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All over the place : a journey through some of the problems with contemporary site-specific practice

thesis
posted on 2020-05-27, 06:22 authored by Fischer, Carly Nicole
All Over the Place traces a personal journey through some of the problems involved in working site-specifically with places in a contemporary context. The project explores the complex relationship between stereotypical preconceptions brought to places and any kind of local reality that might be engaged with through journeying there. As such, the project asks the question of what 'specifically' is engaged with in working site-specifically in a contemporary context that is increasingly ambiguous, discursive and all over the place. Examining some of the confusions and contradictions I have encountered through travelling my own site-specific installation practice from place to place, the project investigates problems involved in artists working site specifically with 'other' places as opposed to their own. Reflecting on this notion, the project explores my own journey to The Central Australian Desert to work with a place that is both familiar and foreign to me as an Australian. Throughout this journey, I trace how various contemporary theorists and artists have explored these problems and how these investigations have shifted my sculptural response to Central Australia. I investigate theorists who are critical of site-specific practices that engage in 'other' places, such as Miwon Kwon and Hal Foster, as well as theorists such as Michel De Certeau and Jean Fisher and artists such as Jimmie Durham, who suggest transformative possibilities for engaging in ambiguous territories and methodologies. In response to these explorations, I reflect on my journey through Central Australia as a complexly intertwined discursive and physical place and the paper sculpture installations I have developed in response. 

Awards: Vice-Chancellor’s Commendation for Masters Thesis Excellence in 2015.

History

Campus location

Australia

Principal supervisor

Callum Morton

Year of Award

2015

Department, School or Centre

Fine Art

Course

Master of Fine Art

Degree Type

MASTERS

Faculty

Faculty of Art, Design and Architecture