Assemblage E-News Autumn 2023: Director's Message

Here we are basking in the glow of the successful summer Festival months, remembering the great shows, brilliant art and transformative creative experiences we have been a part of one way or another.

Assemblage has had a busy start to the year too.  February and March are always big for the creative arts in Adelaide and we have enjoyed and contributed to this.  In the last few months we have supported the Electric Dreams conference and workshop as part of the Adelaide Fringe, with Cameron Mackness and Tully Barnett chairing sessions about immersive digital art.

We are currently hosting Emily Steel and Jesse Budel as artists in residence.  We have championed Emily Steel’s research towards a play about women working in the halls of political power. We have supported Jesse Budel’s developing sound art work which will culminate in workshops and a performance later in the year.

We have supported and contributed to the Australasian Jewish Studies Association conference with the theme ‘Jews, the Arts and Wellbeing,’ supported a Reset Arts and Culture event with visiting scholars from the University of Manchester

In March, Assemblage, in partnership with Screen staff Dr Claire Henry and Dr Nick Godfrey, hosted two Creative Arts academics from the University of Pittsburgh: Professor Adam Lowenstein and Associate Professor Irina Reyn.

On Thursday 9th March we supported the screening of Cargo + director Q&A with Professor Adam Lowenstein (Distinguished Visiting Research Fellow in Screen) at The Mercury Cinema.

The following day, we presented “A Day with Irina Reyn”. Irina, Associate Professor of English at the University of Pittsburgh, led a historical fiction masterclass and afternoon lecture with staff, postgrads, and students.

In alignment with our planning and development, Assemblage has a strong plan of action or 2023 that combines traditional and non-traditional research across all areas of the creative arts.

We are looking forward to new artists in residence working with us this year. We find that bringing artists into Assemblage to support their creative practice leads to valuable conversations, projects and possibilities that enriches the work of research and teaching academics, students at all levels of study, the broader environment of the university and the cultural sector in South Australia.

This year Assemblage is building towards a review of our Centre as part of the DVC-R Professor Rob Saint’s program for a three-year cycle of centre reviews and this will be taken to University Senate for assessment in September 2023.  This will be an important opportunity to evaluate the work we have done and our vision for the future of Assemblage.

We hope you will join us in any or all of our Assemblage endeavours this year.

Dr Tully Barnett

Associate Professor in Creative Industries

Director, Assemblage Centre for Creative Arts

College of Humanities, Arts and Social Sciences, Flinders University

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