Dr. Alison Bennett
Associate Dean, Photography
Details
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College: School of Art
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Department: School of Art
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Campus: City Campus Australia
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alison.bennett@rmit.edu.au
Open to
- Media enquiries
- Masters Research or PhD student supervision
About
Dr Alison Bennett is a senior lecturer in photography at RMIT School of Art specialising in expanded photography, webXR, queer and feminist creative practices.
Dr Bennett is the School of Art Associate Dean Photography, supervises candidates in the PhD, Master of Photography and Bachelor of Arts (Photography) (Honours) programs; and teaches Digital Imaging Strategies course in the School of Art Masters suite.
They are co-lead of the Imaging Futures Lab.
Industry experience:
Dr Bennett is a founding member of QueerTech.io, a Melbourne-based collective of queer identifying artist working in digital media.
They have been a member of the Gertrude Street Projection Festival Artistic Advisory Committee 2018-2023; and served on a number of selection panels for the Midsumma Festival mentorship programs, including the Midsumma Pathways, a nine-month mentorship program for LGBTQIA+ artists with disability; and acted as a mentor in 2018. Dr Bennett was a judge for the Midsumma Festival Contemporary Art Prize in 2021 and a judge for the Centre for Contemporary Photography Salon 2020 awards. In early 2021, Dr Bennett served as a member of the Australia Council for the Arts Digital Advisory Group.
Awards:
Bowness Photography Prize, Museum of Australian Photography, finalist
Award date: 2023
Recipients: Alison Bennett
Bowness Photography Prize, Monash Gallery of Art, Finalist
Award date: 2018
Recipients: Alison Bennett
Incinerator Art Award: Art for Social Change award, Incinerator Gallery, Finalist
Award date: 2018
Recipients: Alison Bennett
Lumen Prize, V&A Digital Futures, Long list
Award date: 2017
Recipients: Alison Bennett
2020
School of Art Community of Practice Award for Online Innovation
2019
Martin Cantor Portrait Prize, Ballarat International Foto Biennale, Finalist
2018
Bowness Photography Prize, Monash Gallery of Art, Finalist
Incinerator Art Award: Art for Social Change award, Incinerator Gallery, Finalist
2017
Lumen Prize, V&A Digital Futures, Long list
2016
Innovative Use of Digital Media Award, Centre for Contemporary Photography Salon
2015
Portraiture Award, Centre for Contemporary Photography Salon
Public and media engagements:
2021
Keynote and Plenary Conference Papers:
-2020 PHOTO IDEAS: SIMULATION Keynote by Alison Bennett, part of PHOTO IDEAS Feb 2021
Public Lectures, Seminars and Presentations
-2021 Femmes & Thems CAST symposium (convenor)
-2021 Seeing Queerly: Art & Queer Representation, RMIT Pride Week Panel
-2021 ART + TECH: Gertrude Street Projection Festival Panel
-2021 Generator Symposium (convenor), RMIT Imaging Futures Lab
Reports, Ministerial Addresses and Consulting:
-Australia Council for the Arts Digital Advisory Group 2021
Selected Media Statements/Interviews:
-Glastonbury 2021, ‘Inside Elands’, Artlink’
2020
Public Lectures, Seminars and Presentations:
-2020 Salon Judges Speak, Centre for Contemporary Photography 2020 Salon
2019
Selected Media Statements/Interviews:
-Kaviani 2019 ‘Neuroqueer and tattoos: entangled and disembodied‘, Archer Magazine Nov
2017
Keynote and Plenary Conference Papers:
-2017 Virtual Life’s a Drag: Queering VR [panel], SXSW Interactive, Austin TX
2015
Selected Media Statements/Interviews:
-Weeks 2015, ‘Best Australian Photographs of 2015’, The Guardian
-Maloney, A 2015, ‘AJ Kearns, Australian transgender man’, New York Times
-Cohen, J 2015, ‘AJ Kearns in photographs: The father who gave birth’, ABC News
-Sainty, L 2015, ‘This Man Postponed His Gender Transition To Have A Baby’, Buzzfeed
-Cohen, J 2015, ‘From Daddy’s Tummy’, Australian Story, ABC TV, 10 Aug 2015, (http://www.abc.net.au/austory/content/2015/s4287897.htm)
-Cahill, H 2015, ‘Can science remove gender boundaries completely?’, Dazed & Confused, UK, 26 Feb 2015.
