CURATOR’S MESSAGE

The act of making digital art is an iterative process, one of experimenting with rigorous rules, of consulting outside sources, of calculating changes and of trying again when it doesn't work out as planned. That's why I chose the metaphor of a generative art system to represent this group of artists and their practice. I wanted to capture the essence of push->pull->change->grow that I've seen the artists go through as they evolve their systems.

The genart_sys | window on digital culture exhibition first took shape around this metaphor. I worked with the Australia Council’s Inter-Arts Office and the Digital Program staff to develop a program celebrating digital culture practices supported across all areas of the council. As with any generative system, the more you interact, inquire, and participate within the environment, the more intimately you become acquainted with the system as a whole, and the more it changes due to your active participation.

The artists and organisations here on show reveal this generative movement across different forms of digital culture making. This push -> pull -> change -> grow is echoed throughout the works: some are sketches, some finished, some have multiple and vibrant platforms. As artists offer their aesthetic interpretation of the technology-mediated experience, their audience is feeding back to them, almost seamlessly, as change and growth occur. This happens almost simultaneously with other common design and engineering processes, such as prototyping, audience evaluation, and design modification.

It is my sincere hope that in visiting the exhibition and participating in some of the public programs that you, the audience, the active agent, leave with an understanding of this very rich and participative process of digital culture making.

- Deborah Turnbull, Curator

Participating artists & organisations | Lucas  Abela | Bump Projects | Julia Burns | Critical Path | Disability in the Arts, Disadvantage in the Arts, Australia (DADAA) | IAD Press with Ben Foley & Andre Castaldi | Matthew Gardiner | Tina Gonsalves | Aroha Groves | Leah Heiss | Chris Henschke | Kris Keogh & Brandon Williamson | Jessica Olivieri & Hayley Forward with the Parachutes for Ladies | Frederick Rodrigues | Erica Seccombe | Stelarc | Adriaan Stellingwerff | Jason Sweeney & Fiona Sprott | Ken & Julia Yonetani

Acknowledgements

Thanks to the participating artists and organisations, and special acknowledgement to Malalakpuy Munyarryun, Owen Yalandja and Barry Kantilla, the Indigenous artists whose work is coexisting with this exhibition, care of Artbank. For their generous support providing exhibition equipment, thanks to co-producers Creativity and Cognition Studios and sponsors UrbanAid and the Powerhouse Museum. Thanks also to the exhibition team, Kathy Gray, Fee Plumley, Mary Faith, Aram Dulyan, Ben Haughan, Amy Common of SAI Designs and Clif Mitchell at Charles Clifton  Designs.