SITUATION

RESEARCH BACKGROUND: SITUATION was the biennial Interior Design/Interior Architecture Educators Association (IDEA) symposium and exhibition, designed as a platform for a national and international community of scholars to engage with current issues in the field, foster research and stimulate teaching and research practices. In 2014, RMIT Interior Design was invited to host the event. Attiwill was the lead curator of the exhibition working with Simon Maidment (Curator of Contemporary Art, National Gallery of Victoria), Kate Rhodes (Curator, RMIT Design Hub) and Sven Mehzoud (Interior Architecture, Monash University). She co-curated the 4-day symposium with colleague Phip Murray. International keynotes were Omar Sosa (Spain), Ed Hollis (UK) and Bianca Hester (Aus). RESEARCH CONTRIBUTION: Attiwill initiated and developed the 'situation' topic, and wrote the call for papers and creative works. She drew on her research and knowledge of the international context of interior design to invite academics, students and practitioners to respond to the provocation of 'situation' as a temporal and spatial interior condition. Attiwill also developed the 'exhibition as research' model in selection of work. The symposium program brought paper and creative works presentations together so both were engaged with as research. The overall event resulted in 49 research outputs that made a contribution to the under-theorised discipline of interior design. RESEARCH SIGNIFICANCE: SITUATION attracted practitioners from around the world: with 18 creative works as research exhibited and 31 papers presented; 1273 visitors and the 3-day symposium 80 participants. SITUATION is part of Attiwill's ongoing creative practice that engages curatorial practice in the production of interiority. Its significance is evidenced by the collaboration of high profile curators in the field of contemporary practice. The exhibition occupied the two major gallery spaces in Design Hub and was funded by IDEA.