SPOT FIRE SYMPOSIA SERIES

SUMMARY MORNING SESSION AFTERNOON SESSION

SPOT FIRE 3: LOSS AND RESILIENCE

Hallstrom Theatre
Australian Museum, Sydney
10am – 4.30pm
Saturday 6 August 2016

When the grand Garden Palace burned down in 1882, vast stores of archival and cultural material were lost, including an ethnological collection assembled by the Australian Museum—a loss that is felt to this day. But out of the void, new modes of display and public cultural engagement developed and Sydney began to recover. The burning palace was generative too, causing the growth of several fledgling organisations that may well have failed to emerge if the great centralised vision of the post–exhibition palace had prevailed. Loss and resilience celebrated the resilience of the many cultures impacted by the Garden Palace fire, showing how communities can heal and find ways to thrive after catastrophe.

The final in a series of three symposia, Loss and resilience was presented by Kaldor Public Art Projects and the Australian Museum, curated by Jonathan Jones and Ross Gibson (Centenary Professor of Creative and Cultural Research, University of Canberra), in anticipation of the 32nd Kaldor Public Art Project, Jonathan Jones’ barrangal dyara (skin and bones).

SPEAKERS

Uncle Charles Madden, Gadigal Elder
Jonathan Jones, Wiradjuri/Kamilaroi artist
Tasha Lamb, Project Officer, Cultural Programs, Australian Museum
Assoc. Prof. Grace Karskens, School of Humanities and Languages, University of NSW
Ann Toy, independent curator and art historian
Professor Michael McDaniel, Jumbunna Indigenous House of Learning, University of Technology Sydney
Thelma Thomas-Lesianawai, Youth Project Coordinator, Australian Museum
Stiff Gins (Kaleena Briggs and Nardi Simpson)
Hetti Perkins, independent curator
Stephen Gilchrist, independent curator