REVOLUTIONARY TERRAINS_ PLURALITY

RECOGNISING SIGNIFICANT SPATIAL, TEMPORAL AND OCCUPATIONAL LAYERS

Dr Rachel Hurst, Dr Katica Pedisic, Dr Matthew Bird
UniSA Masters of Architecture Research Practices 2019

LOCATION
Adelaide, Murray Bridge, Tailem Bend, Coonalpyn, Keith, Bordertown, Nhill; Dimboola, Warracknabeal
Kaurna, Ngarrindjeri, Ngargad, Bindjali Bodaruwitj, Jupagalk, Wergaia, Jadawadjali, Jaadwa, Wotjobaluk

Revolutionary Terrains is the result of a collaborative research workshop by UniSA Masters of Architecture students. It uses experimental ways of reading and depicting Australian regional landscapes, architecture, and artifacts as a terrain of colonial ambition, imposition, and obsolescence.

Across nine Aboriginal lands and declining country towns, 16 archetypal ‘monuments to the everyday’ were selected as evidence of conscious and incidental colonization. These town halls, silos, clubs, and courthouses were reimagined as speculative drawings of uncanny objects, invading the lands of First Nations peoples.

Each alien image is oriented simultaneously to origin, destination, and the star Acrux – central to the Emu in the Sky, Koodjal Koodjal Djookan, and Southern Cross constellations, significant to both First Nations and Western cultures. Animated as a 16-minute video, the ghostly journey superimposes multiple perspectives of place, occupation, time, and signification. What might be the ‘afterlife’ of the things we build if we consider and care for them in larger cultural, temporal, and celestial contexts?

PROJECT LEADERS
Dr Rachel Hurst, Dr Matthew Bird


PROJECT PRODUCTION
Dr Katica Pedisic


PROJECT ASSISTANTS
Rupert Piccoli, Edward Ramsay


PROJECT PARTICIPANTS
Agastya Adhar, Courtney Bain, Hana
Broughton, Nathan Buder, Hisham
El-Jourdi, Yong Gan, Ryan Herbst,
Blake McDougall, Milad Nahravani,
Alyssa Nelson, Bec O’Brien, Billy
Roumeliotis, Giulia Talotta, Shannon Wark

PROJECT INSTITUTION
University of South Australia.