-Bennett, A 2015, ‘Inverto. Ada: A Journal of Gender, New Media, and Technology', No.7. (http://adanewmedia.org/2015/04/issue7-bennett/)
-Bennett, A 2014, [photographs of transgender teenagers], The Ally Project, allyproject.org.
2014
Selected Media Statements/Interviews:
-Dore, M 2014, ‘art and architecture plays with reality’, ArtsHub, 7 Nov 2014
-Wright, R 2014, ‘From the Bleeding Edge of the network: Augmented Reality and the ‘Software Assemblage’, POSTSCREEN: Device, Medium & -----Concept conference, Lisbon, 6 Nov 2014.
-Bennett, A 2014, [artist talk & tattoo scanning workshop], Wyndham Art Gallery, 25 Oct 2014.
-Mitchell, L 2014, ‘Seeing Tatts in a different light’, Wyndham Star Weekly 10 Sept 2014.
-2014, ‘Augmented Reality tattoo artworks at Wyndham Art Gallery’, Digital Meets Culture (Italy) 2 Sept 2014
-Bennett, A 2014, [artist talk], OpenLAB, Media Lab Melbourne 5 Oct 2014
-Bennett, A 2014, [tattoo scanning workshops & artist talk], Swan Hill Regional Art Gallery 23 Aug 2014.
-Wilson & Kenny 2014, ‘Your Weekend’, The Age, 1 Aug 2014.
-2014, [Shifting Skin], evening news report, WIN TV News coverage, Jul 2014.
-2014, [Interview about Shifting Skin], ABC Local Radio: Mildura – Swan Hill, Jul 2014.
-Burnside, N 2014, ‘Virtual tattoos come to life’, The Guardian, 18 Jul 2014.
-Bennett, A 2014 ‘Persona’, M/C Journal, 25 Jun 2014,
-Vincs, Bennett, McCormick, Vincent & Hutchinson, 2014, ‘Skin to Skin: Performing Augmented Reality’, in Augmented Reality Art, Springer Series on Cultural Computing, p.161-174 (http://www.springer.com/computer/hci/book/978-3-319-06202-0)
-Collins, A 2014, [Shifting Skin], ABC TV evening news bulletin, 25 Feb 2014.
-Collins, A 2014, ‘Tattooed technology exhibit gets under the skin as part of Sydney’s Gay and Lesbian Mardi Gras visual arts festival’, ABC News -Online, 27 Feb 2014 (http://www.abc.net.au/news/2014-02-27/tattooed-technology-exhibit-gets-under-the-skin/5287622)
-Fairly, G 2014, ‘Skin comes alive as tattoos rise as 3D landscapes’, ArtsHub, 25 Feb 2014,
2013
Selected Media Statements/Interviews:
-Bennett, Alison 2013, ‘Shifting Skin’, AR[t]4 magazine, published by the AR Lab, Royal Academy of Arts, The Hague NL (http://www.arlab.nl/tags/art-magazine)
-Prakash, N 2013, ‘Augmented Reality Brings Tattoos to Life’, Mashable.com 19 Aug 2013, (http://mashable.com/2013/08/18/augmented-reality-tattoos/)
-Extensive international media coverage of Alison Bennett: Shifting Skin, including report by Mashable.com and Huffington Post (http://shiftingskinonline.wordpress.com/)
-Warren, K 2013, ‘Interfacing images’, Shifting Skin [exhibition catalogue], Deakin University Art Gallery (https://www.academia.edu/5043133/Alison_Bennett_Shifting_Skin_at_Deakin_University_Art_Gallery)
-Bennett, A 2013, ‘Deconstructive Montage’ [conference workshop], VI World Congress on Communication and Arts, 4 Apr (http://projections13.wordpress.com/workshops/)
2009
Selected Media Statements/Interviews:
-Nelson, R 2009, ‘Perpetual pirouette is a novel spin' [surveying the field review], The Age, 22 Jul 2009 p.14 (http://www.theage.com.au/articles/2009/07/21/1247941913562.html)
-Taylor, C 2009, ‘Alleykat: shooting star‘, samesame.com.au 4 Aug 2009.
