Stop the Moats: Recent work by Cecile Williams and Nick Mangan
‘He who lives on an island should not make an enemy of the ocean.’ Berlin proverb The interregnum that followed the 2010 Federal election drew attention to the voices of Independents, speaking free of the constraints of party machines. Refreshing views came to the surface. During his campaign for election to the electorate of Port [...]
Designing with the Neighbours in Mind: Unlimited Asia Pacific
Unlimited Asia Pacific is a platform for the Queensland state government to join Victoria as a leading force in Australia’s emergent design economy. While the Victorian State of Design Festival is focused on state-based activity, Unlimited triennial builds on the work of its visual arts sister, the Asia Pacific Triennial, to position design within the [...]
Ten Years Before and After
Lecture to the Chicago Institute of Art 3 October 2007 as part of a series associated with the Object of Labor publication An evaluation of the role played by collectives in recent craft It’s a great pleasure to be back in Chicago. I was shocked to realise that it has been ten years since I [...]
Between the Wheel and the Mobile Phone: Ceramics in a network age
Thanks to Jane Sawyer ‘Between the wheel and the mobile phone: ceramics in a network age: Keynote address’ Verge Ceramics Conference (2006) Congratulations to the organisers on what’s been a most stimulating conference thus far. I am grateful to Garth Clark for laying out the dilemma in contemporary ceramics so eloquently in his keynote address, [...]
Painterliness in contemporary glass art
Delivered as the Strattman lecture, Adelaide GAS Conference, 9 May 2005 At this moment, Australia plays host to an international gathering of glass artists. It would seem remiss, then, not to mention one of Australia’s most noticeable contributions to the international world of glass art. The Peter Carey novel Oscar and Lucinda used glass blowing [...]
The Plinth in the Age of Digital Reproduction
‘The Plinth in the Age of Digital Reproduction’ Keynote address at Localities conference at Northumbria University, UK (2003) … that which withers in the age of mechanical reproduction is the aura of the work of art. Walter Benjamin ‘The work of art in the age of mechanical reproduction’, in Illuminations (trans. H. Zohn) London: Fontana, [...]
The fundamentalist urge in contemporary ceramics
‘The fundamentalist urge in contemporary ceramics’ Red Deer College, Canada Keynote address Consequence of Material conference (2004) The Cave The Cave by Portuguese novelist Jose Saramago is a Kafkaesque tale worthy of much thought. The story is about a ceramist whose work is increasingly marginalised by a force simply called ‘the Centre’. The Centre is [...]
Magicians of the South
It seems these days we are blessed, or cursed, by long-term incumbent governments. Yet despite their seeming inexorable hold on power, we know that eventually, as night follows day, the UK will eventually be Tory and Australia will be Labor. For Hegel, the popular understanding of the dialectic is expressed in the phrase, ‘Live and [...]
Review of Design through Making
Design Through Making edited by Bob Sheil, Wiley-Academy Vol 75 No. 4 July/August 2005 Design Through Making promises a fresh take on the role of construction in architecture and related design practices. The principal argument of the publication is that new technology enables greater involvement of architects in the construction process. Software such as CAD [...]
