Assignment 10 - Architecture and Identity.

Project 10: Architecture & Identity.
Rebecca D’Ath-Weston
CIT-077254




Visual Culture 1.

Before this excursion, I had no knowledge of the Richard Weller architectural work, The Garden of Australian Dreams (GOAD). This experience was enlightening for me and taught me a lot about Australia and our history. The artwork I chose to study from GOAD was the Mexican Wave. This yellow, black and red set of domino like blocks has a significant effect of me mentally and is a depiction of Australian history and culture.

What does the work Reference / Why does it appeal to me?
--The symbolism of this postmodernism artwork is what appeals to me with each element having a different meaning that varies from person to person. The shape and structure of this work is curved around the GOAD and creates the feel of a stadium. This represents the overwhelming passion for sport that Australian’s process and makes the viewers of the artwork to feel as though they are in the stadium environment. This message ties into the opposing culture of the Aboriginal flag colours of red, black and yellow. These two ideas contrast as they both reveal a different perspective of Australian culture, the native, indigenous side and the Western culture. I am personally unsure if this work is at all meant to look like dominos, but to me, it also represents the history of Australia from the Wars and the “domino theory” that occurred back when fighting communism. All of these issues addressed by the artwork are the reasons to why it captured my attention and appealed to me.







Why did Richard Weller include it in the GOAD at the National Museum of Australia?
--I believe that Richard Weller included this work into GOAD is because of its accurate depiction of both perspectives of Australian culture and history. The symbolism of sport for Western culture and the flag for our indigenous Aboriginal culture both created the historical country we live in today and I think his choice to add it was suited to the GOAD’s environment, significance and image.

Why is GOAD considered “Postmodern” landscape architecture?
--The GOAD is considered to be Postmodern landscape architecture because of its significant message and disregard for logical structure. The message being conveyed is the main focus of the art and its intension to depict a historical and cultural story of time and events.

BIBLIOGRAPHY

2011. National Museum of Australia, Canberra. Viewed 14. 05. 2011
< http://www.nma.gov.au/about_us/the_building/ >.

Image of the Aboriginal Flag, Flag logo image, Aboriginal Art. Viewed 14. 05. 2011.
< http://aboriginalart.com.au/culture/aboriginal_flag.html >.