2008
Selected Media Statements/Interviews:
-Craswell, P 2008,‘To Occupy’ [review], indesign magazine Nov 2008.
-Knudsen, S 2008, ‘To Occupy’ [review], un magazine. Volume 2 Issue 2.
-Baumbart, M 2008, ‘Verticalism’, Artichoke Issue 24.
2007
Selected Media Statements/Interviews:
-Bennett, 2007, [Cover & internal images], antiTHESIS journal Vol.17 2007.
2006
Selected Media Statements/Interviews:
-Nelson, R 2006, [review of Making Hay], The Age 15 Nov 2006.
-Bennett, A 2006, ‘Dereliction and the space between’, antiTHESIS symposium, Melbourne University, 7 Jul 2006.
-Drew, P 2006, ‘Honouring the Landscape’ [review of Woolsheds & Shearers Quarters], Indesign magazine, Feb 2006.
2005
Selected Media Statements/Interviews:
-Bennett, A 2005, Frames of Reference: photographing Hill End [catalogue essay], Bathurst Regional Art Gallery 2005 (https://msalisonbennett.files.wordpress.com/2005/10/2005_brag_framesofreference_d33.pdf)
-Bennett, A 2005, [cover images], Arena Magazine, No.78 Aug – Sep 2005.
2004
Selected Media Statements/Interviews:
-Rice, C 2004, ‘Space and image inside Hill End’, Architecture Australia, Jul 2004 (http://architectureau.com/articles/exhibition-52/)
Dr Bennett is the School of Art Associate Dean Photography, supervises candidates in the PhD, Master of Photography and Bachelor of Arts (Photography) (Honours) programs; and teaches Digital Imaging Strategies course in the School of Art Masters suite.
They are co-lead of the Imaging Futures Lab.
Industry experience:
Dr Bennett is a founding member of QueerTech.io, a Melbourne-based collective of queer identifying artist working in digital media.
They have been a member of the Gertrude Street Projection Festival Artistic Advisory Committee 2018-2023; and served on a number of selection panels for the Midsumma Festival mentorship programs, including the Midsumma Pathways, a nine-month mentorship program for LGBTQIA+ artists with disability; and acted as a mentor in 2018. Dr Bennett was a judge for the Midsumma Festival Contemporary Art Prize in 2021 and a judge for the Centre for Contemporary Photography Salon 2020 awards. In early 2021, Dr Bennett served as a member of the Australia Council for the Arts Digital Advisory Group.
Awards:
Bowness Photography Prize, Museum of Australian Photography, finalist
Award date: 2023
Recipients: Alison Bennett
Bowness Photography Prize, Monash Gallery of Art, Finalist
Award date: 2018
Recipients: Alison Bennett
Incinerator Art Award: Art for Social Change award, Incinerator Gallery, Finalist
Award date: 2018
Recipients: Alison Bennett
Lumen Prize, V&A Digital Futures, Long list
Award date: 2017
Recipients: Alison Bennett
2020
School of Art Community of Practice Award for Online Innovation
2019
Martin Cantor Portrait Prize, Ballarat International Foto Biennale, Finalist
2018
Bowness Photography Prize, Monash Gallery of Art, Finalist
Incinerator Art Award: Art for Social Change award, Incinerator Gallery, Finalist
2017
Lumen Prize, V&A Digital Futures, Long list
2016
Innovative Use of Digital Media Award, Centre for Contemporary Photography Salon
2015
Portraiture Award, Centre for Contemporary Photography Salon
Public and media engagements:
2021
Keynote and Plenary Conference Papers:
-2020 PHOTO IDEAS: SIMULATION Keynote by Alison Bennett, part of PHOTO IDEAS Feb 2021
Public Lectures, Seminars and Presentations
-2021 Femmes & Thems CAST symposium (convenor)
-2021 Seeing Queerly: Art & Queer Representation, RMIT Pride Week Panel
-2021 ART + TECH: Gertrude Street Projection Festival Panel
-2021 Generator Symposium (convenor), RMIT Imaging Futures Lab
Reports, Ministerial Addresses and Consulting:
-Australia Council for the Arts Digital Advisory Group 2021
Selected Media Statements/Interviews:
-Glastonbury 2021, ‘Inside Elands’, Artlink’
2020
Public Lectures, Seminars and Presentations:
-2020 Salon Judges Speak, Centre for Contemporary Photography 2020 Salon
2019
Selected Media Statements/Interviews:
-Kaviani 2019 ‘Neuroqueer and tattoos: entangled and disembodied‘, Archer Magazine Nov
2017
Keynote and Plenary Conference Papers:
-2017 Virtual Life’s a Drag: Queering VR [panel], SXSW Interactive, Austin TX
2015
Selected Media Statements/Interviews:
-Weeks 2015, ‘Best Australian Photographs of 2015’, The Guardian
-Maloney, A 2015, ‘AJ Kearns, Australian transgender man’, New York Times
-Cohen, J 2015, ‘AJ Kearns in photographs: The father who gave birth’, ABC News
-Sainty, L 2015, ‘This Man Postponed His Gender Transition To Have A Baby’, Buzzfeed
-Cohen, J 2015, ‘From Daddy’s Tummy’, Australian Story, ABC TV, 10 Aug 2015, (http://www.abc.net.au/austory/content/2015/s4287897.htm)
-Cahill, H 2015, ‘Can science remove gender boundaries completely?’, Dazed & Confused, UK, 26 Feb 2015.
