[ISEA2019] Institutional Presentation: Susan Kukucka, Lubi Thomas & Nicky Pastore — Experimenta Life Forms

Institutional Presentation Statement

Keywords: curating, touring exhibitions, experimental art, media art, art & technology, interactive art, artificial intelligence, bio-art

Experimenta is Australia’s leading contemporary arts organisation dedicated to commissioning, exhibiting and promoting art driven by technology. Since its inception in 1986, Experimenta has developed a worldwide reputation for fostering creativity that extends the aesthetic, conceptual and experiential potential of new art forms. Experimenta showcases dynamic contemporary artworks at the nexus of art with digital media, science and technology, and design. Melbourne based, with national and global reach, Experimenta supports Australian artists through regular touring exhibitions and major multi-artform projects. These exhibitions and projects present artists working with technology in unexpected and unconventional ways, creating artworks that are daring, ambitious, interactive and often remarkable. These artworks raise questions about the present and the past and new ways of viewing the world around us. They also provide a glimpse into possible futures. In 2020, Experimenta explores it’s most ambitious exhibition theme to date: Life Forms. Experimenta Life Forms will present more than 20 leading contemporary Australian and International artists whose work is about life as we know it, or indeed, as we don’t know it.

  • Lubi Thomas is an experienced curator working in the field of digital/new media arts and associate practice areas. Currently, Lubi is an independent curator and artist; codirector of Ars Electronica Australia; Experimenta’s Curator @ Large; and curatorial advisor to the Digital Placemaking Institute. In the past decade, she has developed and delivered an extensive range of exhibitions, projects, festivals, events, residencies and mentoring programs, as well as, public and education focused programming. Siteresponsiveness is a key element in her practice, working closely with artists, creative technologist, and their collaborators to produce works and cultural experiences for a variety of audiences. Lubi’s master’s Curating in Uncharted Territories proposes a methodology for cultural programming development and sustainability for sites engaged in the display of, and engagement with, experimental creative practice.
  • Susan Kukucka is an arts manager with a background in producing public programs, and in research and policy development. Before becoming Experimenta’s General Manager, she produced State Library of Queensland’s public engagement programs for many years, developing hundreds of events, performances, festivals, exhibitions and numerous collections-based exhibitions and programs. Throughout Susan’s career there has been a strong thread of digital media and technology-driven arts practice, from producing video games exhibitions to increasing audience access through online and digital technologies. Susan has served on committees and boards with Youth Arts Queensland, Arc Biennial: Visual Art, Craft & Design, and 2High Festival, and has held arts research and sessional teaching positions at Griffith University & Queensland University of Technology; worked in cultural and creative industries policy at Brisbane City Council; and was the recipient of an Asialink residency in China.
  • Nicky Pastore is a creative producer, and has worked with numerous Melbourne-based organisations including Experimenta, Footscray Community Arts Centre, 100 Story Building, Arts Access Victoria, and film studio Oh Yeah Wow as well as event-based projects at local councils such as Brimbank Council, City of Port Phillip Council and Yarra City Council. Across all aspects of her work, Nicky fosters a strong connection for artist-engaged practice and strives to create inclusive pathways for artistic development. Through her role as Festival Director of the Gertrude Street Projection Festival (2014-2018), she has been responsible for managing the delivery and programming of a highly successful public art event and implementing key strategies to ensure the growth of the video-arts industry.