as how these relate to, and interact with, each other. Moreover, the conference sought to challenge some of the dominant ways of understanding space, time and bodies: categories that we each experience every day but that can impact upon us in quite different ways. This goal of challenging pervasive narratives was achieved through papers that facilitated explorations of the changing dimensions of time and movement, human/post/trans and/or non-humans, contested flows, ‘webs’ and networks as well as the connections between these concepts. Of particular note is how the papers pushed mainstream approaches, ideas and topics to the peripheries of traditional academic research practices – but all through the exploration of various forms of creative practice. This ensured that even the familiar was made new. The inspiring, though often underestimated, notion of interdisciplinarity and the multiple shades this concept assumes in different practices – and in the world around us – created a perfect milieu for a stimulating exchange of ideas and points of view. Such points of view are critical, as observed by Harvey Graff, who has noted:
In my view, interdisciplinarity is defined and constructed by questions and problems of theory or practice, knowledge or conditions of living, and the means developed to answer those questions in new and different ways. Interdisciplines are fashioned from elements of different disciplines to form distinct approaches, understandings, or contexts. Interdisciplines are themselves historical constructs (2015: 5).
This Special Issue represents a selection of the research papers presented at the conference, all of which have been considerably expanded for publication, and that offer an exciting journey around the three key issues that influence our everyday lives: space, time and the body. Each article simultaneously serves to unpack some of the processes that can support interdisciplinary research in these areas and works to extend some of the conversations that were started at the conference. These conversations can be seen in the way that many of the articles deliberately reference the work of contributions to this Special Issue. Ulrike Sturm’s reflective visualisations add another dimension to the Special Issue; demonstrating interdisciplinarity as a visually creative, as well as textually creative, pursuit. Readers will discover many more such overlaps and linkages through the articles, with each seeking to offer clear connections to other contributions within the Special Issue and enhance this idea of this issue as a narrative dialogue. The primary purpose of this collection is to provide an overview of the potential of interdisciplinary research: in this way, we hope it will serve as a useful resource for those who wish to explore a variety of examples reflecting current interdisciplinary practice.
Bookmarks Related papers MentionsView impact
With(out) Trace: Inter-Disciplinary Investigations into Time, Space and the Body, unpacks many of... more With(out) Trace: Inter-Disciplinary Investigations into Time, Space and the Body, unpacks many of the issues that surround the idea of trace: what we intentionally, an unintentionally, leave behind as well as how trace can help us to move forward. In particular this volume looks at how interdisciplinarity can suggest new ways of seeing and, subsequently, exploring interconnections between time, space and the body.
Bookmarks Related papers MentionsView impact
To re-imagine can, at one extreme, be a casual thought (what if I moved all the furniture in the ... more To re-imagine can, at one extreme, be a casual thought (what if I moved all the furniture in the living room?) and, at the other, re-imagining can be a complex process (what if I adapt a classic text into a major film?).
There is a long history of working with the ideas of others and of re-working our own ideas. Of taking a concept and re-imagining it into something that is similar to the original and yet offers something new. Such re-imaginations are all around us; from the various interpretations of the Sherlock Holmes stories to the adjustments made, often over generations, to family recipes.
Some of these efforts are the result of a creative drive to experiment and push boundaries, some efforts are inspired by changes in society or technology, yet others will be born of a sense of 'this can be done better' or 'done differently'.
Essentially, to re-imagine is to ask questions, to interrogate that which is often taken for granted.
This issue of M/C Journal seeks to explore the 'why' and the 'how' of re-imagining both the everyday and the extraordinary. In a reflection of the scale and scope of the potential to re-imagine all that is around us, this issue is particularly diverse. The contributions offer explorations into varied disciplines, use a range of methodological lenses, and deploy different writing styles.
To this end we present a range of articles—some of which contain quite challenging content—that cover copyright, crime fiction, the stage, the literary brand and film, horror and children’s film, television, military-inspired fashion, and a piece that focuses on events leading up to September 11, 2001. We then present three, quite different, works that explore various aspects of Australian Indigenous culture and history.
We begin with our feature article: “‘They’re creepy and they’re kooky’ and They’re Copyrighted: How Copyright Is Used to Dampen the (Re-)Imagination”. In this work Steve Collins explores important issues of copyright in the re-imagining and re-purposing of content. In particular, this article unpacks—using examples from the United States—how copyright legislation can restrict the activities of creative practitioners, across varied fields, and so adds to the debate on copyright reform.
In our lead article “The Re-imagining Inherent in Crime Fiction Translation”, by Alistair Rolls, ideas of re-imagination, language, and the world’s most popular genre—crime fiction—are critically appraised. Rolls looks at a suite of issues around imagining original and re-imagining, through translation, crime fiction texts. These two forms of creativity are essential to the genre's development for, as Rolls notes, this type of fiction was born, “simultaneously in France and America but also in the translation zone between the two.”
Amy Antonio re-imagines the femme fatale. Antonio acknowledges the centrality of the femme fatale to the noir tradition and re-imagines this iconic figure by positioning her on the Renaissance stage, explaining how the historical factors that precipitated the emergence of the noir femme fatale in the years following World War II, similarly existed in the sixteenth century and, as a result, the femme fatale can be re-imagined in a series of Elizabethan and Jacobean plays.
The articles in this issue turn from fiction, to theatre, and then to film with Leonie Rutherford embarking on a “Re-imagining the Brand” exercise. Through two, very informative, case studies—Adventures of Tin Tin and Silver, Return to Treasure Island—Rutherford engages with issues of re-imagining classic literary texts as big-screen blockbusters. This article addresses some of the complexities associated with the updating “of classic texts [that] require interpretation and the negotiation of subtle changes in values that have occurred since the creation of the ‘original’.”
Erin Hawley also looks at film, through a lens of horror, in “Re-imagining the Horror Genre in Children’s Animated Film”. Hawley explores how animated films have always been an ambiguous space “in terms of age, pleasure, and viewership.” Hawley goes on to challenge common assumptions that “animation itself is often a signifier of safety, fun, nostalgia, and childishness; it is a means of addressing families and young audiences” and outlines how animation complements horror where, “the fantastic and transformative aspects of animation can be powerful tools for telling stories that are dark, surprising, or somehow subversive.”
Issues of the small screen, and social media, are reviewed by Karin van Es, Daniela van Geenen, and Thomas Boeschoten in their work of “Re-imagining Television Audience Research on Twitter”. In particular, this work highlights issues with how audience research is undertaken and argues for new ways forward that adapt to the changing viewing landscape: one that features social media as an increasingly important tool for people to engage with more traditional types of entertainment.
Fashion, too, features within this special issue with the work Emerald L. King and Denise N. Rall, “Re-imagining the Imperial Kingdom through Japanese Schoolboy Uniforms”. King and Rall present their research into the significant re-imagining of Japanese cultural and national identities, which are explored in this work through the cataclysmic impact of Western ideologies on Japanese cultural traditions.
