Contemporary Art and Social Transformation (CAST)

Contemporary Art and Social Transformation (CAST)

A group of people in colourful clothing, each with a fist and arm raised in the air. Cropped.

CAST produces art research that critically engages with social and public spheres with a particular interest in how artistic practices intersect with issues of equity, access and democracy.

The research group is a hub for critical thinking, collaboration and the exchange of ideas, knowledge dissemination, practice-led artistic research and socially-engaged art practice. We work to strengthen art projects on creative care, ecology, education, queer(y)ing practice, migration and mobility, social practice and public art. CAST engages on local and international levels by collaborating with practitioners, communities, industry and government partners.  

Across all of our research, CAST recognises the importance of Indigenous and First Nations voices, perspectives and agency. We believe that Indigenous ways of knowing and being are central to the fabric of contemporary life and we acknowledge the sovereignty of our First Peoples.    

Key Research Areas

Arts + Education

Fostering the conditions for art and education to thrive through interdisciplinary research.

Public Art

Seeking to apply the principles of social practice, bringing about change in the public domain with ambitious local, national and international art projects.

Social Practice

Investigating the role of human interaction and social discourse in art making, institutions and systems of power, by drawing attention to and engaging with complex issues aiming to effect social change.

Creative Care

Creative Care explores creative practice research and teaching in relation to health and wellbeing.

Migration + Mobility + Art

Migration + Mobility + Art examines various forms of migration and their critical impacts, and the challenges surrounding the complexities of mobility, in the context of creative practices.

Queer(y)ing Creative Practice

Investigating the arbitrary construction of cultural paradigms, driven by an intersectional approach to social justice and embodied lived experience.

Fashion + Art

The intersection of fashion and art research offering insights into the complex and multifaceted relationship between two of the most influential and creative industries in the world.

Feature Projects

A cream wall with an arched doorway and a wired door which is kept open. In front of the doorway is a stool with a fabric cloth draped over it and on the stool is a medium-sized bowl. There are small white objects hanging off the top of the doorway.

Dear Agnes

‘Dear Agnes’, was a contemporary public art program that featured site-responsive works by 12 artists and collectives for nine days over three weeks (Friday 10 March – Sunday 26 March 2023) at Truganina Explosives Reserve, Altona.

Three people stand in front of a building with light grey columns and a large brown wooden door. There are singing into the microphones which are held up by three stands. The person on the left is holding a guitar.

Takeover

Takeover was a program of public events held over 2022 that celebrated the agency of communities of diverse young and emerging creatives, creating the opportunity to take back public spaces following Melbourne’s successive COVID-19 lockdowns.

Person in a black dress with white lace detailing, walking forwards. On the right hand side, a group of standing people taking photos with mobile phones of the main person.

Forms for Encounter and Exchange: The Collingwood Studio

In collaboration with The Social Studio, The Centre for Projection Art, and Composite Moving Image, RMIT students from Forms for Encounter and Exchange studio hosted a community meal, runway show, and projection festival at Collingwood Yards to celebrate the graduating designers from The Social Studio.

forms-for-encounter-and-exchange-2-critical-frameworks-for-creative-fieldwork-on-stolen-lands-1220x732.jpg

Forms for Encounter and Exchange #2: critical frameworks for creative fieldwork on stolen lands 

The residency was a ten-day interdisciplinary field school which took as its starting point our relationship to the lands of the Wodi Wodi and the Yuin of the South Coast region at the unique cultural and environmental context of Bundanon.

People

Operations Group

Amy Spiers

CAST Lead, CAST research group and SoA Research Fellow

View Amy's profile

Thao Nguyen

Deputy Lead, CAST research group

Kit Wise

Dean, School of Art

View Kit's profile

Grace McQuilten

Associate Dean, Research and Innovation, School of Art

View Grace's profile

Advisory Members

Tammy Hulbert

View Tammy's profile

Kelly Hussey-Smith

View Kelly 's profile

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Contact

Email

cast@rmit.edu.au

*Image credit

  • Takeover, Parliament Steps, 2022. Photograph by Keelan O’Hehir.
aboriginal flag
torres strait flag

Acknowledgement of Country

RMIT University acknowledges the people of the Woi wurrung and Boon wurrung language groups of the eastern Kulin Nation on whose unceded lands we conduct the business of the University. RMIT University respectfully acknowledges their Ancestors and Elders, past and present. RMIT also acknowledges the Traditional Custodians and their Ancestors of the lands and waters across Australia where we conduct our business - Artwork 'Sentient' by Hollie Johnson, Gunaikurnai and Monero Ngarigo.

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