Susan Ballard awarded COFA Fellowship

Dunedin School of Art Lecturer in Electronic Art and Photography, Susan Ballard has recently been appointed to a three year position as Visiting Fellow in the National Institute of Experimental Art, COFA, UNSW Sydney from 11 June 2011 to 10 June 2014. For this time she will continue her research into the construction of antipodean utopias, her book "Gallery Machines: Art's Encounter with Noise" and contribute to the wider academic activities of the Institute.

Recently Susan arranged for NIEA's Professor of Innovation and Media, Douglas Kahn to visit the Dunedin School of Art. With Timothy Morton, Kahn discussed a "natural" history of media that offered new ways to approach the global issues of ecology, nature, and sustainability.

In August 2011, Susan will present at the NIEA Experimental Arts Conference. This conference will showcase 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.

Established in 2010, NIEA aims to produce internationally leading research that address national priorities and global problems, including environmental sustainability, digital and frontier technologies, indigenous culture and inter-cultural relations. NIEA promotes innovative theory and practice-based research through cross-disciplinary collaboration and close partnerships with a variety of Australian and international universities, industry and community groups. Susan is thrilled to be a part of this leading international Institute and contribute a far-southern perspective on media cultures.