Theme

“We have entered the experimental age…Experiments are no longer conducted just in the laboratory. They have become collective experiments that concern each and every one of us.”Bruno Latour, 2004

What is experimentation? What makes art ‘experimental’? What are the results of aesthetic experiments and why do we need them? Could artists invent new modes of experimentation with/for science? What are the differences between experiments and inventions; experiments and failures; experiment and innovation? How do we set up ethico-scientific-aesthetic experiments?

This conference will showcase and discuss innovative arts projects by leading practitioners, thinkers and research groups that model new forms of transdisciplinarity and offer new ways of addressing real-world issues. These include works that have successfully ‘changed the world’ as well as speculative initiatives that radically change the way we think. It will survey the results and potential of Experimental Arts, inviting leaders in the field to discuss how we can extend and support a platform for path-breaking experimentation.

The main conference will be preceded by a two-day National Postgraduate Conference on Experimental Arts.
Key speakers include: James Crutchfield (Complexity Sciences Centre, University of California, Davis) and David Dunn (Art and Science Laboratory, Santa Fe); Donald Brook (Flinders University); Amy Balkin (CCA; Stanford); Mischa Kuball (Academy of Media Arts, Cologne); Chris Bosse (UTS; L.A.V.A.); Terry Smith (Pittsburgh; NIEA); Elizabeth Ann Macgregor (MCA, Sydney); Adrian Mackenzie (University of Lancaster); Victoria Vesna (University of California, Los Angeles) Lyndal Jones (RMIT); Pia Ednie- Brown (RMIT); Joyce Hinterding (University of Sydney); Richard Goodwin, Paul Thomas, Paula Dawson, Douglas Kahn, Anna Munster, Nigel Helyer, Jill Bennett (NIEA, UNSW); iCinema, Centre for Interactive Cinema, UNSW with a screening of its immersive, interactive work Scenario.

Program of Events

DAY ONE Friday 19th August

Formative Technologies

Douglas Kahn (Professor)
Professor Media and Innovation at NIEA, UNSW

Joyce Hinterding
Lecturer, Sydney College of the Arts, University of Sydney, sound/video/cross disciplinary artist

Dennis Del Favero (Professor)
Professor at the College of Fine Arts, Director, iCinema Centre, Deputy Director, NIEA, UNSW, media artist

Maurice Pagnucco (Associate Professor)
Head, School of Computer Science and Engineering, UNSW

Timothy Barker (Dr)
Post-Doctoral Research Fellow, iCinema Centre, UNSW

Politics/History

Michael Goldberg
Senior Lecturer and Chair of the Sculpture, Performance and Installation studio at Sydney College of the Arts, the university of Sydney, artist, curator

Ian Howard (Professor)
Dean of the College of Fine Arts, UNSW, artist

Zanny Begg
Director, Tin Sheds Gallery, Faculty of Architecture, Design and Planning , University of Sydney, curator, artist ,writer

Kathy Temin (Dr)
Senior Lecturer at Monash University in the Faculty of Art and Design, Melbourne, artist

Open Session

Kerry Thomas (Dr)
Senior Lecturer, School of Art History and Art Education at the College of Fine Arts and founding member, Creativity Research Group at NIEA, UNSW

Karen Profilio
Head Teacher Creative Arts.,North Sydney Girls High School and  Co-President Advocacy, Support and Membership of the Visual Arts and Design Educator’s Association, NSW (VADEA)

Louise Fowler-Smith
Senior Lecturer, School of Art, Director, Imaging the Land International Research Institute (ILIRI), COFA, UNSW, artist

Bonita Ely (Dr)
Senior Lecturer, School of Art, COFA UNSW, artist

John Conomos (Associate Professor)
Associate Professor, Sydney College of the Arts , University of Sydney, artist, critic,writer

Agency/Materiality

Petra Gemeinboeck (Dr)
Senior Lecturer (Interactive Media Arts), COFA, UNSW, media artist

Mari Velonaki (Dr)
Co-Director, Centre for Social Robotics, Australian Centre for Field Robotics, University of Sydney, media artist

Ellen Balka (Professor)
Professor, School of Communication, Simon Fraser University, Burnaby, British Columbia, Canada; Senior Scholar, Michael Smith Foundation for Health Research

Experimental Humanities

Edward Scheer (Associate Professor)
Deputy Head  School of English, Media and Performing Arts, Faculty of Arts and Social Sciences, UNSW

Erin Brannigan (Dr)
Lecturer, Dance Program. School of English, Media and Performing Arts, Faculty of Arts and Social Sciences, UNSW

