HOST PROFILE
CAST is the School of Art's core research group, focusing on contemporary art, photography, sound and craft. CAST has a wide range of research themes focusing on collaborative socially engaged artistic projects in fields such as public art, art and ecologies, art and education and social practices. CAST Research projects also partner with community, industry and government partners, which have collaborative research locally, nationally and internationally. Cast Research interests in intersecting with issues of equity, access and democracy in socially engaged artistic practice, and the artistic research has been exhibited at national venues such as the Australian Centre for Contemporary Art, the Museum of Contemporary Art and National Gallery of Victoria, international venues such as Tate Modern; Institute of Contemporary Art, Singapore; Museum for Moderne Art, Arnhem, Netherlands; and Kyoto Municipal Museum of Art.
As current Master of Fine Art Student and practicing artist I choose CAST research as my internship host because I am interested in developing research skills and learn more about current research studies at the school. As I am also considering taking further practice-led research studies I think this internship will be a good opportunity to learn and know about different fields of research and projects related to my personal interests within the field, where helping to promote CAST the internship can also help me to develop my own research themes in the future as well.
collaborative research with AEGIS, arts in response to ever-changing global ecosystems
Intersections between Artistic Practice and Education, Creative Learning, reimagine education systems
applying principles of social practice, bring changes in public with local, national and international art project
Social Practice (field of interest)
Socially engaged practice base research involving in objectives in social change and shift conditions
research and creative practices related to health and wellness
Migration + Mobility + Art (field of interest)
creative and cultural practice in order to re-imagine social-political-environmental issues of globalising society
explores the arbitrary construction of cultural patterns
interrogate the cultural construction of gender, race and disability
"Social Practice
investigates the role of human interaction and social discourse in art making, institutions and systems of power, by drawing attention to and engaging with complex issues aiming effect social change. Collaborating with artists, communities, and institutions, this stream of CAST’s practice-led research is driven by an ethos of creativity, inclusivity, consultation and public participation. A combination of aesthetics, ethics, pedagogy, activism, advocacy and/or antagonism strategies and processes underpin social art projects motivated to change conditions and shift conditions of power."
(Credit. CAST official website)
I am interested in the field of social practice research as my own work incorporates ethnographic study, participatory practice, community interaction and activism, and I am interested in art as medium for social change. as I have past experience in socially engaged residency and community art practice in East Asia I am interested to learn about the practice-led research methodology in different cultural and social context, and different study cases for different community and social groups. In particular I am interested in socially engaged practice in the everyday life, methodology for shifting perspectives of urban spaces and encourages social changes with daily inspirations, with particular example such as highlighted projects below.
Projects Highlights:
Five Weeks in Spring: an emotional map of Lilydale
a participatory art project led by Dr Marnie Badham and Dr Tammy Wong Hulbert at the Yarra Ranges Regional museum in 2019. The Artist-researchers develop a socially engaged artwork with the community members at Lilydale, to identify and effect local social issues. The artwork invites citizens to map out their attachments to place and emotions in response to the changing environment. The time based performance let participants map out their emotions such as fear, joy, serenity and anger in relation to rapid urban development and extreme weather events in corresponding colours, the coloured map contributes to stimulating dialogs around such social issue of the local place within community and help enhance understanding of the place. This Project interests me with it's participatory survey based element which helps encourage dialog about the relation of community emotions to urban planning and change of environment.
Pedestrian Poetics for Public Space
Artist researchers Tammy Wong Hulbert and Marnie Badham collaborations in Dancing Place: Corhanwarrabul. As a fluxes methods of creative intervention 7 temporary whimsical "traffic signs" were installed to navigate Mt Corhanwarrabul. Viewers are instructed to use their senses, emotions, and body to understand the social and cultural histories of the site. The work encourages viewers to experience nature beyond themselves in new ways.
dancingplacecorhanwarrabul.com
Public Reading as Resistance
As title suggests, reading activities at public resistance every Wednesday 12-1 pm at Bowen street.
