med•ia te

med•ia te: the ANAT National School for New Media Art Curation, evolved out of a recognition that to nurture art which utilises technology, adequate education of curators and arts workers must also be undertaken. As new technologies become increasingly critical to art practices, it is important to provide skill-based education for curators wishing to extend their practice into this area, med•ia te was a world first in providing this type of training.

The school was held in association with Contemporary Arts Services Tasmania (CAST), in Hobart, Tasmania, 28 March -11 April,1999. Trained curators, technicians and theorists from Australia and overseas provided intensive training, in a two week masterclass teaching environment, that gave curators both a technical and a theoretical understanding of new media art exhibition practice.

The international tutors for the school were Sara Diamond, Director of Banff New Media Centre in Canada, and Tapio Mäkelä, a Finnish curator, artist and writer. Expert national tutors were Linda Wallace, Shiralee Saul, Peter Hennessey, Jason Gee and John Tonkin. Honor Harger was the med•ia te project manager.

Tasmanian artists and curators who gave artist’s talks or presentations about their work included PK Khut, Leigh Hobba, Sean Bacon and Matt Warren, and Martin Walsch.

A highlight of the school was a ‘school excursion’ to Bruny Island on the final day, where participants, tutors, members of the CAOs (Contemporary Art Organisations) network who were in town for a meeting, and local artists travelled to Cape Bruny to visit David Haines and Joyce Hinterding at the lighthouse, where they were spending three months tracking and capturing images and sound from weather satellites, sampling sounds from guy wires in howling gales and filtering radio frequencies emitted by the Southern Aurora to manipulate and develop into video and sound installations. The residency was initiated by the artists following Hinterding’s participation in the ANAT National Summer School in ’97.

Participating curators and artsworkers for med•ia te were: Sharon Pacey (QLD); Beth Jackson (QLD); Michael Dagostino (NSW); Brad Webb (NSW); Jacqueline Phillips (NSW); GeraldineTyson (NT); Adele Hann (SA); Jenny Aland (SA); Sally Rees (TAS); Tessa Dwyer (VIC); Kylie Message (VIC); Michelle Glaser (WA); Katie Major (WA)

http://www.anat.org.au/2010/08/med_ia_te-national-school-for-new-media-art-curation/