Cyber Cultures: Sustained Release

Curated by Kathy Cleland
Developed and toured by Casula Powerhouse Arts Centre
Funding: Visions of Australia, Australia Council for the Arts, NSW Ministry for the Arts, NSW Film and Television Office, Australian Film Commission, Casula Powerhouse Arts Centre, Liverpool City Council.

Visit exhibition website

Cyber Cultures exhibition logo

Exhibition Logo Image: Martine Corompt

Cyber Cultures: Sustained Release is a program of new media exhibitions featuring leading new media artists from Australia, New Zealand and the United Kingdom. The program is made up of four exhibition capsules which explore the impact on new technologies on human life and culture: Infectious Agents, Posthuman Bodies, New Life and Animation Playground. Cyber Cultures: Sustained Release was exhibited at Casula Powerhouse Arts Centre from July to December in 2000 and the exhibition capsules toured Australia from 2001-2003.

Infectious Agents

Infectious Agents explores ideas of infection and contagion both in a literal biological sense and as broader metaphors for human interaction, memory and global communications networks.

Artists: Melinda Rackham, Linda Dement, Ian Haig, John Tonkin

Exhibition Venues:
Casula Powerhouse Arts Centre: July 7 – August 12 2000
Wollongong City Gallery: 10 March – 22 April 2001
Global Arts Link, Ipswich: 4 May – 17 June 2001
Perth Institute of Contemporary Art: 4 July – 12 August 2001
Broken Hill City Art Gallery: 25 July – 7 September 2002
Wagga Wagga Regional Art Gallery: 31 January – 2 March 2003

New Life

New Life takes us into a digital world where new life forms blur the boundaries between the natural and the artificial.

Artists: Jon McCormack, Troy Innocent, Kat Mew, Anita Kocsis, Jane Prophet, Mark Hurry and Gordon Selley.

Exhibition Venues:
Casula Powerhouse Arts Centre: September 30 – November 12 2000
Botanic Gardens, Adelaide: 4 May – 31 May 2001
24HR Art, Darwin: 12 October – 3 November 2001
Hazelhurst Regional Gallery and Arts Centre: 6 – 31 March 2002
Tamworth City Gallery: 29 June – 5 August 2002

Posthuman Bodies

Posthuman Bodies explores the way that new technologies are changing our concepts of human nature and human identity as we evolve from the human into the technologically enhanced ‘posthuman’.

Artists: Jane Prophet, Stelarc, Patricia Piccinini & Peter Hennessey, Gary Zebington, John Tonkin.

Exhibition Venues:
Casula Powerhouse Arts Centre: 19 August – September 24 2000
Byron Bay All Screens Festival, Bangalow: 15 February – 24 February 2001
Ngapartji Mulitmedia Centre: 23 March – 13 April 2001
Moving Image Centre, Auckland, NZ: 3 April – 28 April 2001
Brisbane Powerhouse: 11 May – 10 June 2001
Watch This Space, Alice Springs: 19 October – 3 November 2001

Animation Playground

Animation Playground celebrates the fusion of new media arts with popular culture forms such as games, cartoons, and the amusement park.

Artists: Leon Cmielewski & Josephine Starrs, Maureen Lander & John Fairclough, Martine Corompt & Philip Samartzis, the Lycette Bros.

Exhibition Venues:
Casula Powerhouse Arts Centre: November 18 – December 22 2000
Ngapartji Multimedia Centre: 3 March – 18 March 2001
Moving Image Centre, Auckland, NZ: 6 March – 31 March 2001
Global Arts Link, Ipswich: 4 May – 17 June 2001
Perth Institute of Contemporary Art: 4 July – 12 August 2001
RMIT Gallery, Melbourne: 8 November – 1 December 2001
Bendigo Art Gallery: 23 March – 12 May 2002

Stelarc  – Movatar Performance

Movatar performance at Casula Powerhouse Arts Centre, 2000.

Stelarc (2000) Movatar performance still 2Stelarc (2000) Movatar Performance still 3
Images: Heidrun Lohr

Movatar  premiered at Casula Powerhouse Arts Centre in 2000 in conjunction with the Posthuman Bodies exhibition.Visit Stelarc’s website for more information on the Movatar project.

Concept and Performance:  Stelarc
Graphics + Director/VRML Programming: Gary Zebington
AI Director, Midi + Java Programming: Damien Everett
Sound + Technical Design: Rainer Linz