ou
y
g w
pin kno
e
Ke the
in
|5|
aug 12
The chicken project
Understanding where
our food comes from
Thinking with
your heart
New research
could prevent or
delay dementia
Embroiled in
acronyms
Changes to higher
education explained
|2|
ask the Exec
SAID IT
certain death
bill purcell
Vice-Chancellor and Vice-President
(International & Development)
When I was younger...
I always wanted to be a doctor. I missed
out by less than half a mark and instead
studied economics. In those days it was very
difficult to enter medicine outside of the
HSC, although I unsuccessfully tried a few
times and instead went on to study for a
PhD in economics.
Why are programs like BUiLD and
SOuL important?
I‘m passionate about both BUiLD and SOuL
because they each build new skills and
social understanding in our student body.
BUiLD, which we launched in 2010, now
has more than 2000 students enrolled in
the program. It provides students with
a unique opportunity to develop their
leadership and networking skills and build
their global and intercultural capabilities
through formal and experiential learning.
SOuL, which we launched this year, aims
to develop the leadership skills of students
and grow their awareness of the role of
not-for-profit organisations. Through social
venturing, and undertaking projects for
not-for-profit organisations, students have
the opportunity to contribute their time and
expertise in their field of study. The skills
developed through both programs
are highly valued by employers.
What do you want to tick off your
bucket list?
To become fluent in Italian and improve my
piano playing. I speak Japanese and Korean
but would love to master Italian – I’ve been
teaching myself for nearly a year. I’d also
like to improve my piano. As a child I
studied classical piano for more than
10 years but then didn’t play very much for
25 years, so I’m trying to get back to it, but
time is always the enemy. At the moment
I am trying to relearn Beethoven’s
Pathétique Sonata.
What book are you reading at
the moment?
I love reading and read lots of books at
one time. I like the Australian novelist
Alex Miller and at the moment I am
reading his new novel Autumn Laing –
it’s the fictionalised account of Sidney
Nolan’s famous affair with Melbourne
socialite Sunday Reed. I’m also reading
Sam Leith’s wonderful book You Talkin’
to Me: Rhetoric from Aristotle to Obama
and W. Somerset Maugham’s novel The
Merry-Go-Round. I also can’t wait to read
UTS graduate Anna Funder’s new awardwinning novel All That I Am. I have it
downloaded on my Kindle to read on my
next trip.
Your favourite film?
I am an avid film goer and I have many
favourite films, but I suppose my top
three would include a not-widely-known
Japanese film by Tadashi Imai (1953)
called Muddy Waters. It’s a dark movie
which tells of the life of a woman, forced
to become a prostitute, and her child
in the desperate circumstances in early
post-war Japan. Another favourite is
Life is Beautiful, directed by Italian
director Roberto Benigni. My favourite
Australian film is Somersault, starring
Abbie Cornish and Sam Worthington.
Photographer: Joanne Saad
Do you intend to plan for your
death or shun the difficult
conversations instead?
The more we discuss issues associated with
dying, the more we help to normalise this
concept, making people more comfortable
to discuss it. In my research with recently
widowed older women, those who had these
discussions with their partners, families
and health professionals demonstrated
better adjustment and acceptance and
were less distressed following the death
of their husbands.
Michelle DiGiacomo
Trish made a very interesting point about
how, with all the technological advances
in healthcare, death seems to provoke a
sense of failure from the perspective of
the health system. I wonder if this attitude
will ever change?
Caleb Ferguson
Bringing this difficult topic into the public
arena helps us to be grateful for all that
we have, living in a country like Australia.
Through thinking and discussing how we
would like to be cared for at the end of our
life we are able to make our short time on
earth the best it can be.
Tessa Dharmendra
Thank you for continuing to open up this topic
in the public forum. As health professionals
we understand too well there are things
worse than death. The ‘ad hoc’ nature of
decisions made at the end of life continues
to cause very sick people and their families
untold suffering.
Joanne Lewis
next month’s question
How do you think the recent changes to Australia’s
higher education system will affect you?
Read Sally Varnham’s opinion piece on page 8
and email your name and response to
[email protected] or comment online via
newsroom.uts.edu.au/news/2012/08/embroiledin-acronyms
U: is published by the Marketing and Communication
Unit and provides a voice for the university community.
As such, the views in are not necessarily the views
of the university or the editorial team.
U: reserves the right to edit as it sees fit any material
submitted for publication.
Director: Jacqui Wise
Managing editor: Izanda Ford
Editor: Fiona Livy
Editorial coordinator:
Katia Sanfilippo
02 9514 1971
[email protected]
Contributors:
Debra Adelaide
Alexandra Berriman
Frances Morgan
Janet Ollevou
Sarina Talip
Jade Tyrrell
Sally Varnham
Brendan Wong
Art direction: Shahnam Roshan
Design: Paul Boosey
Cover image: iStockphoto
Media enquiries:
Robert Button
02 9514 1734
contents
Features
Thinking with your heart
6
New research into mild cognitive impairment could
help to prevent or delay dementia’s progression
Embroiled in acronyms
8
Sally Varnham explains the changes to Australia’s
higher education system and what it means for UTS staff
The chicken project 10
Using interactive technologies to better understand
where food comes from
REGULARS
Printer:
Lindsay Yates Group
Ask the exec: Bill Purcell
2
U: Said it: Certain death
2
Next issue:
News: All that I am
4
Around U: Intelligent by design
5
3 September 2012. Send your story ideas,
opinions and events to: [email protected]
All U: articles are available to read online via
newsroom.uts.edu.au
discover, engage, empower,
deliver, sustain
Staff profile: A perfect union
12
Alumni profile: Unearthing history
13
Two of U: Animating change
14
Student profile: The power of knowledge
16
U: read it: UTS in print
17
Featured event: Joyaviva
18
What’s on: August
19
Art & U: UTS Art Collection
19
|4|
NEWS
arts and social sciences
All That I Am
The book formed the creative component
of a Doctor of Creative Arts degree, which
Funder was awarded in March. From her
new home in Brooklyn, New York, she
gave an insight into the five-year journey
of writing what The Miles Franklin judges
described as an ambitious novel.
Set during Hitler’s rise to power prior to
World War II, All That I Am is the story of
the fearless, real-life anti-Nazi activist Dora
Fabian, told by two narrators – her lover,
the German playwright Ernst Toller, and her
cousin Ruth Blatt. While Toller remembers
Dora from a New York hotel room in 1939,
Ruth recalls her from the present-day
eastern suburbs of Sydney.
Writing a novel that spanned continents and
periods “was technically difficult and nearly
did my head in,” says Funder. But her vision
from the outset was ambitious. She not only
wanted to tell the true story of Dora Fabian
and of this little-explored period in modern
history, but also, at the emotional core of the
novel, says Funder, “I had a desire to show
what it feels like to be alive and, after a long
life, how your feelings about the life you’ve
lived can change.
“We think we have lived one life, but we live
many, depending on how you see it, on what
you let yourself see and what stories you tell
yourself about it. Looking back at it is risky.
It can be exhilarating, or devastating. It is a
‘don’t look down’ kind of risk. This is what
Ruth and Toller are engaged in. It is also
what nations either do or do not engage in,
to make their national story.”
