The art of resisting mega-event amnesia: reconstructing urban memory post-expo in Sydney and Brisbane

This article examines the work of ‘image construction’ and ‘memory reconstruction’ by focusing on World Expos held in Sydney and Brisbane, Australia. We argue the construction of urban imaginaries through triumphal narratives induces a form of mega-event amnesia: the erasure from collective memory of communities and cultural artefacts, and the suppression of protest and resistance against these events. We then show how art can be used as a form of ‘memory reconstruction’. Two case studies offer alternative narratives in the form of public art and archival media. The first case forges new storylines that remember Aboriginal culture and language through a major public art project in the heart of Sydney. The second discusses how a digitised archival film made by feminist filmmakers spotlights decades of disregard for the destruction of Brisbane’s working-class inner-city fabric when made accessible to new audiences. These alternative narratives reconstruct the memory of the 1879 Sydney International Exhibition and Brisbane’s World Expo 88 to show how art may be used to awaken urban memories and collective remembrance. Alternative narratives also breathe new life into the complex and contested histories of mega-events. While protest and ‘the art of dissent’ have been widely discussed regarding the Olympics, few scholars have considered their relationship to World Expos. Fewer still have considered how art reconstructs and reinterprets mega-events decades after they were held.