Dr Mitch Goodwin is an independent media artist and academic with a research focus on digital aesthetics, visual culture and media communication design. He is the Founding Director of the Screengrab International Media Arts Award and curator of the associated exhibition program. He was the Founding Director and the principle artistic supervisor of the Renew Townsville project based on the successful Newcastle model.
Mitch is currently working at the Faculty of Art’s Curriculum Design Lab at the University of Melbourne. The function of the Lab is to revitalize the Faculty’s curriculum with a focus on technology, engagement and active modes of teaching and learning. The Lab is also involved in developing capstone experiences and Work Integrated Learning strategies across a range of disciplines in the arts, humanities and social sciences.
Mitch has occupied a variety of roles in the creative industries and has consulted widely for the arts sector at the local and national level in a professional and volunteer capacity. In 2015 Mitch was contracted by the University of Melbourne to author a feasibility study into a new media lab facility and public policy institute for the Centre for Advancing Journalism. He has also contributed his time as a mentor, facilitator and served on various boards and committees, most recently sitting on the Visual Arts assessment panel for the Australia Council for the Arts.
Mitch speaking at the David Bowie Symposium as a part of the launch of the “Bowie Is” exhibition at ACMI (Melbourne, 2015)
Mitch has appeared in a variety of public arenas over the years including galleries, festivals and institutions in both an academic and artistic capacity. In 2015 he delivered a solo presentation on his research into Liquid Ambient Futures in a sold out session at SXSW Interactive in Austin, Texas and in July he presented at The Stardom and Celebrity of David Bowie symposium at ACMI in Melbourne. In December he appeared at the Moral Horizons conference for the Australian Anthropology Society to discuss the ethics of drones and A.I. and that same month chaired a panel, The Violent Body, at the Art Association of Australia & New Zealand’s annual conference.
Mitch was recently shortlisted for both the MADATAC06 video art award and the prestigious Lumen Prize, a curated award the Guardian has recognised as “the world’s pre-eminent digital arts prize”. Most recently Mitch’s film Mineral Machine Music was selected for the 16th WRO Media Arts Biennale in Wroclaw, Poland for the European Union’s 2015 City of Culture program. Mitch has won the North Queensland Arts Award for Best Exhibition twice and was nominated in 2015 for the Most Outstanding Visual Artist Award. Mitch’s screen based work has been shown in Adelaide, Amsterdam, Athens, Brisbane (AUS), Cardiff, London, Madrid, Melbourne, Newcastle (AUS), New York, Sheffield (UK) and Vermont (USA).
The Lumen Prize launch, Cardiff School of Art & Design (lumen.com, 2014)
Mitch has been engaged extensively by the HE sector to design and implement curricula that exploit blended modes of delivery, embed WIL strategies into curricula and assessment design and build interdisciplinary project pathways for both students, academic staff and the community. Mitch has also authored numerous program reports, sat on validation panels and conducted bench-marking of pedagogical approaches to studio based teaching and media production curriculum at exemplar institutions in Australia, the United Kingdom and the United States. Clients include the Technology & Innovation Centre at Birmingham City University (UK), the Arts & Creative Media department at James Cook University (Townsville) and the School of Culture & Communication at University of Melbourne.
Mitch was most recently commissioned to design, author and produce a 13 hour video lecture series, Creative Media, for JCU that will be delivered entirely online in 2017. The 2nd year core theory course provides a rich audio-visual critique of the history of new media art production and the wider sociopolitical implications of technoculture from the years preceding WWI to the early years of the 21st Century. For samples of the video lecture modules see Mitch’s Education Channel on Vimeo.
Umbrella Studio, Townsville, Australia, Wednesday September 17, 2014
Mitch’s teaching portfolio covers the disciplines of creative arts, media design, cultural studies, screen writing and film & TV production. He was most recently employed at James Cook University (JCU) as a Lecturer in Digital Media Design where he was appointed the Degree Coordinator of the New Media Arts program in 2009. He was also the Course Coordinator of the capstone subject Creative Exchange (CXC) (2010-2014) which placed multidisciplinary teams into WIL environments to deliver new creative work and professional standard services to the creative industries. The subject was included in the University of Gloucestershire’s 2012 research project, Rethinking Final Year Projects & Dissertations.
In 2011 Mitch was awarded a teaching citation for his outstanding contribution to teaching for “the implementation of programs and initiatives which engender community engagement and industry relevant assessment outcomes and learning experiences for New Media Arts students.”
During his time at JCU Mitch fulfilled a number of leadership roles including appointment as the Director of Teaching & Learning (Creative Arts), co-leader of the New Media Arts curriculum refresh initiative, Academic Advisor on enrollment and subject pathways to the Faculty and he played a key role in the roll out of the Creative Exchange (CXC) model across the Faculty of Law, Business and Creative Arts. Mitch was also a member of numerous special interest groups and committees including the Indigenous Advisory committee, the First Year Experience committee, the Literacy & Numeracy group and the Flexible Learning group.
Screengrab4, documentation of exhibition opening, 2012
Mitch has previously taught at the Griffith Film School in Brisbane where he assisted in the redesign of their core 1st year digital media subjects to reflect industry trends. He has also spent several years lecturing in the UK at the Technology & Innovation Centre at Birmingham City University where he was appointed the Programme Director of two postgraduate qualifications, the MSc in Interactive Media and the MSc in Digital Television Production. He also designed, authored and validated a new undergraduate degree program, BSc Film Production Technology, which accepted its first enrollments in 2007 and now forms the backbone of their media technology offerings making possible the development of the Parkside MediaHouse which opened in 2013.
#lumen25: “Mineral Machine Music”, AV work by @oldmateo http://t.co/XdVvPZ0dmf #lumenexhibition #digitalart pic.twitter.com/2ePjAP0Qkn
— The Lumen Prize (@lumenprize) September 25, 2014
As a practitioner Mitch has won numerous awards and commendations for his creative practice and his work has toured many Australian arts and electronic festivals as well as being featured on radio, print and television. He has many years of experience across the media production sector including digital video, media installation, curating, web design, photography, television and 35mm film production. His previous clients have included the Gold Coast, Tweed, Glenelg and Townsville City Councils, Perc Tucker Regional Gallery, the Portland Upwelling Festival, the Gold Coast Schoolies Festival, the Brisbane Writers Festival, Aston Villa Football Club (UK), BBC Birmingham (UK), Channel 7, Tradelink, Sanctuary Cove Resort, the Marter Hospital (Townsville), Bond University, the Homebake Music Festival and numerous bands, artists and kindred spirits.
Further to his professional engagements Mitch has also facilitated numerous community programs for young people with private and government sponsored initiatives for emerging artists including Cinem@tic Film Festival (UK), BBC Big Screen (UK), Homegrown Filmworks (Tweed Heads, NSW), UFA Leadership Program (UK), The Arc (Gold Coast, QLD), Birds Without Borders (Portland, VIC), Renew Townsville and Artspaced (Townsville, QLD).
In 2014 Mitch completed his PhD in critical new media theory at Griffith University entitled, Dark Euphoria : The Neo Gothic Narrative of Millennial Technoculture which owes a debt of gratitude to the work of Paul Virilio, Slavov Zizek and Bruce Sterling.
Mitch Goodwin :: Screen Cache 