Language: Interdisciplinary forum
In 2019, we teamed up with our colleagues at the University of Melbourne to explore timely themes via a series of interdisciplinary forums — and in this one, we invite you to join us as we engage with the theme of language.
Held to mark the United Nations International Year of Indigenous Languages, our second forum featured artists, performers and researchers from a range of disciplines exploring language in its many forms. Throughout the day, speakers shared insights into non-verbal and non-human forms of communication; Indigenous languages; and the relationship between language and power.
Speaker included Beth Sometimes, Amelia Turner and Shirley Turner who introduced audiences to Apmere angkentye-kenhe (a place for language) in Mparntwe/Alice Springs; Professor Alison Lewis who looked back on the Stasi and the secret language of power, and Professor Mark Elgar, who delved into the question of whether animals have language. The full program is listed below with their corresponding videos and they can also be watched on our YouTube channel.
The forum also featured What might be obvious to me may not be obvious to others, a performance lecture by artist Sam Petersen and a newly commissioned performance of Fayen d’Evie and Benjamin Hancock’s Essays in vibrational poetics {~~} … , … ; … 2019.
The forum publication can be viewed here:
9.30am – 10am REGISTRATION / COFFEE (provided)
10am – 10.30am INTRODUCTION AND WELCOME
Welcome to Country
Introduction | Kelly Gellatly | Director, Ian Potter Museum of Art
SESSION ONE
10.30–10.50am
Harley Dunolly-Lee | proud Dja Dja Wurrung person and speaker; community linguist at the Victorian Aboriginal Corporation for Languages.
Working with Communities
10.50–11.10am
Associate Professor Richard Frankland | Associate Professor Cross-Disciplinary Practice, School of Theatre & School of Film & Television, Faculty of Fine Arts and Music, University of Melbourne
The language of tomorrow’s Australia
Video here.
11.10–11.20am Q and A
11.20–11.40am MORNING TEA (provided)
11.40am–12.10pm
Beth Sometimes | artist, interpreter/translator and language worker
Amelia Kngwarraye Turner | Arrernte cultural leader, angangkere (traditional healer) and artist
Shirley Kngwarraye Turner | educator, cultural worker and poet
Apmere angkentye-kenhe
Video here.
12.10–12.30pm
Dr Jennifer Green | DECRA Research Fellow in Linguistics and Applied Linguistics, University of Melbourne, supported by RUIL (the Research Unit for Indigenous Language) and CoEDL (the ARC Centre of Excellence for the Dynamics of Language)
Visible talk: Australian Indigenous sign languages
12.30–12.40pm Q and A
12.40–1.30pm LUNCH (provided)
SESSION TWO
1.30–1.50pm
Fayen d’Evie | artist and writer
Reading the indecipherable
1.50–2.10pm
Fayen d’Evie and Benjamin Hancock | Essays in vibrational poetics {~~} … , … ; … 2019
A newly commissioned performance.
SESSION THREE
2.10–2.30pm
Professor John Hajek | Professor of Italian Studies, Director of RUMACCC, School of Languages and Linguistics, University of Melbourne
Language conflict in Italy and Belgium – a European disease?
Video here.
2.30–2.50pm
Professor Alison Lewis | Professor, School of Languages and Linguistics, University of Melbourne
The Stasi and the secret language of power
Video here.
2.50–3.00pm Q and A
3.00–3.20pm AFTERNOON TEA (provided)
SESSION FOUR
3.20–3.40pm
Sam Petersen | artist
Lecture Performance | What might be obvious to me may not be obvious to others.
Video here.
SESSION FIVE
3.40–4.00pm
Dr Jey Han Lau | School of Computing and Information Systems, University of Melbourne
Creativity, Machine and Poetry
Video here.
4.00–4.20pm
Professor Mark Elgar | Professor of Evolutionary Biology and Animal Behaviour, School of BioSciences, Faculty of Science, University of Melbourne
Do animals have language?
Video here.
4.20–4.30pm Q and A / close