The idea of re-imagining is challenged by Meg Stalcup through her article “What If? Re-imagined Scenarios and the Re-virtualisation of History” which looks at several events that took place in the lead up to September 11, 2001. Several of the men who would become 9/11 hijackers were stopped for minor traffic violations. Police officers in the United States replayed these incidents of contact, yet their questioning “what if?” asked not only if those moments could have revealed the plot of that traumatic day, but also places alternate scenarios into play.
John C. Ryan, Danielle Brady, and Christopher Kueh guide us through a geographical re-imagining of one of Australia’s capital cities in “Where Fanny Balbuk Walked: Re-imagining Perth’s Wetlands through Digital Modelling”. This re-imagining of a major city’s natural environment calls “attention to past indiscretions while invigorating future possibilities.” Moreover, this work highlights the value of re-imagining a city anew as well as re-imagining the original after a process of considerable change.
Rachel Franks traces the history of an effort to communicate the concept of equality under the law, to the Indigenous peoples of Van Diemen’s Land (Tasmania), in “A True Crime Tale: Re-imagining Governor Arthur’s Proclamation Board for the Tasmanian Aborigines”. This article provides an overview of some of the various re-imaginings of this Board—including the re-imagining of the Board’s history—and also offers a new re-imagination of this curious, colonial object; positing that the Board serves as an early “pamphlet” on justice and punishment.
Brooke Collins-Gearing, Vivien Cadungog, Sophie Camilleri, Erin Comensoli, Elissa Duncan, Leitesha Green, Adam Phillips, and Rebecca Stone take a very different, and rather creative, approach to re-imagining with “Listenin’ Up: Re-Imagining Ourselves through Stories of and from Country” a work that explores Western discourses of education; and looks at ways to engage with Aboriginal knowledge through the pedagogical and personal act of listening. These authors attempt to re-imagine “the institutionalised space of our classroom through a dialogic pedagogy.”
These articles are, necessarily, brief. Yet, each work does provide insight into various aspects of the re-imagining process while offering new perspectives on how re-imagining takes place—in material culture, learning practices, or in all important media re-interpretations of the world around us.
We extend our thanks to our contributors. We thank, too, all those who engaged in the blind peer review process. We sincerely appreciate the efforts of those who offered their expertise and their time as well as offering valuable comments on a wide range of contributions.
Rachel Franks, Simon Dwyer, and Denise N. Rall
Editors
Bookmarks Related papers MentionsView impact
Book Chapters by Simon Dwyer
Crime is universal. So too, is crime fiction. Dame Edith Ngaio Marsh, better known as Ngaio Marsh... more Crime is universal. So too, is crime fiction. Dame Edith Ngaio Marsh, better known as Ngaio Marsh, was one of New Zealand’s most ardent activists for the performing arts as well as one of the country’s most enduring contributors to the crime fiction genre. Indeed, Marsh is widely regarded as one of the four original Queens of Crime, her oeuvre of 32 novels and several short stories sitting comfortably alongside works of Agatha Christie, Dorothy L Sayers and Margery Allingham. Marsh’s ambitions to entertain, both on the stage and on the page, are best realised through her murder mystery novels based upon the world of the theatre and the people who occupy that world. This paper examines the last of these novels, Light Thickens (1982) featuring Roderick Alleyn, investigating murder against the backdrop of a production of William Shakespeare’s Macbeth, or ‘the Scottish play’, which was written in the early 1600s. In particular this paper will demonstrate the universal appeal of murder mysteries, regardless of audiences being in England or Scotland or on the other side of the world in New Zealand (here and there) as well as the timelessness of such stories that have proved their popularity, over and over again, from ancient times through to the 17th century and today. Why is it that these tales of murder, a crime for which there is no reasonable restitution, continue to beguile and intrigue us? Moreover, what is it that compels some of us to engage with stories with such predictable endings? General Macbeth will take the life of King Duncan, similarly, Roderick Alleyn will identify and apprehend the killer. Yet Shakespeare’s greatest tragedy continues to be performed and Marsh’s works are regularly republished reinforcing the readiness with which we engage and re-engage (again) with crime and with crime fiction.
Bookmarks Related papers MentionsView impact
This article responds to the question posited by the editors of this compendium – what does perfo... more This article responds to the question posited by the editors of this compendium – what does performance philosophy look like? With a focus on illumination within a performance environment the article examines several areas of investigation that contribute to answering the editor's question.
Bookmarks Related papers MentionsView impact
The seminal work Empty Space (1968) by English theatre director and researcher Peter Brook, exami... more The seminal work Empty Space (1968) by English theatre director and researcher Peter Brook, examines the notion of the theatre through a lens that posits the idea that any space, with an actor and an audience, results in a theatrical engagement. This chapter will examine this position, with particular focus on light and lighting. There is a well-known theatrical adage that if you cannot see an actor then you cannot hear them. In this way Brook's thesis of theatrical engagement – that is connected to space and the bodies within that space – is, technically, divorced from lighting. Yet, if you cannot see an actor and, in turn, cannot hear them, is there a genuine theatrical engagement? This chapter argues that the illumination of a space is a prerequisite for such theatrical engagements, or transactions, that while space is an assumed quality in a theatre it is light that realises the space: thus making the stage, and the actors who adorn
Bookmarks Related papers MentionsView impact
The Sydney Opera House has achieved fame, not only for its spectacular location and harbour side ... more The Sydney Opera House has achieved fame, not only for its spectacular location and harbour side setting but also for its architectural form. The building dominates Bennelong Point, a heavy granite base supporting lightweight shells that appear to soar, effortlessly, between the sky above and water below. This icon of the built environment – perfectly balanced between earth and sky is one of the world’s busiest performing arts centres. This chapter will explore an under-examined visual aspect of the performances held at the Sydney Opera House: Jørn Utzon’s utilisation of both natural and artificial illumination to reinforce the architectural form and to also shape audience perceptions of the building that surrounds the performance spaces. This examination of lighting will unpack the link between how Utzon envisaged the interpretation of the physical structure and how this complex set of venues (with spaces seating from around 400 to 2,500 people) would be in concert with the ‘world of the play’. Thus, as will be argued, the lighting of the building’s exteriors and interiors form an extension of the stage lighting for individual productions presented within the building. Indeed, the lighting of performances, it will be asserted, is enhanced through the ability of the lighting of the structure to directly contribute to the idea of the stage and the more traditional theatrical lighting designs deployed to illuminate presentations from ballet to opera to theatre.
