QM150 - Activating new museum spaces
A year long celebration at Queensland Museum.
I produced a series of exhibitions, events and films for Queensland Museum to celebrate the museum’s 150th year. A Vintage Fair in the whale mall, regional workshops with collectors throughout the state, pop-up museum exhibits, a crowd sourced online exhibition, intimate films, interactive digital displays and the activation of new spaces were all part of the programming. Highlights are described in detail below:
Collect-o-move
Collect-o-move began during discussions with Creative Producer, Queenie Palesa about intangible collections, and how they could be represented in and around the museum space. Our life stories are reflected through memories, cultural knowledge, songs and dances as well as objects. I’m increasingly passionate about how film can heal, transform and authentically document people’s lives. Many people use dance to tell stories, to capture and enact cultural knowledge, to perform rituals and to heal. This video project was a playful way to capture stories with young people in Brisbane and to think beyond the objects that our cultural institutions hold.
This film was produced as a partnership between Hope Empowered and Queensland Museum. It exhibited during “Collectomania” 2013-2014.
The video is also currently screening in Yagun Square, Perth, Western Australia, 2020.
Studio 180/Hope Empowered Producers: Aleem Ali, Queenie Palesa, Kani Puru
Queensland Museum Producer: Pip Kelly
Director: Alice MacDowell
Music: “Colour” Noah Slee
Pop-up Museum
I developed and delivered a crowd sourced online exhibition called “What do you collect?” for QM150. We invited all Queenslanders to share their collections and stories online. We had a very large response from the all over the state. We invited some collectors to exhibit their prized collections at Queensland Museum and I made a short film highlighting some stories.
Director/Producer: Pip Kelly
Sound: Jaina Kalifa
Online Edit: Phoebe Hart
Music: Michael Patrick
Artwork: Katharina Rocksien
Memory plays a large part of how we describe and recall our own stories. While curating Pop-Up Museum projects for Queensland Museum, I worked with a group of artists at Logan Art Gallery and together we explored childhood memories, smells, first-time experiences, and our own collections. Each artist then presented their own ‘museum displays’ at the Home Festival in Brisbane.
Below are some of the highlights from the year long events. The Vintage fair in the whale mall engaged with many small community organisations from around Brisbane. We also partnered with the Men’s Shed to produce a Pop-up museum exhibition. The online activities and community displays all made up part of this fun and celebratory exhibition.
