E-book 01: Re-structure (edited by J.H. Brüggemeier & H. Davies)
Featuring participants from performance, fashion, creative arts, gaming, media and community intervention, Re-structure explored both broader sustainable strategies as well as “clever partial solutions” to cultural and knowledge production in a post-public sector environment.
Authors (peer reviewed): Stephen Healy, Maria Miranda, Grace McQuilten and Anthony White, Jon Hawkes, Katharine McKinnon, Vic McEwan and Joan Staples.
As well as this e-book includes art works by out-of-sync (N. Neumark and M. Miranda), Siying Zhou and selected additional international contributions by Geert Lovink, Seb Olma and Ned Rossiter and Mercedes Bunz (non-peer reviewed).
Download EPUB Download PDFRe-structure - on alternative modes of culture and knowledge production in times of shrinking public expenditures
Budget cuts proposed by the Abbott government have instigated a proliferation of restructures across the public sector. These restructures will have far reaching impacts on culture and education.
The Re-structure conference in 2014 looked at the current state of the arts, and considers alternative modes of culture and knowledge production within times of shrinking public expenditures. Featuring participants from performance, fashion, creative arts, gaming, media and community intervention, this publication explores both broader sustainable strategies as well as "clever partial solutions" to cultural and knowledge production in a "post-public" sector environment.
In seeking alternatives, Re-structure looks to the proliferation of smaller scale community economies worldwide, in both on and offline environments, and to the modes of cultural production and knowledge exchange with other sectors such as environmental NGOs.We explain this brief history to establish an important context – to inform the reader that the essays collected together here were written under the shadow of the extraordinary changes proposed by Brandis and Abbott.
The following texts in this special issue are based on presentations delivered at that Re-structure conference in 2014. However, their historical situation in different times does not diminish their relevance or importance today. These essays interrogate the ongoing culture of restructure and examine the impact across the many territories into which re-structural thinking has bled. Rather than simply rejecting the notion of restructure, they excavate a larger set of ongoing problematic ideas, most specifically the notion of reframing culture, education, health and other key pillars of civil society as resources to be monetised.
This ebook includes the peer reviewed contributions by Stephen Healy, Maria Miranda, Grace McQuilten and Anthony White, Jon Hawkes, Katherine McKinnon, Vic McEwan and Joan Staples. As well as art works by out-of-sync (N. Neumark and M. Miranda), Siying Zhou and selected additional international contributions by Geert Lovink, Seb Olma and Ned Rossiter and Mercedes Bunz (non-peer reviewed).
Video documentation from the 2014 conference (archived live streaming)
Keynote speech
Dr Stephen Healy: founding member of the Community Economies Collective, co-author of Take Back the Economy: An Ethical for Transforming Our Communities (2013) with Jenny Cameron and J.K. Gibson-Graham and Senior Research Fellow in the Institute of Culture and Society at the University of Western Sydney.
Panel 1: Artists-run Initiatives – How does art speak to and with communities?
This panel discusses contemporary examples of Artist Run Initiatives that engage with community economies, and introduces emerging modes of cultural production that operate at cross-sectoral junctures.
Dr Maria Miranda: artist (Out-of-Sync together with Norie Neumark), DECRA research fellow (the ARI experience) and author of Unsitely Aesthetics (2013).
Dr Grace McQuilten: founder of the Social Studio in Melbourne, author of Art in Consumer Culture (2011) and at present Vice Chancellor’s Research Fellow in the School of Art, RMIT University.
Siying Zhou: Born in China, Zhou maintains an interdisciplinary practice addressing subjects such as religious practice and cultural traditions of the nomad, the identity of the individual and the relationship between the land and its dwellers
Question time panel 1: Artist run initiatives
Dr Maria Miranda, Dr Grace McQuilten and Siying Zhou
Panel 2: Internet and cultural platforms
Here Re-structure 2014 looks at the merits and disillusions in regards to the Internet. Although the Internet offers means for networking and self-organisation, two question remain: can we come up with alternative platforms to what current crowd-funding websites already offer, and under what framework can we achieve that?
Trent Kusters: artist, independent game designer and co-director of League of Geeks.
Rick Chen: co-founder of pozible.com – an Australia-based crowdfunding platform and community-building tool for creative projects and ideas.
Fee Plumely: artist (reallybigroadtrip.com), digital nomad & former employee of the Australia Council for the Arts, where she worked on the “Arts content for the digital era” program.
Question time panel 2: Internet and cultural platforms
Panelists: Trent Kusters, Rick Chen and Fee Plumley
Panel 3: Learning from cross-sectorial experiences
This panel compares the environmental and cultural sectors. Issues surrounding the environment and sustainability are – like arts and culture – far from the top of the list in terms of government funding priorities. The environmental sector in Australia, however, seems to have a longer tradition of “going independent” in terms of (a) funding and (b) the development of more independent organisations, for instance, as member-based businesses.
Dr. Joan Staples: academic, public commentator and vice-president of Environment Victoria. Her publications focus on the democratic role of non-government organisations (NGOs), their relationship with government, and what constitutes effective public advocacy for social change.
Angharad Wynne-Jones: creative producer at Arts House, a contemporary performance centre in Melbourne and director of TippingPoint Australia and The Climate Commissions – where she develops international and local projects with artists, scientists and communities energizing the cultural response to climate change.
Vic McEwan (Cad Factory): artist, producer and co-founder of the Cad Factory – an artist-run-space located in the Riverina in Regional NSW which presents high quality and current contemporary arts practice.
Question time panel 3: Learning from cross-sectorial experiences
Panelists: Dr Joan Staples, Angharad Wynne-Jones and Vic McEwan
Panel 4: Culture and civil society
Lastly Re-structure 2014 ventures into related political waters pondering questions of cultural production as a part of civil society and the role of the state as a facilitator of these. Do we need to refresh our big picture view here, or do we just get better at picking up the pieces while society moves on?
Jon Hawkes: co-founder of Circus Oz, policy analyst and author of the seminal book Fourth Pillar of Sustainability – Culture’s essential role in public planning (2001).
Dr Grace McQuilten: founder of the Social Studio in Melbourne, author of Art in Consumer Culture (2011) and at present Vice Chancellor’s Research Fellow in the School of Art, RMIT University.
Dr Katharine McKinnon: senior lecturer with the Community Planning and Development Program, La Trobe University and member of the Community Economies Collective. Her work engages with issues around international development, community economies, gender, and the politics and practices of social transformation.
Final discussion
Panelists: Dr Stephen Healy, Dr Maria Miranda and Fee Plumley
My.Creativity Sweatshop contribution from Amsterdam
Geert Lovink and Seb Olma (via Skype): co-organsiers of My.Creativity Sweatshop: A Reality Check on the Creative Industries; Institute of Network Cultures, Amsterdam University of Applied Sciences.