Bookmarks Related papers MentionsView impact
The Sydney Opera House, one of the world's most recognisable buildings, is situated on Bennelong ... more The Sydney Opera House, one of the world's most recognisable buildings, is situated on Bennelong Point: located at the northern end of the commercial district of Sydney, Australia's biggest city. This space, jutting out onto the harbour, is dominated by the physical structure of the building's exterior which consists predominantly of a heavy granite base and the, seemingly, lightweight soaring shells. There is, however, another aspect to space on this site that is rarely considered: that generated by the illumination of both the delineated physical spaces and the spaces that are 'created' by the various lighting designs deployed across the built structure and the areas that surround it. This chapter will utilise Jørn Utzon's 'Descriptive Narrative' – written to capture the conception of the building as the architect viewed it in his mind – as a
Bookmarks Related papers MentionsView impact
Conference Proceedings by Simon Dwyer
The Sydney Opera House is an internationally recognised icon of Sydney. As a piece of modernist a... more The Sydney Opera House is an internationally recognised icon of Sydney. As a piece of modernist architecture, performing arts centre and tourist destination, the structure on Bennelong Point is regularly examined and rarely left in the dark. This paper briefly examines two architects, from opposite sides of the globe, and an unusual pair of lighting designers from competing companies who all worked in partnership to realise a lighting design for this famous building. Together, these four men gave shape to a structure, redefined the night skyline, and provided an experience of the theatre that was uniquely Sydney. Through brief biographies of the well- known architects Jørn Utzon (1918–2008) and Peter Hall (1925–1995) as well as the lesser-known lighting designers Fred Drijver (n.d.–) and John Waldram (1903–1990), this research demonstrates how these professionals, from radically different backgrounds and cultural settings, delivered a cohesive and elegant design to illuminate the Sydney Opera House.
Bookmarks Related papers MentionsView impact
Some of the earliest connections between the citizens of Sydney and their opera house were made t... more Some of the earliest connections between the citizens of Sydney and their opera house were made through the flood of letters to the editors of Sydney’s daily newspapers in the days following the announcement of Jørn Utzon’s winning design for one of the most sought-after architectural prizes of the decade. This research unpacks the connections between people and newspapers and looks at how the unconventional modernist design proposed for Bennelong Point variously, set Sydney apart or made it the butt of jokes, promoted modernity or absurdity, represented a canny political move or presented as a foolhardy folly. These letters, by ordinary Australians to mass media publications, provide an early biography of the structure that is now a globally recognised symbol for Sydney.
Bookmarks Related papers MentionsView impact
Theatre practices are increasingly being based in a digital environment. With the advent of the I... more Theatre practices are increasingly being based in a digital environment. With the advent of the Internet and ever more powerful laptop computers, tablets and other mobile devices digital technologies are rapidly replacing copious hard-copy binders of production information, faxes and parcels of couriered materials. This article examines the theoretical possibility of creating a suite of theatrical documentation in a digital format using accessible 'off-the-shelf' software. This tests the thesis that, despite an increasing reliance on digital technologies, a completely digital production process for three production departments (lighting, sound and stage management) is not yet possible. The article examines software suites to provide examples of products that are available as well as highlighting the current gaps in the market to encourage further research and development in this growing area.
Bookmarks Related papers MentionsView impact
The story of the construction of the Sydney Opera House is well told though numerous scholarly ou... more The story of the construction of the Sydney Opera House is well told though numerous scholarly outputs ranging from monographs about specific building elements to critiques of the architectural form and function. This article explores how the stories of those who inhabit the various spaces within the Sydney Opera House have become supplementary and are often overlooked in the narrative of what is Australia's most famous building. In particular, this article seeks to highlight some of the stories of this unique performing arts complex utilising the lens of those who ensure the building functions – administrators, technicians and tradespeople – in this way offering a biography of a building that does not adopt the traditional point of view of the architect, the performer and the politician. The biography thus explores the backstage stories of the Sydney Opera House rather than those stories that made front-page news.
Bookmarks Related papers MentionsView impact
Lighting is one of the most ephemeral elements in a theatre production. Lighting is cued, illumin... more Lighting is one of the most ephemeral elements in a theatre production. Lighting is cued, illuminates objects in space and is gone. This temporal aspect is reinforced throughout the design process – costumes are sketched and swatches acquired, actor’s movements and lines are recorded, sets are detailed and constructed, yet the physicality of lighting is illusive. The lighting designer’s primary artefact articulating their intentions is a lighting plan, yet this document is often already constructed in a standardised form by the performance venue. This paper examines the lighting design for Twelve Angry Men presented at the Zenith Theatre, Sydney and the impact of a ‘standard rig’ on the process for realising the illumination of this production. The lighting designer’s experience will be used as a platform to evaluate the functions of a standard rig in contemporary community theatre practice. The paper briefly discusses, through a practice led research project, the intersection of the creative praxis of the lighting designer and the standards many venues impose upon the realisation of the illumination of any given production.
Bookmarks Related papers MentionsView impact
Ngaio Marsh is recognised as one of the original Queens of Crime: her works sit alongside the gre... more Ngaio Marsh is recognised as one of the original Queens of Crime: her works sit alongside the greats of the crime fiction genre’s golden age including Agatha Christie, Dorothy L Sayers and Margery Allingham. Dame Edith Ngaio Marsh is just as well known, in her homeland of New Zealand, for her significant contributions to the world of the theatre. This paper explores the impact of a collision of Marsh’s two worlds – the world of the murder mystery and the world of the performing arts – in her series of Roderick Alleyn novels. With particular focus on her first novel set in a theatre, Enter a Murderer (1935), and the last novel penned by Marsh, also set in a theatre, Light Thickens (1982), this paper will look at how realistic Marsh’s portrayal of the performing arts is as well as the relevancy of such details in building a plot for a crime fiction novel
Bookmarks Related papers MentionsView impact
The process of rehearsal has been described as “making a public display of what is most private a... more The process of rehearsal has been described as “making a public display of what is most private and intimate about being human” (Perry 2001: 27). Most stage management texts discuss rehearsals in terms of a set of procedures and behaviours, some examine the practices, yet few touch on the influences of this private and intimate activity. This paper examines some of these influences and their application within contemporary rehearsal processes, with a focus on educational environments through two case studies: a primary school setting (Bugsy Malone, Sydney Grammar School); and a tertiary training institution (A Midsummer Night's Dream, National Institute of Dramatic Art).
Bookmarks Related papers MentionsView impact
Conference Presentations by Simon Dwyer
Agatha Christie, Dorothy L. Sayers, and Margery Allingham are well-known British authors who, alo... more Agatha Christie, Dorothy L. Sayers, and Margery Allingham are well-known British authors who, along with New Zealander Dame Edith Ngaio Marsh, are recognised as the ‘queens of crime’ for their influence on the crime fiction genre in the early 20th century. Marsh, in particular, stands out for her use of the theatre as a realm in itself, rather than just a mysterious location, in her novels. Drawing on her experience as an actor, author, director, and producer, Marsh’s insiders’ knowledge allows her to create vivid and realistic scenes that evoke the sights, sounds, and emotions of the theatre. Marsh’s characters not only portray the ‘show must go on’ ethic of performers, but they also experience the inherent risks of working in such a dangerous environment. From scenery hung overhead to trap doors in the floor, quick costume changes, low light, and cramped backstage spaces, the dangers of the theatre are always present. Marsh’s vivid descriptions of the theatre underscore the intense emotions experienced by the company as they perform, and the tension builds as the curtain rises on opening night. The result is a richly layered and immersive experience for the reader, unique among the works of her fellow ‘queens of crime’. This paper explores this backstage world of Ngaio Marsh’s novels, examining the rich descriptions of staging and theatrical elements rarely seen by audiences. By comparing these observations to the features of a typical playhouse, it celebrates the often-overlooked aspects of theatrical production. Marsh’s use of technical production to drive her novels is examined alongside the same equipment used to deliver live performances. Through this analysis, readers gain a deeper understanding of the behind-the-scenes world of her characters and the risks they face. This paper highlights how Marsh’s insiders’ knowledge of theatre enriches her novels and elevates the crime fiction genre.
