600 Mills

BACKGROUND In his classic contribution Capitalism, Socialism and Democracy, the renowned economist Joseph Schumpeter (1950) reminds us how effective change within capitalism comes from entrepreneurs who have taken the self-initiative to do things differently. He describes this process as `creative destruction¿. The researchers identified conjoint thinking on political economy by Deleuze and Guattari (1983, 1987) and used the practice of filmmaking to explore how these two philosophies relate to one another in order to understand something about Melbourne¿s textile industry CONTRIBUTION 600 Mills is a documentary film that explores the decline of the textile industry in Brunswick (Melbourne) which fifty years ago contained over 600 textile mills, now reduced to around ten through the impact of free trade policies and globalisation. Through the use of film practice the researchers worked to understand this history in context of political economic thought (Deleuze and Guatarri and Schumpeter). Interviews with mill owners, unionists and philosophers was conducted as well as contemporary designers and makers. The documentary gives us insight into various ways textile practitioners have worked within a progressively global capitalist economy SIGNIFICANCE The research used formal properties of film to understand the resonances between the ideas and questions driving it. In this way it found a unique language that is of the subject matter: of cloth, political economy, philosophy and the lived experiences of people effected by this history. It demonstrates how film practice can be used to think differently. The film received `Best Paper¿ award at ANZAM, 2017 and [insert stats on viewership on Prometheus].