Heather Contant explores the collectivist tendencies in media arts through her research, teaching, and creative endeavours. Her award-winning research on the history of wireless media has gained recognition in multiple publications and leads to her current work, an investigation of generative collectivism throughout the history of media arts. She seeks to understand how collectives of producers explore the possibilities of media in a manner that leads to the development of new theories, practices, and technologies that make it easier for other collectives to form and explore the possibilities of media in their own unique circumstances as well.
2018 Dean’s Award for Excellence in Higher Degree Research, University of New South Wales Art and Design, Sydney, NSW
2012 Distinguished Thesis Award, The New School for Public Engagement, Department of Media Studies, New York, NY
2011 Excellence in Aviary Mockumentary for multimedia installation, video work, and performative lecture entitled “Re/Discovery of the Passenger Pigeon,” which presented archival and speculative research about the extinct passenger pigeon. This work was included in an exhibition curated by Christiane Paul at Soho Gallery for Digital Art
radio history, art history, art theory, media arts history, media history, media studies, collectivism, collective practices, alternative media, pirate radio, Walter Benjamin, Ivan Illich, The Frankfurt School, experimental art, sound art, sound studies, acoustic ecology, energies in the arts