Ecstatic relationality and window shopping in Melbourne Central

Research Background: 'Ecstatic Relationality and Window Shopping' was a site-specific installation that investigated the complex of tensions between the ethics and aesthetics of leisure shopping in the context of mother-daughter shopping. It was installed for the State of Design Festival, 2010, on the pedestrian bridge connecting Melbourne Central Shopping Centre to Myers over Lonsdale Street. The installation comprised: mappings drawn onto the windows and ceiling of the bridge, a performance, and an audio soundscape. The work drew on earlier performance-based fieldwork conducted in Melbourne Central and, using Jane Rendell's site-writing methodology, reinterpreted and reinscribed these findings back into site. The project was positioned within discourses concerning consumption, relational aesthetics, and Henri Lefebvre's 'right to the city'. It aimed to provoke public discussion and debate. Research contribution: The project is innovative in its unbiased examination of both the ethical problems and aesthetic pleasures of shopping. This is in contrast to the traditional academic split between anti-consumption and aesthetic pleasures theorists. The focus on the tensions of mother-daughter shopping, and the provocative re-presentation of these tensions in one of Melbourne's key mother-daughter shopping destinations was also new. The work was innovative in its use of performance-based methodologies to examine shopping. Research significance: The work was approved for inclusion in the State of Design's special program 'Look, Stop, Shop' as part of the larger 'Counter Point' program. Project partners included RMIT's DRI and GPT's Melbourne Central. The audience for the opening night performance was over 250 and the installation was on the pedestrian bridge between Myers and Melbourne Central so it continued to reach high numbers of both festival visitors and passing shoppers throughout the 10-day festival. http://counterculture2010.wordpress.com/co