As an Australian going to the International Symposium on Electronic Art (ISEA) for the first time, you will encounter something you never expected at an international arts conference: evidence of Australia’s dominance in this artistic genre.
It is a reflection on how we view our country’s role in the in the art world that one of the most surprising aspects of ISEA is the overwhelming number of Australians that are presenting papers, exhibitions and workshops. International leadership is something that you don’t expect as an Australian; it is not a word often found in an arts and cultural dialogue in our country. But in the area of art, science and technology, Australian art is the milestone of world–class endeavour and Australian practitioners and organisations set the tone and direction for the world. Once you realise this, it becomes absurd for Australian practitioners to pursue an aspirational leadership when the mantle of responsibility for real leadership is so obviously ours.
A Mountain of Resistors, taken from near distance. Image: Mattia Luigi Nappi
This, then, is the other word not often found in an Australian art and cultural dialogue: responsibility. Like the great cultural centres of the 19th and twentieth centuries, such as New York and Paris, Australia needs to understand that in its cities and regions there is art practice and a cultural outlook that is internationally important and looked to for leadership. Through telling our stories we are creating an international centre for 21st century culture and the support of our arts and culture is not just for us, but it is of cultural significance for the rest of the world.
The Australian Network for Art and Technology’s (ANAT) decision to bring ISEA to Australia in 2013 comes out of a recognition of the key role that Australian artists are playing in the world, but taking on an event of this size and significance is not an easy thing to do. It was late in 2009 when ANAT started talking with Business Events NSW about holding ISEA in Sydney. Projects of the scale of ISEA can’t occur unless there is an established, internationally recognised organisation that can coalesce the partners and stakeholders, while maintaining goodwill and cohesion across the various phases and hurdles that confront such a large undertaking. ANAT has taken on this role and from early, tentative discussions through to winning the bid to host and organise ISEA2013, ANAT has quietly been the glue keeping it all together. ANAT has always been keenly aware that alone it is too small to take on ISEA , but with the support of UNSW, UTS, the University of Sydney, Experimenta, DLux Media Arts, Destination NSW, Business Events Sydney and the Australia Council for the Arts it has been possible.
As both CEO of ANAT and Chair of the Organising Committee for ISEA2013, I flippantly stated ANAT’s goals for ISEA2013 as for ISEA2013 to happen on time, on budget and to be good – but in a way this has always been ANAT’s goal in securing and delivering ISEA. ISEA2013 is meant as an opportunity for the community of practice in Australia to have an international stage and point of focus. From the beginning ANAT saw ISEA as a platform we all can use to communicate, display, think and reach beyond those we would normally talk to. To this end ANAT has not sought out a curatorial role, the setting up of the Curatorium Committee and the Academic Committees have not only been away of gathering expert advice and broader buy in, they have been set up to make sure that a divergence of views are represented.
As a leader in art, science and technology collaborations, Australia has a responsibility to keep pushing the boundaries, while collaborating with the world, sharing our experiences and coming together to build new ways of thinking and working. There is a responsibility upon our practitioners and institutions to explore the unknown and build new relationships from the arts to other areas of endeavour. ISEA2013 is an opportunity for Australian artists, as well as arts and cultural institutions, to take on this reasonability that comes with leadership.
Gavin Artz
ANAT’s CEO Gavin Artz’s business management experience ranges from multi-national companies to not-for-profit community organisations. He holds a BA in Politics, an MBA from University of South Australia and has studied Double Bass and Composition at the Sydney Conservatorium of Music. Gavin advocates for new approaches to creative commercialisation and has written and presented on IP and commercialisation both in Australia and internationally.
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike 3.0 Australia.