Ecology of Culture Symposium

Environment, culture and new museum practice.

Participate in conversations about loss and longing within the spaces of a contemporary regional museum.

This symposium will include a series of roundtable discussions, a guided walk along the banks of kanamaluka/Tamar Estuary and a screening of the documentary Natural Visions.

9.45am Registration opens at QVMAG Royal Park

10am Roundtable: Landscapes of Longing
Creativity Centre, Royal Park

What is missing from our landscapes? Should we mourn in a museum? Has display led to extinction? This roundtable will address ideas of loss and longing using Anne Zahalka's exhibition ‘Lost Landscapes’ as a point of departure.

Anthropocene Landscapes: Loss, Time, Remains by Dr Hannah Stark, Associate Professor, UTAS

This paper considers time in relation to Anne Zahalka’s ‘Lost Landscapes’ and the accompanying natural history dioramas. In doing so it offers a meditation on the role of museums in constructing a memorial culture in the Anthropocene.

Side by Side by Dr Katrina Schlunke, Adjunct Associate Professor, UTAS and USYD

In Anne Zahalka’s ‘Lost Landscapes’ we see the conventions of historical museum display subverted by art that sits beside it. From that juxtaposition new questions arise about extinctions and continuities, colonial deaths and contemporary environments.

Framing Silence by Dr Christine Hansen , Manager, Knowledge & Content, QVMAG

The QVMAG galleries and collections are threaded through with difficult stories: fictitious ‘pure’ landscapes, ‘innocent’ colonial occupation, ‘disappeared’ peoples. This paper will take a tour through the current exhibitions to refract an alternative narrative and point to silenced stories hiding behind the frames.

12pm Walk along kanamaluka

Join pakana man Dean Greeno for a walk along the banks of kanamaluka/Tamar Estuary to explore the ecological and cultural importance of this fascinating and complex waterway.

See beyond the “mud” into the life-ways and histories of all who are nurtured by the brackish waters of kanamaluka. Inspired by the QVMAG exhibition, Estuary.

1.30–2.30pm Lunch provided for those registered

2.30pm Natural Visions exhibition viewing
QVMAG Tasmanian Connections, Inveresk

Video presentation exploring how photography has contributed to a shift in the perception of the Tasmanian landscape with Jon Addison, Senior Curator of Public History QVMAG

3pm “Natural Visions: The camera and conservation in Tasmania” documentary premiere
QVMAG Auditorium, Inveresk

See Tasmania's wild places through the eyes of a master landscape photographer, an adventure photographer, a fine art printer, a forest activist and a conservation photographer in Natural Visions. Join filmmaker and photographer Rob Blakers in conversation following the screening.

4–4.30pm Final discussion: what’s next?