Bookmarks Related papers MentionsView impact
The Sydney Opera House stands as an enduring testament to the 20th century’s architectural marvel... more The Sydney Opera House stands as an enduring testament to the 20th century’s architectural marvels, captivating the world’s attention and symbolising the unwavering spirit of the state it represents. More than just an iconic landmark, it embodies the determination and vision of its creators, pioneering technology that was ahead of its time, and the overwhelming support of a fascinated public. While the architectural brilliance and the intriguing tales of its architects and political patrons are widely known, there exists a hidden narrative within its walls – the Sydney Opera House’s remarkably efficient and cutting-edge building services. These unassuming yet vital systems have played a pivotal role in shaping its resounding success and international renown as a premier performing arts centre, providing a comfortable, functional, efficient, and safe environment for performers, technicians, and audiences alike. This presentation delves into the methodological approach employed to research and unravel the history of the eight main systems that lie at the heart of the Sydney Opera House’s building services. These systems, often overshadowed by its awe-inspiring design, have quietly contributed to its acclaim. From the ingenious climate control mechanisms to the innovative acoustic infrastructure, from the seamless backstage logistics to the state-of-the-art security measures, each element works in concert to contribute seamlessly to the grand symphony of this architectural masterpiece that is one of the world’s most famous and busy performing arts centres.
Bookmarks Related papers MentionsView impact
Different Perspectives
A profile of the business and an outline the major electrical outage eac... more Different Perspectives
A profile of the business and an outline the major electrical outage each year;
Prioritising shutdown tasks and the implications of different prioritisations;
Creatively expanding project budgets, looking for savings, and building a case for increased funding;
Quality–Right people; right time: The challenge of maintaining excellence before, during, and after when quick decisions and escalations are required; and
Tips and tricks; some of the small things the Opera House does for a successful outage.
Bookmarks Related papers MentionsView impact
This panel discussion will examine the importance of Sustainability in iconic, unique and landmar... more This panel discussion will examine the importance of Sustainability in iconic, unique and landmark buildings like the Sydney Opera House, Australia National Maritime Museum and Eastern Goldfields Regional Prison. The importance of enabling the core mission of the facility while achieving sustainable outcomes is increasingly a balancing act requiring smarts, innovation and sometimes tradeoffs.
Bookmarks Related papers MentionsView impact
Uploads
Edited Collections by Simon Dwyer
In the first article, Ella Mudie also looks at ‘unbuild’. This is achieved with a review of how the Sydney Metro—a major transport infrastructure project—requires demolition work that will inevitably result in a reconfiguration of the character of Sydney’s inner city and the suburbs it intersects. Mudie questions unbuilding and rebuilding, drawing on literary texts in which demolition and infrastructure development are key preoccupations. In the second article on construction and destruction, Sarah Morley, looks at one of Sydney’s earliest iconic buildings. The Garden Palace—a purpose built facility designed to house the Colony’s first International Exhibition in 1879—was a famous, and favourite, building of New South Wales, prior to its destruction by fire in 1882. Morley explores the loss of the building and its contents; which included many Australian Aboriginal objects and ancestral remains.
Simon Dwyer looks at building a story with light. Drawing upon a range of historical documents, this article investigates how world-renowned architect Jørn Utzon envisaged the use of natural and artificial light. In this way, he showed how light could contribute to the final build of the Sydney Opera House, through giving additional expression to the traditional building elements that he had carefully selected. Nadine Kozak highlights much smaller structures in her qualitative analysis of comments made by stewards about their Little Free Libraries. This, increasingly popular, movement offers opportunities for reading and to build community networks as people come together to build, maintain and stock Little Free Libraries. Kozak’s work also acknowledges some of the resistance to this movement and how communities are strengthened in their efforts to protect what they have built.
The earliest detectives were forced to overcome significant resistance from a suspicious public. Rachel Franks investigates the efforts of Charles Dickens to change the perception of policing. Focusing on letters written about capital punishment and articles aimed at promoting the role of the detective, Franks unpacks how one of the great novelists of the Victorian age also assisted in building the reputation of a fledging detective branch. Moving forward in time, Hazel Ferguson also interrogates ideas of reputation. This work looks at the activities of early career researchers on social media which is increasingly being used to build communities around mutual support and professional development. Ferguson’s analysis, of the #ECRchat group on Twitter, aims to contribute to emerging discussions about academic labour and online reputation.
In noting how the babble of a crowd can indicate the presence of others constructing ephemeral emergent communities where the voice of an individual is often lost, Rebecca Collins, identifies how sound informs our experience of space. In this article, she discusses the potential of sound to construct fictional spaces, build individual identities and evoke the presence of a crowd in relation to two artistic installations. Ben Egliston takes on another type of creative output with videogames. Egliston’s work considers how players build ingame competencies by engaging with media beyond the game itself; such as walkthrough guides or YouTube videos. This article provides a re-framing of the relationship between gameplay (and the development of competency) and the elements of games existing beyond the screen. Creativity is also central to George Jaramillo’s article which focuses on the relationship between Ionad Hiort and the Glasgow School of Art’s Institute of Design Innovation as a case study for understanding how design innovation can engender and build community capabilities. This work studies the development of a new type of heritage centre on the western coast of the Isle of Lewis in Scotland and the idea of a “place of interpretation” as an alternative to the “visitor centre”, to go “beyond the museum”.
We bookend this issue with another piece on building infrastructure in the city of Sydney. Nicholas Richardson interrogates the New South Wales Government’s ‘making it happen’ campaign. This research explores whether the current build-at-any-cost mentality behind ‘making it happen’ is in either the long-term interest of the New South Wales constituency or the short-term interest of a political party.
To build is to embark on a multi-disciplinary and multi-faceted project. These articles demonstrate the wide-ranging potential of exploring how different interpretations of, and ways to, build impacts our cultural, emotional, intellectual, private, and public lives.
Acknowledgements
Our sincere thanks to our enthusiastic contributors, to those who gave their expertise and time in the blind peer review process, and to Axel Bruns.
Reference
Moore, Rowan. Why We Build: Power and Desire in Architecture. New York: HarperCollins, 2013.