Funder is currently working on two
novels. One is historical and the other
contemporary but the issue of justice
remains an emotional engine. “Joseph
Conrad said that the purpose of art was to render justice to the visible universe and I
think that’s true in every sense.”
Several important things, both practical
and emotional, sustained her through the
writing process. She placed Post-it notes,
with encouraging quotes from authors,
on the walls around her computer at UTS
and the real people who her characters are
based on were an inspiration.
“These people did not live that long ago and
they led lives of great moral, and in some
cases physical, courage. It upsets me still that
where Dora is buried there is no gravestone,
just a patch of gravel with a tiny number
marker to show someone is under there.”
Her supervisor Professor Catherine Cole,
who is now Deputy Dean in the Faculty of
Creative Arts at the University of Wollongong,
was hugely important. “I’d leave our lunch
meetings over Vietnamese soup in a much
better place than I came to them.”
Cole says Funder, being such a hugely talented
writer, who was juggling family commitments
while “living through the vast creative and
intellectual concerns of the book,” often just
needed someone to say ‘that’s great, go on’.
Supporting Funder through the process was
“fun as well as hard work and we have become
close friends as a result.”
On a practical level, Funder says she will
always be grateful to UTS for providing her
with facilities and a room to write.
Her advice to writing students is to
“keep going. What you are doing will sort
itself out, one way or another. Be brave,
look closely and tell the truth. Or your little
splinter of it. The form will follow what it is
you have to say. And in the end, this thing
will exist in the world that didn’t before.
It’s an important kind of magic.”
Frances Morgan
Marketing and Communication Unit
Photographer: Karl Schwerdtfeger
Comment on this article at newsroom.uts.edu.au/
news/2012/08/all-that-i-am
Anna Funder
Much of Anna Funder’s first fictional novel,
All That I Am – which has reached number
one on bestseller lists and gathered
numerous prizes including Australia’s
most prestigious literary award, The Miles
Franklin – was written from a little room in
the UTS Tower building.
|5|
around u
business
Engineering & information technology
Design, architecture & building
Jochen Schweitzer
Intelligent
by design
Until 17 August, Object: Australian Centre
for Design at Surry Hills is host to UTS
u.lab’s GroundBreaker Collective of
Design Driven Innovation. The program,
which is open to the public, incorporates
forums, lectures and workshops.
Since it opened in June, GroundBreaker has
already explored topics like why Australia
needs an innovation agenda and how design
thinking may fit into policy making.
According to u.lab co-founder and Senior
Lecturer in the UTS Business School Jochen
Schweitzer, the initiative aims to explore
and build new tools of collaborative
innovation and provides a framework to
tackle innovation problems through multifaceted activities. “It’s a way of engaging
with different stakeholders that are involved
with a problem, or an innovation challenge.”
GroundBreaker is just one of u.lab’s emerging
range of initiatives. U.lab, which was set
up by Schweitzer, the Faculty of Design,
Architecture and Building’s Joanne Jakovich
and Julie Jupp, the Faculty of Engineering and
Information Technology’s Wayne Brookes
and Nathan Kirchner, and fellow UTS
Business School academics Melissa Edwards
and Natalia Nikolova, is itself a testament to
the power of collaboration.
“We use what’s commonly known as ‘design
thinking’ as a methodology that underlies
our programs.”
The concept, which is famously used at
institutions like Stanford University, involves a
human-centred perspective and collaboration
that applies multi-disciplinary approaches to
achieve action on real world issues.
Schweitzer says u.lab’s programs are a
veritable breeding ground for creative ideas,
encouraging collaboration between students,
academics, industry and the community.
“We promote inter- and multi-disciplinary
work, so we really like to attract students
from all different faculties.”
One way u.lab does this is through the
Entrepreneurship Lab – a one-semester
subject currently offered to UTS postgraduate
students. Here, mixed student teams are
provided with a brief and work on a creative
business proposal they present to external
industry experts and local entrepreneurs.
“Using design thinking, this subject helps
students understand the needs of the user;
to apply creative ways to come up with
solutions, and to work through various
iterations of the problem solving process,”
says Schweitzer.
“Prototyping is very important because it
makes conceptual ideas tangible and helps
students to identify user needs as well as
test and improve their ideas.”
Schweitzer also cites the ability to receive
ongoing feedback and being allowed to “fail
and do again” as being crucial elements
of the design thinking experience that are
incorporated into the u.lab programs.
With GroundBreaker as the newest u.lab
project, Jakovich says the benefits are
threefold – from a research perspective it
provides a case study of design thinking in
action; from a participating organisation
perspective it assists to tackle a real
innovation challenge, and it increases
community involvement by including the
public in the process and discussion around
the purposes and applications of designdriven innovation.
Schweitzer and Jakovich hope it will
assist attendees to develop new and
effective solutions for the problems their
organisations face. Including those faced
by UTS.
Jakovich says, “Our vision for u.lab is
that it becomes an established part of
the university. At the moment it’s in
prototype mode.
“U.lab could play a role in helping the
university move towards the innovation
agenda it has in research, teaching and
engagement with industry.
“Design thinking is a method of deeply
understanding human needs. As an
approach to innovation it’s highly relevant
because it’s not a replacement for current
approaches, it’s an additional approach
organisations could use to do better.”
Jade Tyrrell
Bachelor of Arts in Communication (Journalism)/
Bachelor of Laws
Photographer (J Schweitzer): Joanne Saad
Photographs (u.lab) supplied by: u.lab
Comment on this article at newsroom.uts.edu.au/
news/2012/08/intelligent-by-design
|6|
research
science
thinking
with
your heart
Louisa Giblin
There are approximately 1600 new
cases of dementia reported each
week in Australia. By 2050 this figure
is expected to rise to 7400. New UTS
research is using heart rate variability
analysis and blood pressure levels to
identify mild cognitive impairment in
its early stages, meaning doctors could,
one day, intervene sooner to prevent or
delay dementia’s progression.
|7|
“We want to be able to predict
mild cognitive impairment early.
Once it does progress, dementia is
irreversible; there is no known cure.”
“It was a toss-up between becoming a
doctor or a researcher, but I really can’t
stand the sight of blood,” admits Casual
Lecturer and PhD student Louisa Giblin.
Following completion of her Bachelor of
Medical Science (Honours) at UTS, Giblin
is continuing her study within the School
of Medical and Molecular Biosciences
neuroscience research unit, thanks to an
Australian Postgraduate Award.
The 22-year-old’s decision to pursue the
world of neuroscience has her relating the
heart to the brain as she endeavours to
find an early predictor for mild cognitive
impairment (MCI) – the transitional stage
between normal ageing and dementia.
She says, studies have shown “50 per cent
of people with mild cognitive impairment
develop dementia within five years, and
people start showing symptoms of cognitive
impairment around the age of 70. We want to
be able to predict mild cognitive impairment
early. Once it does progress, dementia is
irreversible; there is no known cure.”
Giblin’s research into heart rate variability is
a first in the study of MCI. She explains how
heart beat variations act as a physiological
measure that reflects the autonomic
nervous system. “It’s your fight and flight
that I’m looking at – your stress response
versus your relaxation, rest and digest
response. I’m studying that interplay and
how that affects blood flow through to the
brain, which then affects cognitive function.”
