Curated by Chris Fox and Iakovos Amperidis this exhibition celebrates the first one hundred years of the School, highlighting the innovative, radical, creative, and pioneering spirit of the school; spanning multiple disciplines, mediums and time periods.
The exhibition takes the form of a site-specific installation assembled throughout the gallery. Inspiration for its design was drawn from the activities of the Architectural Science discipline throughout the 1960-70s, where large experimental constructs were built to test a variety of materials and forms. Composed solely of aluminium and scaffold, the installation is an abstract topography of time; where flux, rupture, and continuity reveal layers of the school’s history.
Wide ranging contributions and activities by both students and staff are on display including; examples of work from the founder of the School, Professor Leslie Wilkinson; public works of Ellice Maud Nosworthy - one of the first of nine to graduate at the school in 1922; the student built ‘Autonomous House’ of 1974-78; the activist architecture of Col James; and work by former student Robert Woodward, designer of the iconic ‘El Alamein Memorial Fountain’ of Kings Cross.
Exhibition Artwork
Temporary Installation
2018
The University of Sydney School Of Architecture, Design & Planning. The Centenary Exhibition: A Retrospective
Centenary
The making of the Centenary Exhibition involved an incredible exploration into the multi-faceted eras and individuals that have come to define this school. The research involved an unearthing of rich and diverse material from 1918 to the present. With this wealth of material, we attempted to create a sculptural tapestry of time that would best encapsulate a spirit of place.
Drawing on our initial inspiration of the Architectural Science Department experiments in the 1960s, the design process for the exhibition used both algorithmic and parametric processes to generate a hybrid sculptural-architectural installation.
Incorporating tools such as the Hilbert curve and Delaunay triangulation we established a series of parameters by which the installation and centenary content could inform each other. By applying all the exhibition content to the Hilbert curve - a line that touches every point in a grid - we could represent a chronological, one-dimensional trajectory of time in three-dimensional space.
We would like to extend our gratitude to the many alumni and their families, and to the staff and students both past and present whose immense generosity in sharing material and stories made this exhibition as bountiful as it is. A dedicated team of assistants worked across the design and installation to give form to this exhibition - thank you for your contribution, ingenuity, and skill.
Exhibition Team: Chris Fox / Iakovos Amperidis / Justin van Ryneveld / Katie Hubbard / Christina Rita / Harry Stitt / Sooyeon Lim / Hannah Riley / Sach Catts / Paul Greedy / Sam Benne
Photographer: Jacquie Manning