Seventeenth International Conference on the Arts in Society

Abstract

The Creative Practice Circle (CPC) at Charles Sturt University (CSU) is a group of arts-based researchers committed to helping audiences view social issues through different lenses. Their creative works speak about the fragility of the environment and the surprising survival of communities endangered by contemporary neoliberalism. This paper shows the threads of thought that has taken the CPC from their initial work, Listening in the Anthropocene, to Crevice Communities, an online arts exhibition, which will be the springboard for a future symposium and major collaborative artwork. Since the group is geographically dispersed, they meet regularly in a virtual meeting room and a crucial part of the process of creation is discussion of ideas with resulting implications and knowledge. Various methods are employed by individual art makers, but conversation, listening, and reflecting on different viewpoints contributes to new perspectives through metaphor and media. Since COVID pushed the group into the online space for exhibiting their works they have established themselves as curators of cross-disciplinary art making and artefacts. The works in this study exemplify research connections between creative practice and the natural, environmental, and health sciences.