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Instrumental

Staff Work, Instrumental, work by Campbell Drake
DAB Staff Project: Instrumental, by Campbell Drake
DAB Staff Project: Instrumental, by Campbell Drake
Staff Work, Instrumental, work by Campbell Drake
Staff Work, Instrumental, work by Campbell Drake
DAB Staff Project: Instrumental, by Campbell Drake
DAB Staff Project: Instrumental, by Campbell Drake
Staff Work, Instrumental, work by Campbell Drake
Staff Work, Instrumental, work by Campbell Drake
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Instrumental

Campbell Drake

Instrumental: Performance and the Cumulative Potential of Distributed Sites 
Exploring the relations between the site of research and the site of output, this paper is a critical comparison of the immediate experience of conducting research in a specific place/space and the sites at which practice-based research outputs are published and exhibited. Extending Miwon Kwon’s assertion that ‘site is not simply a geographical location but a network of social relations’ [1],  this research is situated within the field of critical spatial practice and explores the ability of site specific performance to activate engagement in Australian spatial politics. Carried out as a series of iterative performances, the practice-based research methodology uses salvaged pianos as a device to renegotiate the politics of space through the re-appropriation of iconic and contested Australian sites. 

This paper is focused on a performance titled Instrumental, which took place on an 8000-hectare property acquired by the Indigenous Land Corporation as part of a land bank established for the Aboriginal people of the Barkanji nation [2]. Produced in collaboration with the Culpra Milli Aboriginal Corporation (CMAC) in 2015, Instrumental came about through an invitation to participate in a critical cartographies workshop, and comprises a professional piano tuner attempting to tune a broken upright piano outdoors in the blazing midday sun. Drawing on the semiotic potential of the piano as a cultural artifact of western colonial origins [3], this research stages a juxtaposition of the piano and the Australian bush to examine cultural semantics unique to the sites political and spatial contexts. 

[1] Miwon Kwon, One Place after Another: Site-Specific Art and Locational Identity (Cambridge, Mass.: MIT Press, 2002).
[2] In August 2016, the Bankanji people were awarded the largest native title claim in New South Wales history after an 18 year struggle https://www.theguardian.com/australia-news/2015/jun/23/weve-got-to-tell-them-all-our-secrets-how-the-barkandji-won-a-landmark-battle-for-indigenous-australians.
[3] See Jane Champions film “The Piano” (1993).

School of Design
Acknowledgements

Elizabeth Langslow
Mildura Regional City Council, Mildura Arts Centre, West Darling Arts, Western Local Land Services

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Staff work, Casting a New Light on Museums and Galleries

Casting a New Light on Museums and Galleries

Emrah Ulas

DAB Staff Project: Valparaiso Post-Liberal, by Gonzalo Valiente, Amaia Sanchez-Velasco, Jorge Valiente & Miguel Rodriguez-Casellas

Valparaiso Post-Liberal

Gonzalo Valiente, Jorge Valiente Oriol, Amaia Sanchez Velasco

DAB Staff Project: The Plant, by Amaia Sanchez-Velasco, Gonzalo Valiente & Jorge Valiente

The Plant

Amaia Sanchez Velasco, Gonzalo Valiente, Jorge Valiente Oriol

DAB Staff Project: Representational Space In The Prince Asaka Residence, by Luke Tipene

Representational Space In The Prince Asaka Residence

Luke Tipene

DAB Staff Project, Pelusillas, work by Jorge Valiente, Amaia Sanchez, Velasco Gonzalo

Pelusillas

Jorge Valiente Oriol, Amaia Sanchez Velasco, Gonzalo Valiente

DAB Staff Project: Theatre & Performance Design, On models

Theatre & Performance Design, on Models

Thea Brejzek, Lawrence Wallen

Acknowledgement of Country

UTS acknowledges the Gadigal People of the Eora Nation and the Boorooberongal People of the Dharug Nation upon whose ancestral lands our campuses now stand. We would also like to pay respect to the Elders both past and present, acknowledging them as the traditional custodians of knowledge for these lands. 

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