I have planned a city that is not like any other in the world. I have planned it not in a way that I expected any government authorities in the world would accept. I have planned an ideal city - a city that meets my ideal of the city of the future.
Walter Burley Griffin (Griffins Plan for Canberra)

The ubiquitous bias of parochial inter-state rivalry has long left Canberra teetering on the edge of the bland-zone. But are we not, instead, the very epitome, the zenith even, of the Great Australian Dream? Is our social fabric not the quintessential warp and weft of middle-class aspiration? Are we not model citizens in the model city? How do we define ourselves, and what are the defining arty-facts of our uber-suburban bush-bound life?
Megan Bottari (Shifting Perspectives 2007 Craft ACT)

[T]he purpose of an arts organisation is to expose an artist and his or her message to the widest possible audience, rather than to produce the artist and the message that the largest audience demands.
P Kotler and J Scheff ("Crisis in the Arts ..." California Management Review, Fall 1996)

A city's social, economic and political fabric could perhaps be looked upon as threads that weave a three dimensional description of a city's history, present and future. 2013 - Canberra's 100th birthday is an opportunity to pull these threads together, a time for reassessment of the function and functionality of this new breed of city, and an opportunity to celebrate this unique exercise in social planning. Here is a city designed, not arising from an historic conglomeration of people, or torpor of order, or manufactured out of convenience or precedence. Does it support a new way of life, or is it like any other city with conservative constraints or innovative infrastructure, unique differences or cultural failings? Is it possible that this considered construct of government can be a model living city?

Canberra is an intriguing place, so well designed that in my whole life living here I have never seen Gough Whitlam, Malcolm Fraser, Bob Hawke, Paul Keating or John Howard. Whilst this may be a good thing in individual cases, I like to think that Walter knew his job when creating a home for ministers and those that administer. Canberra's design, with its designated areas of government, business, dwelling and an incorporated landscape is - well - right. An enigmatic city full of government acronyms and language it is essential to have a clear division between government, work, home and recreation.

There is the function of the government, and there is the by-product of that function. The by-product is this place, this city of Canberra, and it is here that we simultaneously live the created design of Griffin and buck at its designated order. Canberra receives a lot of criticism, whether this is the end result of itinerants popping in and out of Canberra on lobbying missions ending in frustration at the city's limitations, or well observed and deserved comments, will never be settled between those who visit and those who live here. What is fact is that Canberra is different and operates in its own fashion.

With Canberra's centenary in 2013 there are many government plans underway to mark this moment. In the ACT Government's blueprint for the celebration it notes that, as a result of extensive feedback from the public regarding what sort of celebratory event the people would like for this historic birthday, a short list of Blockbusters has been compiled which includes: Canberra Rocks - a massive outdoor rock concert and light show; Summer of Symphonies; International Garden Festival; World Indigenous Corroborree; Test Cricket and World Youth Speak Out (note that the Rock concert comes first). Each of these projects, the document states, "reflects the community's views and aspirations and should proceed, subject to the outcome of feasibility assessments and final funding models." (The Canberra Centenary Blueprint)

I don't know about you, but for me this sort of language does not invoke a great deal of excitement. It might be the range of blockbuster events themselves, or the idea that they can only proceed subject to the outcome of feasibility assessments, and final funding models. There is something inherently wrong about the order and design of this blockbuster list. It allows government to assume the role of artistic director, an unimaginable position if we think of many other events of this scale. We want the right to be a fully mature city that is spontaneous, on the edge of chaos, a city bursting with itself. We want bald hard reflection and a multitude of people that guarantees a pulsating throng. We want to acknowledge this anniversary but we do not want to be condemned to events that take place in parks without offending the sensibilities of our children, dogs or old aunts. Yes good social policy is important but it is also important that we work with government in such a way that allows us to think for ourselves and determine our own forms of critique of this city and our multiple versions of entertainment that may or may not be blockbusters or backyard bbq's.

Megan Munro
Untitled
Poster

Is it the arts' role to simply provide government with entertainment for historic events, or can the arts independently engage with the public to examine the shaping and crafting of a city out of a capital design? Is this a test case for the arts here in Canberra, and if the arts fail us what then? Gazing into the crystal ball trying to divine the future of our cities is a past time of many. When it comes to how best to do things everyone is an expert, and when it comes to capital cities myths abound. The modern capital has the responsibility to govern the country and be a repository for its identity (myth # 1), a place where the civil and cultural history is embodied and is owned by the nation's citizens (myth #2), is a lighthouse for its future (myth # 3), where people assume that, because it is a planned city, Canberra is a simplistic plastic environment (myth # 4), that it is a city abounding in rules and regulations (myth # 5), and yet home to a community that does not identify itself through this role model alone (myth # 6), that other Australians migrating to the new utopia have created this place (myth # 7), and its growth and development are the product of its inhabitants not just its policies (myth # 8), and it is arguably one of the worlds most successful planned capital cities (myth # 9), and it is boring (myth #10), dynamic (myth # 11), conservative (myth # 12), a conspiracy theorist's dinner plate (myth # 13), has no heart (myth # 14), and no soul (myth # 15).

