Culture and Creativity Seminar Series

May 29

Milica Muminovic and Rahmatollah Amirjani – Missing Stars: Developing A Rating System to Measure the Social Sustainability Design Factors in the Multi-unit Residential Projects

Abstract This presentation introduces the initial findings of a cross-faculty research project that aims to develop a social sustainability rating system for medium- and high-rise residential complexes, with Canberra as the case study. The study examines how the built environment can support mental and physical health, building management, community cohesion, and other essential factors that collectively influence the creation of socially sustainable multi-unit residences. Conducted collaboratively between the Faculty of Arts and Design and the Health Research Institute, the project reinterprets social sustainability through the lens of Canberra’s urban context. Its findings aim to provide evidence-based strategies to assist policymakers, developers, and communities in creating healthier, more inclusive, and socially supportive multi-unit residential environments. Bio Rahmatollah Amirjnai: Rahmatollah Amirjani is a Lecturer in Architecture at the School of Design and Built Environment, University of Canberra. With a focus on the dichotomy between tradition and modernity, Rahmatollah’s research examines recent developments in housing provision in Australia, as well as in developing countries, investigating the impacts of inappropriate housing policies and design approaches on communities. Milica Muminovic: Milica Muminovic is a Senior Lecturer (Architecture) in the School of Design and the Built Environment at the University of Canberra. Her research focuses on capturing and understanding the complex aspects of the built environment transformations that maintain place identities. Taking a case study approach, coupled with lived experience from Europe to Southeast Asia, with a focus on Japan and interdisciplinary collaboration, she aims to understand ways of mapping slippery and hard to measure aspects of the built environment. Support and Funding 1. DVCR & E – Cross Faculty Seed Funding 2. FAD Research – Emerging Researcher Development Grant Funding 3. Sahar Masoudian [Research and Innovation Service – RIS] – Data analysis 4. Dr Suzanne Carroll for her collaboration and contribution 5. Others: Anupa Ranasinghe, Louise Nicole Viduya, Courtney Walmsley, and Paulo Sembrano. This presentation was accompanied by slides. To view the slides head to RomAmirjani_Presentation.pptx

59 min

May 26

Kerry Martin – A Mouth Full of Tears: Employing a Reparative Aesthetic in the Art of Inquiry

Abstract Analysing the feedback from the speaker’s major PhD exhibition, and looking at three recent Royal Commissions, this presentation focuses on key themes emerging from these large truth-telling/witnessing exercises. It explores ongoing research into art making centred on issues of social injustice examined in commissions of inquiry, and asks whether art, using a specific aesthetic approach can be an effective entry point into the issues being examined and an ongoing platform for action or conversation. Bio Kerry is a visual artist and researcher, and this year’s recipient of the Donald Horne Creative and Cultural Fellowship at the University of Canberra’s Centre for Creative and Cultural Research. Her research explores how art can act as a platform or catalyst for the continuation of conversations about some of our country’s most shameful social histories. Acknowledgements This research is funded by the CCCR Donald Horne Research Fellowship and the PhD was funded by RTP Stipend. This presentation was accompanied by slides. To view the slides head to KerryMartin_Presentation.pptx

1h 3m

May 22

Wendy Somerville – Kind Regards: Three Years On

Abstract This presentation is a conversation about a research collaboration between academics from three universities. What started as a collaboration between three women from Edith Cowan University and four from Canberra University has grown to include another woman from both universities and one more from the University of Wollongong. We call ourselves the Kind Regards Collective. Bio Wendy is a Jerrinja woman from the South Coast of NSW. She is the inaugural First Nations Post-Doctoral Researcher with the CCCR. This presentation was accompanied by slides. To view the slides head to WendySomerville_Presentation.pptx

54 min

May 19

Julia Brand – Laser Cleaning at the Victoria and Albert Museum: Summary of a one-year Fellowship

