Channels, the Australian Video Art Festival, is Australia’s only biennial celebration of video culture with international reach. Showcasing contemporary video practice from around the world through an open call for submissions, Channels presents a ten-day festival in Melbourne and online from 18-27 September 2015, with satellite events in November and December.
Channels 2015 will disrupt your reality with a series of exhibitions, screenings, talks, performances and workshops that will challenge the historical context of video and its future progressions in an increasingly tech-saturated world.
Working with Australian Centre for the Moving Image (ACMI), Screen Space, Federation Square, Foundation for Art and Creative Technology (FACT UK), The Ferry Gallery (Thailand), Grey Gardens Projects, University of Melbourne, Schoolhouse Studios and Liquid Architecture to bring the very best of contemporary video art to a screen near you.
Following on from the precedent set by the first Channels festival in 2013, an independent, artist-led festival – the first of its kind in Australia since the 1990s, Channels 2015 seeks to push boundaries, provoke debate and to understand video culture’s rise and relevance in contemporary culture.
Channels Festival has been assisted by the Australian Government through the Australia Council for the Arts, its arts funding and advisory body; City of Melbourne; and Channels crowdfunding was supported by Creative Partnerships Australia through MATCH.
Message from the Artistic Director
Channels 2015 is not about defining what video art is. This year’s festival is about the tension between video art, screen and internet culture, technology, and where they meet. It’s not cinema, not internet, not performance but a combination of them all. Experience video that is hybrid, chaotic, and sits beyond the screen. Melbourne, let us disrupt your reality.
2015 Team
Artistic Director
Nikki Lam is a visual artist and independent curator based in Melbourne. Focusing on self, memory and space, her practice examines the complexity of contemporary identity and belonging. Holding an Executive Master of Arts from the University of Melbourne, Nikki is also the Visual Arts Editor at Peril magazine, an Asian-Australian arts and culture magazine. She has worked at a number of arts organisations including Foundation for Art and Creative Technology (FACT) in Liverpool UK. Nikki is currently working at Footscray Community Arts Centre.
General Manager
Shannon King is a Brisbane based arts administrator. She holds a Bachelor of Creative Industries from QUT, majoring in Media and Communication. She has extensive experience as a Guest, Print and Festival Coordinator across art organisations such as the Brisbane International Film Festival, Sydney Film Festival, Brisbane Queer Film Festival and Iranian Film Festival Australia and the Brisbane Powerhouse.
Lead Producer (Grey Gardens Projects and Two Party State)
Melissa Edwards is based in Melbourne and recently graduated from RMIT University with a Master of Arts (Arts Management). In 2013 she founded the Melbourne Music Video Festival and has worked at Sydney Film Festival and Best Of Both Sides Festival and currently works for the Centre for Contemporary Photography.
Marketing and Communications Manager
Anaya Latter is a marketing and communications specialist based in Melbourne with over 8 years experience. She holds a Bachelor of English and Creative Arts from Murdoch University with First Class Honours. Anaya is a former committee member of Chapter House Lane, and has worked in volunteer roles for organisations such as Printed Matter, ACCA, Heide Museum of Modern Art and Melbourne International Film Festival. She currently works for Craft Victoria and practices as a freelance consultant.
Social Media Coordinator
Lucinda Barnett
Program Assistant
Natalie Tizi
Engagement Coordinator
Christa Winkels
Creative Producers
Alicia Renew
Kate O’Hara
Program Administrator
Simone Mugavin
Intern
Kayla Pulice
Interviews
Emma Steinfort
Festival Committee
Alicia Renew
Hugh Davis
Advisory Board
Jessie Scott
Eugenia Lim
Rachel Feery
Ghita Loebenstein
Video Visions Advisory Panel 2015
Anabelle Lacroix
Kyle Weise
Simone Hine
Ulanda Blair
Independent Curators/Producers 2015
Amelia Winata
Anita Spooner
Angela Barnett
Scott Heinrich
Simone Hine
Project QUAD
Credits
Production
Video Visions — Nikki Lam, Shannon King and Kate O’Hara
Slow Fragmentation — Nikki Lam and Alicia Renew
Miraculous Ribbon — Jessie Scott
In the Epoch of the Near and Far — Amelia Winata, Melissa Edwards and Nikki Lam
Videophilia — Project QUAD
Video ARI — Simone Hine and Kyle Weise
Notes — Nikki Lam and Kate O’Hara
Provocation Series: Brunch Club — Nikki Lam and Melissa Edwards
Provocation Series: Rewind / Project — Nikki Lam and Kate O’Hara
Provocation Series: Artist in Conversation — Amelia Winata and Melissa Edwards
Foundations: Australian Video Art — Shannon King, Nikki Lam and ACMI Mediatheque
Early Transmissions and Proxemics — Melissa Edwards
Augmented Reality Workshop — Melissa Edwards
Festival Store — Natalie Tizi and Nikki Lam
Two Party State — Anita Spooner, Melissa Edwards and Liquid Architecture
Night Meets Day: A Discussion of Memory — Nikki Lam
Floating Grounds at Ferry Gallery, Bangkok — Nikki Lam
Festival Trailer
Kyle Palmer
Video Visions screening compile
Brock la Brock
Design
Carla McKee and Hayden Daniel
Web Developer
Camryn Rothenbury
Pozible Campaign
Anaya Latter, Natalie Tizi, Nikki Lam, Shannon King, Melissa Edwards, Scott Heinrich and Camryn Rothenbury