MEDIA
RELEASE
Media and
Communications
Tel. +61 3 9925 5047
Fax +61 3 9663 2891
MELBOURNE
BRUNSWICK
BUNDOORA
FISHERMAN’S BEND
POINT COOK
HAMILTON
HO CHI MINH CITY
HANOI
Symposium explores art and global climate change
“Cultures of Sustainability” is a cross-disciplinary symposium that will present a
diverse range of papers on global climate change and environmental sustainability.
Co-convenor, RMIT University’s Dr Linda Williams, said the one-day symposium
on Saturday, 27 September, would look at contemporary creative cultural forms
that focus on the pressing issues of global environmental change and
sustainability, with water as one of its key themes.
“This event is based on the idea that, along with scientific responses to
environmental degradation, creative responses from a wide range of fields are
needed to respond to the rapid environmental changes that have such serious
consequences for us all,” Dr Williams said.
The symposium will include presentations from key Australian art and design
practitioners, academics and writers, along with a keynote address by Dr Wendy
Wheeler, an eminent scholar in the international field of biosemiotics.
Dr Wheeler, Reader in English at London Metropolitan University, will speak on
“Creative Evolution: A Theory of Cultural Sustainability”.
Her talk will focus on the question of what constitutes creativity, both in nature and
in culture.
The symposium is organised by the Art and Sustainability Research Cluster in the
School of Art at RMIT, in partnership with ASLE-ANZ (Association for the Study of
Literature and Environment – Australia New Zealand) and the RMIT Design
Research Institute.
It is being held in association with Heat, a major international art exhibition at RMIT
Gallery, which also addresses artists’ responses to climate change.
Media Opportunity
What: “Cultures of Sustainability” – one-day symposium
When: Saturday, 27 September, 9am – 5pm
Where: RMIT University Storey Hall, 342 Swanston St, Melbourne
For interviews or comment: Dr Linda Williams (03) 9925 2369 or
linda.williams@rmit.edu.au.
For general media enquiries: RMIT University Media and Communications,
Deborah Sippitts (03) 9925 5047 or 0400 844 075.
24 September, 2008
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