National Organisation of Media Arts Database

melbourneDAC

Provided by
RMIT

Was run between 2003 and 2003

Website: hypertext.rmit.edu.au

MelbourneDAC +streaming wor(l)ds+ is the first major academic conference on streaming media,
computer games and game culture, hypertext and interactive film in Australia.
Providing a platform for critical discussion on the implications technological and creative innovations
are having on us as globally networked communities, MelbourneDAC brings together producers,
theorists, critics, designers, new media artists, educators, filmmakers, curators, researchers and
students who share a passionate interest in digital arts and culture.
As with previous DAC, (digital arts and culture), events, the 2003 conference is marked by the quality
and diversity of the presented material, the intensity of the discussions, and the broad range of
networking opportunities. Considering Melbourne’s leadership role in growing Australia’s game
industry, MelbourneDAC has a strong focus on computer games and game culture, digital aesthetics
and interactive film. I am very pleased that we are able to offer Australians working in this field the
opportunity to participate in an important event like this in Australia. Adrian Miles, Conference Chair
MelbourneDAC is hosted by RMIT University. The conference will be officially launched by the Hon
Marsha Thomson MP, Minister for ICT on Monday morning, May 19th at RMIT, followed by an evening
Welcome Reception at the Australian Centre for the Moving Image at Federation Square.
Established by Espen Aarseth, an internationally renown games specialist from the University of
Bergen in Norway, the Melbourne event is the first DAC conference to be taking place outside Europe
and North America. The 2003 conference explores such topical digital culture issues as Augmented
Reality, Cyberculture, Games, Gameplay, Interactive Architecture, Interactive Film, Streaming Media
and Virtual Reality, and their relationship to knowledge economies, digital culture, art and education.
Some of the presenters will discuss questions such as: What is our experience of urban space and
community in a shared digital environment? How do we become culturally enriched by the use of
mixed-reality story-telling? Why is play an important method for studying game culture? What are the
new paradigms of interactive film and participatory aesthetics? What do we mean be interactive
experience?, adds Miles.
These and many other topics have been rigorously reviewed and selected by an impressive review
board of 30 academics. Distinguished digital and new media culture critics include Darren Tofts (AUS),
Sean Cubitt (UK/NZ), Stuart Moulthrop(USA), Andrew Murphie (AUS) and Irina Aristarkhova (SIN).
In addition to the conference presentations, the weeklong program is dense with associated events,
artist talks, free public forums, a performance evening. The organisers are also taking delegates, many
of whom are from interstate and overseas, to the Yarra Valley for a special networking Day Out.
A highlight of MelbourneDAC public programs is +playengines+ a major survey exhibition of recently
produced computer art games, streaming and interactive media projects. The exhibition takes
inspiration in the concept that gameplay art is a testimony to the non-sequential and collaborative
ways in which ideas are formed, distributed and shared. It is very much a hands-on show.
Antoanetta Ivanova, Conference Producer
24 works, including projects by well-known Australian artists Troy Innocent, Mez Breeze, Ross Gibson,
the Lycette Brothers and Metraform, and award-winning international artists Mark Amerika (USA), Alok
Nandi (Belgium), SKOP (Germany), gameLab (USA), Mary Flanagam (USA) and Han Hoogerbrugge
(Netherlands), among others, have been curated for the exhibition.