The theme of the 2015 conference – ‘Re-visioning Space(s), Time and Bodies’ – allowed for these three elements to unfold in a way which encouraged deep exploration of the individual elements as well as how these relate to, and interact with, each other. Moreover, the conference sought to challenge some of the dominant ways of understanding space, time and bodies: categories that we each experience every day but that can impact upon us in quite different ways. This goal of challenging pervasive narratives was achieved through papers that facilitated explorations of the changing dimensions of time and movement, human/post/trans and/or non-humans, contested flows, ‘webs’ and networks as well as the connections between these concepts. Of particular note is how the papers pushed mainstream approaches, ideas and topics to the peripheries of traditional academic research practices – but all through the exploration of various forms of creative practice. This ensured that even the familiar was made new. The inspiring, though often underestimated, notion of interdisciplinarity and the multiple shades this concept assumes in different practices – and in the world around us – created a perfect milieu for a stimulating exchange of ideas and points of view. Such points of view are critical, as observed by Harvey Graff, who has noted:
In my view, interdisciplinarity is defined and constructed by questions and problems of theory or practice, knowledge or conditions of living, and the means developed to answer those questions in new and different ways. Interdisciplines are fashioned from elements of different disciplines to form distinct approaches, understandings, or contexts. Interdisciplines are themselves historical constructs (2015: 5).
This Special Issue represents a selection of the research papers presented at the conference, all of which have been considerably expanded for publication, and that offer an exciting journey around the three key issues that influence our everyday lives: space, time and the body. Each article simultaneously serves to unpack some of the processes that can support interdisciplinary research in these areas and works to extend some of the conversations that were started at the conference. These conversations can be seen in the way that many of the articles deliberately reference the work of contributions to this Special Issue. Ulrike Sturm’s reflective visualisations add another dimension to the Special Issue; demonstrating interdisciplinarity as a visually creative, as well as textually creative, pursuit. Readers will discover many more such overlaps and linkages through the articles, with each seeking to offer clear connections to other contributions within the Special Issue and enhance this idea of this issue as a narrative dialogue. The primary purpose of this collection is to provide an overview of the potential of interdisciplinary research: in this way, we hope it will serve as a useful resource for those who wish to explore a variety of examples reflecting current interdisciplinary practice.
There is a long history of working with the ideas of others and of re-working our own ideas. Of taking a concept and re-imagining it into something that is similar to the original and yet offers something new. Such re-imaginations are all around us; from the various interpretations of the Sherlock Holmes stories to the adjustments made, often over generations, to family recipes.
Some of these efforts are the result of a creative drive to experiment and push boundaries, some efforts are inspired by changes in society or technology, yet others will be born of a sense of 'this can be done better' or 'done differently'.
Essentially, to re-imagine is to ask questions, to interrogate that which is often taken for granted.
This issue of M/C Journal seeks to explore the 'why' and the 'how' of re-imagining both the everyday and the extraordinary. In a reflection of the scale and scope of the potential to re-imagine all that is around us, this issue is particularly diverse. The contributions offer explorations into varied disciplines, use a range of methodological lenses, and deploy different writing styles.
To this end we present a range of articles—some of which contain quite challenging content—that cover copyright, crime fiction, the stage, the literary brand and film, horror and children’s film, television, military-inspired fashion, and a piece that focuses on events leading up to September 11, 2001. We then present three, quite different, works that explore various aspects of Australian Indigenous culture and history.
We begin with our feature article: “‘They’re creepy and they’re kooky’ and They’re Copyrighted: How Copyright Is Used to Dampen the (Re-)Imagination”. In this work Steve Collins explores important issues of copyright in the re-imagining and re-purposing of content. In particular, this article unpacks—using examples from the United States—how copyright legislation can restrict the activities of creative practitioners, across varied fields, and so adds to the debate on copyright reform.
In our lead article “The Re-imagining Inherent in Crime Fiction Translation”, by Alistair Rolls, ideas of re-imagination, language, and the world’s most popular genre—crime fiction—are critically appraised. Rolls looks at a suite of issues around imagining original and re-imagining, through translation, crime fiction texts. These two forms of creativity are essential to the genre's development for, as Rolls notes, this type of fiction was born, “simultaneously in France and America but also in the translation zone between the two.”
Amy Antonio re-imagines the femme fatale. Antonio acknowledges the centrality of the femme fatale to the noir tradition and re-imagines this iconic figure by positioning her on the Renaissance stage, explaining how the historical factors that precipitated the emergence of the noir femme fatale in the years following World War II, similarly existed in the sixteenth century and, as a result, the femme fatale can be re-imagined in a series of Elizabethan and Jacobean plays.
The articles in this issue turn from fiction, to theatre, and then to film with Leonie Rutherford embarking on a “Re-imagining the Brand” exercise. Through two, very informative, case studies—Adventures of Tin Tin and Silver, Return to Treasure Island—Rutherford engages with issues of re-imagining classic literary texts as big-screen blockbusters. This article addresses some of the complexities associated with the updating “of classic texts [that] require interpretation and the negotiation of subtle changes in values that have occurred since the creation of the ‘original’.”
Erin Hawley also looks at film, through a lens of horror, in “Re-imagining the Horror Genre in Children’s Animated Film”. Hawley explores how animated films have always been an ambiguous space “in terms of age, pleasure, and viewership.” Hawley goes on to challenge common assumptions that “animation itself is often a signifier of safety, fun, nostalgia, and childishness; it is a means of addressing families and young audiences” and outlines how animation complements horror where, “the fantastic and transformative aspects of animation can be powerful tools for telling stories that are dark, surprising, or somehow subversive.”
Issues of the small screen, and social media, are reviewed by Karin van Es, Daniela van Geenen, and Thomas Boeschoten in their work of “Re-imagining Television Audience Research on Twitter”. In particular, this work highlights issues with how audience research is undertaken and argues for new ways forward that adapt to the changing viewing landscape: one that features social media as an increasingly important tool for people to engage with more traditional types of entertainment.
Fashion, too, features within this special issue with the work Emerald L. King and Denise N. Rall, “Re-imagining the Imperial Kingdom through Japanese Schoolboy Uniforms”. King and Rall present their research into the significant re-imagining of Japanese cultural and national identities, which are explored in this work through the cataclysmic impact of Western ideologies on Japanese cultural traditions.
The idea of re-imagining is challenged by Meg Stalcup through her article “What If? Re-imagined Scenarios and the Re-virtualisation of History” which looks at several events that took place in the lead up to September 11, 2001. Several of the men who would become 9/11 hijackers were stopped for minor traffic violations. Police officers in the United States replayed these incidents of contact, yet their questioning “what if?” asked not only if those moments could have revealed the plot of that traumatic day, but also places alternate scenarios into play.
John C. Ryan, Danielle Brady, and Christopher Kueh guide us through a geographical re-imagining of one of Australia’s capital cities in “Where Fanny Balbuk Walked: Re-imagining Perth’s Wetlands through Digital Modelling”. This re-imagining of a major city’s natural environment calls “attention to past indiscretions while invigorating future possibilities.” Moreover, this work highlights the value of re-imagining a city anew as well as re-imagining the original after a process of considerable change.
