The Department of Counter Culture hosts ‘Here-Say’: July 15-22

The Department of Counter Culture, partnered with Architects for Peace, present ‘Here-Say’ at Counter Point: a speaker program and conversation forum in which mainstream consumption practices and values are challenged and alternatives considered and discussed.

Date: Thursday 15 July – Thursday 22 July, 2010 at 7pm
Location: Level 2 Myer Bridge - Above Lonsdale Street, Enter from Melbourne Central, Cnr. Latrobe Street and Swanston Street, Melbourne.




Words @ bldg 50 is making a temporary shift from its usual venue and timeslot this month, to join the Department of Counter Culture in an extended program of discussions and installations as part of July's State of Design festival. We're also very excited to be launching our publication Intentcity: the political city, which has been some time in the making and features contributors including Dr Darko Radovic, Beatriz Maturana, Dr Kit Lazaroo, Liz Coleman, Marc Purcell, Geoff Hogg, Su Mellersh-Lucas and Mick Pearce.

Thursday 15th July - Opening night

Keynote presentation by Professor Kim Humphrey author of : “Excess: Anti- consumerism in the west", followed by a Q & A forum with the practitioners of Future Alternatives.
Future Alternatives is a panel of speakers representing practitioners who aim to re-make and provoke existing production and consumption practices. This panel includes Grace McQuilten from Social Studio, Craft Cartel, Kate Luckins from Clothing Exchange and Kat Ashworth from Citizens of Elysium.

About Anti Consumerism in the West...

“This timely and original new book provides a comprehensive overview and analysis of what has come to be called the 'new politics of consumption'; a politics embodied in movements such as culture jamming, simple living, slow food and fair trade.”

Other event dates...


Monday 19th July
Anthony McInneny, Coordinator of Graduate Certificate in Public Art RMIT University presents City Suburbia: a travelogue of our city that shaped and is shaped by the suburbs.




Tuesday 20th July
Shanaka Fernando, founder of the Lentil as Anything restaurants, discusses his unique business model in conversation with Rebecca Scott.

Wednesday 21st July
Architects for Peace launches its long-anticipated publication Intentcity, a collection of writings about the political city. Find out more here.

Thursday 22nd July
Soumitri Varadarajan, Associate Professor in Industrial Design Program at RMIT University, discusses participatory design and the social discourse surrounding objects and systems.

Bios

Kim Humphrey
Associate Professor of History and Social Theory. Associate Dean, Research & Innovation; Design & Social Context Portfolio. Deputy Head, Research & Innovation School of Global Studies, Social Science and Planning RMIT University.

Grace McQuilten The Social Studio
Grace McQuilten is the founder of The Social Studio, a social enterprise that transforms excess manufacturing materials from the fashion industry into original new design through the talents of young people from refugee communities in Melbourne.
http://www.socialstudio.org/

Kate Luckins The Clothing Exchange
Kate Luckins is the founder of The Clothing Exchange and also holds a Masters of Fashion from RMIT University (on sustainable fashion consumption). Currently finishing her PhD research into the sustainable lifestyles of young people, Kate is a sustainable consumption researcher.
http://www.clothingexchange.com.au/

Rayna Fahey and Casey Jenkins Radical Cross Stitch
Rayna Fahey is the Co-founder of Melbourne Craft Cartel and the Melbourne Revolutionary Craft Circle. Casey Jenkins is a writer and organises events such as Art Jam and Melbourne Craft Cartel. She also works with the Capital Ideas Community Activist Group
http://craftcartel.com/

Kat Ashworth Citizens of Elysium
A globally recognized designer, Kat created the revered Citizens of Elysium label which has developed a cult following within creative networks around the world.
http://citizensofelysium.com/coe.htm

Shanaka Fernando Lentil as Anything
In 2000, Shanaka Fernando opened an experimental vegetarian restaurant in St Kilda called 'Lentil as Anything' that observes an innovative policy of 'no set prices'; customers pay only what they can afford or what they think the meal was worth. Shanaka subsequently relinquished his capital in the restaurant and turned it into a not-for-profit cooperative and youth training enterprise. The concept has expanded to several restaurants around Melbourne, demonstrating that a commercial enterprise can operate in a socially responsible and altruistic way.

Rebecca Scott STREAT
With a background in science and visual arts, Rebecca has undertaken international development or arts projects in places including Vanuatu and Vietnam. In 2005 she was awarded a Vincent Fairfax Fellowship for ethical leadership. It was working in Vietnam that Rebecca discovered KOTO, a street youth café in Hanoi, and the world of social enterprise, which led her to found STREAT: a scalable social enterprise model that could be based anywhere on the planet.

Anthony McInneny
Anthony is the co-founding member of Architects for Peace and one of three artists/designers who formed the Department of Counter Culture. Anthony is Coordinator of the RMIT University Graduate Certificate in Public Art and a practicing artist who works across the field of art in public space and has been commissioned for several temporary and permanent works in public space, most recently the 2010 City of Melbourne Laneway Commissions.

Architects for Peace
Architects for Peace is a forum for architects, urban designers, engineers, planners, landscape architects, artists and environmentalists seeking urban development based on social justice, solidarity, respect and peace. IntentCity was an inaugural forum establishing many of the principles of the organisation. This publication launch will feature contributors to IntentCity and a discussion about social responsibility and the right to the city.

Soumitri Varadarajan
Soumitri Varadarajan has a keen interest in marginal and neglected discourses. This has led him to construct projects dealing with marginalised communities. His approach amplifies the social discourse surrounding objects and systems, and provides a location where the faint voices can be heard. His theoretical writing, rather than taking issue with the dominant discourse of material constructions, talks about his projects and demonstrates a practice of collective action. Soumitri is Associate Professor in Industrial Design Program at RMIT University, Adjunct Professor at Zhejiang University (Hangzhou, PRC) and Research Fellow at the National Institute of Design (Ahmedabad, India).

Bookings:Please refer to Counter Culture website for full program and details
Phone: +61 (0) 407 357 211
Email: anthony.mcinneny@rmit.edu.au
Website: counterculture.net.au
Cost: Free. Gold coin donation appreciated.

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