There are times that I look back at my undergraduate degree and wonder what I spent those three years doing. I’m sure I’m not the only one. But recently, as I was perusing through old essays, short stories and ‘Communication Practice Projects’, I stumbled upon an essay that I thought might deserve to be unearthed.
In my third semester of Communications I wrote a paper on how cultural event ‘Jurassic Lounge’ reflected Postmodernism and New Muselogy. I had been the guest blogger for the opening night of the very first Jurassic Lounge (you can read it here) and had been totally swept away by the spectacle and imagination it had presented. As the fifth season of Jurassic Lounge comes to an end, I thought I might as well dust the old thing off and put it on display. Have a brief look, I won’t think less of you if you don’t read the whole thing.
ABSTRACT // WE OWN THE NIGHT
Jurassic Lounge was a weekly event exhibition held at the Australian Museum over two months in 2011: February 1st until April 19th. The series of ‘after-hour sessions featuring art, live music, drinks + new ideas’ (Jurassic Lounge 2010) included live drawings, robotic dinosaurs, body painting, tarot card readers and many more spectacular attractions (Side Street, Sydney 2011). It is my belief that Jurassic Lounge reflects the paradigm of postmodernism in its marketing, reliance on interactivity and engagement, use of art and music to promote subjective interpretations and self-conscious meaning making. It is my belief that Jurassic Lounge is pioneering the techniques needed to keep museums socially and intellectually relevant in the digital era.
Felicity Pickering
The Unreliable Narrator 