What is the role of an art and technology organisation in 2026?
In 1996 I visited an Experimenta exhibition in the decaying La Trobe Street power station, a cavernous decommissioned industrial plant in the middle of Melbourne city. Walking through dark corridors to find otherworldly and futuristic installations felt dangerous, the show was charged with electricity as it attempted to define a vision of the future that was yet to emerge. Utopian, dystopian, the next five minutes…
I decided then and there that this is what I wanted to do. Artists like Ian Haig, Philip Samartzis, Martine Corompt, Philip Brophy were in this show and I found out that these people taught art at a place called RMIT Media Arts. I made it my mission to be there. After studying there, thirty years later, I count them as friends and mentors.
So it’s with sadness that I open my email in late June 2026 and see that Experimenta has gone into receivership and is no longer an active organisation. State and federal funding collapse? Same curator and curatorial vision for the last twelve years? Still hanging onto a model of expensive national touring? All potential factors for the decline.
The influential Experimenta magazine MESH, which I read avidly as a young man, pointed to a new world of interconnected nodes, memetic replication, always-on broadband consciousness and disruptive technological social upheaval. That infrastructure wave has now arrived and provided for uninterrupted doom/hope scrolling, GenAI Sloptivism, OnlyFans, LLM psychosis, facebook boomer radicalisation, pervasive data-mining and geo-tracking. The shadowy cyberpunk vision I fantasised about as a 17 year old surfing the mailing lists and forums has been embraced, made safe and sold back to me. Nothing is beyond capture.
Talking about mid to late 90s net.art culture feels like telling ‘Grandpas old war stories’, a far off place of adventure and mystery, a swashbuckling semiotic counter-culture where anonymous language agents such as Netochka Nezvanova stalked the discourse. Weaponised ciphers wielded as a attack vectors. Midnight coding, high on instant coffee, 28.8k modem chirping, eight hours of sleep is unnecessary. “Yeah yeah, Jodi, irrational.org, Nettime mailing list, Tactical Media — go back to sleep gramps”.
My small contribution to the legacy of this organisation was Experimenta Social, a series I devised, curated and hosted from 2016. An informal audiovisual salon where artists, audiences and *ultra-hobbyists* could meet each other, listen to presentations and ask questions. Produced alongside Nicky Pastore and hosted at ACMIX, I was happy with the program I developed to profile the work of Sean Dockray, Lara Thoms, Eugenia Lim, Philip Brophy, Holly Childs, Christopher LG Hill and Matthew Sleeth amongst others.
I hope there is an effort to create an online archive of the publications and activities produced by Experimenta and this Australian media art legacy doesn’t evaporate into landfill or e-waste recycling bins. It seems the credit cards have been seized, hosting bills haven’t been paid and the website is already down.
Experimenta needed one more shapeshift, one more shedding of skin, like it did when it left the name Modern Image Makers Association to become Experimenta in the mid-nineties… it missed that one last reinvention to stay relevant.
Dear friends and supporters of Experimenta,
We are writing with the sad news that after four decades at the forefront of media arts in Australia, the board of Experimenta has made the decision to wind down the organisation in 2026. Despite sustained efforts to diversify income and adapt our operating model, the reduction in public arts funding at both the federal and state levels has made it impossible to sustain operations at the level required by Experimenta’s mission.
On 18 June 2026, Garth O’Connor-Price of William Buck was appointed as Liquidator of Experimenta. Should you have any queries in relation to claims, we encourage you to contact his office on (03) 9824 8555 or via email at vic.creditorinfo@williambuck.com.
Founded in 1986, Experimenta has been a pioneering force in commissioning, exhibiting and touring contemporary art shaped by technology. From its origins as the Modern Image Makers Association to its evolution into a globally recognised arts organisation, it has consistently championed artists working at the intersection of art, science and technology, helping redefine the boundaries of contemporary practice. Across almost 40 years, Experimenta has built a remarkable legacy. It has supported generations of artists, from emerging voices to internationally recognised practitioners, while fostering ambitious, collaborative works that bring together technologists, scientists, researchers and creatives. Its triennials, which include a national touring program, have reached audiences across metropolitan and regional Australia, expanding public engagement with new and experimental art forms and contributing significantly to their development in this country.
Experimenta’s work has never been confined to traditional formats. It has embraced creative coding, robotics, bio art, virtual and augmented reality, and data-driven practices, encouraging audiences to explore complex contemporary issues and to reflect on what it means to be human in an age of rapid technological change.
We extend our deepest gratitude to the many supporters, both public funders and private donors, who have sustained Experimenta over its lifetime, to the organisation’s past and present staff, and to the extraordinary artists from across Australia and internationally who have worked with Experimenta over the last four decades.
Experimenta’s impact will endure in the artists it has supported, the audiences it has inspired, and the ideas it has brought into the world. While the organisation’s operations are drawing to a close, its influence will continue to shape the evolving landscape of art and technology for years to come.
Yours sincerely,
The Experimenta Board
Daniel Crooks, Kelly Gellatly, John Merakovsky, Emma Parker & Pinky Tang
