Past Events
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Annual Student Magazine Launch
In May 2012, students at the School of Humanities and Communication Arts launched Liminal, a magazine showcasing their work. As part of the event, students were invited to take part in Black Thoughts White Walls, a live art competition.
The Dean of the School of Humanities and Communication Arts, Professor Peter Hutchings, praised the high quality and professionalism of the students' work. Coverage of the event can be found on Facebook and Vimeo.
Previous student publications have included the excellent Customise, Burrow and Array series of online and print magazines.
"Made"
Graduate Exhibition 2011
Bachelor of Design (Visual Communication)
Made, an exhibition of graduating student works, was shown at Darling Harbour in late 2011.
Bachelor of Design (Visual Communication) graduation exhibition, a celebration of fourth year design talent, is yearly event showcasing a collection of works from all areas of the Communication Arts, including graphic design, photography, illustration, animation, film and interactive media. The professional quality of work and diverse range of talent on show was a testament to the students' dedication to the specialisation of design.
For more information on our students' website for further details, including student portfolios.
Global Media Journal - Australian Edition
Across the Hemispheres: a cross institutional collaboration
The current issue of Global Media Journal - Australian Edition, Volume 6 Issue 1, is online now!
This edition of the journal, guest edited by Dr James Arvanitakis and David Rowe (Institute for Culture and Society, University of Western Sydney), features articles that flow from an institutional collaboration between researchers at the Institute for Culture and Society, University of Western Sydney, the Department of Cultural Studies at Linkoping University, Sweden (Tema Q), and the Advanced Cultural Studies Institute of Sweden (ACSIS).
Volume 5 Issue 1 featured "Cries From Babylon," an examination of Australian refugee policy by Jonathan Foye and Paul Ryder, and a variety of articles on the phenomena surrounding Wikileaks.
Updates can be followed on the Global Media Journal - Australian Edition Twitter feed, @GMJ_AustEd.
Design students go ‘Off the Wall’
`Off the Wall' is a vibrant annual event that brings together young creative minds to produce a range of large-scale murals. The ‘Off the Wall’ project was initiated by the School in 2006 as a way of extending the visual identity of Rabbit Hole, a professional studio dedicated to fourth year design students.
In September, a group of fourth year University of Western Sydney Bachelor of Design students led the mural-making with individual panels they’ve been working on since the beginning of August. Extra panels were also available for other students and members of the UWS community to improvise on the day.
The event takes place outside the design building on the Werrington South campus, where the murals find their permanent home. Now in its 5th year, Off the Wall was a chance for students to come together as a community, be spontaneous and create mural pieces that will inspire current and future design students.
‘Off the Wall’ enables designers to express their creativity as well as showcase the Design course, says creative director and Course Advisor, Samantha Edwards-Vandenhoek. “We offer so many different kinds of things to do with design and I think it is a world class program now.” The event also provides an opportunity for fourth year design students to collaborate with students in other years. “It creates a sense of community on campus – all the design students across the years get together and do something."
Art director and Bachelor of Design lecturer Katrina Sandbach says that last year's event "...was a fantastic success, mostly due to the energy of our 4th year Rabbit Hole students who invited along their friends, and also managed to work on their individual panels at the same time.
'Two & Two'
Visual Design
Graduate Exhibition
Graduation Exhibition 2012
Works by students graduating in Bachelor of Design (Visual Communication)
The 'Two & Two' Graduation Exhibition showcased the calibre of the major projects and professional works of the class of 2012.
The event ran over a two-day period, commencing on Tuesday the 27th of November with an "industry hour". The show was then open to the public, continuing on the 28th of November.
This year, the focus was on the all-important step of connecting with the industry and making the transition into the working world. Whilst the process may provide challenges, it’s one that we hope will result in long-lasting and rewarding connections - a process much like that of putting two and two together.
For student portfolios, see our website.
ASAA Conference 2012
Knowing Asia
The 19th Biennial Conference of the Asian Studies Association of Australia (ASAA) was held on the Parramatta Campus of the University of Western Sydney, Wednesday 11 to Friday 13 July, 2012, hosted by the University's Institute for Culture and Society, the School of Humanities and Communication Arts, and the Centre for the Study of Contemporary Muslim Societies.
In the past few decades massive economic, political, social and cultural transformations have taken place in the region known as Asia. In the process, it has acquired an increasingly prominent place in the world. Whether or not this ‘rise of Asia’ merits talk about a coming ‘Asian century’, it is clear that the historical context for the study of Asia has irrevocably changed.
Keynote Speakers included:
- Professor Lily Kong - Vice-President (University and Global Relations), and Acting Exec Vice-President (Academic Affairs), Yale-NUS College, National University of Singapore, Singapore
- Professor Jie-Hyun Lim - Professor of History, Director of the Research Institute of Comparative History and Culture, Hanyang University, Seoul
- Professor Prasenjit Duara - Raffles Professor of Humanities, Director, Asia Research Institute, and Director of Research, Humanities & Social Sciences, National University of Singapore, Singapore
For further information, including video footage of the event, please refer to the ASAA 2012 web site.