While studies into cognitive function are
usually focused on older age groups, Giblin
is using healthy populations from ages 18
through to 65 for her initial data analysis.
She’ll then progress, next year, onto clinical
samples from Royal North Shore Hospital.
“Because we’re trying to predict it earlier,
we want these earlier correlations to come
through. We want to see the pattern rather
than just the end point.”
Giblin has so far undertaken psychometric
assessment testing with 91 volunteer
staff and students. The testing has
been comprised of a Mini Mental State
Examination and the Cognistat (a
standardised neurobehavioral screening
test that examines neurological health in
relation to a person’s behaviour).
“These two have high measures of validity.
They screen for impairment in different
domains of the brain: calculation, memory,
comprehension, orientation skills, visual
construction, things like that.”
She explains the testing further. “I’ll ask
you to memorise a few words then ask you
to repeat them back to me later on in the
test. Or I’ll ask you to count back in a serial
subtraction of the number seven from 100.
“These tests use different parts of the brain
like the frontal cortex, the occipital lobes for
visual processing, and higher order cognitive
functions involving memory, which is the
hippocampus in the central area of the brain.
This is one area of the brain that declines the
earliest when we get MCI.”
Giblin scores the results with numbers
and compares and correlates them to the
volunteer’s heart rate variability data.
“I then see whether those with higher or
lower heart rate variability achieve higher
or lower scores. If someone’s heart rate
variability is higher, what area of the brain
does that cause a decline in? Or increase his
or her ability? This informs how I can use
the information as an early predictor for
impairment in those different domains.”
The information is also correlated back to
blood pressure. Results from her oldest
age group (51 to 65 years) showed higher
blood pressure is associated with a decline
in memory skill, so those with higher blood
pressure are at higher risk for having
memory impairment later in life.
“If all my research goes to plan, I can
produce some sort of algorithm that
determines a person’s susceptibility to
developing MCI. A doctor can then apply a
quick 10-minute electrocardiogram (ECG)
session with the patient’s heart, it will spit
out a reading as to whether they’re in the
higher risk group depending on their age
and gender, and correlate this with their
blood pressure reading.
“The patient can be advised if they’re at a
higher risk of MCI and find out information
about how they can alter lifestyle factors
to intervene or prevent this impairment
from developing.”
At this stage, Giblin’s data shows higher blood
pressure in both older and younger ages is
linked to memory impairment, while the heart
rate variability of older age groups is also
strongly linked to orientation skills. “So with
lower heart rate variability, there’s a higher
stress response and a decline in orientation
skills, like awareness of surroundings.
“Lower blood pressure was also found to
affect calculation ability, especially those
in the middle age group – you need a
higher blood pressure flow to the brain to
do calculation. Both high and low blood
pressure can affect your cognition function
because they both affect cerebral blood flow.”
Giblin’s research is timely considering the
state of Australia’s already-overfilled and
under-resourced nursing homes. “By 2050
we’re going to have almost one million
dementia patients – at the moment it’s
about 250 000 patients. With this huge
increase it has to be a high priority to get it
early and try to delay its onset.
“Delaying the development and progression
of cognitive impairment by five years would
save the Australian economy a lot of money.”
For more details about the research
and volunteer participation email [email protected]
Katia Sanfilippo
Marketing and Communication Unit
Photographer: Joanne Saad
Comment on this article at newsroom.uts.edu.au/
news/2012/08/thinking-with-your-heart
|8|
opinion
Sally Varnham
law
academic board
Higher education has moved into a brave and ever-shifting new world. Chair of the UTS Academic Board
Sally Varnham reveals how the ‘new generation’ came about and what it means to staff at UTS.
Bon Jovi sang, “The more things change
the more they stay the same”. Though it’s
probably safe to assume he wasn’t talking
about Australia’s higher education sector,
the lyrics are still apt.
Undoubtedly, you’ve heard of AUQA,
ERA and CRICOS. But the recent raft of
changes in the industry has meant that
rather than simplifying the system, more
acronyms – like TEQSA, HESP, SCOTESE and
DIISRTE – have been created and these will,
undoubtedly, lead to more confusion.
You may ask why they matter. The Tertiary
Education Quality and Standards Agency
(TEQSA), Higher Education Standards
Panel (HESP), Standing Council on
Tertiary Education, Skills and Employment
(SCOTESE), and the Department of Industry,
Innovation, Science, Research and Tertiary
Education (DIIRSTE) represent and
underpin the provision of higher education
in Australia today.
You may also wonder what they mean to
you and the university. And to me and the
Academic Board.
Let me set the scene. Historically, the
delivery of higher education in Australia has
been shared between the Commonwealth,
State and Territory Governments.
Nationally, The Australian Universities
Quality Agency (AUQA) was the body
responsible for maintaining quality across
the higher education sector. It fulfilled this
function by ‘parachuting in’ to conduct
cyclical audits of providers.
In 2008, the report of the Bradley Review of
Australian Higher Education, was released.
Its recommendations were adopted by the
Commonwealth Government in the policy
known as Transforming Australia’s Higher
Education System, which sets out a new
‘demand driven’ higher education system
and the establishment of an independent
national regulatory body with responsibility
for tertiary education – TEQSA. (The
Australian Skills Quality Authority – ASQA
– was also established to oversee the
vocational education and training sector of
tertiary education.)
The idea behind the recommendation,
as noted on the TEQSA website, was to
“provide a more effective, streamlined and
integrated sector, achieving a sustainable
and responsible higher education system
in the larger, more diverse and demanddriven environment”.
This led to a new national regulatory
environment for all Australian higher
education providers. And, from the
beginning of 2012, the change came into
force. For UTS, it’s been a bit like dancing
on a moving carpet.
The impact was instant – concepts such
as ‘threshold standards’ and ‘academic
risk’ came to the fore and discussion of
the much-prepared-for AUQA audit was
replaced with the processes and procedures
associated with the new agency, TEQSA.
The university’s audit had been due to take
place in May this year, and during 2011 we
were engaged in the self-review exercise –
preparation not wasted, but of considerable
value as we move into this new era.
TEQSA began its operations, progressively
releasing sets of standards which will
make up the Higher Education Standards
Framework, formulated by the Higher
Education Standards Board. The first two,
the Provider Standards and the Qualification
Standards, make up the Higher Education
Threshold Standards 2011. The others,
the Teaching and Learning Standards, the
Research Standards and the Information
Standards are undergoing a process of
discussion towards their formulation.
The significant difference between the
TEQSA and AUQA approaches is that rather
than universities being subject to periodic
audit and report, there is now anticipated
to be a process of continual engagement
between TEQSA and universities with a
focus on quality assurance and best practice.
UTS is one of 10 universities first in line for
re-registration under the new regime in
October this year.
|9|
embroiled in
acronyms
What does this mean for academics
carrying out teaching and research, and for
professional staff within UTS? Clearly the
primary responsibility for implementing and
complying with the new systems rests largely
with the senior executive and faculty deans,
associate deans and course convenors.
However, it’s equally clear, and indeed
essential, that all academics and
professional staff have knowledge of the
concepts and the processes which guide
us as providers of award courses.
