Arts Newsletter September 2016

Tony Sagona Jenny Taing Ted Gott Alumni Awards Richard Flanagan Arts West October 2016

Faculty of Arts The University of Melbourne

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arts.unimelb.edu.au/articulation

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Articulation is published by the Faculty of Arts, the University of Melbourne. We welcome your feedback at arts-alumni@unimelb.edu.au Find us online at arts.unimelb.edu.au/articulation 02

Copyright of this publication is owned by the University and no part of it may be reproduced without the permission of the University.

Authorised by the Executive Director, Faculty of Arts. September 2016.

Cover: Arts West features a stunning facade with representations of images from the University’s rich cultural collections.

Cover image: Peter Casamento. This page: inside Arts West. Image: John Gollings.

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From the Dean Professor Mark Considine It is my pleasure to welcome you to this special printed edition of Articulation. As valued alumni I’m hoping this news from the Faculty will encourage you to further connect with our vibrant and active Arts alumni community. If you would like to receive future editions of Articulation please update your contact details with your current email address.

This year has marked one of the biggest developments in humanities and social sciences education at the University in many years, with the completion and opening of Arts West at the start of Semester Two. A milestone in the history of the Faculty, Arts West provides a strong foundation for teaching innovation and adaptability to current and future pedagogies in the Bachelor of Arts. The new spaces provide superb resources for teaching and learning and provide our undergraduate students with a distinctive new home in the historical heart of the Parkville campus, adjacent to the iconic Old Arts building. I encourage you to return to campus and explore Arts West including the many exhibitions on display throughout the building. You can also take the opportunity to visit the ‘After Shakespeare’ exhibition, commemorating the 400th anniversary of the Bard’s death, in the Baillieu Library next door.

We have just concluded another popular four-part series of Melbourne Masterclasses delivered in partnership with the National Gallery of Victoria as part of this year’s Melbourne Winter Masterpieces, Degas: A New Vision. Alumni and friends were given exclusive access to the exhibition and were taken on a rich journey of discovery on the life and art of Edgar Degas, the celebrated Realist painter associated with the Paris Impressionists. To learn more about the Faculty’s community education programs, visit our website, arts.unimelb.edu.au/#engage and update your contact details to be the first to know about what’s on offer. Our sell-out 10 Great Books series has become one of our most successful programs: by updating your details, you will automatically register for the chance to receive a free double pass to next year’s program.

Many of these Masterclasses would not be possible without our valued industry partners. These partnerships enrich our teaching and research and extend our engagement with the broader community.

In collaboration with Schwartz Media, we are pleased to offer you a copy of the latest edition of the Monthly as part of this partnership. This edition provides the usual insightful, engaging and quality content we have come to expect. In particular, I would like to draw your attention to the transcript of Richard Flanagan’s recent keynote address ‘Does Writing Matter?’ delivered at the 2016 Melbourne Writers Festival, another wonderful and long-standing Faculty partner. Richard was appointed Founding Boisbouvier Chair of Australian Literature at the University last year. Established by the very generous support of Mr John Wylie and Mrs Myriam Boisbouvier-Wylie, the Chair plays a pivotal role in the partnership between the University and State Library Victoria. We look forward to offering you further engagement opportunities with Richard throughout his tenure.

A milestone in the history of the Faculty, Arts West provides a strong foundation for teaching innovation and adaptability to current and future pedagogies in the Bachelor of Arts.

On a final note, it is always inspiring to learn about the achievements of our alumni.

I was delighted to read the story about Jenny Taing’s success. Jenny received our 2014 Rising Star Award for Young Alumni and has used her good fortune to give back to the Faculty by becoming a 110 Scholarship Donor. These scholarships are critical, enabling students from less advantaged backgrounds to reach their full potential. I urge anyone who is able to contribute to visit the 110 Scholarship site, read the powerful stories of students who have benefited from the scheme and consider becoming a donor yourself.

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Inside Arts West. Images: John Gollings

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Arts West An exciting new era for the Faculty of Arts began with the start of Semester Two and the opening of the new Arts West building.

This stunning five-star energy-rated building is located at the heart of the traditional Arts precinct on the Parkville campus, next to the Faculty’s historic home in Old Arts.

Arts West is a modern, open-spaced building that improves the undergraduate student experience. It provides greater access to informal learning areas, increased access to the University’s cultural collections, and dynamic teaching and learning spaces.

