These Thoughts Large and Public: on infrastructures of collective study inside and outside the university.

The Covid-19 pandemic enabled a mass restructuring of the higher education sector in Australia that intensified the effects of decades of austerity measures and the long-term erosion of public funding. Ongoing culture wars have also fuelled the cuts to federal arts funding, with the arts sector receiving almost 20% less funding than it did in 2007. In the face of such funding hostility, what are the possibilities for collaborative and experimental forms of study? How might artists and researchers draw on the crumbling institutions to produce ad hoc social infrastructures for creative experimentation and study?

This talk discusses a creative project by the critical art collective Snack Syndicate (Andrew Brooks and Astrid Lorange) called These Thoughts Large and Public. The collaborative project was presented as part of ‘Take Hold of the Clouds’, an exhibition overlay that took place at the Victorian Trades Hall and Literary Institute during Open House Melbourne. These Thoughts Large and Publicsymbolically reanimated 3KZ, the radio station which first went to air from its Trades Hall studio in 1930. Responding to this historic site of labour organinsing and artistic production, the live broadcast sought to generate public discussion around labour, culture, and politics in an era of economic, social, and environmental crisis. The project explored counter-histories of the ‘worker’ in order to consider how labour has been conceived, organised, and challenged over time, as well as radio’s vital role in producing public discourse.

The live broadcast was involved collaboration invited guest speakers Tony Birch, Evelyn Araluen, Jonathan Dunk, Jathan Sadowski, Chelsea Hart, Jennifer Hamilton, and Antony Moore; poets and writers Elena Gomez, Cher Tan, Melody Paloma, Ender Baskan, Terri Ann Quan Sing; radio producer Jon Tjhia; designer Paul Mylecherane; and chef Boris Portnoy. Drawing on Moten and Harney’s notion of ‘the undercommons’, this talk will consider how the university and art might be ambivalently engaged to practise forms of care and study oriented toward collectivity and solidarity. It will reflect on the challenges of collaboration inside and outside of institution settings, transparently account for how the project was funded and fees distributed, and consider the value of interdisciplinary creative research.

Andrew Brooks is Lecturer in Media Cultures in the School of Arts and Media, UNSW. His research proposes strategies for reading and listening to contemporary media events, systems, and infrastructures. His current research is organised around three main projects: the politics of noise and listening; infrastructural inequalities; and the politics of race and embodiment in media culture.

PlaySpace is an arena for discussion and collaboration around the themes of music and research. Playspace offers opportunities for scholars to discuss recent works in an informal setting, encouraging the sharing of new ideas and approaches to inquiry. Drop in and bring your lunch – open to Griffith University staff and students only. QCRC 3.44.