Rachel Franks traces the history of an effort to communicate the concept of equality under the law, to the Indigenous peoples of Van Diemen’s Land (Tasmania), in “A True Crime Tale: Re-imagining Governor Arthur’s Proclamation Board for the Tasmanian Aborigines”. This article provides an overview of some of the various re-imaginings of this Board—including the re-imagining of the Board’s history—and also offers a new re-imagination of this curious, colonial object; positing that the Board serves as an early “pamphlet” on justice and punishment.
Brooke Collins-Gearing, Vivien Cadungog, Sophie Camilleri, Erin Comensoli, Elissa Duncan, Leitesha Green, Adam Phillips, and Rebecca Stone take a very different, and rather creative, approach to re-imagining with “Listenin’ Up: Re-Imagining Ourselves through Stories of and from Country” a work that explores Western discourses of education; and looks at ways to engage with Aboriginal knowledge through the pedagogical and personal act of listening. These authors attempt to re-imagine “the institutionalised space of our classroom through a dialogic pedagogy.”
These articles are, necessarily, brief. Yet, each work does provide insight into various aspects of the re-imagining process while offering new perspectives on how re-imagining takes place—in material culture, learning practices, or in all important media re-interpretations of the world around us.
We extend our thanks to our contributors. We thank, too, all those who engaged in the blind peer review process. We sincerely appreciate the efforts of those who offered their expertise and their time as well as offering valuable comments on a wide range of contributions.
Rachel Franks, Simon Dwyer, and Denise N. Rall
Editors
Book Chapters by Simon Dwyer
Conference Proceedings by Simon Dwyer
Conference Presentations by Simon Dwyer
A profile of the business and an outline the major electrical outage each year;
Prioritising shutdown tasks and the implications of different prioritisations;
Creatively expanding project budgets, looking for savings, and building a case for increased funding;
Quality–Right people; right time: The challenge of maintaining excellence before, during, and after when quick decisions and escalations are required; and
Tips and tricks; some of the small things the Opera House does for a successful outage.
In the first article, Ella Mudie also looks at ‘unbuild’. This is achieved with a review of how the Sydney Metro—a major transport infrastructure project—requires demolition work that will inevitably result in a reconfiguration of the character of Sydney’s inner city and the suburbs it intersects. Mudie questions unbuilding and rebuilding, drawing on literary texts in which demolition and infrastructure development are key preoccupations. In the second article on construction and destruction, Sarah Morley, looks at one of Sydney’s earliest iconic buildings. The Garden Palace—a purpose built facility designed to house the Colony’s first International Exhibition in 1879—was a famous, and favourite, building of New South Wales, prior to its destruction by fire in 1882. Morley explores the loss of the building and its contents; which included many Australian Aboriginal objects and ancestral remains.
Simon Dwyer looks at building a story with light. Drawing upon a range of historical documents, this article investigates how world-renowned architect Jørn Utzon envisaged the use of natural and artificial light. In this way, he showed how light could contribute to the final build of the Sydney Opera House, through giving additional expression to the traditional building elements that he had carefully selected. Nadine Kozak highlights much smaller structures in her qualitative analysis of comments made by stewards about their Little Free Libraries. This, increasingly popular, movement offers opportunities for reading and to build community networks as people come together to build, maintain and stock Little Free Libraries. Kozak’s work also acknowledges some of the resistance to this movement and how communities are strengthened in their efforts to protect what they have built.
The earliest detectives were forced to overcome significant resistance from a suspicious public. Rachel Franks investigates the efforts of Charles Dickens to change the perception of policing. Focusing on letters written about capital punishment and articles aimed at promoting the role of the detective, Franks unpacks how one of the great novelists of the Victorian age also assisted in building the reputation of a fledging detective branch. Moving forward in time, Hazel Ferguson also interrogates ideas of reputation. This work looks at the activities of early career researchers on social media which is increasingly being used to build communities around mutual support and professional development. Ferguson’s analysis, of the #ECRchat group on Twitter, aims to contribute to emerging discussions about academic labour and online reputation.
In noting how the babble of a crowd can indicate the presence of others constructing ephemeral emergent communities where the voice of an individual is often lost, Rebecca Collins, identifies how sound informs our experience of space. In this article, she discusses the potential of sound to construct fictional spaces, build individual identities and evoke the presence of a crowd in relation to two artistic installations. Ben Egliston takes on another type of creative output with videogames. Egliston’s work considers how players build ingame competencies by engaging with media beyond the game itself; such as walkthrough guides or YouTube videos. This article provides a re-framing of the relationship between gameplay (and the development of competency) and the elements of games existing beyond the screen. Creativity is also central to George Jaramillo’s article which focuses on the relationship between Ionad Hiort and the Glasgow School of Art’s Institute of Design Innovation as a case study for understanding how design innovation can engender and build community capabilities. This work studies the development of a new type of heritage centre on the western coast of the Isle of Lewis in Scotland and the idea of a “place of interpretation” as an alternative to the “visitor centre”, to go “beyond the museum”.
We bookend this issue with another piece on building infrastructure in the city of Sydney. Nicholas Richardson interrogates the New South Wales Government’s ‘making it happen’ campaign. This research explores whether the current build-at-any-cost mentality behind ‘making it happen’ is in either the long-term interest of the New South Wales constituency or the short-term interest of a political party.
To build is to embark on a multi-disciplinary and multi-faceted project. These articles demonstrate the wide-ranging potential of exploring how different interpretations of, and ways to, build impacts our cultural, emotional, intellectual, private, and public lives.
Acknowledgements
Our sincere thanks to our enthusiastic contributors, to those who gave their expertise and time in the blind peer review process, and to Axel Bruns.
Reference
Moore, Rowan. Why We Build: Power and Desire in Architecture. New York: HarperCollins, 2013.
The theme of the 2015 conference – ‘Re-visioning Space(s), Time and Bodies’ – allowed for these three elements to unfold in a way which encouraged deep exploration of the individual elements as well as how these relate to, and interact with, each other. Moreover, the conference sought to challenge some of the dominant ways of understanding space, time and bodies: categories that we each experience every day but that can impact upon us in quite different ways. This goal of challenging pervasive narratives was achieved through papers that facilitated explorations of the changing dimensions of time and movement, human/post/trans and/or non-humans, contested flows, ‘webs’ and networks as well as the connections between these concepts. Of particular note is how the papers pushed mainstream approaches, ideas and topics to the peripheries of traditional academic research practices – but all through the exploration of various forms of creative practice. This ensured that even the familiar was made new. The inspiring, though often underestimated, notion of interdisciplinarity and the multiple shades this concept assumes in different practices – and in the world around us – created a perfect milieu for a stimulating exchange of ideas and points of view. Such points of view are critical, as observed by Harvey Graff, who has noted:
In my view, interdisciplinarity is defined and constructed by questions and problems of theory or practice, knowledge or conditions of living, and the means developed to answer those questions in new and different ways. Interdisciplines are fashioned from elements of different disciplines to form distinct approaches, understandings, or contexts. Interdisciplines are themselves historical constructs (2015: 5).
