Winter warm up — UnQualified

FIELDWORK BLOG

Shane Sugrue

This blog records the ongoing fieldwork portion of my research into participatory art, performance and public celebration as modes of political action fostering civic engagement. Considering cultural activities such as festivals, street parades, and large-scale art installations as forms of ritualised spatial practice, or theatre, this project uses the methods of architectural design to examine the material and spatial dimensions of these activities in order to determine the social and political role they might play. This work is carried out as part of the MPhil in Architecture and Urban Design (MAUD) at the Department of Architecture, University of Cambridge.

Having been embedded within a community of artists, activists and community organisers in Brisbane over the last number of years, I have made the observation that participating in the production of grassroots cultural events is often a transformative experience for participants of diverse backgrounds, challenging their preconceptions of place, identity, and community, heightening their expectations of democratic participation and accountable governance, and empowering them to exercise creative agency. Drawing on my experience as both a participant and organiser of these events, my aim with this research is to develop a methodology for design practice that a) validates this observation, and b) can be repeated in new contexts. In order to do this, I have proposed to undertake a series of design experiments that seek to enact this type of transformative participation. A pilot study presented the first set of these tests – a series of paper design exercises through which I have developed a theoretical approach and a concept design proposal. The fieldwork period is taken as an opportunity to further develop these in a series of full-scale built and performed interventions in-situ. These will be undertaken in collaboration with arts practitioners and cultural organisations in Brisbane, and paired with detailed site and context analysis, in order to develop a schematic design proposal to be carried forward into the next phase of the project.

Over a month since returning from site, I am finally finding the energy to pick up the pieces from the Temple project. Despite having undertaken many such projects in the past, the physical, mental and emotional exhaustion post-event still took me by surprise. After three weeks living and working in our temporary encampment in Yelarbon State Forest, inhaling dust and sleeping on a drought-stricken winter paddock, it was perhaps predictable that I would be an easy target for the ‘Ekka Flu’.

This week in Brisbane is the Royal Exhibition - better known as ‘The Ekka’ - an event that brings visitors from all over the state, along with particularly bitter westerly winds and an invasion of fresh microbes. Shortly after giving a Friday afternoon presentation on the Temple project at m3 architecture, a design practice based in Red Hill, I fell ill and spent a week staring at the ceiling of our rented accommodation, unable to get out of bed.

In any case, I am more or less recovered now and playing some serious catchup on fieldwork and documentation. In the following posts I will try to quickly summarise the activity of the previous few weeks.

First up - it’s time for the build crew’s morning stretches:

IMAGES: Modifyre veteran, former Temple and FLAME (fire safety) lead, and Kung Fu enthusiast Andy Price helps the crew to warm up on the first morning of the build.