Abstract
Keywords:
Cultural memory, Experimental Art, Site-specific art, Transdisciplinary, Collective Action, Resilience
InterFace: City as a Work of Art, or City Under Redevelopment (1988), was a pioneering interdisciplinary project that leveraged art and digital technologies to critique urban change in Meanjin (Brisbane). Emerging as an early experiment predating conventional public art policies and unencumbered by economic or city marketing pressures, the project, with artist Jeanelle Hurst as interlocutor, represents a distinctive approach to imagining the city. Moreover, predating the digital realm as we know it, the project merits renewed critical attention, celebrating Hurst’s obscured influence in shaping early concepts of electronic telecommunications within visual art and culture. Utilizing a multifaceted approach, the study employs critical review analysis, enriched by semi-structured interviews with key participants and observers, historical memory and contextualization. By examining the project’s engagement with urban spaces and its conflicted reception in the socio-cultural context of the late 1980s, this research contributes to a deep understanding of place. As a compelling and productive counterpoint to urban renewal strategies, this study positions InterFace as an exemplar that continues to hold significance, especially in fostering innovative, collaborative and socially relevant art within the broader context of urban ecologies and change.
- Dr Louise Rollman is currently a Fryer Library Fellow with the University of Queensland (UQ). Her research primarily focuses on the intersection and impact of political, urban development and management practices on the arts and cultural sector. As a curator specializing in commissioning contemporary art for the public realm, she has facilitated countless exhibition-projects including complex, city-shaping public art commissions involving innovative technologies that project onto bridges, wrap ferries, dive into bodies of water and reshape earth. Past projects include my own private neon oasis (2011) (cat.), which in recognition of its innovations, influence and reach, was awarded the 2012 Gallery and Museum Achievement Award (GAMAA), M&G QLD, amongst other awards and best practice acknowledgements.