Abstract Laser cleaning provides a highly controlled, non-invasive method for removing surface contaminants without damaging the underlying material, making it especially valuable in the preservation of sensitive cultural artifacts. Over the past year, the Victoria and Albert Museum’s conservation team has applied this approach across various materials and object types, such as plastics, micromosaics, ceramics, and paintings. This seminar will offer an overview of how laser cleaning works, its advantages, and the results obtained during the projects undertaken in 2024. It will also share practical insights, highlight challenges and benefits, and demonstrate the growing role of laser technology in the preservation of cultural heritage. Bio Julia is a postdoctoral research fellow specialising in the application of laser technologies for the conservation of cultural heritage materials. She completed her PhD at University of Canberra in 2023, focusing on the use of femtosecond pulse lasers to clean the granite cladding of the Sydney Harbour Bridge. Following her doctoral studies, she undertook a laser cleaning fellowship at the Victoria and Albert Museum in London, where she worked closely with conservators to integrate laser cleaning into routine treatment practices. Julia has since returned to Canberra, where her research will explore the application of laser cleaning to Aboriginal rock art. Acknowledgements This fellowship was funded by Ed and Anne Teppo. This presentation was accompanied by slides. To view the slides head to JuliaBrand_Presentation.pptx

55 min

May 15

Manuela de Barros – The Art of Links: How Technology Transforms Our Magical World

Abstract In this lecture, Manuela de Barros explores how technology has interfaced with the concept of magic since the Renaissance, influencing how beliefs and expectations about their capabilities are formed. She considers how these cultural beliefs endow technologies with magical powers to take care of social problems, inviting us to reflect on their significance in the context of expanding space exploration. Bio Manuela de Barros is Assistant Professor in philosophy, aesthetics and theory of arts at Université Paris 8 Vincennes - Saint-Denis. Her research concerns the aesthetics of contemporary art and new media ; relationships between arts, sciences and technologies; the biological, anthropological and environmental modifications brought by technosciences; the passages between sciences and fictional constructions (in art or in literature); feminism and gender. She is the author of several publications including Magie et technologie (UV éditions). This presentation was accompanied by slides. To view the slides head to ManueladeBarros_Presentation.pptx

1h 3m

May 12

Owen Bullock – Gendai Haiku as a Progressive Force: What I learnt in Japan on the Outside Studies Program

Abstract In the first half of 2025, I was fortunate enough to conduct research on the Outside Studies Program towards completion of an academic textbook, How to Write Haiku, to be published by Bloomsbury Press. This included a month spent in Japan conducting background cultural research and, more specifically, interviewing and talking with contemporary poets and critics about Gendai Haiku. Gendai literally means ‘new style’ and arose with the New Rising Poets movement of the late 1930s, a group that was suppressed by the government in what became known as the Haiku Persecution Incident. Gendai leans towards surrealism, and, I argue, constitutes a significant form of postmodernism which has the potential to inform and re-invigorate English-Language Haiku. Bio Owen Bullock’s most recent poetry collection is Pancakes for Neptune (Recent Work Press, 2023), following three previous poetry titles, five books of haiku, a bilingual edition of tanka, and a novella. His research interests include arts and health; haikai literature; poetry and process; semiotics and poetry; prose poetry, and collaboration. His scholarly work has appeared in Antipodes, Journal of Creative Arts Therapies, Axon, Journal of New Zealand Literature, Ka Mate Ka Ora, Medical Humanities, New Writing, Qualitative Inquiry, Social Alternatives, TEXT and Westerly. He is Discipline Lead for Creative Writing and Literary Studies at the University of Canberra. This presentation was accompanied by slides. To view the slides head to OwenBullock_Presentation.pptx

1h 1m

May 8

Glen Fuller – Cosmic Deleuze and Adventures of the Fourth-Person Singular in the Fifth Dimension

