Zarli Skinner

The Bloom project is a culmination of the questions posed by Studio 40, surrounding Post-Colonial land-usage, practice, and ownership with a program of events and education. The way we currently design and experience events and education are through an extremely colonial mindset, isolating ourselves from the very objects that we are trying to learn from and interact with. A series of installations in the landscape are proposed to facilitate the forming of relationships through auditory, kinetic, and visual events & education. These relationships include, but are not limited to, other beings, both human and non-human, Country, the past, present, and future.

The separation of events & education into auditory, kinetic, and visual encourages interaction at a deep level rather than the superficial overview of text information that is our current colonial reality. Auditory relations are formed through storytelling, kinetic through movement, dance and caring for Country, and visual through alternative food production, seasonal changes, and recovering site biodiversity.

The pavilion facilitates the kinetic elements, with the design itself having a tangible connection to the earth through its base and to the sky through the material coverings. The smaller acacia pavilion aims to demonstrate a different way of conveying information about the native flora and fauna. When an acacia blooms it creates a vibrant yellow carpet, many do not notice this as it often blends into its surroundings; the acacia pavilion is designed to create a pattern of absence on the ground to encourage those that experience it to slow down and form a relationship with this moment.