Arts + Culture – Articles, Analysis, Comment – The Conversation

Should you feed child guests dinner? What #Swedengate tells us about food culture and social expectations

Perhaps what is most interesting about #Swedengate is not what it tells us about Sweden, but what it tells us about ourselves.

Toss aside those high heels: how Jurassic World’s Claire Dearing lights a path for women in action films

Travis Holland, Charles Sturt University and Lisa Watt, Charles Sturt University

Jurassic World’s Claire Dearing was critiqued for wearing heels – but her outfit choices show the development of her character.

Drawing data: I make art from the bodily experience of long-distance running

Cherine Fahd, University of Technology Sydney

I have been re-drawing my data to make visible what Strava cannot. The unheroic stuff: emotions, persistent thoughts, body sensations, lyrics from the songs, the weather.

If you cry while watching movies, it is probably a sign of your emotional strength

Debra Rickwood, University of Canberra

Suddenly being awash in tears shows a strong empathy response – a key component of emotional intelligence.

Heartstopper depicts queer joy - here’s why that can bring about complicated feelings for those in the LGBTIQ community

Liam Casey, University of Technology Sydney

LGBTIQ people watching Heartstopper are reporting feeling anger, grief, and sadness as they compared the show to their own relatively painful adolescence. Here’s how to navigate those feelings.

Tony Burke’s double ministry of arts and industrial relations could be just what the arts sector needs

Kim Goodwin, The University of Melbourne and Caitlin Vincent, The University of Melbourne

After holding the shadow portfolios, it is expected Tony Burke will be sworn in as minister for the arts and minister for industrial relations.

The singing was great – but what was it about? Why opera companies should explain themselves better

Peter Tregear, The University of Melbourne

In many countries, helpful background information and context is offered to audiences in the accompanying program – why are Australians missing out?

‘I want an orgasm but not just any orgasm’: How To Please A Woman shifts the way we depict the sexuality of older women

Debra Dudek, Edith Cowan University; Elizabeth Reid Boyd, Edith Cowan University, and Madalena Grobbelaar, Edith Cowan University

Sadly, the sexual desire of women over 50 is often unrepresented, misrepresented, and shown as comedic in culture – the new Australian film depicts a different reality.

Halsey’s record label won’t release a new song until it goes viral on TikTok. Is this the future of the music industry?

D. Bondy Valdovinos Kaye, Queensland University of Technology

On Sunday, popular American singer-songwriter Halsey shared a video calling out their label for demanding a viral TikTok before releasing a new song. The video went viral.

Francesco Solimena, Death of Messalina (about 1704/1712) The Getty

Ancient Rome didn’t have specific domestic violence legislation – but the laws they had give us a window into a world of abuse

Eleanor Cowan, University of Sydney; Ash Finn, The University of Melbourne; Kimberly Harris, University of Sydney; Kirsten Parkin, and Tim Parkin, The University of Melbourne

A patchwork of Roman laws (including Rome’s complex murder laws) sought to address coercive and violent behaviour

The rise and rise of Harry Styles: how did the former boyband member become the biggest name in pop?

Liz Giuffre, University of Technology Sydney

He is one of the biggest pop stars in the world. You don’t get there without your fans.

Arts and culture have been all but overlooked this election – but the Greens have a big-picture plan

Ben Eltham, Monash University

With plans to trial a universal basic income for artists and push streaming platforms to invest in local content, The Greens have a big-picture blueprint for cultural policy.

How do the major parties compare on arts and cultural policy? We asked 5 experts

Ben Eltham, Monash University; Brendan Keogh, Queensland University of Technology; Kirsten Stevens, The University of Melbourne; Peter Tregear, The University of Melbourne, and Tully Barnett, Flinders University

We asked five experts to analyse and grade the Coalition and ALP arts and cultural policies.

‘Where have all you Australians gone?’ Australia’s shrinking role in cultural diplomacy

Alison Carroll, The University of Melbourne

Germany and England spend around A$4–5 per capita on cultural engagement and diplomacy. We spend 20 cents.