-Bennett, A 2015, ‘Inverto. Ada: A Journal of Gender, New Media, and Technology', No.7. (http://adanewmedia.org/2015/04/issue7-bennett/)
-Bennett, A 2014, [photographs of transgender teenagers], The Ally Project, allyproject.org.
2014
Selected Media Statements/Interviews:
-Dore, M 2014, ‘art and architecture plays with reality’, ArtsHub, 7 Nov 2014
-Wright, R 2014, ‘From the Bleeding Edge of the network: Augmented Reality and the ‘Software Assemblage’, POSTSCREEN: Device, Medium & -----Concept conference, Lisbon, 6 Nov 2014.
-Bennett, A 2014, [artist talk & tattoo scanning workshop], Wyndham Art Gallery, 25 Oct 2014.
-Mitchell, L 2014, ‘Seeing Tatts in a different light’, Wyndham Star Weekly 10 Sept 2014.
-2014, ‘Augmented Reality tattoo artworks at Wyndham Art Gallery’, Digital Meets Culture (Italy) 2 Sept 2014
-Bennett, A 2014, [artist talk], OpenLAB, Media Lab Melbourne 5 Oct 2014
-Bennett, A 2014, [tattoo scanning workshops & artist talk], Swan Hill Regional Art Gallery 23 Aug 2014.
-Wilson & Kenny 2014, ‘Your Weekend’, The Age, 1 Aug 2014.
-2014, [Shifting Skin], evening news report, WIN TV News coverage, Jul 2014.
-2014, [Interview about Shifting Skin], ABC Local Radio: Mildura – Swan Hill, Jul 2014.
-Burnside, N 2014, ‘Virtual tattoos come to life’, The Guardian, 18 Jul 2014.
-Bennett, A 2014 ‘Persona’, M/C Journal, 25 Jun 2014,
-Vincs, Bennett, McCormick, Vincent & Hutchinson, 2014, ‘Skin to Skin: Performing Augmented Reality’, in Augmented Reality Art, Springer Series on Cultural Computing, p.161-174 (http://www.springer.com/computer/hci/book/978-3-319-06202-0)
-Collins, A 2014, [Shifting Skin], ABC TV evening news bulletin, 25 Feb 2014.
