Research Unit in
Public Cultures

The Research Unit in Public Cultures (RUPC) focuses on transformations in public culture produced by new intersections of knowledge, media, space and mobility, within Australia and internationally.

The RUPC recognises that in contemporary society, public culture is no longer formed by values and practices that arise from and remain bound to a homogenous group, but has multiple origins, addresses diverse communities and flows across territorial boundaries.

We are a platform for strategic research projects and tactical interventions in public life. We examine public culture from artistic expressions generated by individuals to collective formation of principles and beliefs that shape the institutions of everyday life. We develop projects that address four fundamental questions:

How is cultural knowledge shaped by local and global forces?
How have developments in technology altered public cultures?
How does the mobility impact on public cultures?
How is public space created, managed and accessed, specifically within digitised, urban environments?

We excel in innovative interdisciplinary academic scholarship and engaged research collaborations with creative industries, government agencies, cultural institutions and communities.

The RUPC is situated in School of Culture and Communication and linked with the Centre of Visual Arts as well as the Melbourne Sustainable Society Institute at the University of Melbourne.

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Overview: Making Cultures Public

The Research Unit in Public Cultures (RUPC) focuses on transformations in public culture produced by new intersections of knowledge, media, space and mobility, within Australia and internationally. In contemporary society public culture is dynamic and shaped by multiple forms of media, people from diverse backgrounds, and numerous global networks.
Working with key cultural agents, stakeholders in public institutions and leading commercial partners, our researchers are investigating the issues that are transforming public culture. By developing an integrated approach between theory and practice, researchers in the RUPC seek to identify new trends in the social uses of public spaces and frame the horizons of public expectations.
Public culture definition

Public culture is traditionally linked to the formation of civil society. It encompasses processes that range from the individual expression of viewpoints, the formation of collective value systems, the shifts in everyday life, to the consolidation of social practices into public institutions. It is seen as the collective expression of ideas and their realization into public institutions through the multiple channels of political participation. In contemporary society, these voices and emergent structures are formed through a complex interplay of media, cultural perspectives and social practices. Hence, public culture is no longer formed by values and practices that arise from and remain bound to a homogenous group. It has multiple origins, addresses diverse communities and flows across territorial boundaries. It is a dynamic process rather than a fixed entity. Hence we prefer the term public cultures. In this plural form it also provides a conceptual framework that can integrate the knowledge generated by different academic disciplines and cultural practices. It acknowledges that in contemporary society public culture is pluralistic and volatile. Multiple forms of media, diverse modes of local agency and fluid exchanges across numerous global networks are now shaping public culture.
RUPC approach

The RUPC plays a key role in facilitating scholarship, enhancing research opportunities and enabling collaborations between creative industries, government agencies, cultural institutions and peak bodies, academic research centres and diverse communities. A distinctive feature of the RUPC is that the researchers are not only working on the issues that are transforming public culture, but that they are also working with key cultural agents, public stakeholders and civic leaders. This interaction, or what is known as "epistemic partnership" is framed by a system of ongoing feedback. As a consequence, the understanding of public culture is constantly being cross-hatched by critical dialogue between the researchers and the partners.
RUPC environment
The Research Unit brings together scholars from across four faculties at the University and a wide range of industry partners. Our examination of public culture ranges from artistic expressions generated by individuals to collective formation of principles and beliefs that shape the institutions of everyday life. The various projects that are developed within the Research Unit are linked by thematic engagement with mobility and the influence of communicative technologies in the formation of new publics. Collectively they seek to develop projects that address four fundamental questions:
- How is cultural knowledge shaped by local and global forces?
- How have developments in technology altered public cultures?
- How does the mobility impact on public cultures?
- How is public space created, managed and accessed, specifically within digitised, urban environments?
These questions are addressed across a wide-ranging program of events:
1. Regular research seminars
2. Research training for doctoral candidates and early career researchers
3. Master-classes for a select cohort of doctoral students with links to the cultural sector
4. Research fellowships to support post-doctoral students
5. Collaborative projects with industry partners in the cultural sector
6. Public lectures, symposia and conferences
7. Commissioned public art projects
8. Series of publications; pamphlets, working papers and monographs
The broader aim of the RUPC is to serve as a platform for strategic research projects and tactical interventions in public life. It will support research projects with a wide remit and also encourage engagement with specific issues. Hence, it will operate through both a structured research agenda and a flexible modality that is responsive to emergent opportunities in public life.
Sponsorship

