Australian silo art: creative placemaking in regional communities
Journal of Place Management and Development
ISSN: 1753-8335
Article publication date: 30 November 2020
Issue publication date: 28 May 2021
Abstract
Purpose
This paper aims to explore the capacity of Australian silo art from a creative placemaking perspective. The paper also takes up this case as fertile ground for probing into the complexity of creative placemaking.
Design/methodology/approach
The case study approach is exploratory, drawing on public documents and media sources to thematically (i.e. qualitatively) analyse the factors, actors and processes that pertain to how Australian silo art can contribute towards empowering communities, activating everyday spaces and, ultimately, making socially connected and resilient places.
Findings
Each theme encapsulates a particular interplay: (1) physical space – social place, (2) past – present – future place, (3) bottom-up – top-down energies, (4) residents – tourists, (5) urban – nonurban place and (6) material – digital place.
Research limitations/implications
Rather than proffering conclusions about the current impact of silo art on local communities, the paper illuminates the practical workings of silo art as a potential form of creative placemaking. Additionally, thinking of creative placemaking in terms of ongoing interplays could stimulate and expand knowledge and practice in this domain.
Originality/value
This paper initiates and charts a course for a rigorous and critical investigation into silo art as a substantive cultural and artistic phenomenon and a meaningful chapter in regional arts and creative placemaking in Australia. The interplays distinguished provide an additional basis for probing further into the many layers and overall complexity of creative placemaking.
Keywords
Acknowledgements
This research did not receive any specific grant from funding agencies in the public, commercial or not-for-profit sectors. The author presented concepts and arguments informing this paper at the Murals, Community, Place event (Copenhagen – July, 2019) and the Institute of Place Management 5th International Conference (Adelaide – November, 2019). The author wishes to warmly thank participants of these forums for their encouragement and shared discussions about Australian silo art. The author would also like to thank the anonymous reviewers for their thorough and constructive feedback.
Citation
Green, A. (2021), "Australian silo art: creative placemaking in regional communities", Journal of Place Management and Development, Vol. 14 No. 2, pp. 239-255. https://doi.org/10.1108/JPMD-11-2019-0101
Publisher
:Emerald Publishing Limited
Copyright © 2020, Emerald Publishing Limited