Barbara Vivash
S2765600
A Review on the National New Media Award, 2012.
The National New Media Art Award was a biennial, invitational competition established in 2008. The award is comprised of $75,000, is acquisitive and recognises the achievement of an Australian artist whose work encompasses new media. A tandem scholarship of $25,000 is awarded to an emerging Queensland-based artist, working in the field of new media for the development of their practice through further study or travel.
However, as reported in The Australian on August 2, 2012, the Gallery of Modern Art confirmed that the biennial $75,000 National New Media Art Award and the $25,000 Queensland New Media Scholarship, will not continue beyond this year, Suhanya Raffel, (Queensland Art Gallery acting director), claimed the gallery was aware that only three awards would be funded by the government, with this year’s being the final award after 2008 and 2010.Funded by the Bligh government in 2007, the award was created as the Premier of Queensland’s National New Media Art Award. The name of the award was changed after the recent change of government, removing the reference to the Premier. A spokeswoman for the Arts Minister advised that there had been no decision to stop funding the award – it had simply run its course.
The selection committee for 2012 consisted of: Suhanya Raffel, the Gallery’s Deputy Director, Curatorial and Collection Development, Queensland Art Gallery / Gallery of Modern Art; Amy Barrett-Lennard, Director of the Perth Institute of Contemporary Arts; and new media artist Daniel Crooks.
This year, eight artists were short listed and their work is exhibited at the Gallery of Modern Art until November 4, 2012. The entries selected are: Kirsty Boyle, Tree Ceremony, 2010; Karen Casey, Dream Zone, 2012; Robin Fox, CRT: homage to Leon Theremin, 2012; Petra Gemeinboeck and Rob Saunders, Zwischenraume 2010-12; Ian Haig, Some Thing, 2011; Leah Heiss, Polarity, 2012; Ross Manning, Spectra III, 2012; and the winner, George Poonkhin Khut, Distillery: Waveforming, 2012.
These artists have been supported through Inter-Arts, Music, Visual Arts and Market Development funding programs available through the Austalia Council for the Arts. All of the artists have participated in numerous prestigious exhibitions and collaborative projects. Naomi Gall wrote in her report, National New Media Art Awards Announced, 3 August, 2012, “George Khut’s experimental research and creative development has been supported through Inter-Arts Projects and an ArtLab collaborative research project, Thinking through the Body. The Australia Council has also supported Kirsty Boyle’s innovative work with robotic puppeteering and performance; Karen Casey’s exploration of consciousness via brainwaves, performance and media arts which recently was shown at the ISEA, (International Symposium of Electronic Art), 2011 in Istanbul; Robin Fox’s experimental sound, audio visual performance and scientific collaborations; Petra Geminboeck and Rob Saunders’ robotic art installations; Ian Haig’s visceral animatronic sculpture; and Leah Heiss’ exploration of design, nanotechnology, science and the relationship between people and artifacts. Ross Manning’s playful exploration of kinetic sculpture, sound, light and technology has been presented at Primavera 09 (Barcelona); MONA FOMA, (Museum of Old and New Art / Festival of Music and Art 2010), and he won the Churchie National Emerging Art Prize in 2011.”
But what is New Media? New media art, as defined by the Australia Council for the Arts, is a process where new technologies are used by artists to create works that explore new methods of artistic expression. These new technologies include computers, information and communications technology, virtual or immersive environments, or sound engineering. They are the brushes and pens of a new generation of artists. The field of New Media is often derived from the telecommunications, mass media and digital modes of delivery the artworks involve, with practices ranging from conceptual to virtual art, performance to installation.
George Poonkhin Khut’s Distillery: Waveforming, medically speaking, was developed to help increase an individual’s ability to distance their sense of pain and anxiety particularly during painful rehabilitation after surgery. Khut explains “The goal of the interaction is for children to maintain a lowered heart rate: children are rewarded with sounds and visuals that respond to decreases in the heart rate over different periods of time i.e. changes that they can influence with their breathing, and longer-term changes that require relaxation”.