Without this knowledge it’s difficult to know
what is expected of us, to contribute to
informed discussions about emerging issues,
and to be a part of UTS’s strength in the new
order.
The Academic Board – a committee of
the UTS Council, the primary university
governing body – is responsible for
academic governance and the maintenance
of quality and standards in teaching and
learning and research. For this reason it’s
placed clearly within the purview of the
new environment of higher education, with
TEQSA at its core.
Primarily, it’s your board; made up of you
– elected academics and students, senior
executives, deans and associate deans –
and it is of central importance to the main
business of the university. An understanding
of the new environment, and your place and
the place of the Academic Board in it, is of
considerable importance, never more so
than now.
The world of higher education has
undergone dramatic change in the last
three or so decades. The tertiary education
sector has been called upon to respond
to phenomena variously referred to as
‘massification’, ‘commodification’ and
‘commercialisation’.
Increasingly phrases such as ‘risk
management’ and ‘research impact’ are on
everyone’s lips. The sector has become more
reliant on the international student dollar
and recent years have seen various factors
outside the universities’ control shake their
composure – we’ve all felt the impact of
the rising Australian dollar and talk of the
fluctuations in overseas student numbers.
Now, there’s discussion of the advent of
massive open online courses (MOOCs) and
how best to respond to this development.
So, with all these changes underway, you
would be justified in asking when will the
‘moving carpet’ land?
TEQSA describes itself as a ‘next generation’
regulator. Its dual focus is on ensuring that
higher education providers meet minimum
standards, as well as promoting best
practice and improving the quality of the
higher education sector as a whole.
As academics play a central role, it’s
important not to let the acronyms bury,
and the changes trouble and confuse. For
academics and the Academic Board, the
emphasis always has been and always
will be on the pursuit of quality.
Quality requires innovation and we should
guard against sacrificing this to focus on
the management and amelioration of risk –
though the new order specifically points us
there now, it’s really not new.
It cannot be denied there is ever-greater
pressure on those who govern, manage
and deliver higher education in this brave
and ever-shifting new world. Despite all
the changes, and the ever-growing stack of
acronyms, much of what UTS’s academic and
professional staff do, day-to-day, will remain
the same.
As we travel, it will be equally important to
understand the interwoven processes and
procedures that underpin what we do, and
to remember the destination. This is, for
our students, the high quality of educational
outcomes and of experience from their
study at UTS. And for staff, the satisfaction
in playing a part in establishing the place of
UTS as a world-class university.
Sally Varnham
Associate Professor
Faculty of Law
Chair, UTS Academic Board
Photographer: Joanne Saad
U: Said It Question
How do you think the recent changes to
Australia’s higher education system will
affect you?
Comment online at newsroom.uts.edu.au/
news/2012/08/embroiled-in-acronyms
|10|
Cover
engineering &
information technology
chicken
project
Jessica Frawley and Betsy
the
|11|
The growing disconnect between rural food producers and urban
consumers is no more obvious than in the Australian egg industry.
When buying eggs from the supermarket or cooking them at
home, how often do we honestly consider the role of the chicken?
Recognising the chicken as a stakeholder in
this producer-to-consumer relationship is
at the centre of Jessica Frawley’s research.
The work of the then Bachelor of Science
(Honours) in Information Technology
student (she’s now undertaking a PhD in
multimodal design and design literacies at
UTS), looks at reconnecting the producers
and consumers with interactive technologies.
“We need to consider how we, as
consumers, feel about the production of our
eggs and rethink our position on farming,”
says Frawley.
When we pick up egg cartons at the
supermarket we see words like ‘free range’,
‘organic’, ‘barn’, ‘caged’, ‘eco’, ‘organic’,
‘liberty’ and ‘omega 3’. However, the chicken
who produced the egg is often nowhere to
be seen; they have no visual representation
and no voice. They are very rarely
acknowledged at all.
The relationship between farmers and
urban consumers in the Australian egg
industry is problematic. There is a vast
difference between the consumers’
perception of ‘free range’ egg farming and
the reality.
“In 2011 the Australian Egg Corporation
issued a standard recommending an
increase in free range stocking limits from
1500 hens per hectare to 20 000. Whilst
there is currently no legally enforceable
standard within the Australian egg industry,
most consumers would not consider this to
be the ‘free range’ they’re paying for at the
supermarket counter,” says Frawley.
A chicken’s ability to roam free around a
pasture or an outside area is what defines
it as being ‘free range’. Only a number of
‘free range’ chickens receive this luxury as
farmers often don’t open the exit holes on
the pens. This means eggs produced from
certified ‘free range’ farms can be similar to
barn laid eggs and consumers have no way
of differentiating one from another.
Frawley, who has four chickens of her own
roaming freely around her backyard, is
all about animal welfare. “I know they’re
individual animals with different likes
and dislikes. When I found out about the
changes to standards allowing an increase
in density of chickens, I became really
interested in ways consumers could be
connected to their food, thinking more
about where their food came from and the
animal who is often completely invisible in
the process.
“It’s very efficient to treat a chicken like a
cog in a machine, but is that really the way
we want to be living?
“We, as consumers, too quickly wash
our hands of responsibility when we
purchase eggs.”
Frawley’s research project was completed
as part of the Human Centered Interaction
Design subject which was part of her
honours degree.
The Chicken Project aims to bridge the
knowledge gap between farmers and
consumers by employing information
technologies designed with participants,
including the animal, as a stakeholder. She
designed a website, Little Red Hen Recipes,
which aims to reconnect consumers with
both the animal and human producers.
“Whilst there
is currently no
legally enforceable
standard within
the Australian
egg industry, most
consumers would
not consider this to
be the ‘free range’
they’re paying for
at the supermarket
counter.”
“The exciting part of my assignment is that
it uses technology and design to reconnect
people with the origin and value of the food
they eat.
“A major part of the design process is
representing system stakeholders who are
not human. Ordinarily, when we design
technology for people, we develop a persona,
a characterisation of a person who would
use the final technology. In order for me to
think about who is really affected by the
technology, I created a chicken persona called
Betsy. She allowed me to start re-thinking the
role of the animal in the design process.”
Little Red Hen Recipes enables farmers to
upload recipes that include the animal’s and
farmer’s labour as part of the production
steps. “Essentially it was re-writing what
a recipe really was and encouraging
consumers to think about how their food
reaches their doorstep,” says Frawley.
Though the website has not yet gone live,
Frawley believes the most important
aspect is understanding how the design
process can begin to start including animal
participants and stakeholders.
“I decided to design a recipe website as I
found that, surprisingly, consumers didn’t
think about their foods’ origin in the
supermarket; shopping was generally part
of their weekly routine. However, when
looking for recipes, they were generally
more open to considering the quality of
their food. I wanted to capitalise on this
exploratory mind set and get them thinking
about where their food had come from.”
As a part of her research, Frawley spoke
to café owners, consumers, producers and
industry regulators. A major part of her
research was based on her visit to Berrima
Ridge Eggs Farm, where she met owners
Warren and Anne Stuckey whose farm
puts in to practice ideas that recognise the
chicken and creates an environment where
they are comfortable and free.
“Their whole philosophy towards egg
farming is based around the idea that
the chicken is a stakeholder and has
entitlements such as clean water and
freedom. The Stuckeys have connected their
chickens directly with their local buyers by
writing stories from the chicken on the lid of
the egg carton,” says Frawley.