I am not suggesting that Craft ACT become a new agent for social policy to get Canberra right (myth # 16), because it may not be wrong (myth # 17) and god forbid we do not need any quasi amateur policy makers in a town, brimming with the real thing. Neither am I trying to be a provider of circuses and bread to distract people away from Canberra's true purpose of government (myth #18). Why would we do that when we have the Federal body, the National Capital Authority, hosting large scale seasonal events including ice rinks and circuses, and the local ACT Government jazzing up the city at lunchtimes and on summer evenings? Yet this birthday allows us to apply all the benefits that the arts bring, independent and new thinking, stories of experience, multicultural imagination and expression, and reflect upon how cities are made and crafted, which is a theme close to my heart.

Judi Elliott
Untitled
Corrugated iron, fused and kiln formed glass, paint

An edgy combination of art, from exquisite hand crafting to junky creation, with video, painting, photography and performance thrown in the mix, was the cumulative closing event of Shifting Perspectives; part student party, part contemporary art happening and part craft creation Shifting Perspectives: an exploration of the socio-political (he)art beat of the nation was the anchor for a new Craft ACT program titled Designing a Capital: Crafting a City. Breaking with the standard formula for exhibitions, this event was a progressive exhibition where artists, designers and arts students were invited to submit work at any time during the two week period to build a layered story and view of Canberra from those who live in and make this place their own. The exhibition generated an array of interpretations of Canberra life and was a challenge to many, a social and political framework which commented on what makes Canberra tick. It brought out the strange, the bizarre and the beautiful, as it rummaged through Canberra's compost of federal and local government, capturing political agendas and personal content.

Jess Kelly
A Day Like Any Other
Engraved glass jars

The first aim of Designing a Capital: Crafting a City is to be a vehicle for the visual arts, craft in particular, to refer to and build a language that explores this model city and its model citizens, as Bottari so eloquently phrased it. Through this program connection will be made with other planned cities including Washington, Ottawa and possibly Brasilia, whose confined spaces will provide a mirror from which to judge the success or otherwise of Canberra. This may result in exhibitions, writing and other exchanges leading up to Canberra's 100th birthday in 2013. To broaden our horizon Craft ACT has programmed other events including an annual debate. In 2007 participants argued the merits of art vs. sport. The perception that sport is more popular and the arts always runner up is a common refrain and as Sydney, Melbourne, Brisbane, Adelaide and Perth cricket grounds have become the revamped Mecca of this sporting nation, can Canberra whitewash the other capital cities and become the haven for Aussie arts? This question was asked in a city that has the highest per capita rate attendance at both arts and sports events. The sports team was immediately on the offensive, believing the future is in fast balls, knowing your market and capitalising on the celebrity cult alongside emotional highs, and having clearly identified agendas such as opponents whose sole objective is to win. The arts held aloft their integrity and (perhaps foolish) perseverance without much financial return, and the benefits of not indulging in high wins or low losses. Deb Clark's summation, a DJ's well crafted Arts Report, closely mimicked the never ending minutiae of sports world journalism and provided a wry round up of the hurdles of artists lives, such as: how will the painter make the exhibition deadline when Windsor and Newton are claiming there is a world wide shortage of cadmium red; actor strained back in a particularly physical warm-up; and writer at loggerheads with publisher over the cover of her book.

Patsy Hely
Untitled
Porcelain and decal

Reaching its hundredth birthday it is now possible to encounter or meet a fourth generation Canberran (under the age of 5) without too much surprise, yet a steady proportion of its population will always be here for less than four years. Consequently, the shape and form of Canberra's culture, which may have suffered along the way from an array of short lived-ness, is slowly and very surely emerging with a range of Canberra artists and arts organisations which are standing the test of time. Rather than celebrating 2013 with a one off exhibition of a suite of objects that may or may not address the notion of Canberra, it is important to let the story grow out of a series of events and happenings. Over the past 30 to 50 years, Canberra has established a reputation for producing fine crafted objects and for great artists, designers and makers. Artists with imagination and conceptual understanding of material objects and culture are integral threads to Canberra's fabric. Can we apply this talented community to plumb the depth of this fine city? Can they be entwined with new movements in all things cultural and demonstrate that Canberra is, as a result of this fertile field, a free thinking, responsive, stimulating and energetic city? Can we in local arts organisations (in contrast to the national cultural cathedrals mainly within the Parliamentary Triangle) draw the threads of local artists and their works together to find the new cultural scape that defines Canberra's future? Only time will tell.

Barbara McConchie
Executive Director
Craft ACT: Craft and Design Centre
August, 2007

Barbara McConchie is the Executive Director of Craft ACT: Craft and Design Centre, an organisation that promotes object culture and the work of Canberra based contemporary craft artists and designers. Barbara is also a native of Canberra and often wonders about its difference from other places.