Palimpsest is the proposal of a space for the discussion, exhibition and conservation management of the heritage of the City of Sydney. The project proposes to provide Australia ICOMOS with the space to host the GA 2023 ICOMOS Symposium. It also imagines the launch of a speculative architecture competition, which will see ‘installation modules’ pop up at heritage sites as a public response to heritage symposia and exhibitions. Five exhibition floors are dedicated to the five cultural factors of Australia ICOMOS’ Burra Charter. Curators place exhibitions of heritage items on relevant floors with a spatial awareness of the heritage principles underlying adjacent exhibitions. As spaces fill up, older exhibitions are partially removed or retained (based on their significance), mirroring the palimpsestic fabric of the city at the museum-scale. Over time, exhibitions attain their own value. Curators transplant identified parts of exhibitions onto installations at heritage sites, achieving an ‘inside-out simulacrum’.
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