Eight years ago, Anne Stuckey started the
farm with 30 hens. They now have 5000;
who Stuckey refers to as ‘the girls’. “They
have the freedom to roam, eat, drink and
bathe whenever they want. We have learned
to look for what the chickens like doing;
they like shade in summer, sunlight in
winter – we try to accommodate their wants
and needs,” says Stuckey.
“There are so many unnatural processes
in egg farming at the moment. Dyes put in
feed to make the yoke a certain colour, cages
stacked to the roof full of hens – the chickens
never see daylight or eat a blade of grass.
“When we began, I thought the way we
ran our free range egg farm was the way
everybody did it. It wasn’t until I read an
industry magazine and looked into it that
I realised the true state of egg farming
in Australia. Hens are not a ‘production
species’ to us.”
Frawley says, “We need to be more ethical
and connected with our food, especially
eggs. It’s our responsibility as consumers.
And through design, design methods, and
the enormous wealth of technologies we
already have, we can start to seriously make
these connections.”
Alexandra Berriman
Research and Innovation Office
Photographer: Joanne Saad
Comment on this article at newsroom.uts.edu.au/
news/2012/08/the-chicken-project
|12|
staff profile
uts union
union
With words like “mate” peppering her
sentences, it’s hard not to like Liz Brett.
The former Olympian (Brett played
volleyball for Australia at the Sydney
Games) and personal trainer is now the
CEO of the UTS Union. She took on the
role last year, following former CEO Tom
O’Sullivan’s passing.
“I came in as a change agent for the UTS
Fitness Centre in 2006. My job was to
transform it from a student-run, breakeven-at-best facility, into a profit making
venture that could fund other student
activities on campus.”
In 2006, “I started working for Tom and I
tell you what, it was one of the best things
that ever happened to me. He was just such
a wonderful mentor from day one.
“Tom was a guy you wanted to be around.
He had a brilliant business as well as legal
mind, excellent personal skills and created
such a wonderful atmosphere within
the Union.”
Then, in 2010 when Brett was working as
Director of Programs and Sports, “Tom got
really sick, and that was hands-down the
toughest year of my life – I watched my best
mate die.
“It was a shitty way to get a good job, but
the nice thing about it is I’m able to see
through a lot of the projects Tom started.
And he would have liked that, not because
it’s his legacy, but because these are the
right things to do – like the redevelopment
of the Haberfield Rowing Club and the
refurbishment of the Loft and level 3
food court.”
With her strong sporting background (she
still plays AFL with the Balmain Dockers)
and an Executive MBA (completed at UTS
in 2010), Brett is well placed to lead the
organisation. She describes the Union,
which includes several food, beverage and
retail outlets, over 120 clubs and societies,
an events team, fitness centre, function
centre and admin department, as “a really
interesting beast”.
Right now, like most Australians, much of
their focus is on the 2012 Olympic Games.
Seven students from the Union’s Elite
Athlete Program are competing in London.
“For an inner city university that has fairly
limited sporting facilities, we have an
incredible elite athlete program.
“There are so many complementary areas
of sport that pass over to academia and the
business world – commitment, dedication,
good communication skills, the ability to
engender support from those around you
towards a common goal.”
It’s an understanding, says Brett, that’s
shared by the university’s academics.
“The relationship the university has with
the Union is just so unique. I think we have
one of the strongest working relationships
of any university and student services
delivery agent in this country.
“We’re here for students and we’re here
to provide them with the best experience.
Now the façade may not be the flashiest, but
that’s changing and that’s what’s so exciting.
“It’s a great environment to work in and I’m
going to be here for a while yet, but when
my time comes to move on, it certainly
won’t be because I’m bored. No way!”
Fiona Livy and Izanda Ford
Marketing and Communication Unit
Photographer: Joanne Saad
Comment on this article at newsroom.uts.edu.au/
news/2012/08/a-perfect-union
Liz Brett
a perfect
|13|
alumni profile
arts and social sciences
unearthing
history
Diver and bollards
Michael Bendon
Wreck site
When Michael Bendon travelled to
Western Crete, Greece in mid-2008
he made the chance discovery of a
shipwreck. It was a major find, not only
for Bendon, but for Australia as well.
The UTS graduate – Bendon studied a
Teaching Diploma, Doctor of Education and
Master of Arts in Teaching English to Speakers
of Other Languages – is also an English
teacher at Insearch and an archaeologist.
“I was invited to Crete in the summer of
2008 to help a colleague excavate and
interpret the ancient military harbour city
of Phalasarna.”
He discovered a wreck nearby in shallow
water. His interest was sparked after no one,
including the British Ministry of Defence,
could tell him anything about it.
“It took me almost a year to actually find out
what the wreck was. I had to go back during
the spring and go diving to take some more
measurements to confirm what I had found.
“Then I spent two weeks in Kew, England in
the National Archives and I was able to find
documents related to the wreck itself. With
the help of an eye-witness, I actually found
there were two wrecks in the area and I
was later able to locate the second wreck in
deeper water.”
Bendon concluded the unnamed wrecks
were two British tank landing craft that had
been redeployed to evacuate Commonwealth
troops from Crete in late May 1941. The
vessels, says Bendon, had been assisting with
operations in mainland Greece, but were
sunk by German dive bombers en route to
their evacuation mission.
“The 52-metre vessel itself was a prototype
proposed and developed by Churchill. It was
a secret vessel and no photographs were
ever officially taken because this vessel type
was the first one of its kind.
“They were an integral part of saving
some 25 000 Australian and New Zealand
lives in the Second World War during the
Mediterranean campaigns.”
In his research into the wrecks, the
archaeologist has spoken to eyewitnesses
and even the 93-year-old commander of one
of the vessels, who was introduced to him
through a mutual contact.
“This man is amazing; his mind is so sharp. I
sent him my 100 000-word monograph on my
research thus far and he was thrilled to get the
bound copy. He was surprised by the amount
of work I’d done and the interest I’d shown.
“Unfortunately, I can’t get over to England
to interview him. It’s unfortunate because
he’s a limited resource; I’m afraid I’ll lose
him before I can help him tell his story. But
this man remembers so much about what
he did.”
Finances permitting, Bendon is hoping to
complete his research before revealing
more details or uncovering new
archaeological sites.
He credits his UTS degrees with helping him
share his finds.
“I believe in a more public archaeology
and this is likely due to my teaching
background. I really think it is important
to inform people about any discoveries
in archaeology if they are to see a value
in history. My Doctorate in Education has
allowed me insight into how to best convey
such stories.”
If you have photographs or contact
details of people who could
help with this research, email
[email protected]
Brendan Wong
Bachelor of Arts in Communication (Journalism)/
International Studies
Photographer (M Bendon): Joanne Saad
Photographs (shipwrecks) supplied by: Michael Bendon
Comment on this article at newsroom.uts.edu.au/
news/2012/08/unearthing-history
|14|
Oceanic Living Data animation
two of u
c3
science
design, architecture & Building
Lisa Roberts is an artist and a Visiting Fellow in the faculties of Science and Design, Architecture
and Building (DAB). She’s working with scientists and other artists to design animations around
understanding climate change. Senior Research Fellow Martina Doblin from UTS’s Plant Functional
Biology Climate Change Cluster (C3) is contributing to Lisa’s research project Living Data, combining
scientific understandings with sensory expressions of connection to the environment.
animating
lisa roberts
I had an epiphany in Antarctica that
changed my life. I arrived on the icebreaker
Aurora Australis as an artist in 2002, as part
of the Australian Antarctic Division, and
knew little about climate change science.