The new building is also home to the School of Historical and Philosophical Studies, which houses some of the oldest disciplines at the University. These academic disciplines and students will benefit from Arts West’s provision of the latest interactive and participatory learning spaces.

The new building’s visual impact is immediate, with representations of images from the University’s rich cultural collections. One of the feature images on the north façade is by Indigenous artist Tommy McRae.

The Faculty has also incorporated two object based learning laboratories into the design of Arts West, enabling staff and students to work with material collections in the classroom.

Curators have also worked alongside staff to create cabinets of curiosities throughout the building, which build on the learning experience outside of the formal classroom.

Professor Mark Considine, Dean of the Faculty of Arts, said the entire building makes an impression both inside and out.

“The focus of Arts West on immersive, interactive and collaborative learning is unsurpassed in the Asia Pacific region,” he said.

“The student experience is at the top of our priorities and underlines the high international standing of our programs and research strengths.

“Arts West is an innovative, amazing and fun place that opens our minds to the rich possibilities of an Arts education.”

Professor Glyn Davis, the University’s Vice-Chancellor, said Arts West transforms the way humanities and social sciences are taught at the University.

“It will be a true student hub, with 24 new teaching and learning spaces, a digital studio and a façade displaying images from our cultural collections,” said Professor Davis.

“A key theme is connectivity, embodied here in the principle of interdisciplinarity, which informs teaching and research in the humanities and social sciences at Melbourne, and the significant connection the Faculty of Arts has to our University and city.”

Arts West was designed by the architectural teams of ARM Architecture & Architectus and was built in partnership with Kane Constructions.

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Archaeology at the Mountain Top A Day on a Dig in the Southern Caucasus

By Professor Antonio Sagona and Dr Claudia Sagona, School of Historical and Philosophical Studies, Faculty of Arts Summer is late this year, according to the locals of Zveli, a highland village of stockbreeders and horticulturalists. The village sits over 1600 metres above sea level.

It’s here each year we set up the centre of our archaeological operations.

Sandwiched between the Black and Caspian Seas, the isthmus of the Caucasus experiences a variety of climates. Here, storm clouds roll over the snow-capped mountains of southern Georgia – a pearl at the crossroads of easternmost Europe and western Asia.

“...[the] focus: to uncover the ancient settlements of Chobareti and Rabati.

They collectively cover more than 5000 years of human occupation...”

We’re here for the Georgian-Australian Investigations in Archaeology (GAIA) project. It’s a collaborative initiative between the University of Melbourne and the Georgian National Museum, Tbilisi, and began in 2008. A global team of excavators and conservators, object specialists and scientists, surveyors and

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architects comprised of senior staff, students and alumni, have a singular focus: to uncover the ancient settlements of Chobareti and Rabati. They collectively cover more than 5000 years of human occupation, from around 3500 BC (the Bronze Age) through the Iron Age and Medieval settlement to the 19th century, when the region was on the cusp of the Ottoman Empire.

Below our site lies the dramatic Upper Kura River Valley, just 20 km from the border of Turkey. The deep history of this region has been shaped by the flow of people and ideas between the Russian steppes and the ancient civilizations of the Middle East. Not long ago this was a militarised area and outof-bounds during the Soviet period. Against this background, we’re aware that our team of archaeologists has a pioneer quality.

The on-site dig house is buzzing with activity. Thousands of objects and pottery sherds are washed and analysed in the course of our field work. Eventually, some are pieced together by the conservation staff.

Barely an hour after breakfast, the botanist is already muddy, and wet soil samples are poured into the flotation tank. It allows the remains of seeds and cereals planted many thousands of years ago to be caught in fine nets. When dry, these organic samples will tell us a lot about ancient diets and economy.

Many exciting discoveries come to light, among them a building, simply known as ‘Structure 6’. It’s one of several terrace houses partly dug into the mountain slope at Chobareti, and its extraordinary preservation has ensured a wealth of information. By the time the excavators reach the floor level, they’ve exposed a stone wall more than two metres high, as well as numerous ceramic vessels, grinding stones and other items still in situ. Embedded in the floor is an impressive circular hearth.

Hearths are often decorated with symbols, usually displaying human or animal elements. In this Bronze Age culture, which had no public temples or sanctuaries, it’s likely that religious expression was carried out in houses. But without texts to guide us, it’s virtually impossible to know what type of belief system prevailed, but material remains go a long way in giving us clues.