Interventions and Intersections
Postgraduate Conference 2012
In June 2012, the School of Humanities and Communication Arts hosted ‘Interventions and Intersections’, a two-day interdisciplinary postgraduate conference for School-based Honours and Higher Degree Research (HDR) candidates.
Interventions and Intersections 2012
4th Annual Postgraduate Conference
Participation in the yearly conference is open to all, and it is an important feature of research training offered by the School of Humanities and Communication Arts.
The Beat Keeper
Music Performances
In November 2012, students from the School of Humanities and Communication Arts' Music program closed their year with a series of performances at the annual Graduation Show for the School's Bachelor of Music.
The Beat Keeper 2012 Bachelor of Music Festival showcased our students' best music performance works to a public audience.
Further information on the event can be found online.
Composer-Performer Forums 2012
The Living-Colours of Asia in Australia
Series of Live Music Events and Forums
Held throughout 2012, these forums drew on the Confucian idea that at the heart of creativity is the broad exchange of ideas across cultures and disciplines but in a particular way within the Asian-Pacific region - that of the living nuance of sound colour as a type of Dao or spirit moving across things.
Each forum showcased a contextual element of live performance, reflective-scholarship presentation by the guests on their creative practice tied to the conceptual idea of the East Asian living-colour as a path for Australian creativity, and a panel response.
Simon Barker (jazz drummer)
featured artist at the Composer-Performer Forums.
The first performance for this series featured Simon Barker, one of Australia’s leading jazz drummers, renowned for fusing a Korean aesthetic into contemporary drumming. Simon holds a doctorate from the University of Sydney. In addition to leading his two internationally acclaimed ensembles (Chiri, Daorum), Simon performed regularly in a solo setting presenting drumset improvisations. Recent solo performances include the Meridian Gallery (San Francisco), Korean Culture Centre (London), Stonnington Jazz Festival (Melbourne), and the Jazz Visions Festival (Sydney).
The forum included an improvisation based on Korean music with Michael Atherton, the Foundation Professor of Music at the University of Western Sydney. He was a founding member of the world music group, Sirocco, exploring musical syncretism and Southern Crossings, which focused on cross-cultural musical expressions and commissioned repertoire.
For more information please contact event organiser, Bruce Crossman.
Our brochure is also available for download.
Explore the Materials of Sound
Experimental Music and Media Events
On 1 June 2012 at the Playhouse Theatre, the School of Humanities and Communication Arts proudly presented an exciting music and multimedia event, fusing works from a variety of disciplines across the School.
Unleashed Student Creative Minds:
Escaping Musical Doctrine
Frog Improvisations meet Intimate Structures and Visual Dimensions
a scene from Sonic-Visual Collaborations: Films at the Playhouse
Wild Experimenters in Media
Contributors comprised student composers undertaking the Music Composition: Text and Visual Interactions unit, and filmmakers studying Media Arts Workshop.
For further information, download our poster.
All Sorts TV Show
A Showcase of Student Works at UWS
All Sorts is a selection of short video and animation pieces produced by students from the University of Western Sydney.
Showcasing works from our Music, Design and Communication students, the first series has been broadcast this year on TVS (Channel 44, Sydney). You can watch all six episodes from Series 1 online.
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Concert footage and musical excerpts from recent music event Final Sessions 2011, featuring musicians from the School of Humanities and Communication Arts and from all over Western Sydney, will feature prominently in coming episodes of All Sorts. Free downloads and links to the Final Sessions Facebook page are online.
Studying with the School of Humanities and Communication Arts and want to contribute to the next series? Contact the studio today!
Staying in the Loop!
TVS events series - third season
Local Loop returned to our screens for a third series in 2012.
Proudly written, produced and presented by the School of Humanities and Communication Arts' students, Local Loop is a community notice board illuminating upcoming social, cultural and local events taking place around the Greater Western Sydney area.
Local Loop
TVS Channel 44
Off the Shelf
TVS Book Show
TVS is located on the University's Werrington campus, with close ties to the School of Humanities and Communication Arts. Our staff and students regularly collaborate on TVS productions, with students experiencing on-the-job training by undertaking the role of producer, presenter, writer and crew.
'Shelf Life,' a program aiming to explore what everyday people are reading and uncover new writers and novels of interest to both avid readers and bookshelf browsers, is currently in its third series for 2012.
Presented by Dr Milissa Deitz and Dr Rachel Morley and produced by the School of Humanities and Communication Arts, 'Shelf Life' explores unique book shops and visits libraries around Sydney.
Hosts of 'Shelf Life',
Dr Milissa Deitz and Dr Rachel Morley
By approaching people who are reading books as they go about their day to day lives, 'Shelf Life' uncovered a host of interesting and often obscure books that may not be on most people's radar.
Rachel Bentley, Executive Producer of ‘Shelf Life' and CEO of TVS says, "... libraries remain the most visited cultural institutions in the country, so there’s a huge audience craving a show like Shelf Life."