Research Theme Key Person:
Dr Marnie Badham, Dr Kelly Hussey Smith, Dr Tammy Wong Hulbert
Photo credit: Marnie Badham
Photo Credit Ceri Hann
"Migration + Mobility + Art
is an interdisciplinary research area within CAST, which examines various forms of migration and their critical impacts, and the challenges surrounding the complexities of mobility, with a particular focus on the Asia-Pacific region, in the context of creative practices.
(Credit. CAST official website)
I am Interested in the themes of Migration+ Mobility+Art as my own family background has a history of migration and moving, subject matter such as borders, nationalism/transnationalism, diversity, multiculturalism and belonging is related to my personal life as well as the globalising society. Projects such as The Anonymous Sojourners in the Australian Bush by Tammy Wong Hulbert and A family Album exhibition by Pia Johnson intrigues me as an outsider myself I can resonate the sense of longing for Asian Australian friends I made when I first came to Melbourne, I am interested in learning how creative practices can make effect in reimagining social political issues regarding mobility and migration and provides sense of longing for people in flow of mobility and migration. Below are some projects that I am interested in exploring and learning from.
Projects Highlights:
The Anonymous Sojourners in the Australian Bush, 2017, St Andrews, Victoria,
Tammy Wong Hulbert collaborated with the St Andrews Men's Shed, St Andrews/Queenstown Historical Society and the Wadambuk Arts Group to drew attention to the uncommonly known local history of anonymous Chinese miners buried in the Queenstwon, St Andrews cemetery in the 1850s.
A Family Album exhibition, Town Hall Gallery Hawthorn, 31 Oct - 13 Dec 2020
Pia Johnson
‘A Family Album’ presents a collage of contemporary Australian communities, featuring artists Donna Bailey, Julie Dowling, Hannah Gartside, Pia Johnson, Hoang Tran Nguyen and Selina Ou. Featuring family units across different generations of cultures and communities, this exhibition illustrate the myriad experience that bring families together and pull them apart.
Research Theme Key Person:
Dr Kristen Sharp, Dr Tammy Hulbert and Pia Johnson
Image credit Pia Johnson, Family Portrait Wall (detail), from ‘Por Por’s House’ series, 2014, archival inkjet print, dimensions variable.
Overlapping Field
I choose 2 research themes, Social Practice and Migration+Mobility+Art as I see overlapping fields in between the two as some projects covers multiple themes, and it would be interesting to know more about both field in my own practice. Such overlapping field could include social practice in multicultural group, ethnographic studies, curating different spaces in its social historical and cultural context. Social engagement in intersecting different community groups.
CAST OUT LOUD
CAST OUT LOUD is the webcast series from CAST which invites guest talks from the relevant field in contemporary art and CAST research themes. It is a good platform to both open dialog in such art themes and promote CAST research. As I find I learn quite a lot from listening to previous CAST episodes. The adaptation of topics and discussion in response to covid is very effective and the webcast format is very lucrative for people to tune in and join discussion. However The social media promotion notifying CAST OUT LOUD could be a little be more active as I find some of the social media platform of CAST are not very active in updates.
RESEARCH DATABASE/PUBLICATION GLOSSARY
Although I can find out about research projects on the cast website and also some publishing from CAST member in RMIT library and RMIT research repository, it seems to me that CAST does not have its own publishing and documentation archive/database/glossary other then the information on its website. Although common academic search tools such as google scholar is handy to use I think having CAST's own publishing archive helps making CAST research easier to access for both members, people in School of Art and even for general viewers. It would also help improve sufficiency in research and communications. I choose to curate reading lists in the field of Social Practice and Migration+Mobility+Art in my expression of interest as I think it is a interesting direction for CAST to take in curating their own resource, I also want to challenge myself in curating publishings in these research field, while also gain knowledge from both themes.