Through his exploration of the link between the physical and the mental, Khut reveals the fragility of life compared to the strength and flexibility of the human body. The work makes the participant aware of their own mortality, in an absorbing, creative way.
Leah Heiss’ Polarity, 2012 explores the artistic possibilities of nanotechnology. Heiss has utilised glass spheres encapsulating a layer of ferrofluid submerged in a protective layer of water and ethanol. Ferrofluid is actually a superfine iron powder coated with a soap-like material called surfactant, suspended in a mineral oil base. When no magnetic field is present, the ferrofluid behaves like a normal liquid. However, when subjected to a varying magnetic field, the nano particles align with the magnetic field lines, creating pulsating spikes.
The work is visually futuristic and aesthetically pleasing. The glass spheres scattered and enclosed in a glass case, are illuminated with spotlights. When the magnets beneath the case are activated, the organically simulated spheres appear to pulse with life.
Leah Heiss uses her background in design to integrate nano-engineered materials with personalised items such as jewellery and clothing. For instance, she has designed a metallic bud that when held in the hand, body heat stimulates an unfurling of its metallic petals. Heiss’ fascination with advanced technologies is not the technology, but the communication and emotional engagement resulting from its artistic application.
Some of the works were mind blowing in the complexity of the technology utilized. For example, through the use of custom artificial intelligence soft wear in their Robotic installation, Zwischenraume, 2010- 2011, Petra Gemeinboeck and Rob Saunders create environments that highlights societies relationship with increasingly intelligent machines.
Robots with the capacity to learn and respond to their environment have been embedded in the gallery walls. When left to their own devices, the robots create small holes in the plaster board so that they can see with their camera eyes. When a visitor passes, the robot follows them with their camera ‘eyes’, to enhance their knowledge and alleviate their ‘boredom’. The wall is peppered with jagged holes and deformed plaster board. It has the appearance of a life form erupting from the cavities and gives the impression of something burrowing below the surface. The lights from below the holes ascertain where the ‘creatures’ are at any one time. At times, they communicate and collectively organise their behaviour to act together. An interesting impasse occurs as ‘they’ look out and we look in. These robots reflect some of our actions, demonstrating an ability to direct their ‘thoughts’ and coordinate their actions as they adapt to their surroundings.
Although the exhibition is an undoubted success with these artists composing and contriving through cutting edge technology or just basic electronic elements, the creation of exciting, thought provoking works. As the award is worth $75,000, it is surprising that participants must be invited to enter. It also doesn’t seem equitable that the majority of the artists invited have been supported by programs instigated by the Australia Council for the Arts. What of the hundreds of other New Media artists, not involved with the ‘Council’? Shouldn’t they also have a chance to enter for the award? However it is a moot point now, as the award and the scholarship are no longer to be funded by the Queensland Government.
References
Ferrofluid Magnetic Liquid, 2012 Apex Magnets retrieved 16 August, 2012 from http://apexmagnets.com/index.php?main_page=product_info&cPath=7&products_id=...
Forrest,N, 2012,Interactive Visual Heartbeat Wins Australian National New Media Art Award, Blouin Artinfo 7 August, 2012, retrieved 9 August, 2012 from http://artinfo.com/news/story/818148/interactive-visual-heartbeat-wins-australian-natio...
Gall, N, 2012, National New Media Awards Announced, Artery 3 August, 2012 retrieved 14 August, 2012 from Http://artery.australiacouncil.gov.au/2012/08/national-new-media-awards-announc...
Lovink, G, 2005, New Media, Art and Science: Retrieved August 18, 2012, from
National New Media Art Award 2012, Queensland Art Gallery/ Gallery of Modern Art, retrieved 14 August, 2012 from http://qagoma.qld.gov.au/exhibitions/current/national_new_media_art_award_2012/n
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