I soon saw evidence of human impact on
the planet. If you drill deep down you find
changes in the chemistry of air trapped
in the glacial ice. These appeared when
trees were first cleared for agriculture and
building and when the industrial revolution
began. From that very moment I declared I
had to do something as an artist.
As a scientist, Martina thinks through
drawings and patterns, in much the same
way I do as an animator. I initially sought
Martina out due to her involvement with C3.
In our first meeting she was describing the
big picture of climate change and started
to draw. She’s particularly concerned with
understanding how Neptune’s Necklace,
a beaded algae we all have memories
of squishing our toes amongst in the
sand, will respond to climate change and
variability. She looked at my Neptune’s
Necklace animation and said, ‘How about
using the patterns in the music to guide
the movement of the baby algae, so there’s
a relationship between their changes in
numbers and activity?’ So I did that, and it
just sang.
The aim of the Living Data project is to
bring scientists and artists together to
have conversations, to connect scientific
and sensory knowledge. One of the
challenges of practice-based research is
how to articulate aesthetic understandings
using academic language. Martina helps me
understand some of the really important
ways we need to describe science and the
complexity of climate change. By combining
stories, hypothesis, data and iconography,
we can link what scientists are discovering
to how people experience the world. You
can then get a sense of being part of a whole
interconnected system.
Martina and I are truly working in a
trans-disciplinary way. This means we
have conversations and share knowledge
across disciplines and something evolves
from the space between us that wouldn’t
have existed otherwise. What’s evolved
between us is an aesthetic expression of
Martina’s knowledge of the responses
of algae to increasing variability and
temperatures. To say it like that sounds
quite dry, but working together with
animation and sound gives it life. Martina
just gets what I do; she’s fabulous.
Although I have a PhD, my background
is most certainly not academic. I’m
coming from a fresh perspective and I’m
always questioning academics, especially
scientists. I completely respect and enjoy
the academic research process; it allows for
clear communication between disciplines.
It’s an egalitarian mode of expression. I’m
excited to be at UTS at the moment because
the tacit knowledge we share through our
senses, in all research fields, is becoming
more and more recognised as important
for understanding and communicating how
the world works. The animation Martina
and I made became part of the installation
Oceanic Living Data, presented in Tasmania
at the Sentinel Science Meeting, the Imagine
Nature II conference and the Antarctic
Treaty Consultative Meeting. People seem
to understand what we’re doing, which
is great.
Lisa Roberts and Martina Doblin
|15|
change
martina doblin
Living Data really is driven by Lisa
and her enthusiasm. I met Lisa because
she had an interest in communicating
climate change by combining scientific
and artistic perspectives. We’re both
really comfortable working in that space
where designers and scientists talk to each
other. For climate change to be genuinely
communicated, it has to be based on
objective science. A lot of the lack of
climate change progress is because people
are sceptical about the science.
We’re both comfortable in the technology
world, but we also like the bespoke,
or the handmade. Lisa uses digitisation
tools to animate so she’s quite digitally
savvy. On the other hand she’s also fond of
using traditional methods, so she writes in
pencil and leaves me little notes – which
I love because it speaks to what I do as
well. Because I’m quite visually orientated
and enthusiastic about the project, she’s
continued to engage with me and give new
meaning to what we’re doing in C3.
I’m teaching Lisa how it all works in
our research-orientated world. We’ve
written a couple of proposals for funding
that haven’t been successful, but we’ll just
continue our work and keep trying. When
you have something externally funded
it’s recognised as having legitimacy in a
university environment; it’s not just that
we’re talking to people and making things.
By being involved with a climate change
group and having someone there to give
an objective view on what the data means,
you’re creating genuine communication and
adding a sense of value to it.
I’d describe Lisa as a passionate,
energetic, ‘stuff the rules’ kind of gal.
She ruffles peoples’ feathers, but with good
intent; she recognises the urgency. She has
her own children – what are they going to
inherit from our ways in the world? There’s
a particular sense of, ‘I’ve really got to do
something about this,’ but in a different way
to me as a scientist, collecting data to reveal
change in an objective way. As someone to
work with, she’s a rule bender, and that’s
often the best way to progress things. Lisa’s
just so interested in science, and it’s hard
not to like someone who thinks you and
your work are interesting!
Young people are going to inherit all our
bad decisions if we don’t act. I’m really
motivated to empower Lisa with my data
and my understanding of the world because
animation is a good way to highlight the
sensitivity of the environment to change.
Lisa’s animations are a light-hearted take
on a serious subject, done in a very nonconfronting and clever way. We’re trying to
reach out to people’s values and emotions,
not just convey information. I’ve presented
a bit of Lisa’s work to a scientific conference
– an animation about algal reproduction in
stressful habitats – and people thought it
was fun. It’s all about drawing people in to
focus on the research and encourage them
to seek out the science.
Oceanic Living Data: Animated
hypotheses, stories, data and iconography
will be presented during Ultimo
Science Festival, 16 to 26 August. Visit
ultimosciencefestival.com/2012/tag/19
For more information about the Living
Data project, visit LivingData.net.au
Katia Sanfilippo
Marketing and Communication Unit
Photographer (L Roberts and M Doblin): Claire Sargent
Photographer (onsite research): Martina Doblin
Animation by: Lisa Roberts
Comment on this article at newsroom.uts.edu.au/
news/2012/08/animating-change
|16|
Student Profile
Minh Quang Nguyen with Vietnamese students
business
uts:international
A business degree may not be the
traditional path taken by those looking to
create socially sustainable communities.
But for international student Minh Quang
Nguyen, a UTS Bachelor of Business has
helped him do just that in his home city of
Hanoi, Vietnam.
Set to graduate this October, Nguyen
has returned to Vietnam to focus on
English4Kidz – a program he and UTS
classmates Phuong Anh Nguyen and Do Ha
Phuong set up to make English tutoring
accessible to more Vietnamese students.
“I first thought of creating this program
after seeing a U: magazine coverline on
sustainability principles: ethics, education,
collaboration, innovation, leadership and
impact. I thought, what can I do to improve
my personal and professional development
using these principles, as well as use my
experience as a U:PASS leader?
“Many students from middle income and
lower class families in Vietnam can’t afford
the premium costs associated with English
teachers, and the orphanages don’t have
money. I thought we could use the payment
coming from the kids who can afford the
classes – $2.50 each per hour compared to
the normal rate of $5 in other centres – and
spread it across to disadvantaged students.
“With teachers’ fees and materials, our total
expenses per hour amount to $30, and the
total income we get from 20 paying students
is $50. So that’s $20 extra, per class, to cover
five extra students from an orphanage. Our
expenses are reduced because the program
is offered to students using existing
school facilities rather than us having to
rent facilities. We also avoid paying for
advertising because the program is freely
marketed through the school itself.”
