Strewth! That's Heritage
9 - 26 February 2010
Wunderlich Gallery
Ground Floor
Architecture Building
The University of Melbourne
Opening hours 9:00am - 5:00pm, Monday to Friday
A photographic exhibition to be opened in association with the Tenth Australasian Urban History/Planning History Conference titled ‘Green Fields, Brown Fields, New Fields’, will be held at the University of Melbourne.
‘Strewth! That’s Heritage' will present images of heritage sites defined in the broadest possible sense. Often heritage places exist in a manner that does not immediately suggest a discernable element of age or cultural significance. Some places of interest are so idiosyncratic as to evade definition within the Burra Charter and for their own sake must stay that way; often, recognition inadvertently brings hygienic and static forms of interpretation. Sometimes the project of heritage listing is concerned with sites of such scale and complexity as to escape or defy easy classification and management. People in themselves are linked to heritage sites and yet often such connections are difficult to define and acknowledge. Heritage sites may also be considered in constant state of peril, partly due to the difficulties in ongoing management, but also in the face of new pressures such as drought, fire, or social and demographic change.
The intention of this exhibition is partly to challenge our perception of what may define a heritage site and partly to demonstrate the breadth of the field of enquiry, outside the given parameters of the Burra Charter.