Congratulations to a range of AAANZ members and colleagues in art history, curatorial, conservation studies and practice-led research who had success in the recent ARC grants program (and commisserations to all who missed out).
Please let us know if we missed anyone:
Dr David Rousell; Dr Eve Mayes; Dr Kelly Hussey-Smith; Professor Julianne Moss; Dr Gideon Boadu; Dr Merinda Kelly; Dr Simon Soon from the Art History program – University of Melbourne:
Making histories: Young people as visual historians of changing cities . This project aims to address the growing gap between young people’s experiences of urban change and authorised histories of Australian cities. The project expects to produce more inclusive knowledges and understandings of urban change using an innovative approach which engages diverse young people as documentary photographers and historians of life in Melbourne and Geelong. Expected outcomes include entry of young people’s photographs into national records as historical evidence and an educational model for museums that centres youth voice and agency. This should provide significant benefit by improving public understandings of diverse visual cultures and histories as called for by the Australian Government’s cultural inclusion priorities.
Discovery Projects
Dr Lisa Radford; Associate Professor Juliet Rogers; Ms Yhonnie Scarce – University of Melbourne
Living memorials, art in dialogue There is a lack of memorials acknowledging and addressing the violences of the past toward Indigenous people in Australia. Speech in the form of testimony is one powerful mechanism for acknowledging past wrongs and creating a shared memory of trauma and injustice. Art is another. Art in facilitating a dialogue between artist and audience, and between artists and the world, traverses language, borders and histories. This project investigates art as a witness to past violence and trauma, and produces a living memorial through dialogue between Indigenous and non-Indigenous artists and audiences. It seeks to provide pathways toward national healing through an innovative model of bearing witness to Australia’s history through art and dialogue.
Dr Fiona Hillary; Dr Prue Francis; Dr Rebecca Olive; Professor Kit Wise; Professor Wendy Steele; Professor Rosi Braidotti – RMIT University
Creative Currents: art, marine science & narratives in ocean climate action. This project explores how art-science collaborations enhance ocean stewardship, focusing on kelp restoration and ocean conservation in the Great Southern Reef through technology-driven creative expression. Using shared fieldwork technologies, virtual/augmented reality, and interactive installations, we expect to make marine science more accessible and emotionally resonant. This should generate new knowledge on ocean health communication and creative technology’s role in public engagement, addressing barriers to climate activism. Expected outcomes include new frameworks for ocean stewardship and impact assessments of art-science initiatives, benefiting ocean conservation and improving community resilience in protecting marine ecosystems.
Professor Mary Roberts Making the Modern Middle East: The New Artist-Illustrators, 1842-1890 – The University of Sydney
This project aims to produce the first cross-cultural study of 19th-century artists working in the Middle East and Europe, in both high art and illustrated newspapers. Through field research and workshops in these regions and Australia, the project will generate important new knowledge about how Middle Eastern leaders controlled their representation. These images shaped lasting global attitudes towards cultural relations in ways not yet understood. Expected outcomes include a new approach to drawing as a form of cross-cultural translation that shaped modernity. Anticipated benefits will be an understanding of visual communication that can help Australia navigate the dynamics of conflict and diplomacy between the Middle East and Europe.
Dr Vannessa Hearman; Professor Kit Messham-Muir; Associate Professor Lia Kent; Dr Wulandani (Wulan) Dirgantoro; Dr Pyone Myat Thu – Curtin University
Art, politics and donor agendas in Timor-Leste
This project aims to analyse changing contemporary art practices in Timor-Leste today and the impact of international donor funding and involvement in the arts. Expected outcomes include new knowledge about how contemporary art is produced and supported and the politics of art-making at a time of generational change in political leadership. Expected benefits include enhanced research capacity in Australia and Timor-Leste and a better understanding amongst scholars, artists, curators and policymakers about the role of contemporary art in society and politics in Timor-Leste and how cultural diplomacy programs and state support for the arts can work respectfully and equitably with artists in a post-conflict setting.
Associate Professor Marnie Badham; Dr Vicki Couzens; Dr Kelly Hussey-Smith; Associate Professor Xin Gu; Dr Teuku Ferdiansyah Thajib; Mr Diwas Kc; Ms NayanTara Gurung Kakshapati; Ms Gatari Kusuma – RMIT University
Strengthening Solidarity: Asia Pacific artists & ethical cultural exchange.