The program is divided into age groups,
rather than distinguishing the students by
English levels, in order to avoid isolation of
orphanage students from their peers.
“Children from more advantaged families
can afford to study English relatively early
and therefore have a better knowledge of
the language. We encourage our teachers
to create an environment where kids can
help other kids to learn English together via
group work, activities and games.”
Nguyen says their program’s student
approach to its teaching methodology is
a very different mindset to the traditional
passive learning model of the Vietnamese
educational system.
“The Western educational system attaches
greater importance to the development of
analytical skills and the ability to judge,
form and express opinions. English4Kidz
focuses on developing these in an active
and stimulating environment while also
improving their English and communication
skills. All activities we do in class are aimed
at teaching kids how to think rather than
what to think.”
The program got its start in February this
year and, Nguyen says, the structure is
working. There are now five classes, each
with 25 students, operating at the reduced
cost. Nguyen is working with SOS Children’s
Villages, an international organisation that
develops communities for children in need,
to expand the program’s reach. He’s also
focused on drawing UTS education students
to Vietnam for volunteer work placements
to put what they’re learning at UTS into
practice in the classroom. For Nguyen, it’s a
win-win opportunity.
“A profitable business is always a great
business. However, a profitable business
that can help transform the lives of
thousands of Vietnamese people through
education is, to me, a significant business.”
Katia Sanfilippo
Marketing and Communication Unit
Photograph supplied by: Minh Quang Nguyen
Comment on this article at newsroom.uts.edu.au/
news/2012/08/the-power-of-knowledge
|17|
read it
UTS in print
Hide your fires
By: UTS writers
All That I Am
By: Anna Funder
Cold Light
By: Frank Moorhouse
Publisher:
Figment Publishing
Publisher:
Penguin Books
Publisher:
Vintage Books
Hide Your Fires should really be called ‘Hide
Your Copy!’ as the writing in the 26th UTS
writers’ anthology is so sparkling you’ll
have to fight off other keen readers. Sure,
there’s some (welcome) experimentation,
the type you’d expect from a creative
writing program – a script, emails – but
it’s mostly poetry and prose, as short,
sharp and shiny as Phyrne Fisher’s bob.
In Amaryllis Gacioppo’s keenly observed
‘I Don’t Need A Dog’, a young woman in
New York realises she has romanticised the
older, world weary barman/photographer,
and watches in horror as the night
disintegrates into an exchange of ferocious
barbs. It’s painfully familiar – we’ve all
been on that one horribly, awkward
date. Neda Vanovac’s poem ‘the mexican
lament: arizona 1994’ honours the harsh
journey Mexican refugees made “walking
the ancient riverbeds”. Her unfinished
sentences and white gaps hint at horrors
unknown. In Danny Loch’s ‘Consuela The
Hippo Powders Her Nose’, Colombian drug
lord Escobar keeps zebras, buffalo, ostriches
and hippopotamuses. Wildly imaginative
(a hippo develops an expensive cocaine
habit), it’s all the more hilarious for the dry,
unsentimental reportage feel. But it’s not
all exotic locations: in Peter Francis’ oddly
menacing ‘Utopia’, a young boy’s rich inner
life doesn’t quite fit with the unending flat
Sydney suburbia in which he “is always
searching for something”.
Sarina Talip
Bachelor of Arts in Communication
(Writing and Cultural Studies) graduate
Set during Hitler’s rise to power prior to
World War II, The Miles Franklin awardwinning All That I Am, at its core, is the story
of the fearless anti-Nazi activist Dora Fabian.
The book switches between two narrators
who knew Fabian intimately – her lover, the
German playwright Ernst Toller and her
cousin Ruth Blatt. While Toller remembers
Dora from a New York hotel room in 1939,
Blatt recalls her from the present-day
eastern suburbs of Sydney. But it’s not just
Dora’s story – Toller and Blatt also have
tales of courage to impart. By giving her
narrators hindsight – they reflect on the
consequences of idealism, action, inaction,
power and powerlessness – Funder
brings the book’s themes to life. The main
narrator, Blatt (who is based on Funder’s
friend Ruth Becker), attempted to smuggle
anti-Nazi leaflets into Germany. Blatt’s
ordinariness – a scotch-finger-biscuitmunching eastern suburbs octogenarian
– and her complete unawareness that her
actions were extraordinary, in many ways
renders her as the real heroine. The novel’s
construction is complex. But the complexity
works to convey what it may have felt like to
have lived through this little-explored, and
perilous period in modern history.
Frances Morgan
Marketing and Communication Unit
Anna Funder graduated from UTS earlier this year with
a Doctor of Creative Arts (DCA). The 2012 Miles Franklin
Award winning book All That I Am was produced as the
creative component of her DCA thesis.
So engaging and vital a presence is Frank
Moorhouse’s most famous character,
heroine of ‘The Edith Trilogy’ Edith
Campbell Berry, that it has been suggested
she deserves her own entry in the
Australian Dictionary of Biography. Edith’s
curious and colourful life has been explored
first in Grand Days (1993), then in Dark
Palace (2000), though it’s quite possible to
read each novel independently. Now, having
had a career in the League of Nations, Edith
comes to pause – but not rest – in Canberra
in 1950. The city is still unformed and
Edith has arrived with her cross-dressing
husband, Ambrose Westwood, hoping to
forge a diplomatic career. Her political and
moral positions (a communist brother
complicates her unorthodox marriage) are
threatened by the increasing conservatism
of Menzies’ Australia, and instead of
planning European harmony from Geneva
she now finds herself planning for “a dusty
town that was trying to become a national
capital”. Moorhouse breaks all the rules
with this novel – it’s packed with long
conversations over meetings, dinners and
mostly drinks – and has very little plot.
But it’s a compelling portrayal of 1950s
Canberra, all held together by this witty,
ironic, charming, singular and utterly
persuasive character.
Debra Adelaide
Arts and Social Sciences
Acclaimed Australian author Frank Moorhouse was the
2009 Writer in Residence at UTS. Cold Light, the third
novel in ‘The Edith Trilogy’, was shortlisted for the 2012
Miles Franklin Literary Award.
Hide Your Fires is the 2012 UTS Writers’ Anthology.
It is one of the longest running university collections in
Australia and previous issues have helped launch the
careers of numerous Australian authors.
U:bookworms
During August, the Co-op Bookshop on Broadway is offering Co-op members a 20 per cent discount
on all books reviewed this month. For more details, email [email protected]
|18|
Smart Charms
by Alice Whish
Featured event
uts gallery
Throughout history, talismans, amulets
and charms have been used to bring luck
and protection.
A new and interactive exhibition, Joyaviva:
Live Jewellery from across the Pacific, on
display at the UTS Gallery this month, is
set to explore the power of jewellery in
contemporary life.
Curator Kevin Murray says, far from being
objects of excess, “We now see a broadening
context that enables jewellery to return to
its place in everyday life – as a useful device,
social link or call to action.
“You can give someone a charm as an
expression of support when they are facing
uncertain challenges, such as an illness.
And that support can obviously be very
important for dealing with the situation.”
But, Murray adds, that’s not the only setting
in which charms operate. “Each artist in this
exhibition has selected a particular context
in which their amulet operates.”