We conduct this excavation for six weeks during the mid-year break in June and July.

Recently, the project has facilitated two field surveys of the surrounding landscape.

Our teams are often multi-national – Australia, Georgia, USA, UK, Italy, Belgium, Turkey and New Zealand. The project also employs just as many locals to assist with the excavation. Yet, while several languages are spoken on the dig, the lingua franca is archaeology.

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Sickle blade

Obsidian blades

Spiral decoration

Black cup

Visit Articulation online to see full gallery of images from the dig: arts.unimelb.edu.au/articulation

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In my own words:

Dr Ted Gott Senior Curator, International Art, National Gallery of Victoria I had many inspiring mentors and lecturers at the University of Melbourne during my doctoral and undergrad years of study. I enrolled in study thinking I was going to be a French teacher. The first extraordinary lecturer in the department was Micheline Goroux who gave her lectures entirely in French. At first that was very daunting, and totally immersive. It was French in the deep end! I also enrolled in English and Fine Arts, and Classical Studies. As my undergrad developed I dropped away English and French, and took up Latin and Ancient Greek.

I had always loved classical art, and the National Gallery of Victoria. I started visiting the gallery at the age of seven and I used to haunt the classical sculpture section of the bookstore. It was natural for me to gravitate towards Classical Studies. In Art History there were wonderful, wonderful lecturers such as Margaret Manion, Margaret Riddle and Margaret Plant. The Classics Department was just bursting with wonderful, creative and inspiring people such as Graeme Clarke, George Gellie, Roger Scott, Rob Jackson, Peter Connor and Ann Galballay who then became my supervisor. At the end of my BA I had to choose whether to do Classics or Art History for my PhD. I chose Art History and worked on a French artist, Odilon Redon, a symbolist painter. Undertaking a PhD was solitary, but inspiring. It was a wonderful time to be at the University.

I love stories from history, and that is what attracts me about art history. Art tells visual stories, but art is also a door that

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opens up corridors, into pathways, into types of cultures that you might otherwise miss. That’s what happened for me with the gorilla (Dr Gott co-authored the acclaimed ‘Gorilla’, which recounts the history of man’s relationship to the noble beast). I discovered a sculpture by artist Emmanuel Fremiet, called Gorilla Carrying Off a Woman, and it was an image that became a flashpoint at a time when gorillas were at the centre of debates around Darwin. I was interested in how the gorilla became the phantom on which people projected their fears.

It led to an exhibition with my colleague Kathryn Weir called Kiss of the Beast at the Queensland Art Gallery.

Ted Gott, Senior Curator of International Art

fear associated with the disease. It was a difficult and painful show to do, because many of the artists were ill, and a number of them died just after the show opened.

The gallery thought it might receive an audience of around 10,000 people and they

“The joy of history and the joy of going back to other times, that not only fascinate us because of what we learn, but the way in which they inform attitudes today.”

The common thread is this love that I have in finding strange stories that come out of looking at art, and then putting these stories together in a way, whether it be a lecture, or an article, or an exhibition, that I can share with other people. The joy of history and the joy of going back to other times, that not only fascinate us because of what we learn, but the way in which they inform attitudes today. Essentially human nature doesn’t change, unfortunately, and that is what makes history alive. The mistakes and discoveries made in the past have the same emotional resonance and excitement as if they were happening today because human emotion is identical.

were quite amazed when an audience of 140,000 people attended. What it turned out to be was an incredible touch point that gave everyone who had been touched by the disease a place to go and express their emotion, and to find a cathartic outlet to express what they had gone through. It became an extraordinary phenomenon.

The Don’t Leave Me This Way: Art in the Age of AIDS exhibition that I put on in Canberra (at the National Gallery of Australia) in 1994 was incredibly brave of Betty Churcher to support. [This was] at a time when there was still so much

Both institutions [The University and the NGV] are about scholarship and learning, they’re about teaching and reaching out to new audiences and publics.

I think our partnership is a wonderful thing, using exhibitions that we’re putting

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on to bring together the Masterclass programmes that are taking audiences in a variety of directions. Whether it is Catherine the Great or the Museo del Prado show, I think the partnership of the Gallery and the University has enabled both institutions to think out of the box, to look at new ways of engaging with audiences, and bring to life the relevance and the wonder of history. Whether I’m giving a lecture here or at the University, it’s the same thing. I’m trying to share with people what knowledge I’ve been able to discover, through the privilege of this career.

