Eliza: Guerilla Art Supports Heritage Value

There is extensive commentary on the role of public, unauthorised art in western cities, but little on the coincidence of heritage value and guerilla art. This paper analyses the relationship of the two in a statue of a 1940s swimmer entitled Eliza which was unveiled in the Swan River in Crawley, Pe...

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Main Author: Harris, Jennifer
Other Authors: Paul Maginn
Format: Conference Paper
Published: Promaco 2009
Online Access:http://pandora.nla.gov.au/pan/40669/20101010-0852/www.fbe.unsw.edu.au/cf/staff/peter.rickwood/soac2009/Menu.html
http://hdl.handle.net/20.500.11937/36865
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author Harris, Jennifer
author2 Paul Maginn
author_facet Paul Maginn
Harris, Jennifer
author_sort Harris, Jennifer
building Curtin Institutional Repository
collection Online Access
description There is extensive commentary on the role of public, unauthorised art in western cities, but little on the coincidence of heritage value and guerilla art. This paper analyses the relationship of the two in a statue of a 1940s swimmer entitled Eliza which was unveiled in the Swan River in Crawley, Perth in 2007. It commemorates the Crawley Baths which from 1914 to their demolition in 1964 were one of Perth’s premier meeting places. Eliza was commissioned by the Perth City Council as a monument to a lost place. Since its appearance, however, the statue has functioned not just as a place of memory, but dominantly of guerilla art and public comment. These activities foreground the transgressive potential of the coincidence of a heritage marker and guerilla art. Reading the Australia ICOMOS Burra Charter 1999, however, alongside Eliza shows that interpretation which foregrounds transgression is incomplete. The steadily strengthening professional heritage emphasis on social value over the previous dominance of original fabric, suggests that the delight and frivolity - but crucially not vandalism - with which the statue has been greeted, supports evolving heritage practice.
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spelling curtin-20.500.11937-368652022-12-09T06:09:43Z Eliza: Guerilla Art Supports Heritage Value Harris, Jennifer Paul Maginn Roy Jones Fiona Haslam Mckenzie There is extensive commentary on the role of public, unauthorised art in western cities, but little on the coincidence of heritage value and guerilla art. This paper analyses the relationship of the two in a statue of a 1940s swimmer entitled Eliza which was unveiled in the Swan River in Crawley, Perth in 2007. It commemorates the Crawley Baths which from 1914 to their demolition in 1964 were one of Perth’s premier meeting places. Eliza was commissioned by the Perth City Council as a monument to a lost place. Since its appearance, however, the statue has functioned not just as a place of memory, but dominantly of guerilla art and public comment. These activities foreground the transgressive potential of the coincidence of a heritage marker and guerilla art. Reading the Australia ICOMOS Burra Charter 1999, however, alongside Eliza shows that interpretation which foregrounds transgression is incomplete. The steadily strengthening professional heritage emphasis on social value over the previous dominance of original fabric, suggests that the delight and frivolity - but crucially not vandalism - with which the statue has been greeted, supports evolving heritage practice. 2009 Conference Paper http://hdl.handle.net/20.500.11937/36865 http://pandora.nla.gov.au/pan/40669/20101010-0852/www.fbe.unsw.edu.au/cf/staff/peter.rickwood/soac2009/Menu.html Promaco restricted
spellingShingle Harris, Jennifer
Eliza: Guerilla Art Supports Heritage Value
title Eliza: Guerilla Art Supports Heritage Value
title_full Eliza: Guerilla Art Supports Heritage Value
title_fullStr Eliza: Guerilla Art Supports Heritage Value
title_full_unstemmed Eliza: Guerilla Art Supports Heritage Value
title_short Eliza: Guerilla Art Supports Heritage Value
title_sort eliza: guerilla art supports heritage value
url http://pandora.nla.gov.au/pan/40669/20101010-0852/www.fbe.unsw.edu.au/cf/staff/peter.rickwood/soac2009/Menu.html
http://hdl.handle.net/20.500.11937/36865