Gough Whitlam delivering the 1972 election policy speech at the Blacktown Civic Centre in Sydney, 1972. National Archives of Australia via Wikimedia Commons

‘The relation between politics and culture is clear and real’: how Gough Whitlam centred artists in his 1972 campaign

Jenny Hocking, Monash University

Cultural policy has scarcely featured in the 2022 campaign – when Whitlam campaigned in 1972, the arts were centre stage.

Son of Byblos brings a nuanced and powerful understanding of Lebanese family life to the Australian stage

Cherine Fahd, University of Technology Sydney

Son of Byblos, from Brave New World Theatre Company, looks at the forbidden territory of queer sexuality in Lebanese-Australian families.

Ukraine’s Eurovision win shows us that despite arguments to the contrary, the contest has always been political

Jess Carniel, University of Southern Queensland

For many, the 2022 Eurovision Song Contest has answered the eternal question: is Eurovision political?

Winner Archibald Prize 2022, Blak Douglas Moby Dickens, synthetic polymer paint on linen, 300 x 200 cm © the artist, image © AGNSW, Mim Stirling

‘I can’t think of a more timely painting’: Blak Douglas’s Moby Dickens is a deserving winner of the 2022 Archibald Prize

Joanna Mendelssohn, The University of Melbourne

This year’s winning Archibald Prize portrait, Moby Dickens by Blak Douglas, encapsulates the justifiable rage felt by people living in flooded Bundjalung country

Artist Sofia Minson working on a mural of musician Tiki Taane in downtown Auckland. Getty Images

The arts helped us through the pandemic – NZ’s budget should radically rethink how and why they’re funded

Mark Harvey, University of Auckland, Waipapa Taumata Rau and Molly Mullen, University of Auckland, Waipapa Taumata Rau

Art has value well beyond the financial, including proven health and well-being benefits. It’s time this was recognised in the way the sector is funded.

Elioth Gruner (1882–1939), Spring Frost, 1919. Oil on canvas. Art Gallery of New South Wales

From gum trees to cities to sweeping deserts: how 125 years of the Wynne Prize traces Australia’s shifting relationship to our landscape

Joanna Mendelssohn, The University of Melbourne

In 1895 the Wynne Prize was proposed as an award for a ‘landscape painting of Australian scenery’. Today it is more likely to be given to an Indigenous artist’s explanation of Country.

Exile on Main St turns 50: how The Rolling Stones’ critically divisive album became rock folklore

Dean Biron, Queensland University of Technology

In May of 1972 the Rolling Stones released their 10th British studio album and first double LP, Exile on Main St. Reception was mixed, but the album is now considered a landmark.

FIFA and EA sports are splitting: a look at 30 years of game innovation, and what fans can expect next

Steven Conway, Swinburne University of Technology

EA Sports and FIFA will part ways after almost 30 years of collaboration, and will each be going at games alone.

Matt Byrne/State Theatre Company South Australia

South Australia’s Limestone Coast was formed from the bones of dead fish. Cathedral brings the story of these caves to the stage

William Peterson, Auckland University of Technology

Caleb Lewis’ play, named for a popular but treacherous diving cave, is a sumptuous look at the beauty – and danger – of diving.

The bark painting depicting a barramundi that Namadbara created for Spencer at Oenpelli in 1912 and that he identified in the interview with Lance Bennett in 1967, now in Museums Victoria Spencer/Cahill Collection (object X 19909).

Paddy Compass Namadbara: for the first time, we can name an artist who created bark paintings in Arnhem Land in the 1910s

Joakim Goldhahn, The University of Western Australia; Gabriel Maralngurra; Luke Taylor, Australian National University; Paul S.C.Taçon, Griffith University, and Sally K. May, University of Adelaide

The Spencer/Cahill Collection at Museums Victoria contains approximately 170 bark paintings – and now we can name one of the artists behind them.

60 years and 14 Doctors: how Doctor Who has changed with the times – and Ncuti Gatwa’s casting is the natural next step

Marcus Harmes, University of Southern Queensland

Sex Education star Ncuti Gatwa has been cast as the 14th Doctor – a move which shows that Doctor Who is continually adapting in its 60th year.