A two-week university elective addressing how one shapes narrative through experiential installation design.

Workshops
Project Management
Tutoring
Sound Design
Lighting Design
Installation

Contributors
Erin Mathews, artist and curator
Samantha Thompson, performance artist
Sara Retallick, sound designer

Clients
Architectural Association Visiting School (London)
Melbourne School of Design, University of Melbourne
Project (Vic)Toria

For Nostalgic Landscapes, our 2023 elective offering at Melbourne University, unravelled layers of cultural history and built an archive of first hand observations. Our two-week intensive unit explored modern taxonomic surveying, exploring various Victorian landscapes.

We tasked our student cohort with designing, building and hosting a site-specific installation and performance. Through their work they invited audiences to immerse themselves in a retelling of the Redwood Forest landscape found in the Upper Yarra Valley, Victoria.

Employing the practice of observational listening, students were challenged to create a spatial experience using forms of sound design, both digital and analogue.
The work featured sensory interpretations, including a sight-deprived tactile walk and a wearable garment designed to replicate the distinctly uncomfortable experience of the source landscape.

Erin Mathews
Mathews is a gallery professional who is passionate about equality curating, specialising in dynamic exhibition design and development. Erin has over ten years experience working in galleries, the majority as a curator. As part of her work she enjoys running tours, facilitating panels and making podcasts.

In 2023 Mathews gave an interactive talk on the foundations of curation and the role of storytelling in designing an exhibit. She discussed the role of exhibitions as testing grounds—where one can explore and distil ideas. Mathews took the students through the multitude of ways curators tell stories, and helped them to grapple with the process of elevating an object in status by curating it into an exhibit.

Sara Retallick
Retallick is an artist, composer, and researcher based in Naarm (Melbourne) on Wurundjeri Country. Her work centres on multisensory listening. Retallick’s practice is primarily focused on the reception of sound. She creates tactile sonic experiences through sound installations. Currently, she’s composing audio experiences to be listened to underwater.

In 2023, Retallick talked with our students on their perception of sound. She guided them towards thinking about how we can listen past the technology, not just through it. Retallick highlighted the importance of active listening practice in developing a deeper connection with the environment you’re in. She also took the students through different approaches to sound collection in the field.

Samantha Thompson
Thompson is an award-winning multidisciplinary artist based in regional Victoria. For her latest series, she explores the why and when of adult play in fostering a more playful mindset. For Thompson, the act of creating is itself a type of play. By upcycling textiles and craft materials, and combining printmaking with hand stitching, Thompson works quickly and boldly to produce size-inclusive dynamic wearable playsuits.

In 2023, Thompson held an improv play workshop with the students. She led the students through a playful meander on Campus while wearing her playsuits. This was followed by a class reflection on the importance of rules of engagement for interactive art, in setting the tone and expectations.