The Research Unit in Public Cultures (RUPC) was established in 2012 and is housed in the School of Culture and Communication at The University of Melbourne. It receives support through the Faculty of Arts and the Melbourne Research Office.

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News 2015-2019

Director Professor Nikos Papastergiadis leads a team of interdisciplinary scholars and a wide range of industry partners, in the development of projects that address the transformations in public culture produced by new intersections of culture, technology, space and mobility, within Australia and internationally.

Research Associates

The Research Unit in Public Cultures works with a range of partners from across government, industry and the academic world both in Australia and internationally.

Australian partners	International partners
Creative Victoria Arts House City of Melbourne Australian Centre for Contemporary Art Australia Council for the Arts Benetas City of Whittlesea Fed Square Pty Ltd Glenorchy City Council Hobart City Council Museum of Old and New Art Sydney College of the Arts Tasmanian Department of State Growth Victorian Multicultural Commission - Multicultural Affairs and Social Cohesion division	Art Center Nabi, South Korea Asia Art Archive, Hong Kong Centre for Contemporary Art, Singapore Communicative Cities Network European Institute for Progressive Cultural Policies, Austria Institute of Network Cultures, the Netherlands Kunsthalle Athena, Greece Network for Migration and Culture, Denmark Raw Material Company, Dakar, Senegal Urban Communication Foundation, USA

Australian partners

Creative Victoria

Creative Victoria is the State Government body which advises on, and implements arts policy. It is charged with making the arts available and accessible to all Victorians and with supporting and developing Victoria's artists and creative industries.

Creative Victoria was a Linkage partner with the Research Unit in Public Cultures in the five year research project: Multiculturalism and Governance: Evaluating Arts Policies and Engaging Cultural Citizenship (2011-2015). In addition to obtaining a better understanding of the impact of government cultural policies, the project's development of new tools of multicultural arts indicators benefited Creative Victoria's evaluation program, and informed strategies to increase arts participation by people from culturally diverse backgrounds.

Arts House City of Melbourne

Arts House is Melbourne’s home for contemporary performance. With a year-round program of dance, theatre, music, sound, new technologies and community projects, Arts House is one of the major forces shaping Melbourne’s cultural and social landscape. It cultivates diverse new audiences for independent artists’ ambitious new work, and it build relationships at both local and international levels. Arts House also seeks to ask questions about power: who has the power to speak, and what is the power of listening? It explores new ways of distributing curatorial power, and commit to an artistic vision that is transparent and connected.

Australian Centre for Contemporary Art

The Australian Centre for Contemporary Art (ACCA) plays an inspirational and critical role investing in Melbourne's artistic and wider communities, leading the cultural conversation and setting the agenda for contemporary art. Its mission is to Do Art Differently – to challenge, connect and resonate – so that ACCA becomes the go-to place to engage with contemporary art now: a platform for artists, and a centre for the exchange of ideas, to reflect and inspire positive change in people and communities.

Australia Council for the Arts

The Australia Council for the Arts is the Australian Government's arts funding and advisory body. It directly supports young, emerging and established artists, as well as new and established organisations. The Council provides over 1700 grants each year to artists and arts organisations across the country in the fields of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander arts, community arts and cultural development, dance, literature, music, new media arts, theatre and visual arts/craft.

Benetas

Benetas is one of the leading not-for-profit providers of residential care, in-home care, respite care, housing services and retirement living in Victoria. It cares for more than 4,000 older people each year through an integrated range of community, home-based aged care services as well as specialist residential care and accommodation across Melbourne, the Mornington Peninsula and regional Victoria.

