I plan to discuss the history of one of the most unique and dedicated media art courses in the country ‘media arts’. Originally established in

1978 in the outer Melbourne suburb of Bundoora as Preston institute and later Philip and now currently at RMIT in the school of art.

I will discuss current challenges of media arts within a traditional fine art school and issues surrounding multidisciplinary practice and approaches. I will also talk about the history of media arts and its development as one of the first screen based art courses prior to the explosion of ‘multimedia’ and digital technologies and also how

our sensibility as a course area operates in relation to these technologies.

In particular by establishing a more critical framework in regards to new technologies. We are less interested in the latest developments of new technologies for their own sake and more in the cultural histories of various technological media and the ability to combine them with newer ones.

I will discuss the all too common utopian mindset of the wondrous possibilities afforded by digital media which endlessly regurgitates the marketing rhetoric of Apple Mac. Where by creatively is locked into the world of software and the computer lab opposed to an awareness of older, vintage technologies whereby students can achieve outcomes that one can’t in current software.

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