Abstract What are the essentials of Gille Deleuze’s philosophy? There is a multiplicity of Deleuzes, with multiple points of engagement. This presentation begins with the presupposition that they are all actualised examples of a philosophy of the event. Emphasising Deleuze’s philosophy as a philosophy of the event is largely congruent with major commentaries but is purposefully constrained and minimalist. What happens when the mechanics of the event itself, rather than philosophical development or contestation, becomes the only focus? This minimal Deleuze is organised around three concepts. The first concept is of the ‘fourth-person singular’ which denotes a perspective beyond first, second and third perspectives common to narrative writing and understandings of subjectivity. The fourth-person singular is the perspective of the event, in its eternity and expression. Other perspectival positions are arrayed in the multiplicity of the event as a dimension of the event. The challenge is to think the fourth-person singular of any given event. The second concept is of the ‘fifth dimension’ that helps us imagine a cosmic realm of pure multiplicity where causality is in flux. Causality is fixed as events are actualised into states of affairs and correlating finite perspectives. The challenge is to think causality in its full recursive blossom. The third concept is of the ‘adventure’, borrowed from Whitehead, which helps situate us in the turbulence of human finitude that unravels in the midst of events. An applied mechanics of the event will necessarily be an adventure of perspective and causality. We have myriad techniques of adventure – from affect to aesthetics – for helping us implicate sense from chaos, and ‘fix’ perspective and causal relations. The paper ends by arguing a critical event mechanics needs to be vigilant for those dark masters who manipulate events to discipline (human) finitude in exploitative causal traps. Bio Glen is a professor of communication and media. He has published across a range of topics and fields, including cultural studies, communication and media studies, and gender studies. This presentation was accompanied by slides. To view the slides head to GlenFuller_Presentation.pptx

58 min

May 5

Jen Webb – Art on Prescription: Providing Creative Interventions for Wellbeing

Abstract The production of creative objects for wellbeing seems to have been part of human culture since the dawn of our emergence as a species. It did, though, take until the 20th century before it became formalized and institutionalized – first as art therapy and more recently as a part of social prescribing. In this seminar I will briefly touch the history of creative intervention for wellbeing, and then outline key contemporary aspects of this significant practice. Bio Jen Webb is Distinguished Professor Emerita of Creative Practice at the University of Canberra. A poet and cultural theorist, she has published a number of books on key concepts in culture. Her recent poetry collections include Moving Targets (2018), Flight Mode (2020); and The Daily News (2024). Her current scholarly work focuses on creative practice and/for wellbeing; her poetry focuses on material poetics, and questions of being. This presentation was accompanied by slides. To view the slides head to JenWebb_Presentation.pptx

45 min

Culture and Creativity Seminar Series

Milica Muminovic and Rahmatollah Amirjani – Missing Stars: Developing A Rating System to Measure the Social Sustainability Design Factors in the Multi-unit Residential Projects

Kerry Martin – A Mouth Full of Tears: Employing a Reparative Aesthetic in the Art of Inquiry

Wendy Somerville – Kind Regards: Three Years On

Julia Brand – Laser Cleaning at the Victoria and Albert Museum: Summary of a one-year Fellowship

Manuela de Barros – The Art of Links: How Technology Transforms Our Magical World

Owen Bullock – Gendai Haiku as a Progressive Force: What I learnt in Japan on the Outside Studies Program

Glen Fuller – Cosmic Deleuze and Adventures of the Fourth-Person Singular in the Fifth Dimension

Jen Webb – Art on Prescription: Providing Creative Interventions for Wellbeing

About

Information

Culture and Creativity Seminar Series

Episodes

Milica Muminovic and Rahmatollah Amirjani – Missing Stars: Developing A Rating System to Measure the Social Sustainability Design Factors in the Multi-unit Residential Projects

Kerry Martin – A Mouth Full of Tears: Employing a Reparative Aesthetic in the Art of Inquiry

Wendy Somerville – Kind Regards: Three Years On

Julia Brand – Laser Cleaning at the Victoria and Albert Museum: Summary of a one-year Fellowship

Manuela de Barros – The Art of Links: How Technology Transforms Our Magical World

Owen Bullock – Gendai Haiku as a Progressive Force: What I learnt in Japan on the Outside Studies Program

Glen Fuller – Cosmic Deleuze and Adventures of the Fourth-Person Singular in the Fifth Dimension

Jen Webb – Art on Prescription: Providing Creative Interventions for Wellbeing

About

Information