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Australian silo art: creative placemaking in regional communities

Amelia Green (Street Studies, Ringsted, Denmark and Branding and Consumer Research Network, Griffith University, Brisbane, Australia)

Journal of Place Management and Development

ISSN: 1753-8335

Article publication date: 30 November 2020

Issue publication date: 28 May 2021

428

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

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Emerald Publishing Limited

Copyright © 2020, Emerald Publishing Limited

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