Sunday 15 November 2026 2:45 PM - 4:00 PM (UTC+10)
RECONSIDERING ROADSIDE ART:A Global History of Big Things
Presented by Amy Clarke
Venue: ANSunshineCoast: Lecture Theatre 1, K Block, University of the Sunshine Coast, 90 Sippy Downs Dr, Sippy Downs
Derided as low-brow ‘kitsch’, ‘Big Things’ have long been ignored by architectural and art historians. Supersized roadside statues exist in almost every country, with substantial numbers in Indonesia, France, Tunisia, Brazil, Malaysia, Türkiye, Israel, Belgium, and more.This arts talk will demonstrate that there are distinct regional trends and typologies that can be ‘read’ as indicators of the socio-cultural traits or qualities that peoples in these places value most.
Dr Amy Clarke is the Associate Dean (Learning & Teaching) of the School of Law and Society at the University of the Sunshine Coast. She is an internationally-recognised architectural historian of Big Things, and has had her research featured in the New York Times, the Washington Post, and the Guardian, as well as on Australia’s popular ABC Radio program ‘Conversations’. Dr Clarke specialises in heritage (particularly architectural), identity politics, and Scottish and Australian socio-cultural histories. She is an elected Fellow of the Society of Antiquaries Scotland and a Full International member of ICOMOS, and appears regularly on Australian radio as a cultural history and heritage commentator.
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