Welcome toRCS 2022

We are delighted to welcome you to the annual Research Creation Showcase in its expanded ‘up-late’ version. With the support of the School of Humanities and Communication Arts, Casula Powerhouse Arts Centre, the Writing and Society Research Centre, the Institute for Culture and Society, and Western Sydney Creative, we are proud to present this eclectic and diverse celebration of Western Sydney University’s most exciting thinkers, makers and storytellers. After two years of ‘locked down’ online programming, 2022 celebrates the return of our in-person-together event, and what better place to do it than at one of Western Sydney’s most important cultural institutions.

Exhibition

Gyeonggye: Border
Dr Bruce Crossman
This film collaboration between Pedro Velasco (DOP), Hyelim Kim (taegŭm) and Bruce Crossman (composer) uses nature as a metaphor to suggest healing processes amidst grief.
Skateparks: Trace and Culture
Dr Dan Johnston
This study explores both anti-social and pro-social aspects of skateparks, where traces of use reveal the complex relationships that occur with and within these youth orientated space
Everyday Stress
Dr David Cubby
My images herewith note ‘everyday stress’ encountered on and just off the street, public and private, I don’t believe all photographs should bear a smile endlessly.
Visualising Empathy: An Alchemist in the Landscape
Dawne Fahey
These full colour infrared spectrum images visualise ancestral landscapes created during my recent doctoral fieldwork in the United Kingdom
Showcase of Music HDR Projects
Associate Professor Diana Blom
The showcase reflects the breadth of music research projects being undertaken by HDR candidates, academic staff and Summer UG Scholarship researchers
The Unreflected
Dr Enrico Scotece
The film is a response to writing of one’s immediate direct and metaphorical relationship to place and the lansdscape as a moving visual plateau
Baxter and Me
Gillian Leahy
Gill questions her own relationship with her big brown chocolate Labrador, Baxter, and our relationships in general between dogs and humans
Pattern Recognition: Noise, Frequency and Form
Dr Greg Hughes
A collection of 3D and 2D motion graphic work centred on themes of audio reactive pattern making and generative pattern finding using an array of audio-visual production techniques
Finding light through Dark
Dr Janet Saunders
Conversation fragments combine with images of Varuna, representing the dreamlike state where ideas, words, and stories are formed, honouring the Dark's creative vision. Music by Noel Burgess
Human Centered?
Dr Janet Saunders
Polymer intaglio prints, inspired by the beauty and wonder of endangered Australian species combined with human aspects which represent our role as both perpetrator and saviour
Ghost Cities: New Writing from Western Sydney by The Writing Zone
Dr Kate Fagan
Polymer intaglio prints, inspired by the beauty and wonder of endangered Australian species combined with human aspects which represent our role as both perpetrator and saviour
From Living Labs to Lively Labs
Maryella Hatfield
Two research projects include Urban Forests, combining “biodiversity conservation with social integration” and Womsat, a citizen science project aiming to conserve “these important ecosystem engineers”
The Future Makers
Maryella Hatfield
The Future Makers tells the story of key Australians leading the way on the world stage in renewable energy
Weather System Project: Water State Sketch v.1.3
Dr. Sarah Waterson
Audio reactive and generative sea state using audio (composed by mapping weather data to modular synths) to drive a generative vector and particle systems sketch
The Australian Media Literacy Alliance
Associate Professor Tanya Notley
This engaged research initiative has been designed to understand and address media literacy inequalities in Australia
Untitled Film on the Theme of Fire
Vincent Tay
This film was commissioned by Juxta Jam, a club-style DJ/VJ event that premiered at NEXUS (Bankstown Arts Centre) in March 2022 and supported by Create NSW
Mobile Stories
Dr Wendy Chandler
Mobile Stories, is an interactive online documentary, featuring a collection of multi-media profiles investigating the culture and future goals of students at Western Sydney University and their counterparts in the young developing nation of Timor-Leste.

Workshops

...
Painted River Project

The Painted River Project engages communities about the importance of watersheds for human and planetary health through an innovative collaboration between artists and scientists.

Leo Robba and Kat Warwick
workshop2
Coffee and Collective Healing

This experience centres around ancestral rituals of care and healing to create a space of collective care and foster the preservation of ancestral knowledge.

Tania Khouri
workshop3
The Flight Jam

Calling all creative thinkers and makers who live, work or study in Western Sydney: you’re invited to attend this information and creative jamming session for Casula Powerhouse Art Centre’s 2023 FLIGHT exhibition project.

Luke Létourneau, Michelle Catanzaro and Rachel Morley
workshop 4
Writing My Place

The expression ‘a sense of place’ is a catchphrase that often defies clear understanding. As readers we know when a writer has created a ‘great sense of place’. But what does that mean? It’s hopelessly vague.

Felicity Castagna
workshop 5
Art and Sole

ART & SOLE is an interactive activity where students create a graphic using the outline of their shoes as the template. The objective is to design a sole with a customised insignia that might leave an everlasting impression wherever one were to walk.

Blak Douglas