Welcome to our student showcase! Here we house temporary exhibitions of student artefacts of the future. Each exhibition is focused on a different theme. Check in regularly to view new exhibitions! Old exhibitions will be stored at the bottom of the page.
Thoughts of Trees (August 2024)
These artefacts explore future possibilities for trees in 2050. They were created by secondary school students working on the Artefacts of the Future project in 2024.
Beginning to Grow Leaves
I chose to work with the prompt, “an artifact from the future demonstrating more sustainable ways of thinking, acting and being,” and created a sort of polluted tree made of straws and rubbish, yet it’s blended with some natural materials and now begging to grow leaves
I hope that in the future we can find authentic and sustainable ways to advance and preserve our environment, making our rubbish and waste into useful, sustainable things and work to keep our earth healthy.
2050 Tree
There is a pile of old 90s stuff, which represents the past. And the tree represents the future. Which means it’s a greener future. It’s the greener future growing out of the rubbish of the past. I don’t know what inspired me. It just came to mind.
For this to happen, we’ll definitely need to change to using less coal and more electric things, and solar.
Last Tree
With my latest artwork, ‘Last Tree’, I adventured the aspect of deforestation and our future’s reality at the pace we are heading. This piece provides an artistic lens for imagining our past, present and potential future relationships with the environment.
My artifact symbolises deforestation and climate change to trees. It gives a small glimpse into what it could be like in 2050. We also get a glimpse into the world and deforestation. The story behind the tree was that it has been fenced and preserved to try and reproduce more trees after they had been destroyed by deforestation. It is blocked off from the world so scientists can try to preserve it.
The desert yellow sand is a representation of the land melting away its natural energy and serenity to a burnt-out deserted land that has no beauty or meaning to life. My artwork is more of a harsher effect on the environment by 2050.
Beauty Saved!
The endangered plant species of Australia have been saved to the point that they can be in vases. There was a huge effort to conserve and replant forests especially where these endangered species existed.
Invaluable Junk
It’s uncommon to find a Christmas tree that is perfectly arranged and well colour coded. We find that there is no trend – no colour palette, or style, or hot-in-ornament that everyone wants. It doesn’t update each year, and so evidently doesn’t fall into the hands of fast paced consumerism. Have you ever come across Christmas ornaments tossed at the side of the road, or resting eternally in landfill?
It doesn’t update every year, and so evidently doesn’t fall into the hands of fast paced consumerism. Have you ever come across Christmas ornaments tossed at the side of the road, or resting eternally in landfill?
Invaluable ‘junk’. That is what I like to call it. Each year brings the memories of the last – each tree unique and special to the stories beheld by its owner. Coloured in ornaments from different occasions, different people, different places. A tree that may not be perfect – much like what is displayed in the artwork itself. Perfectly imperfect – misshaped and roughed by memories. Never to be discarded of, for the longer it grows out of season, the more value it retains. And although its physical state may simply be of plastic, or glass, paper or string, it doesn’t weather out of trend. Much like we treasure photos – for the memory is unique to us, and so will never devalue due to the confliction of the ins and outs of society and its direction.
It symbolises our retention for items that have sentimental value. It might not be the latest gadget, or ruly to the latest trend. It is truly a boast to have an item immune to our modern day consumerism.
And if we can do it with a Christmas tree, surely this principle is applicable to other items. Maybe we can hold our clothes just a little longer, or our books, our furniture – even our devices. We can prolong their value – not just logistically, but sentimentally. We don’t have to keep up with the latest – sometimes the oldest will hold the most value, with memories, tradition and stories that society’s drift can’t match.