City of Whittlesea

The City of Whittlesea is a Local Government Area located in the outer north-eastern suburbs of Melbourne.

Fed Square Pty Ltd

Fed Square Pty Ltd, a company wholly owned by the State Government of Victoria, has overseen the development of Federation Square since November 2000 and is now managing its ongoing operation on a commercial basis. The company was established in 1998 and was incorporated under Corporations Law in 1999. Fed Square Pty Ltd has four company Directors and operates with a Chief Executive Officer and a small team of professionals with experience across a diverse range of areas including project management, finance, leasing, marketing, media and promotions, events management and operations.

Glenorchy City Council

The City of Glenorchy is a Local Government Area of Tasmania nestled between the stunning icons of Mt Wellington and the Derwent River. Originally settled as an agricultural district, Glenorchy is a major economic centre in Tasmania, with a neat mix of traditional industries, innovative high-tech enterprises, dynamic small businesses and world class tourist attractions like the Museum of Old and New Art (MONA), Cadbury chocolate factory and the Glenorchy Art and Sculpture Park (GASP).

Hobart City Council

Hobart is a city with outstanding natural, cultural and social qualities that make it unique among capital cities. Hobart City Council has a clear vision for Hobart, and a commitment to see our capital evolve into a strong, vibrant and sustainable city. Since 2005, Hobart City Council has been engaged in an exciting process of planning and consultation to realise this vision and to ensure that Hobart reaches its full potential as a vital and thriving capital.

Museum of Old and New Art

The Museum of Old and New Art (MONA), opened in Hobart on 21 January 2011. It is Australia's largest private museum and houses part of a diverse private collection that ranges from ancient Egyptian mummies to some of the world's most infamous and thought-provoking contemporary art. Its location on the Derwent River just north of Hobart, the building's subterranean design and David Walsh's unconventional and challenging curatorial approach has already made it a must-see for any visitor to Australia.

Sydney College of the Arts

Sydney College of the Arts (SCA) is the visual arts faculty of the University of Sydney. SCA is a premier provider of contemporary art education and research around the world.

Tasmanian Department of State Growth

The Department of State Growth purpose is to work together to make Tasmania a prosperous, vibrant and healthy community. The Department actively pursues investment, facilitates major projects, supports business and industry to grow, and ensures that Tasmania is investing strategically in infrastructure.

The department also works closely with business and industry to address barriers to growth, including red and green tape, to provide a skilled workforce, develop cultural industries and ensure efficient cost effective transport and logistics systems.

Victorian Multicultural Commission

The Victorian Multicultural Commission provides policy and program support to drive the Victorian Government's multicultural vision and priorities. Working in partnership with Victoria's diverse multicultural communities, the Victorian Multicultural Commission is committed to fostering an inclusive, engaged and harmonious multicultural community in Victoria.

International partners

Art Center Nabi (Seoul, Korea)

Art Center Nabi was founded in December 2000, as a private non-profit centre for new media art in Seoul, Korea. It aims to nurture creativity and experimentation through intercommunication among various fields of research across the humanities, social sciences, pure and applied sciences, technology and art. Nabi is engaged in research, education, production and exhibition of new work, with a special emphasis on the formation of communities through new media and public projects.

Asia Art Archive (Hong Kong, China)

Asia Art Archive is an independent non-profit organisation initiated in 2000 in response to the urgent need to document and make accessible the multiple recent histories of art in the region. With an international Board of Directors, an Advisory Board made up of noted scholars and curators, and an in-house research team, AAA has collated one of the most valuable collections of material on contemporary art in the region - open to the public free of charge and increasingly accessible from its website. More than a static repository waiting to be discovered, AAA instigates critical thinking and dialogue for a wide range of audiences via public, research, residential and educational programmes.

