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The Australia Council for the Arts has announced the second National Experimental Arts Forum
will be held in Perth in October 2015.

Australia Council Director Emerging and Experimental Arts Dr David Sudmalis said the two day event would
be held from Monday, 5 October to Tuesday, 6 October at the Perth Cultural Centre. It will be organised by
SymbioticA, The Centre of Excellence in Biological Arts, based at the University of Western Australia.
“The Australia Council is pleased to support the second National Experimental Arts Forum, which will be led
by the experimental arts sector via SymbioticA,” Dr Sudmalis said.

“The forum will celebrate Australian experimental arts and offer critical debate about the value and future of
the artform. Its purpose is to enhance the practice and development of experimental arts in Australia and
provide support to those artists working in this field.

“The event is expected to attract a large number of international and national artists, producers, presenters
and specialists who are leaders in their field. Delegates will be able to participate in workshops and discussions, meet other artists, share ideas, and see artists’ and producers’ work.”

Dr Sudmalis said the event would build on what was learned from the first forum held at Carriageworks in
2013. It attracted participants from institutions, venues, arts organisations, artists and government.
“The Australia Council regularly holds artform-specific forums and events to bring the sector together to
discuss the challenges and opportunities it faces and explore new strategies, initiatives and projects to
address these,” Dr Sudmalis said.

SymbioticA Director Oron Catts said the organisation was thrilled to be hosting the forum in Perth.
“We believe SymbioticA and our local and national stakeholders, including pvi collective and Perth Institute
of Contemporary Arts, are uniquely positioned to deliver a truly meaningful exchange,” Mr Catts said.
“The programming in and around the forum will transform Perth into a real hub of boundary-pushing
experiences across disciplines. The event will celebrate Australian experimental arts as a leading
international cultural sector and the forum will set the highest goals, through a dynamic, challenging,
provoking, risk-taking and confident event.”

For more information, go to: www.symbiotica.uwa.edu.au/activities/neaf-2015

Media references

Chris Cobilis

[email protected] +61 (8) 6488 5583