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City of Wollongong

New Media and Creative Technologies - Connecting the Arts, Technology and Society

This Creative Dialogue session is for traditional arts practitioners wanting to upskill, or science / engineering / education specialists who are keen to bridge the creative gap.

Find out about experience and interaction design, programming electronics and collaborative multi-media creative practice and how you can get involved.

Our panel includes:

  • Jane Venegas, a Virtual Reality content producer whose focus is on creative education and gender rebalancing in the technology space.
  • Abhiruchi Chhikara, an engineer who studied Robotics and Mechatronics and then changed course into interaction design and electronic arts. She teaches at Sydney University under the title, Creative Technologist.
  • Dr Jo Law and Dr Agnieszka Golda, the team leaders behind a fascinating project funded by the University of Wollongong’s Global Challenges; this collaboration between contemporary arts, materials science and climate change, saw the combining of traditional textile processes including embroidery, with graphene, hand-made electronics, and climate data. The project produced the exhibition Spinning World at the Museum of Applied Arts & Sciences in 2019.

You can also listen to the podcast on iTunes, Spotify or Deezer.

More about our panellists

portrait of Jane Sproule

Jane Venegas is a VR content producer who runs Nested Realities.

Nested Realities aims to introduce young people to immersive technology. To educate, inspire, and empower them, regardless of gender or perceived technical ability, to creatively harness virtual reality. Jane is passionately driven by immersive technology; creating it, experiencing it and facilitating it for others. Nested Realities champions storytelling and accessibility in the VR/XR industry.

portrait of Abhiruchi Chhikara

Combining skills that were initiated from her Robotics and Mechatronics Bachelor’s degree and Interaction Design and Electronic Arts Masters degree, Abhiruchi aims to create digital artworks to explore new technologies and introduce them to the community through human -centred experience design.

Her artworks can be static or dynamic or interactive. They come in many shapes and sizes and may use mixed media like print, projections and installations.

For more information, visit abhiruchichhikara.com

portrait of Dr Jo Law

Dr Jo Law is a senior lecturer, School of the Arts, English and Media, Faculty of Law, Humanities and the Arts at UOW.

She is an artist and an early career researcher who investigates the transformative potential of art, science, and technology. Her transdisciplinary research focuses on the role of innovative art and design within our changing sociocultural and political environments.

She will bring her research expertise in electronic media applications to the project. She will lead this creative practice-led transdisciplinary research project with Dr Agnieszka Golda.

Visit UOW's website for more information on Jo and Agnieszka’s project.

portrait of Dr Agnieszka Golda

Dr Agnieszka Golda, Senior Lecturer, School of the Arts, English and Media, Faculty of Law, Humanities and the Arts.

Dr Golda is an artist researcher specialising in textiles and collaborative mixed-media installation art. Her research focuses on the intersection between nature, human and non-human in contemporary art, specifically investigating how materials and sculptural forms can transform attitudes towards the natural world. She will bring her expert knowledge in textile and fibre technologies to the project.

Visit UOW's website for more information on Jo and Agnieszka’s project.

Episode credits

Thanks to the University of Wollongong’s Global Challenges for their support on this episode.

This episode was produced by Tom Hogan.

portrait of Tom Hogan

Tom is a Sydney-based multidisciplinary artist working in music composition and radio art, as well as written and performance work. He has designed over 100 plays, performances, and dance works presented all over Australia. He produced the musical projects and podcasts Missing Richard Mercer, as well as the Obscure Music History podcast, which was nominated for Best Comedy in the 2018 Podcast Awards.

Theme music by Tom Hogan.


Top image: Rayuela at VIVID2019. Artists: Abhiruchi Chhikara, Florencia Diniello, Iskra Uscumlic.