Better Together: Stories of Contemporary Documents

Grau, U; Fernandez-Abascal, G; Tonkin, A

Better Together: Stories of Contemporary Documents

Grau, U

Fernandez-Abascal, G Tonkin, A

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Publisher:: URO
Publication Type:: Event
Citation:: Mada Gallery at Monash University

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Field	Value	Language
dc.contributor.author	Grau, U https://orcid.org/0000-0003-1906-1615
dc.contributor.author	Fernandez-Abascal, G
dc.contributor.author	Tonkin, A
dc.date	2020-04-30
dc.date.accessioned	2021-03-09T02:57:09Z
dc.date.available	2021-03-09T02:57:09Z
dc.identifier.citation	Mada Gallery at Monash University
dc.identifier.uri	http://hdl.handle.net/10453/146954
dc.description.abstract	An exhibition of work curated by Guillermo Fernández-Abascal, Kate Finning and Urtzi Grau with Anna Tonkin, Charles Choi, Jack Cooper and SPGD. Recent exhibitions of architecture depict a discipline in a battle between escapist claims for autonomy and approaches to research that are removed from the discipline entirely. The exhibition label is the arena, the artefacts on display are the evidence. The description-less label provokes the viewer to attempt to understand the artifact alone, whereas the lengthy essay-like description suggests the document on display acts as nothing more than a prop. Better Together: Stories of Contemporary Documents emerges at the intersection of this battle. Its collection of documents and stories re-evaluates the construction of this dichotomy. The exhibition presents thirty three documents of contemporary Australian architecture and the associated stories. The definition of architectural documents is expansive, encompassing working drawings, correspondence, mockups and contracts; formats that expose the unique processes of contemporary architectural production. We suggest that the ability of architecture to have effect in the world resides in these very specific documents that allude to the modes through which contemporary architecture circulates but also suggest how architecture is produced today. Each architectural document is coupled with a story. The stories redefine the function of traditional museum labels, questioning how the curators choose to speak on behalf of the artefacts on display, inert by-products of material culture and the natural world. From literary representations, to visual descriptions, the object’s accompanying text mediates the visitor experience, providing context or meaning, often acting as fictions that contribute to the work. Once on display, the text and the object work together to provoke a discourse on what it means to exhibit architecture today. The couples serve to question the possibility of architecture to exist as its own form of communication.
dc.format	Architectural Documents
dc.format.extent	33
dc.language	en
dc.publisher	URO
dc.relation.ispartof	Mada Gallery at Monash University
dc.rights	info:eu-repo/semantics/openAccess
dc.title	Better Together: Stories of Contemporary Documents
dc.type	Event
utslib.location.activity	Melbourne, Australia
pubs.organisational-group	/University of Technology Sydney/Faculty of Design, Architecture and Building
pubs.organisational-group	/University of Technology Sydney/Faculty of Design, Architecture and Building/School of Architecture
pubs.organisational-group	/University of Technology Sydney
utslib.copyright.status	open_access	*
pubs.consider-herdc	true
dc.date.updated	2021-03-09T02:57:05Z
pubs.finish-date	2020-05-22
pubs.start-date	2020-04-30

Abstract:

An exhibition of work curated by Guillermo Fernández-Abascal, Kate Finning and Urtzi Grau with Anna Tonkin, Charles Choi, Jack Cooper and SPGD. Recent exhibitions of architecture depict a discipline in a battle between escapist claims for autonomy and approaches to research that are removed from the discipline entirely. The exhibition label is the arena, the artefacts on display are the evidence. The description-less label provokes the viewer to attempt to understand the artifact alone, whereas the lengthy essay-like description suggests the document on display acts as nothing more than a prop. Better Together: Stories of Contemporary Documents emerges at the intersection of this battle. Its collection of documents and stories re-evaluates the construction of this dichotomy. The exhibition presents thirty three documents of contemporary Australian architecture and the associated stories. The definition of architectural documents is expansive, encompassing working drawings, correspondence, mockups and contracts; formats that expose the unique processes of contemporary architectural production. We suggest that the ability of architecture to have effect in the world resides in these very specific documents that allude to the modes through which contemporary architecture circulates but also suggest how architecture is produced today. Each architectural document is coupled with a story. The stories redefine the function of traditional museum labels, questioning how the curators choose to speak on behalf of the artefacts on display, inert by-products of material culture and the natural world. From literary representations, to visual descriptions, the object’s accompanying text mediates the visitor experience, providing context or meaning, often acting as fictions that contribute to the work. Once on display, the text and the object work together to provoke a discourse on what it means to exhibit architecture today. The couples serve to question the possibility of architecture to exist as its own form of communication.

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http://hdl.handle.net/10453/146954