The Australia Council has announced that the second National Experimental Arts Forum will be held in Perth in October, to be organised by SymbioticA, The Centre of Excellence in Biological Arts, based at the University of Western Australia.
“The Australia Council is pleased to support the second National Experimental Arts Forum, which will be led by the experimental arts sector via SymbioticA,” says Australia Council Director Emerging and Experimental Arts Dr David Sudmalis.
“The forum will celebrate Australian experimental arts and offer critical debate about the value and future of the artform. Its purpose is to enhance the practice and development of experimental arts in Australia and provide support to those artists working in this field.
“The event is expected to attract a large number of international and national artists, producers, presenters and specialists who are leaders in their field. Delegates will be able to participate in workshops and discussions, meet other artists, share ideas, and see artists’ and producers’ work.”
Dr Sudmalis said the event would build on what was learned from the first forum held at Carriageworks in 2013. It attracted participants from institutions, venues, arts organisations, artists and government.
“The Australia Council regularly holds artform-specific forums and events to bring the sector together to discuss the challenges and opportunities it faces and explore new strategies, initiatives and projects to address these,” Dr Sudmalis said.
“This forum is one of the ways the Australia Council realises the goals of our Strategic Plan by building the capacity of artists to make excellent work and foster experimentation and risk-taking. The National Experimental Arts Forum is a key initiative from the Australia Council to support interdisciplinary arts as well as our continued commitment through our new grants program.”
“Artists can now apply for this funding under the Arts Projects, Development Grants and Fellowships categories by selecting the Emerging and Experimental Arts peer panel to assess their application.”
SymbioticA is a unique, artistic research centre dedicated to the research, learning, critique and hands-on engagement of the life sciences. It enables artists to engage in biological practices in a research intensive science department.
SymbioticA offers a new means of artistic inquiry, enabling artists to use scientific tools and technologies to comment on and explore their possibilities. They were awarded the inaugural Golden Nica for Hybrid Arts in the Prix Ars Electronica in 2007.
SymbioticA Director Oron Catts said the organisation was thrilled to be hosting the forum in Perth.
“We believe SymbioticA and our local and national stakeholders, including pvi collective and Perth Institute of Contemporary Arts, are uniquely positioned to deliver a truly meaningful exchange,” Mr Catts said.
“The programming in and around the forum will transform Perth into a real hub of boundary-pushing experiences across disciplines. The event will celebrate Australian experimental arts as a leading international cultural sector and the forum will set the highest goals, through a dynamic, challenging, provoking, risk-taking and confident event.”
National Experimental Arts Forum is scheduled to be held on Monday 5 October and Tuesday 6 October at the Perth Cultural Centre. For more information, go to: www.symbiotica.uwa.edu.au/activities/neaf-2015 for details.
Image: Gazzaley Lab / Neuroscape lab, Glass Brain (Unity 3D visualisation). UCSF and UCSD / Syntrogi Labs.