This Special Issue represents a selection of the research papers presented at the conference, all of which have been considerably expanded for publication, and that offer an exciting journey around the three key issues that influence our everyday lives: space, time and the body. Each article simultaneously serves to unpack some of the processes that can support interdisciplinary research in these areas and works to extend some of the conversations that were started at the conference. These conversations can be seen in the way that many of the articles deliberately reference the work of contributions to this Special Issue. Ulrike Sturm’s reflective visualisations add another dimension to the Special Issue; demonstrating interdisciplinarity as a visually creative, as well as textually creative, pursuit. Readers will discover many more such overlaps and linkages through the articles, with each seeking to offer clear connections to other contributions within the Special Issue and enhance this idea of this issue as a narrative dialogue. The primary purpose of this collection is to provide an overview of the potential of interdisciplinary research: in this way, we hope it will serve as a useful resource for those who wish to explore a variety of examples reflecting current interdisciplinary practice.
There is a long history of working with the ideas of others and of re-working our own ideas. Of taking a concept and re-imagining it into something that is similar to the original and yet offers something new. Such re-imaginations are all around us; from the various interpretations of the Sherlock Holmes stories to the adjustments made, often over generations, to family recipes.
Some of these efforts are the result of a creative drive to experiment and push boundaries, some efforts are inspired by changes in society or technology, yet others will be born of a sense of 'this can be done better' or 'done differently'.
Essentially, to re-imagine is to ask questions, to interrogate that which is often taken for granted.
This issue of M/C Journal seeks to explore the 'why' and the 'how' of re-imagining both the everyday and the extraordinary. In a reflection of the scale and scope of the potential to re-imagine all that is around us, this issue is particularly diverse. The contributions offer explorations into varied disciplines, use a range of methodological lenses, and deploy different writing styles.
To this end we present a range of articles—some of which contain quite challenging content—that cover copyright, crime fiction, the stage, the literary brand and film, horror and children’s film, television, military-inspired fashion, and a piece that focuses on events leading up to September 11, 2001. We then present three, quite different, works that explore various aspects of Australian Indigenous culture and history.
We begin with our feature article: “‘They’re creepy and they’re kooky’ and They’re Copyrighted: How Copyright Is Used to Dampen the (Re-)Imagination”. In this work Steve Collins explores important issues of copyright in the re-imagining and re-purposing of content. In particular, this article unpacks—using examples from the United States—how copyright legislation can restrict the activities of creative practitioners, across varied fields, and so adds to the debate on copyright reform.
In our lead article “The Re-imagining Inherent in Crime Fiction Translation”, by Alistair Rolls, ideas of re-imagination, language, and the world’s most popular genre—crime fiction—are critically appraised. Rolls looks at a suite of issues around imagining original and re-imagining, through translation, crime fiction texts. These two forms of creativity are essential to the genre's development for, as Rolls notes, this type of fiction was born, “simultaneously in France and America but also in the translation zone between the two.”
Amy Antonio re-imagines the femme fatale. Antonio acknowledges the centrality of the femme fatale to the noir tradition and re-imagines this iconic figure by positioning her on the Renaissance stage, explaining how the historical factors that precipitated the emergence of the noir femme fatale in the years following World War II, similarly existed in the sixteenth century and, as a result, the femme fatale can be re-imagined in a series of Elizabethan and Jacobean plays.
The articles in this issue turn from fiction, to theatre, and then to film with Leonie Rutherford embarking on a “Re-imagining the Brand” exercise. Through two, very informative, case studies—Adventures of Tin Tin and Silver, Return to Treasure Island—Rutherford engages with issues of re-imagining classic literary texts as big-screen blockbusters. This article addresses some of the complexities associated with the updating “of classic texts [that] require interpretation and the negotiation of subtle changes in values that have occurred since the creation of the ‘original’.”
Erin Hawley also looks at film, through a lens of horror, in “Re-imagining the Horror Genre in Children’s Animated Film”. Hawley explores how animated films have always been an ambiguous space “in terms of age, pleasure, and viewership.” Hawley goes on to challenge common assumptions that “animation itself is often a signifier of safety, fun, nostalgia, and childishness; it is a means of addressing families and young audiences” and outlines how animation complements horror where, “the fantastic and transformative aspects of animation can be powerful tools for telling stories that are dark, surprising, or somehow subversive.”
Issues of the small screen, and social media, are reviewed by Karin van Es, Daniela van Geenen, and Thomas Boeschoten in their work of “Re-imagining Television Audience Research on Twitter”. In particular, this work highlights issues with how audience research is undertaken and argues for new ways forward that adapt to the changing viewing landscape: one that features social media as an increasingly important tool for people to engage with more traditional types of entertainment.
Fashion, too, features within this special issue with the work Emerald L. King and Denise N. Rall, “Re-imagining the Imperial Kingdom through Japanese Schoolboy Uniforms”. King and Rall present their research into the significant re-imagining of Japanese cultural and national identities, which are explored in this work through the cataclysmic impact of Western ideologies on Japanese cultural traditions.
The idea of re-imagining is challenged by Meg Stalcup through her article “What If? Re-imagined Scenarios and the Re-virtualisation of History” which looks at several events that took place in the lead up to September 11, 2001. Several of the men who would become 9/11 hijackers were stopped for minor traffic violations. Police officers in the United States replayed these incidents of contact, yet their questioning “what if?” asked not only if those moments could have revealed the plot of that traumatic day, but also places alternate scenarios into play.
John C. Ryan, Danielle Brady, and Christopher Kueh guide us through a geographical re-imagining of one of Australia’s capital cities in “Where Fanny Balbuk Walked: Re-imagining Perth’s Wetlands through Digital Modelling”. This re-imagining of a major city’s natural environment calls “attention to past indiscretions while invigorating future possibilities.” Moreover, this work highlights the value of re-imagining a city anew as well as re-imagining the original after a process of considerable change.
Rachel Franks traces the history of an effort to communicate the concept of equality under the law, to the Indigenous peoples of Van Diemen’s Land (Tasmania), in “A True Crime Tale: Re-imagining Governor Arthur’s Proclamation Board for the Tasmanian Aborigines”. This article provides an overview of some of the various re-imaginings of this Board—including the re-imagining of the Board’s history—and also offers a new re-imagination of this curious, colonial object; positing that the Board serves as an early “pamphlet” on justice and punishment.
Brooke Collins-Gearing, Vivien Cadungog, Sophie Camilleri, Erin Comensoli, Elissa Duncan, Leitesha Green, Adam Phillips, and Rebecca Stone take a very different, and rather creative, approach to re-imagining with “Listenin’ Up: Re-Imagining Ourselves through Stories of and from Country” a work that explores Western discourses of education; and looks at ways to engage with Aboriginal knowledge through the pedagogical and personal act of listening. These authors attempt to re-imagine “the institutionalised space of our classroom through a dialogic pedagogy.”
