Week 10: Tutorial

This weeks reading was Brenda L. Croft - A gift to the world: the Australian Indigenous Art Commission at theMusee du quai Branly. I found it a little difficult due to most of it being in a different language.

In her article Brenda Croft describes the Branly commission as setting  “...a benchmark for cross-cultural collaboration” in creating public art and building design that recognises and celebrates  Australian Indigenous culture. Given the furore that erupted over the Wandjina sculpture at Katoomba and the debate over authenticity in Aboriginal art, there are clearly problems with non-Indigenous people creating Aboriginal themed work.

Our tutorial question was: 'If Australia is to embrace its Indigenous cultures and reflect this in public art and architecture, how can this quandary be overcome?'

Overall our group came up with a simple answer which was cross cultural collaboration.

Reference: Croft, B 2006, 'A gift to the world: the Australian Indigenous Art Commission at theMusee du quai Branly', 'Australian Indigenous Art Commission = commande publique d'art aborigene : Musee du quai Branly', pp.18-21.