The project aims to enhance regional connections across the Asia Pacific by defining and testing innovative models for cultural exchange. The project expects to generate new knowledge about community-centred art practices, which enables and is enriched by the growth of reciprocal transnational solidarities. Expected outcomes include the creation of an ethical framework for collaboration between artists and strengthened cultural mobility networks. It seeks to provide benefits that include broadening the reach and power of Australia’s diverse First Nations and non-Indigenous cultural practitioners, enriching the lives of communities and audiences by strengthening cultural diplomacy capabilities and advice for decolonising cultural policies.
Associate Professor Wallace Wong; Associate Professor Petronella Nel; Associate Professor Nicole Tse; Dr Jonathan Kemp; Professor Robyn Sloggett; Mr Carl Villis – The University of Melbourne
Advanced Polymers for Heritage Conservation.
Polymers play a vital role in stabilizing and protecting cultural heritage as adhesives, coatings, and consolidants. However, most are adapted from other industries, leading to challenges in stability, compatibility across materials, and long-term performance. These limitations necessitate frequent conservation efforts, driving up costs and reducing the lifespan of heritage artifacts. This project brings together conservators and polymer chemists to assess existing conservation polymers, establish performance benchmarks, and develop innovative polymers derived from sustainable biomass. Rigorous testing will identify materials with exceptional stability and tailored performance to meet both current and emerging conservation needs.
Professor Kathryn Bowrey; Associate Professor Oliver Bown; Dr Marie Hadley; Dr Louise Buckingham – The Univesity of New South Wales
Artists and Generative-AI: Copyright and Private Regulation of Creativity
There is a significant power imbalance between artists and tech giants in the age of Generative AI and undermining of the value of copyright to creators. This project investigates the connection between licensing terms attached to the digital tools, apps, and platforms used by visual artists and intensification of economic and cultural disruption in the arts. Project innovation flows from mapping artist’s views about their incorporation into AI-data markets to tech and platform licensing terms that facilitate extraction of value from creative labour. Recommendations will help promote more equitable industry-artist partnerships to facilitate growth of a vibrant digital arts sector through improving education and legal advice to artists.
Associate Professor Sally May; Dr Laura Rademaker; Dr Jessyca Hutchens; Professor Paul Tacon; Professor Joakim Goldhahn; Dr Luke Taylor – The University of Adelaide
Re-storying Arnhem Land’s Aboriginal Knowledge Holders
This project aims to re-story the lives and knowledge of Aboriginal Elders who worked with anthropologists Ronald and Catherine Berndt in Arnhem Land from 1940s–1970s. The Berndt fieldnotes have recently (2024) emerged from embargo, providing a unique opportunity to foreground and reclaim the contributions of Aboriginal participants in their long-term collaboration. Combining archival/collection research and oral history recording, this community-led research expects to produce new biographies of key Aboriginal Elders, re-centring their experiences in anthropological research; and to repatriate digital archival materials. Planned outputs (a book, short films, and an exhibition) will be used to support community arts and cultural programs.
Associate Professor Caleb Kelly; Associate Professor Oliver Bown; Associate Professor Lawrence Harvey; Dr Pia van Gelder; Associate Professor Adel-Jing Wang – The University of New South Wales
From Noise to Signal. The project will investigate how sound works are installed within art exhibitions in the increasingly noisy art museum and gallery sector. It combines cross-cultural curatorial research with visitor experience testing using emerging technologies for non-intrusive surveying to better understand the significance of sound on the visitor experience. Expected outcomes include strategies to transform institutional paradigms concerning sound, improved experiences for the public within art institutions and potential benefits for the future development of analogous public spaces. The project will contribute tangible cultural benefits for Australian cultural sector by providing actionable recommendations to enhance exhibition environments.
Linkage Projects
Dr Ellen Kent; Dr Margaret Hutchison; Professor Craig Stockings; Dr Wulandani (Wulan) Dirgantoro; Dr Anthea Gunn; Ms Alexandra Torrens; Dr Kathleen Ditzig; Dr Phoebe Scott – Australian National University and the Australian War Memorial, National Gallery of Singapore
Picturing conflict: war and art in Southeast Asian cultures. As Australia’s population diversifies to include millions of people of Southeast Asian descent, this project seeks to deepen understanding of experiences of war in Southeast Asia. The project expects to generate the first history of Southeast Asian war art, applying innovative interdisciplinary research methods—in art and military history, area studies and curatorial practice—to investigate creative and commemorative responses to war. Expected outcomes include an enhanced national war art collection, enriched by regional collaboration and research-led development. This should significantly benefit the Australian community by generating and communicating more inclusive narratives around the experience of war and conflict in our region.