X_Field Archive Exhibition

RESEARCH BACKGROUND: X-Field Archive was the final phase of a travelling international exhibition. The first iteration began in Melbourne (2010), followed by venues in Seoul, Beijing, Taipei (2013). As the exhibition travelled it acquired new creative works, curators and curatorial themes. This was an innovative curatorial strategy to facilitate an exchange between creative practitioners (many award winning practices) across Asia and Australia. RESEARCH CONTRIBUTION: The exhibition crossed the disciplines of art, architecture, landscape architecture, interior and urban design: capitalising on the common ground rather than differences between disciplines, cities and countries. In Melbourne (2013), the co-curators added two additional curatorial themes (Working Cities and Preparing the Ground). The curatorial structure revealed the common ground and overlaps between practitioners and their tools for operating across diverse urban environments. For Melbourne (2013), 30 new creative works (from Taipei + Australia) were included (in addition to the previous iterations of the exhibition) and 7 new participants took part. The design of the exhibition as an installation/constructed space into the warehouse shell of the exhibition venue traced the history of the exhibitions iterations from its inception in Australia to Asia and its return to Australia. RESEARCH SIGNIFICANCE: X-Field's significance is measured by the funding support it received from the Australia Korea Foundation, the State Government of Victoria (via the Victorian Endowment for Science, Knowledge and Innovation) and RMIT's Design Archives. X-Field Archive was opened by William Fox, director of the Center for Art and the Environment, Nevada Museum of Art, USA. The venue, Pin-Up Gallery, has external funding support from local government (City of Yarra) and commercial partners (de Bortoli wines). The X-Field project will be documented in a book by Garden City Publishers, Taipei.