Advance culture studies
1. Borders, boundaries, edges
a) “identify a border or edge condition at an urban scale which marks a boundary or zone
between two very different places; map and theorise this boundary, demonstrating how it functions
and can be read as a boundary.”
b) “identify a formal border (national, county, district, for example); analyse this boundary;
though it appears on a map, can it be experienced directly? Is there a marked change from one side
to the other? How do we know when we have crossed the line?”
c) “identify a boundary, threshold or edge condition within an interior space (including a
shopping mall, a shop, an airport) which is not officially marked, but represents a line we cannot
cross. How do we know it is there? Analyse and theorise this intangible boundary; demonstrate how it
works and how it signifies its presence.”
2. Public places (prompting questions of ownership, access and belonging)
a) “identify a publicly-accessible place and explain why legal ownership does or does not
matter.”
b) “identify a publicly-accessible place and explain why this place can be considered ‘our
place, where we belong, where we feel comfortable’. What is it that makes a place “ours”, even
though we have no legal ownership of it?”
c) “identify a street space and an adjacent publicly-accessible interior, such as a retail outlet
or café. What are we free to do in the street but not in the interior? How do we know these rules?
Can anything happen on the street? What is a street, anyway?”
3. Historic and heritage environments
a) “identify a historic site, such as a building (exterior or interior), and explain what makes
this place authentic in spite of change over time. Has it remained authentic, or it is less/more
authentic than it used to be? What is authenticity anyway?
b) “identify a surface or fragment at relatively small-scale (eg 1sqm); carefully map, replicate
or represent this surface or fragment, drawing attention to the changes recorded on the surface over
time. What do these changes tell us? Are they designed or undesigned? Do they matter?”
c) “identify a surface or fragment at relatively small-scale (eg 1sqm); carefully map, replicate
or represent this surface or fragment. Consider your relationship with this object; consider how your
relationship with it changes as you “get to know it” through recording it. Does your representation of
the object change the way you feel about the original object? Might your representation even replace
the original object?”