Stephen Muecke (Professor)
Professor of Writing, School of English, Media and Performing Arts, Faculty of Arts and Social Sciences, UNSW

Bio Art/Sense Perception

Andre Brodyk  (Dr)
Lecturer,  School of Drama, Fine Art and Music, University of Newcastle (Australia), Biotech artist

John Tonkin
Lecturer, Digital Cultures Program, University of Sydney, media artist

Jondi Keane (Dr)
Senior Lecturer in the Image: Film/Video/Animation/Photography/Visual Arts. School of Communication and Creative Arts. Faculty of Arts and Education, Deakin University, media artist

Experiments in Collaborative Experience

Adrian Mackenzie (Dr)
Lancaster University

Anna Munster (Associate Professor)
Deputy Director Centre for Contemporary Art and Politics, Senior Lecturer, School of Art History and Art Education at the College of Fine Arts, UNSW

Pia Ednie-Brown (Associate Professor)
Associate Professor, Architecture program and research stream leader at SIAL, senior lecturer design and theory, RMIT

Affective Experiments

Jennifer Biddle (Dr)
Senior Research Fellow and Director  of Indigenous and Cross-Cultural Research, Centre for Contemporary Art and Politics, UNSW

Kirsten Hudson (Dr)
Lecturer, School of Design and Art and the School of Media, Cultural and Creative Arts, Curtin University, media artist

Jennifer Deger (Dr)
ARC Postdoctoral Research Fellow, NIEA, UNSW and Research Fellow at the Center for Religion and Media, New York University

Urbanism & Design

Jo Russell-Clarke (Dr)
Lecturer, Architecture, University of Adelaide, registered landscape architect (AILA)

Mathieu Gallois
Architect and artist

Selena Griffith
Senior Lecturer, College of Fine Arts, UNSW

DAY TWO Saturday 20th August

Urban Construction

Richard Goodwin (Professor)
School of Art, School of Design Studies, Director and Founder, Porosity Studio, College of Fine Arts, UNSW, artist

Heike Klussmann (Professor)
Professor of Art and Architecture, University of Kassel, Germany, artist

Thorsten Klooster
Architect, Berlin, Germany

Tim Schork
Lecturer, Department of Architecture. Faculty of Art and Design, Monash University

New Materialities

Victoria Vesna (Dr)
UCLA, media artist

Paula Dawson (Associate Professor)
School of Art, College of Fine Arts, UNSW, artist

Paul Thomas (Associate Professor)
Head of Painting, School of Art, College of Fine Arts, UNSW, artist

Health/Body

Sherryl Ryan
CEO, Culture at Work,  Artist

Michael Garbutt (Dr)
Senior Lecturer, School of Design Studies, College of Fine Arts, UNSW

Leah Heiss
Lecturer, School of Architecture and Design, RMIT University, media artist

Ecology/Sustainability

Stephen Healy (Dr)
Senior Lecturer, School of History and Philosophy and Environmental Studies, Faculty of Arts and Social Sciences, UNSW

Linda Williams (Associate Professor)
Associate Professor Art, Environment and Cultural Studies, School of Art, RMIT University

Lyndal Jones (Professor)
Professor of Contemporary Art, School of Media and Communication, RMIT University

Nigel Heyler (Dr)
Creative Director, AudioNomad. Visiting Professor, NIEA, UNSW

John Potts (Associate Professor)
Associate Professor in Media, Macquarie University

Exhibiting

Kathy Cleland (Dr)
Director, Digital Cultures Program, University of Sydney, curator, writer

Susan Ballard (Dr)
Principal lecturer, Electronic Arts and Photography, Dunedin School of Art, New Zealand

Marco Pasqualini de Andrade (Associate Professor)
Associate Professor of Art History, Federal University of Uberlandia, Brazil, curator, art critic

Charles Green (Associate Professor)
Associate Professor of Contemporary Art , School of Culture and Communication, University of Melbourne

Experimental Discourse & Practice

Jim Hamlyn
Lecturer, Researcher, Grays School of Art, Aberdeen, Scotland , artist

Lesley Punton
Lecturer, Fine Art Photography at Glasgow School of Art, Scotland, artist

Cat Hope  (Dr)
CREATEC Post Doctoral Research Fellow at WAAPA, Edith Cowan University, artist

Kate MacNeill  (Dr)
Senior Lecturer, School of Culture and Communication, University of Melbourne

Barbara Bolt  (Associate Professor)
Associate Dean (Academic), Victorian College of the Arts, University of Melbourne

Julian Priest
Lecturer in Creative Technologies,Interdisciplinary Unit, Auckland University of Technology