The Janus-faced City: Brisbane from Expo 88 to the Queen’s Wharf Casino Resort was an installation designed to critically examine and connect two significant urban redevelopments of Brisbane: Expo 88 and the Queen’s Wharf Casino Resort, which officially opened in 2024.
Featured at the 2019 Seoul Biennale of Architecture and Urbanism, this invited installation was part of the Cities Exhibition curated by internationally acclaimed architects Rafael Luna and Dongwoo Yim (PRAUD Office), alongside contributions from 80 cities worldwide.
The installation comprised two monumental collages, measuring 6 and 5 metres in length, suspended opposite each other to represent the two banks of the river. These hand-assembled banners were scanned and printed in Brisbane and shipped to Seoul to establish a visual dialogue illustrating Brisbane’s major urban transformations. Timber plinths symbolising the north and south riverbanks, with captions detailing the history of each urban transformation, were positioned under the banners, highlighting two pivotal phases in Brisbane’s development.
The focus of the project was the impact of political changes on the built environment, reflecting on how urban spaces and infrastructure are designated and designed. With a pedestrian bridge that now connects the two precincts, the study explored the potential for each bank to affect – and morph into – the other. It also investigated what the design strategies of these riverbanks revealed about Brisbane’s approach to common urban challenges faced by contemporary world-class cities.
Download the catalogue here. (PDF, 4.1 MB)
UQ Project Team
| Artwork and research | Emeritus Professor Sandra Kaji-O’Grady Dr Silvia Micheli |
| Graphic design | Daniel Foote Rebecca Stables |
| Plinth fabrication | Sam Butler Mark Lynne |
| Project Partners | The University of Queensland Seoul Biennale of Architecture and Urbanism |