The Centre for Contemporary Art (Singapore)

The Centre for Contemporary Art (CCA) is a national research centre of the Nanyang Technological University (NTU) and was established with support from the Singapore Economic Development Board (EDB). Founded by Professor Ute Meta Bauer, CCA is devoted to producing knowledge in contemporary arts through research, education, exhibition and fellowships programmes. CCA incorporates a holistic approach towards art and culture, intertwining a variety of programmes from research, exhibitions, education, residencies to public programmes. Located in Gillman Barracks alongside a cluster of international galleries, the CCA takes a unique position in Singapore's art ecology. Committed to knowledge production and innovation, spurring research-based artistic practices and trans-disciplinary investigations, the CCA serves as a new centre for art and research in the region, operating as a local hub with an international perspective.

European Institute for Progressive Cultural Policies (Vienna, Austria)

The European Institute for Progressive Cultural Policies (eipcp) is an independent research organisation based in Vienna, Austria. In a multidisciplinary setting comprising philosophy, political science, cultural and postcolonial studies, media studies - and in regular cooperation with artists and arts institutions - the institute focuses on the following topics: arts and knowledge production in the context of cognitive capitalism, heterolinguality, creativity / critique of creative industries, art and the public sphere, translation, new forms of publishing. eipcp is home to the multilingual web journal transversal, of which fifty issues have been published so far.

Institute of Network Cultures (Amsterdam, The Netherlands)

The Institute of Network Cultures (INC) is a media research centre that actively contributes to the field of network cultures through research, events, publications and online dialogue. The INC was founded in 2004 by media theorist Geert Lovink, following his appointment as professor within the Institute of Interactive Media at the Amsterdam University of Applied Sciences (Hogeschool van Amsterdam).

Kunsthalle Athena (Athens, Greece)

Kunsthalle Athena is a flexible art centre dedicated to the visual culture of our time. Its major objective is to reintroduce contemporary art and its significance to a genuine public sphere, prioritising the possibility of co-producing and thus extending culture. Drawing on creative sources of varied origins and providing a vital core of social interaction and exchange, Kunsthalle Athena is constantly informed by the idiosyncrasy and distinctiveness of Athens and its public. Our desire is to emphasise the constant transformation of ‘the polis’ as a symbolic location for the production and dissemination of contemporary culture worldwide. Founded in 2010, Kunsthalle Athena is an initiative of curator and writer Marina Fokidis and remains grateful to its many friends for their generosity and spirit of solidarity.

Network for Migration and Culture, University of Copenhagen (Copenhagen, Denmark)

The Network for Migration and Culture (NMC) is an international research network based at the University of Copenhagen. It brings together and develops current studies in the interrelations of migration, culture and aesthetics in the linguistically and culturally complex societies of the 20th and 21st centuries. It offers a scope that is both interdisciplinary and international, facilitating the collaboration and knowledge exchange between researchers abroad and researchers at Danish Universities. Interdisciplinary conferences, seminars, workshops and masterclasses, running between 2011 and 2013, are key networking events fostering the intellectual and cultural exchange between members and the academic community.

Raw Material Company (Dakar, Senegal)

The Raw Material Company is a centre for contemporary art, education, and society in Senegal with an understanding of visual art as a powerful tool for setting in motion social and political processes of transformation. Founded in 2008 as a mobile art initiative, the Raw Material Company now has a permanent address in Dakar.

Raw Material Company is made of RAW Base, a resource centre specialised in contemporary art, RAW Gallery a 100 m2 exhibition space, RAW Residency, residencies for artists, curators and authors specialised in photography, video and art in the public space. La Compagnie, a roof top restaurant, rounds up the concept of an independent space for art practice and critical exchange.

Under the leadership of curator Koyo Kouoh, the Raw Material Company's discursive and interdisciplinary program is active in many countries around the world, focusing on the promotion of artistic and intellectual creativity in Africa, a critical reflection of society, and the exchange of knowledge across cultures.

Urban Communication Foundation (USA)

The Urban Communication Foundation promotes research that enhances our understanding of communication patterns in the urban environment and encourages collaboration between communication scholars, urban planners and policy makers. They support diverse research strategies, recognise noteworthy scholarship in this area and invite participation from all scholars and practitioners studying the various forms of urban communication.