A sustainable practice: rethinking nature in cultural research

I start this paper with a question that is also a provocation: how sustainable is a cultural studies that does not take account of nature? What I propose is that before we speculate on how this field can engage with the&nbsp; environmental concerns that face us this question must first be asked. For what cultural studies can offer in the face of ecological stress, I will argue, is circumscribed by its own traditions. If the logics or conceptual parameters of the discipline resist an accommodation of the conditions of sustainability then we have little to offer. Yet if this is the case, what is the future of cultural studies given not only the current import of environmental issues but also the challenge that these material circumstances raise to our dominant traditions of research? Through a discussion of the limits of social constructivism and the prevalence of deconstructive critique in cultural studies, this paper thinks through what an alternative practice might be. It looks to the theoretical and practical application of assemblage, or gathering, as a generative tool for cultural research, and speculates that what we need at this time is a double agenda: to make our own discipline sustainable as we mobilize the&nbsp; particular capacities, methods and knowledges of cultural research in&nbsp; response to ecological distress.<br /

Environmental art and the production of publics : responding to environmental change

Environmental crises around the world have inspired an outpour of creative response. As the effects of climate change increasingly manifest, environmental! art is being politically and pedagogically mobilised for ameliorative strategies. The rubric that instrumentalist, techno-scientific approaches to environmental stress (and attendant social distress) cannot solely provide solutions to this challenge has found increasing acceptance. The concern of this paper, however, is the limited understanding of public art\u27s capacity that is perpetuated bv certain trends in environmental art in which the work is charged with communicative responsibility,. Connected to the representational and instructive traditions of public art, this tendency is further informed by the influence of the \u27information-deficit model\u27 in environmental conmunication research: a concept that asserts a straightforward connection between information provision, indiyidual awareness and collective action on a concern. The idea that public art can function as a conduit for knowledge,.which in turn will inspire new moral positions and behaviours, absents the art work from the process of knowledge-making and the production of conditons that enable new practice. Arguing for a revised approach to the environmental possibilities of public art, this paper will propose that in thinking aboutl environmental transformation as essentially unrepresentable, a dfferent mode of public engagement with the issue is enabled.<br /

A new environmental design : sustainable place making in postcolonial Australia

This paper seeks to expand on environmental design understood in purelyinstrumentalist terms. It argues that current environmental emergencies in Austlalia and elsewhere are requiring alternative strategies of response, and proposes the terrain of poetic w\u27ork as offering new insights in the field of sustainability practice. lt draws upon two place-making projects to advance a theory of environmental design that is poetically guided.<br /

Making water public

The recent 11 years of conservative government rule in Australia was marked by what some commentators refer to as a \u27hardening of hearts\u27 and a notable decline in the public realm. At the same time, climate change and drought made an increasing impact on Australian environments and society. This paper responds to the overwhelming tendency, which it aligns with a retreat from the concept of public-ness, to instrumentalise efforts to remediate environmental decline. Focusing in particular on water - or the lack of it - in Australia today, the paper draws on innovations in cultural theory and research practice to retum the question of public-ness to centre stage. This involves a reorientation of what it might mean to \u27make water public\u27 &nbsp;that is not reliant on the sole agency of humans

Computer Interactive Reminiscence and Conversation Aid groups – delivering cognitive stimulation with technology

INTRODUCTION: Group-based cognitive stimulation is the only nonpharmacological intervention recommended by the UK National Institute for Clinical and Health Excellence (NICE) for people with dementia. The potential of technology to extend the availability of group-based cognitive stimulation has not been tested. METHOD: One hundred and sixty-one people with dementia participated in an 8-session group activity using Computer Interactive Reminiscence and Conversation Aid (CIRCA). Cognition, quality of life and general health were assessed pre-, post- and three-months later. RESULTS: There was a significant improvement in cognition and quality of life at the end of the CIRCA group intervention, which was further improved at three-month follow-up. CONCLUSION: CIRCA group sessions improved cognition and quality of life similar to group-base cognitive stimulation approved by NICE. These benefits were maintained at three-month follow-up. The data confirm the potential of CIRCA, which can be populated with different cultural and language contents for different user groups

Sustaining collaborations : creative research and cross-cultural engagement

Increasingly, the linear, instrumentalist and culturally hegemonic character of dominant sustainability discourse is under critique, with the term accruing new or expanded associations that challenge the its future-oriented, temporally stable, and ontologically determinate history. In Australia, these shifts take in a recognition that indigenous Australian understandings of and relationships with the environment profoundly challenge the generic claims of sustainability applied to both theory and practice. But how do these radically different and still marginal understandings actually enter into the process of producing sustainable designs on the world? This paper will report on the beginnings of a collaborative project that seeks to advance a proposal for an Aboriginal cultural precinct in the heart of Melbourne. This project\u27s intention is to develop innovative methods for consultation and participation through collaborative creative research between Aboriginal artists and academic architects. The paper will discuss this method as a strategy for moving beyond traditional modes of cross-cultural engagement in the design and construction of sustainable cultural precincts.<br /