Culture and Creativity Seminar Series

This presentation reveals the research process and outcomes for a recent ACT Heritage Festival exhibition, entitled ‘NCDC unearthed: architecture and landscape’, in collaboration with FAD colleagues. A roll call of architects commissioned by the NCDC are some of the best names in Australian twentieth-century architecture: for example, nine of the fifteen architects Robin Boyd promoted in his book, A new architecture (1963), were architects involved with the NCDC project. This research reveals some Australian ‘starchitects’ lesser-known projects, and provides further insight into their ideas and work. By timelining the seven-year cycles of governance, this study starts to reveal the themes and preoccupations evident in the architectural, landscape, and urban works in the post-WWII period. 

Sally is a Lecturer (Architecture) at UC. Currently, she is working with several FAD colleagues on an ACT Heritage Grant 2024-25, studying the contributions of the NCDC from 1958-88. In collaboration with other academics, they are working toward a book proposal end of 2025, entitled ‘Canberra: the city of total design’. 

Acknowledgements:
Supports and fundings: ACT Heritage; Alastair Swayn Foundation
Collaborators: ACT Heritage Library; Canberra Modern; GML Heritage 

This presentation was accompanied by slides. To view the slides head to SallyFarrah_Presentation.pptx

This presentation explores the dramaturgical potential of human-robot ensemble performance through devised physical theatre methodologies. This work is part of Tthe Robots, Art, People and Performance Laboratory (RAPP Lab), a living laboratory that functions as an experimental sandbox where roboticists and artists converge to explore the untapped possibilities of human-robot interaction through the lens of performance. Born from a spirit of curiosity, experimentation and play, the third iteration—RAPP Lab 03—brought together 10 movement artists from various backgrounds to investigate new theatrical possibilities. Using a UR10 collaborative robot, we examine how Meyerhold’s biomechanics and Lecoq’s Tréteau theatre frameworks can inform human-robot collaborative performance for dramaturgical storytelling. Our approach uniquely leverages the robot’s inherent constraints and capabilities: workspace limitations are reframed through confined performance space principles of Tréteau theatre, while its precise movement control is explored through biomechanical movement structures. Grounded in South Asian sociocultural narratives, this project addresses the underrepresentation of culturally diverse perspectives in technological art. 

Professor Damith Herath is a roboticist and Professor of Robotics and Art at the University of Canberra, where he leads the Collaborative Robotics Lab. With over 20 years of experience in multidisciplinary and translational robotics research, he’s an award-winning entrepreneur who founded Australia’s first collaborative robotics startup. Hiswork explores the intersection of roboticsand art, including pioneering collaborations with renowned artists like Stelarc. As lead editor of “Robots and Art: Exploring an Unlikely Symbiosis,” he’s made significant contributions to human-robot interaction across diverse domains, merging technical innovation with artistic exploration. 

Maleen Jayasuriya is a Lecturer in Robotics at the University of Canberra, specialising in human-robot interaction. With a PhD from the University of Technology Sydney, his research spans robot perception, deep learning, and collaborative robotics. Maleen is passionate about integrating arts with technology, drawing from his experience in theatre, filmmaking, animation, and game development. At the Collaborative Robotics Lab, he explores the intersection of robotics, explainable AI, psychology, and art, bringing a unique interdisciplinary perspective to robotics research. 
Piumi Wijesundara is a theatre artist specialising in devised theatre and physical performance. She holds an MA in Theatre Directing from East 15 Acting School (UK) and trained in biomechanics at the Russian Institute of Theatre Arts (GITIS). Currently Public Programs Producer at CMAG, she was previously a Program Manager at NIDA and served as Co-Artistic Director of Stages Theatre Group Sri Lanka. She is also a Visiting Lecturer of Applied Theatre at the Faculty of Arts, University of Colombo Sri Lanka. Her directorial works include “Awa/Kaawa/Giya” and “Ovaryacting!” with international directing/acting credits spanning Australia, Sri Lanka, UK and Rwanda. 

Acknowledgements  
RAPP LAB 03 Devised Workshop Team: Annika Kendall, Chipz Jin, Marlene Radice, Sandy Ma, Molly Yao, Michael Armstrong, Fi Peel, Deni Dominguez, Mia Rashid, Imogen Yang 

Research Assistant: Yue Peng 
Music: Dilruk Warnakula, Marlene Radice, Sukitha Bandaranayake 

This presentation was accompanied by slides. To view the slides head to Damith,Maleen,Piumi_Presentation.pptx

While historical and cultural analyses of Australia’s ‘atomic years’ are growing, the materiality of these activities, and their environmental and landscape signatures, has not yet received similar attention. Vast infrastructure sites, artefacts, and landscapes of atomic heritage, many now abandoned and deteriorating, await meaningful archaeological, material-culture and heritage analyses. Our ARC Linkage project, Nuclear Nation, partnering with the Museum of Applied Arts and Sciences in Sydney and the Australian Nuclear Science and Technology Organisation (ANSTO), is setting out to explore Australia’s national engagement with nuclear science and technologies through its material culture and physical infrastructure—from early 20^th century radium mining through to contemporary military, industrial, medical, and scientific applications.  

Nuclear Nation proposes a multi-scalar methodology which juxtaposes the sweeping scale of these national and transnational data, digitally visualising the geographies of nuclear heritage, against the granularity of object and archival collections, applying contemporary archaeology approaches to derive object stories, alongside First Nations researchers. 

Tracy Ireland is an archaeologist and heritage practitioner, Professorof Cultural Heritage, and Lead CI of the Nuclear Nation and the Everyday Heritage Linkage Projects. Tracy’s work on heritage ethics, significance and values, and on ‘everyday heritage’, is internationally recognized for its impact on policy and practice. 

Ashley van den Heuvel is a lecturer in Culture and Heritage at the University of Canberra. Through her mother, she is descended from Walbunja and other community groups from the Far South Coast of NSW. After majoring in anthropology and psychology, she completed a Master of Liberal Arts (Visual Culture Research) (Research), at the Australian National University. Her PhD, under the Heritage of the Air Australian Research Council (ARC) project, looks at the aviation heritage of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people through the lens of and museum and archival collections and is titled ‘Flight across Country’. 

Supports and fundings: ARC Linkage, Powerhouse Museum and ANSTO 

This presentation was accompanied by slides. To view the slides head to Tracy&Ashley_Presentation.pptx