Floating Reeds

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Background: Developing new approaches to creative practice that interdisciplinary and cross-cultural approaches to the so called ‘wicked problems’ of our time, is a research challenge, (Klein 2006; Connor 2011; Mulder 2012). Floating Reeds draws on models of site-specific and community engaged art practice (Kwon, One Place After Another, 1997; Bishop, Artificial Hells, 2012) to consider both regional and cross-cultural contexts for environmental art outcomes. This is informed by the increasing focus on regional arts agendas in China, as well as the wider Asia-Pacific region (O’Connor, Red Creative: Culture and Modernity in China, 2020; Gu, (Un)Design, commerce and artistic autonomy: site-specific art in China, 2019).

Contribution: The project resulted in Floating Reeds, a floating art installation in the wetlands region of Fengxian, south of Shanghai. The interdisciplinary team from RMIT University, Monash University and Shanghai University drew on art, architecture, education, creative industries and environmental science disciplines, to engage with local community and share cultural understandings. The project aimed to raise public awareness of wetland ecology and provide novel educational outcomes related to biodiversity conservation. In doing so, it also explored opportunities for developing regional creative industries through place-making and Participatory Art methodologies. In this case, the research engaged both Western and Chinese cultural perspectives to develop new, creative arts approaches to the wicked problems of climate crisis.

Significance: Floating Reeds was a public art commission funded by Shanghai University, as part of a curated international regional arts event. The temporary artwork work received widespread critical attention and media reporting.