There have been so many great people in my life. Rob Jackson facilitated my entry into Ormond College, through a classical fellowship to go there. Margaret Manion was unstinting in her support of me. Working here at the NGV, my first mentors were Sonia Dean and Irena Zdanowicz. When I started here as curator of prints and drawings, I knew nothing about being a curator and they took me under their wing. Betty Churcher was

fantastic in enabling me to grow and supporting the AIDS exhibition. It’s really hard to underestimate how controversial a thing that was to do at the time. It still is the only exhibition held about AIDS at a national gallery anywhere in the world.

When I went through undergrad, there was no curatorship course. Now there are many curatorship courses, but very few positions when you graduate. There are many different ways to enter the museum profession, many valid ways. Curators are just one tiny part of a museum. To put on an exhibition like Degas, it involves almost all of the 300 museum staff. So whether you are in sponsorship, marketing, security, exhibition design, graphic design or publicity, there are so many different layers and different ways to enter the museum.

[Receiving the] Ordre des Arts et des Letters, I was very humbled by it. It has made me more determined than ever to share my love of French art and culture as widely as possible.

Faculty alumnus Dr Ted Gott is Senior Curator, International Art at the NGV and an Honorary Fellow in the School of Culture and Communication. He has previously held roles as Curator at the National Gallery of Australia and Senior Curator at the Heide Museum of Modern Arts. In June 2016 he was awarded a Knighthood from the French government for services to French culture, The Ordre des Arts et des Lettres (Order of Arts and Letters). This highly prestigious award recognises significant contributions to the field of arts or literature and the propagation of these fields.

Dr Gott recently delivered a Faculty of Arts Dean’s Lecture entitled Art and Detection: Investigating Louis Duffy, a forgotten British painter of the Second World War which can be viewed online at http://go.unimelb.edu.au/6aca

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Closing the Gender Gap in Business Leadership Jenny Taing, alumna of the Faculty of Arts, excels in an industry traditionally dominated by senior, male peers – the financial services industry.

Her success has earned her the Hugh D.T. Williamson Scholarship 2015, a single national scholarship awarded by the Financial Institute of Australasia (Finsia), which sent Jenny to the Harvard Business School in June this year. The scholarship and the opportunity to attend one of the world’s most esteemed institutions has been a life changing event for Jenny and is allowing her to take the next step in her legal and non-executive director career.

Coming from a disadvantaged and refugee background, and, as the first person in her family to receive a tertiary education, attending the University of Melbourne and Harvard Business School seemed an almost impossible outcome growing up. ‘My parents couldn’t read or write English, and we grew up with very little … we didn’t have access to books. The first time I ever saw a book and was read to, was when I started primary school. Mum recounts that as a little girl, I had a passion for learning and would read the YellowPages and the Melways to practise my English.’

“Being a leader in a male dominated industry, it’s really important to have a strong professional network that you can tap into for advice and support.”

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Today, Jenny is a successful financial services lawyer and one of Australia’s youngest non-executive directors. She is the youngest to ever be appointed to a health service board in Victoria and the youngest to ever be appointed to the board of the national health regulator; The Australian Health Practitioner Regulation Agency (AHPRA). She is also very involved with the University, serving as the Vice-President of the Alumni Council, Chair of the Alumni Giving Committee and is an advisory board member of the Centre for Advancing Journalism. Jenny has been recognised as one of Australia’s young business leaders, appearing on CPA Australia’s INTHEBLACK Magazine Top 40 Young Business Leaders List for 2013, and received the University of Melbourne Faculty of Arts Rising Star Alumni Award for 2014, awarded for her commendable leadership and outstanding contribution in the fields of Public Health, Multicultural Policy and Journalism.

Jenny has returned from Harvard with renewed passion and direction in her career and has some insights for women who are pursuing leadership in business.

‘Being a leader in a male dominated industry, it’s really important to have a strong professional network that you can tap into for advice and support. One of the exercises we did at Harvard was to map our network and reflect on how wide it was, relative to our immediate business and day-to-day role.

