ABSTRACT
The collection of representations of the Sydney Opera House brings to the fore the critical role that representation plays in the way iconic works of architecture and World Heritage sites are perceived. The Sydney Opera House representations were collected in two stages: first, some 300 images from the website Flickr and then an additional 600 images were gathered from many websites on the internet. Participatory media connects audiences, participation and representations so that it is possible to observe how the creation and dissemination of representations, both online and offline, evidence the socio-visual value of the Sydney Opera House for such groups. Explored through van Dijck's conceptual tool of mediated memories, these online and offline artefacts are connected to the desire to mediate time, to mediate our personal and collective sense of identity and between individual experiences and embodied practices which underpin the value of the Sydney Opera House as a world-famous iconic building.
