Get 20M+ Full-Text Papers For Less Than $1.50/day. Start a 14-Day Trial for You or Your Team.

Learn More →

The National Museum, Canberra, and its Garden of Australian Dreams

The National Museum, Canberra, and its Garden of Australian Dreams Abstract The Commonwealth of ‘Australia’ is almost a century old and it is frantically planning its birthday. Exacerbated by Republicanism, Millennialism and the Sydney Olympic Games, the production and contention of symbolism appropriate to the occasion are rife. Consequendy, several high-profile public projects have been presented as open design competitions. More than just commemorative tides or disinterested markers in time and space, projects such as Federation Square in Melbourne, Federation Garden in Sydney, and The National Museum of Australia in Canberra are focused moments that not only extend the internal intrigues of design discourse, but also apprise the nation's future as an historical project and which expect to cast such thinking into public space. The projects must, at some level, engage with aspects of national identity and national edification, even if only to negate aspects of nationalism and parochialism. Such projects present ideological and aesthetic risks. Meanings are at stake. Such projects must trade on all levels, they are popular spectacles, educational narratives, tourist attractions and academic texts. They are also, of course, built for posterity. http://www.deepdyve.com/assets/images/DeepDyve-Logo-lg.png Studies in the History of Gardens & Designed Landscapes Taylor & Francis

The National Museum, Canberra, and its Garden of Australian Dreams

Download PDF
19 pages

Loading next page...
 
/lp/taylor-francis/the-national-museum-canberra-and-its-garden-of-australian-dreams-gIHng9nAo5

References (2)

Publisher
Taylor & Francis
Copyright
Copyright Taylor & Francis Group, LLC
ISSN
1943-2186
eISSN
1460-1176
DOI
10.1080/14601176.2001.10436273
Publisher site
See Article on Publisher Site

Abstract

Abstract The Commonwealth of ‘Australia’ is almost a century old and it is frantically planning its birthday. Exacerbated by Republicanism, Millennialism and the Sydney Olympic Games, the production and contention of symbolism appropriate to the occasion are rife. Consequendy, several high-profile public projects have been presented as open design competitions. More than just commemorative tides or disinterested markers in time and space, projects such as Federation Square in Melbourne, Federation Garden in Sydney, and The National Museum of Australia in Canberra are focused moments that not only extend the internal intrigues of design discourse, but also apprise the nation's future as an historical project and which expect to cast such thinking into public space. The projects must, at some level, engage with aspects of national identity and national edification, even if only to negate aspects of nationalism and parochialism. Such projects present ideological and aesthetic risks. Meanings are at stake. Such projects must trade on all levels, they are popular spectacles, educational narratives, tourist attractions and academic texts. They are also, of course, built for posterity.

Journal

Studies in the History of Gardens & Designed Landscapes – Taylor & Francis

Published: Mar 1, 2001

There are no references for this article.