An observation was made that sometimes as leaders, we surround ourselves with people that provide us with a lot of positive reinforcement and who always tell us we are doing a great job. It’s therefore important

to have people in your network that can give you honest and constructive feedback.

Often, it’s those in your network who are actually further away from your immediate day- to-day role that are better positioned to provide you with these invaluable insights.’

Education has been empowering for Jenny and as a scholarship recipient herself, she is excited to have recently become a donor to the Faculty of Arts’ 110 Scholarship, which was created to assist students who struggle to find the means to come to the University. Students are often hampered by circumstances beyond their control, and the 110 Scholarship rallies community support for those who have demonstrated the skill and creative acumen to excel academically but struggle, through no fault of their own, to meet financial commitments.

To learn more about the 110 Scholarship, and meet some of the past recipients, please visit the Faculty’s website at: http://go.unimelb.edu.au/93wa

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Arts Alumni Award Winners: Chris Wallace-Crabbe, Lily Yulianti, Lucy Thomas, Gary Foley and Jason Ball

Snapshots Recognising Alumni Achievements The annual Arts Alumni Awards honour alumni contributions to society in the arts, media, government, business and community. Such achievements underline the importance of an Arts education.

In 2016, Professor Gary Foley (BA(Hons), PhD) received a Lifetime Achievement Award for his contribution to Aboriginal Australian advocacy, welfare and rights. Emeritus Professor Chris Wallace-Crabbe (BA, MA, DLitt) received a Contribution to the Faculty and University Award for supporting poetry, scholarship

and education over many years. Dr Lily Yulianti (GradDipArts (GS), MA (Gen&Dev), PhD) received a Leadership Award for her community and organisational development in Indonesian and Australian media and communications. Jason Ball (BA) received a Rising Star Award for his leadership in anti-discrimination and LGBT advocacy. Another Rising Star, Lucy Thomas (BCA(Hons), PGradDipPsych), was recognised for her social advocacy and education in anti-bullying. To find out more about the Arts Alumni Awards, go to arts.unimelb.edu.au/#engage

Understanding Child Refugees Professor Joy Damousi, from the School of Historical and Philosophical Studies, has received an Australian Laureate Fellowship along with fifteen other illustrious professors around the country. The Fellowship allows Professor Damousi to further explore her detailed research into the history of the paidomazoma – the removal of children to Australia during the Greek Civil War in the 1940s. Her new project will examine the broader history of child refugees seeking asylum in Australia, asking questions about how the past informs current and future approaches to immigration and refuge. The Australian Research Council awarded Professor Damousi the Fellowship. It gives her five years of full-time research and the capacity for team building and student scholarships within the Faculty of Arts’ history programs.

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Snapshots Special Collections, the Grainger Museum. Image: Casamento Photography

Shakespeare still matters 400 years since his death, Shakespeare’s plays still tackle humanity’s challenges. The Bard’s questions of identity, race, terror, sex, violence, religion and gender continue to be relevant in contemporary culture.

To commemorate Shakespeare, the University of Melbourne held the Shakespeare 400 Melbourne festival, which featured a series of performances, public lectures, masterclasses and exhibitions about the illustrious Bard of Avon. Masterclasses covering the four major genres in which Shakespeare wrote were hosted by alumnus

Dr David McInnes, who is now the Faculty of Arts’ Gerry Higgins Lecturer in Shakespeare Studies. Coinciding with Rare Books Week in July, the Baillieu Library staged After Shakespeare, an exhibition that featured a copy of the 1632 Second Folio and 1685 Fourth Folio. To find out more about events and masterclasses, visit http://arts.unimelb.edu.au/#news-events

Boosting Australian Literature Your complimentary copy of the Monthly has a transcript of Richard Flanagan’s recent keynote presentation Does Writing Matter? Richard was appointed the Boisbouvier Founding Chair of Australian Literature at the University last year, which was established thanks to the very generous support of Mr John Wylie and Mrs Myriam Boisbouvier-Wylie. This new position plays a key role in the partnership between the University and State Library Victoria, as well as providing University staff, students and alumni with research opportunities. The Faculty of Arts proudly supports the role, which will advance the teaching, appreciation and public profile of Australian literature.

Richard Flanagan

Articulation, the Faculty’s alumni newsletter is published online four times a year. To keep in touch and receive regular news about alumni events and benefits from the Faculty of Arts, update your details at: http://go.unimelb.edu.au/d6ta 012