Monkeemania in Australia

As an icon of popular culture, The Monkees certainly tick all the boxes! Humour, action, unexpected twists and turns, along with the right combination of endearing personalities, fondly remembered for the trail of heart-throbbing girls left in their wake. Whilst a lot of fun, the apparent joyous spontaneity belies the careful orchestration of all aspects of production. Little wonder this memorable group of young kids from the 60s hasn't escaped Derham Groves' attention, nor is it...
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As an icon of popular culture, The Monkees certainly tick all the boxes! Humour, action, unexpected twists and turns, along with the right combination of endearing personalities, fondly remembered for the trail of heart-throbbing girls left in their wake. Whilst a lot of fun, the apparent joyous spontaneity belies the careful orchestration of all aspects of production. Little wonder this memorable group of young kids from the 60s hasn't escaped Derham Groves' attention, nor is it surprising that the 50th anniversary of the band's first Australian tour in 1968 has been celebrated with his signature 'package of engagement' culminating in this significant publication. As The Monkees prepare for their 2019 Australian tour, Groves is contemplating retirement from three decades of teaching architecture at universities in Melbourne. [...]For this most recent project, almost two hundred Masters students were asked to craft hand puppets as portraits of the four Monkees, as part of their research assignment. Groves explains "¿it's one of my favourite exercises because it can liberate students from the conventions of architectural discourse which, far too often in my view, confuses good taste with good design".