Gathering of Cultural Custodians and international academics call for paradigm shift in land-based relationships

Gathering of Cultural Custodians and international academics call for paradigm shift in land-based relationships

An RMIT-led event at CERES Community Environmental Park convened philosophers, artists, educators and Cultural Custodians to collectively reimagine regenerative relationships with land and place.

In late 2025, RMIT Associate Professor of Regenerative Education, David Rousell and Senior Lecturer in Industrial Design, Jordan Lacey organised a community gathering in Brunswick East featuring leading Canadian cultural theorist and political philosopher, Professor Erin Manning in dialogue with local philosophers, artists, educators and Cultural Custodians.

The day unfolded across three panels, interwoven with opportunities to walk, gather, converse, and share food freshly prepared from the CERES gardens. 

Panel 1: Indigenisation and land-based knowledge 

Yoonggama Lead and Associate Professor in RMIT’s School of Media & Communications Vicki Couzens and Distinguished Professor Yin Paradies (Deakin University) joined Associate Professor Rebecca Hill (RMIT’s School of Media & Communications) to examine how modernity has eroded Indigenous relationships with land. Yin argued that "Indigenisation" of land-based relationships is crucial to human survival amid civilisational breakdown, while Vicki shared living examples of "actionism" through her life-long work revitalising Indigenous languages, arts, and cultural practices as the foundation of restorative justice for First Peoples.

(L-R) Associate Professor Rebecca Hill, Associate Professor Vicki Couzens (RMIT) and Distinguished Professor Yin Paradies (Deakin). Credit: Grace Postill Pink(L-R) Associate Professor Rebecca Hill, Associate Professor Vicki Couzens (RMIT) and Distinguished Professor Yin Paradies (Deakin). Credit: Grace Postill Pink

Panel 2: Sonic Crucible performance 

Uncle Mick Harding, Toby Gifford, and Jordan Lacey demonstrated cross-cultural collaboration through sound. Uncle Mick performed musical works in Taungurung language, while Jordan operated a computer-driven rotating singing bowl and Toby played contrabass clarinet, creating new forms of communication and knowledge sharing through live performance.

Jordan Lacey performs computer-driven rotating singing bowl. Credit: Grace Postill PinkJordan Lacey performs computer-driven rotating singing bowl. Credit: Grace Postill Pink

Panel 3: ‘Giving land back to itself’

Professor Erin Manning (Concordia University) and Emeritus Professor Brian Massumi (3Ecologies, Quebec) joined Dr Andrew Goodman and David Rousell to explore collective experiments in alternative legal, economic, and artistic relationships with land. They shared their efforts to remove land permanently from property markets to create radically open spaces for collective thought and connection.

Professor Erin Manning (Concordia University). Credit: Grace Postill Pink Professor Erin Manning (Concordia University). Credit: Grace Postill Pink

The event illustrates RMIT’s approach to advancing a Regenerative Futures agenda and served as a call to action for participants to cultivate new relationships between people and land that draw from ancient knowledge systems.

Associate Professor Rousell reflected: "It was thrilling to demonstrate how collective movements can translate into living practices that unsettle colonial logics of possession."

The event also sowed seeds for future conversations and collaborations between Indigenous-led regenerative initiatives at RMIT and the 3Ecologies project in Quebec.

Video recordings of the event will form part of the curriculum for RMIT’s Regenerative Futures Minor, which is available to students to study this year.

The minor is designed for students who aspire to go beyond sustainability and actively contribute to solutions for the future.

Learn more about the Regenerative Futures Institute launching May 2026.

03 February 2026

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03 February 2026

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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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