These articles are, necessarily, brief. Yet, each work does provide insight into various aspects of the re-imagining process while offering new perspectives on how re-imagining takes place—in material culture, learning practices, or in all important media re-interpretations of the world around us.
We extend our thanks to our contributors. We thank, too, all those who engaged in the blind peer review process. We sincerely appreciate the efforts of those who offered their expertise and their time as well as offering valuable comments on a wide range of contributions.
Rachel Franks, Simon Dwyer, and Denise N. Rall
Editors
A profile of the business and an outline the major electrical outage each year;
Prioritising shutdown tasks and the implications of different prioritisations;
Creatively expanding project budgets, looking for savings, and building a case for increased funding;
Quality–Right people; right time: The challenge of maintaining excellence before, during, and after when quick decisions and escalations are required; and
Tips and tricks; some of the small things the Opera House does for a successful outage.
Theatrical deaths are all tightly rehearsed and choreographed so the actor can still return to take their bows, yet for some the final curtain call comes sooner than expected. Molière took ill during a performance and died shortly afterwards while tenor Richard Versalle died mid-show at the Metropolitan Opera. The audience are not immune either with the assassination of President Abraham Lincoln. This paper considers the stage as a contested space, one in which the theatrical trappings of death are occasionally replaced by genuine expressions of grief.
With a specific focus on the Sydney Opera House as a facilitator this notation will be examined to reveal some of the similarities in the presentation of death in a theatrical sense as well as in the broader community on stage.
The State Library of New South Wales holds an unrivalled collection of oil paintings. Unlike an art gallery where the focus is usually on aesthetic excellence, the rationale behind the Library's collecting is broad and often eclectic. It features works from artists such as Conrad Martens and John Glover, and others of variable quality, execution and skill, with a range of formats and diversity of subjects that tell us much about Australia.
Reading the Rooms reveals this little-known-but rich and highly significant-collection. It delivers a fascinating and authoritative account of hundreds of paintings, and a compelling argument for their importance.
The State Library of New South Wales holds an unrivalled collection of oil paintings. Unlike an art gallery where the focus is usually on aesthetic excellence, the rationale behind the Library's collecting is broad and often eclectic. It features works from artists such as Conrad Martens and John Glover, and others of variable quality, execution and skill, with a range of formats and diversity of subjects that tell us much about Australia.
Reading the Rooms reveals this little-known-but rich and highly significant-collection. It delivers a fascinating and authoritative account of hundreds of paintings, and a compelling argument for their importance.
The State Library of New South Wales holds an unrivalled collection of oil paintings. Unlike an art gallery where the focus is usually on aesthetic excellence, the rationale behind the Library’s collecting is broad and often eclectic. It features works from artists such as Conrad Martens and John Glover, and others of variable quality, execution and skill, with a range of formats and diversity of subjects that tell us much about Australia.
Reading the Rooms reveals this little-known — but rich and highly significant — collection. It delivers a fascinating and authoritative account of hundreds of paintings, and a compelling argument for their importance.
Allen & Unwin, 432pp., ISBN 9781760295462, p/bk, AUS$32.99
Reviewed by Simon Dwyer, September 2018
At Sydney Opera House, Honeywell engineered an integrated building control system powered by Enterprise Buildings Integrator (EBI), Command and Control Suite (CCS) and ComfortPoint Open (CPO) controllers that helped reduce the energy footprint utilising the Opera House’s unique seawater cooling system to improve comfort levels with smart performance-based scheduling and intelligent analytics.
The exhibition is being promoted as the largest Marvel Comics exhibition ever put together, with much made of it being presented exclusively at GOMA. The major figures within the Marvel suite of superheroes are represented, including Black Widow, Captain America, Hawkeye, Hulk, Iron Man, Spider-Man and Thor, in addition to their allies and a few villains thrown in for good measure. Engaging with the evolution of these figures, from their beginnings in Marvel Comics to their appearance on movie screens, is a fascinating excursion into popular culture in multiple formats. As the Director of GOMA, Chris Saines, notes, ‘The comic book is one of the most ubiquitous and influential pop cultural artefacts of the twentieth century’(2017). Film, too, is critical to the popular culture landscape. This exhibition makes the transition from a favourite set of comic books to a series of major theatrical releases appear not only seamless but a logical process to engage new audiences, as well as continue entertaining long-term fans of the superhero genre.
The Marvel Cinematic Universe is a single continuity of feature films and other media based on characters and stories from Marvel’s sprawling comic book history, released in ‘phases’. Though each film is self- contained, their thematic threads, recurring characters and subplots create a deep interconnectedness, which invites fans to identify hidden links and speculate feverishly on how the next chapters will unfold. Accessible to a wide audience thanks to canny casting, keen humour and a willingness to push the limits of genre, MCU films have enjoyed both critical and popular success. (Cameron 2017)
The exhibition, in a single word, is ‘big’. The scale and scope of the archival material, interactive stations, film clips, original artworks and unique objects is, at times, overwhelming. There are, in fact, over 500 items on display, from small but iconic props to large-scale sets. The rest area in the middle of the exhibition was, at first glance, just looked upon as a thoughtful addition, one that may have been included for the vaguely interested attending with the committed fan. It is, however, an essential component: the exhibition takes up the entire ground floor of a significant cultural institution. An opportunity to rest and recharge, before immersing back into worlds where the lines between good and evil are clearly defined, was very much appreciated.
One of the more elegant displays is the recreation of an artist’s work area: complete with messy tabletop, filing cabinet, rolls of drawings and coffee cups. A clever projection animates the main area of the display, showing how storyboards are drawn, bringing the space to life. Gaining insights into the creativity – and the extraordinary attention to detail – across costumes, props and sets is an educational, and at times inspiring, experience. The emotional and intellectual investment made in creating worlds for superheroes to occupy is tangible across each of the characters profiled. These worlds are realised by people who love what they do. It is this perhaps that makes the captions generated for this exhibition a startling disappointment. Most captions are merely indicators that the copyright in the materials on display is held by Marvel. While it might not be possible to list the names of all the creatives who contributed to each object on display, to offer these items with such a high level of anonymity is dismissive of both those who make these movies possible and of the fans who have a reputation in being interested in every aspect of these highly crafted environments.
The curators and designers have brought together a stunning array of materials. Even if you are not a reader or a watcher of Marvel stories, there is still something for everyone to admire in these displays. This exhibition could have easily been delivered as an element of an elaborate advertising campaign, a slick appeal to go and see the next Marvel film. Instead, the materials exhibited, and the narrative journey they construct, communicate how these films are not merely artefacts pushed out by enormous machines in Hollywood; they are products of human ingenuity and labour. This is a fantastic achievement that will appeal to popular culture fans as well as to scholars of popular publishing and film-making. It is as fun as it is ‘big’.