Inspired by “earthquakes, road deaths,
school exams, fertility, managerialism
and sheer exuberant sociability”, the 23
Australian, New Zealander and Chilean
jewellers featured in Joyaviva have drawn
on their own cultures and experiences to
create objects that can change lives.
Areta Wilkinson looks to her Maori culture
to provide brooches to help rebuild the
hope of a community devastated by the
Christchurch earthquake. Alice Whish has
designed very effective charms to help NSW
school children through the NAPLAN exams.
And Analya Cespedes has drawn on Chilean
folklore to create a pendant designed to
engender chaos, at just the right moment.
“Jewellery is personal, so it carries a sense
of identity,” says Murray. “It has the capacity
to communicate at the inter-personal level.
Plus, as craft, it celebrates the wonderful
natural resources of the land that we share.
“The Cornucopia Project by WALKA Studio
has used their specialisation in horn as
a material for jewellery, to create simple
but powerful charms for social solidarity.
Remarkably, the use of gold by Australian
jewellers Caz Guiney and Blanche Tilden
have shown how it can be more effective in
the dispersal of wealth than its retention –
the traces of gold left by their works inspire
hope that something more important exists
than money.”
Murray anticipates the exhibition will be
as much an ongoing project as a display.
“Joyaviva means ‘live jewellery’. In this
exhibition, it refers to the way the objects
have a life in the world.
“We are just beginning to rediscover the
way traditional objects like charms operate
– not through their mystical powers but as
ways of building stories that connect people
together. As well as the objects themselves,
the show includes testimonials, from those
who’ve worn the objects, about how they
have changed their lives.”
With the UTS Gallery only the second stop
in the exhibition’s seven-city international
tour, Murray hopes the shared experiences
continue to grow.
“You can contact the artists to obtain or
purchase a work and you can then leave
comments on the website – joyaviva.net.”
While the curator believes every item on
display is a must-see, he does “recommend
reading the notebooks associated with
the work of Ilse-Marie Erl, which includes
charms made for a salsa class in Auckland.
And for students, it is quite inspiring to look
at how the work of Angela Cura Mendez has
helped in creating a student demonstration
– a particular talent of the Chileans.”
And of course, “I’d encourage visitors to stay
involved with the project, particularly as
it goes across the Pacific to Latin America.
There are Facebook, Twitter and email
updates to help you share the journey. And
there are some marvellous works, drawing
on concerns such as drug violence, yet to
come from Mexico and Bolivia. Safe travels.”
Fiona Livy
Marketing and Communication Unit
Images supplied by: Joyaviva
Comment on this article at newsroom.uts.edu.au/
news/2012/08/joyaviva
Project Ekeko by Angela Cura Mendez
joyaviva
|19|
what’s on
art & u
august
1 Joyaviva: Live jewellery from across the Pacific
An exhibition of beautiful, potent objects that recover the power of jewellery in our world
12 noon to 6pm Monday to Friday / UTS Gallery, building 6, level 4
Exhibition open until 31 August
utsgallery.uts.edu.au
Shelf Life
An exhibition of selected works exploring creative approaches to understanding
library collections
DAB LAB Research Gallery, building 6, level 4 courtyard
Exhibition open until 24 August
[email protected]
14 Nursing, Midwifery and Health Research Degree Information Evening
Find out everything you need to know about undertaking a research degree in nursing,
midwifery or health services management at UTS
6pm to 7.30pm / Building 10, level 6
[email protected]
16 UTSpeaks: Our Priceless Harbour
Sydney Harbour is world famous for its brilliant views, but is its true value and
richness, invisible to most of us, hiding under the surface?
6pm to 8pm / Great Hall, Tower, level 5
[email protected]
17 Science in Focus – The Fingerprint Detection (R)Evolution
This free public lecture, presented by Xanthe Spindler, looks at the past, present and
future of fingerprints in crime investigations
6pm to 7.45pm / Great Hall, Tower, level 5
Registration essential, RSVP by 16 August
[email protected]
22 Science in Focus – Trace Elements: As precious as gold for your health
This free public lecture, presented by Dominic Hare and Blaine Roberts, unlocks the
secrets of neurodegenerative diseases through trace metals in the brain
6pm to 7.45pm / Great Hall, Tower, level 5
Registration essential, RSVP by 21 August
[email protected]
23 Safety and Wellbeing for Supervisors
Enhance your knowledge and application of the health and safety system at UTS
10am to 11.30am / HR training room 2, building 10, level 6, room 430
[email protected]
25 UTS Open Day
Attend information sessions, learn about courses and career options, meet UTS
students and staff, and see what it’s like to be a uni student
9am to 4pm / City campus
undergraduate.uts.edu.au/openday
31 Private Law Seminar – Taxonomy in Private Law
This seminar, featuring guest speaker The Hon. Keith Mason AC QC, explores the roles
of legal categories and concepts in private law
3pm to 6pm / Building 5B
[email protected]
Email your events for September 2012 to [email protected] by 17 August
Zhang Huan, Seeds of Hamburg #12, 2002, C-Type
photograph, UTS Art Collection, on loan from Gene and
Brian Sherman
I was asked recently to talk about the pictures
of the ‘pigeon man’ currently on display in the
Tower foyer. This intriguing set of photographs is
on loan to UTS from the collection of Gene and
Brian Sherman. They document a performance
by a Chinese artist presenting his own body as
both proof of identity and a form of language.
Zhang Huan originally trained as a painter.
However, he is best known for his documented
performance works addressing issues of
political and social repression. This has not
always been an easy path – after his first
performance in 1993, Zhang was banned from
performing in public spaces. As a result, he
began organising his works in informal spaces
around Beijing – in old suburban houses, village
toilets and rural fishponds.
After moving to New York in 1996, all of his
performances have been carried out in public
(although Zhang’s more recent works explore
the relationship between his own and other
bodies in group performances).
The Seeds of Hamburg photographs on
display at UTS are a part of a larger series that
document a performance by the artist at the
Kunstverein in Hamburg, Germany in 2002.
During this brief performance, Zhang was
coated in honey and sunflower seeds and
moved around inside a cage with 28 doves.
The birds settled on his body and pecked at
the seed, and finally he emerged and released
one of the doves.
Zhang now lives and works between New York
and Shanghai, and has exhibited extensively
worldwide. His artworks are represented in
major museum collections in the USA, Europe
and Asia, and in international exhibitions like
the 1999 Biennale of Venice.
For more news and stories about the
UTS Art Collection, visit their blog:
utsartcollection.wordpress.com
Janet Ollevou
UTS Art Collection
Art & U profiles a piece of work from
the UTS Art Collection every issue.
india unveiled
“A young girl, dressed in a traditional hijab, going to mosque in the Muslim majority
city of Hyderabad, India. Whilst it is uncommon for children so young to wear hijabs,
on special occasions, such as Friday prayers, they do.”
This photo was taken in January by fourth-year Bachelor of Business/Bachelor of Laws
student Johanan Ottensooser. It was captured during a three-week study tour to the
Indian School of Business which Ottensooser made as part of UTS’s BUiLD program.
Photographer: Johanan Ottensooser
UTS has done its bit for the environment by using
environmentally friendly paper and ink to produce U:
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ISSN No: 1833-4113