-Collins, A 2014, ‘Tattooed technology exhibit gets under the skin as part of Sydney’s Gay and Lesbian Mardi Gras visual arts festival’, ABC News -Online, 27 Feb 2014 (http://www.abc.net.au/news/2014-02-27/tattooed-technology-exhibit-gets-under-the-skin/5287622)
-Fairly, G 2014, ‘Skin comes alive as tattoos rise as 3D landscapes’, ArtsHub, 25 Feb 2014,
2013
Selected Media Statements/Interviews:
-Bennett, Alison 2013, ‘Shifting Skin’, AR[t]4 magazine, published by the AR Lab, Royal Academy of Arts, The Hague NL (http://www.arlab.nl/tags/art-magazine)
-Prakash, N 2013, ‘Augmented Reality Brings Tattoos to Life’, Mashable.com 19 Aug 2013, (http://mashable.com/2013/08/18/augmented-reality-tattoos/)
-Extensive international media coverage of Alison Bennett: Shifting Skin, including report by Mashable.com and Huffington Post (http://shiftingskinonline.wordpress.com/)
-Warren, K 2013, ‘Interfacing images’, Shifting Skin [exhibition catalogue], Deakin University Art Gallery (https://www.academia.edu/5043133/Alison_Bennett_Shifting_Skin_at_Deakin_University_Art_Gallery)
-Bennett, A 2013, ‘Deconstructive Montage’ [conference workshop], VI World Congress on Communication and Arts, 4 Apr (http://projections13.wordpress.com/workshops/)
2009
Selected Media Statements/Interviews:
-Nelson, R 2009, ‘Perpetual pirouette is a novel spin' [surveying the field review], The Age, 22 Jul 2009 p.14 (http://www.theage.com.au/articles/2009/07/21/1247941913562.html)
-Taylor, C 2009, ‘Alleykat: shooting star‘, samesame.com.au 4 Aug 2009.
2008
Selected Media Statements/Interviews:
-Craswell, P 2008,‘To Occupy’ [review], indesign magazine Nov 2008.
-Knudsen, S 2008, ‘To Occupy’ [review], un magazine. Volume 2 Issue 2.
-Baumbart, M 2008, ‘Verticalism’, Artichoke Issue 24.
2007
Selected Media Statements/Interviews:
-Bennett, 2007, [Cover & internal images], antiTHESIS journal Vol.17 2007.
2006
Selected Media Statements/Interviews:
-Nelson, R 2006, [review of Making Hay], The Age 15 Nov 2006.
-Bennett, A 2006, ‘Dereliction and the space between’, antiTHESIS symposium, Melbourne University, 7 Jul 2006.
-Drew, P 2006, ‘Honouring the Landscape’ [review of Woolsheds & Shearers Quarters], Indesign magazine, Feb 2006.
2005
Selected Media Statements/Interviews:
-Bennett, A 2005, Frames of Reference: photographing Hill End [catalogue essay], Bathurst Regional Art Gallery 2005 (https://msalisonbennett.files.wordpress.com/2005/10/2005_brag_framesofreference_d33.pdf)
-Bennett, A 2005, [cover images], Arena Magazine, No.78 Aug – Sep 2005.
2004
Selected Media Statements/Interviews:
-Rice, C 2004, ‘Space and image inside Hill End’, Architecture Australia, Jul 2004 (http://architectureau.com/articles/exhibition-52/)
Supervisor projects
- Ho Chi Minh City the emerging transnational identity of a Megacity
- 6 Mar 2024
- The Divina Liturgies
- 10 Jan 2024
- Upside-down and monstrously misunderstood: an exploration of autism with Bats & Sharks
- 27 Jul 2023
- The Mother Image: Soft cyborgs & neuroqueer postmother speculations
- 10 Jan 2023
- Not tame enough
- 4 Jan 2023
- Digital Fashion Bodies: Performing Posthumanity In Virtual Reality
- 9 Aug 2021
- Evoking The Invisible Lesbian Through Creative Practice
- 13 Dec 2018
- AI Perceptions of Gender
- 21 Nov 2018
- Becoming (Again and Again): Transforming Patriarchal Hierarchies of Bodies and Objects Within Dance and Sculptural Practice
- 27 Sep 2018
- Bodies Beyond the Skin: Queer and Camp Inquiries of Australian Landscape Photography
- 17 Aug 2018
- Transitory Encounters: Embodied Artistic Research to Understand the Lived Experiences of Filipino Domestic Workers in Hong Kong
- 12 Feb 2018
- The Colony Cares for Everyone
- 30 Oct 2017
Teaching interests
Supervisor interest areas:
Expanded photography
Post-photography
21st century photography
Intersections with queer and feminist creative practices
Supervisor projects:
Isabella Capezio: Bodies beyond the skin - How do we image/imagine queer landscapes through photography in the 21st century?
Liss Fenwick: Marginal Territories: Photography, liminality, and the frontier
J Rosenbaum: How do machines perceive gender? A study in gender and aesthetics of computer perceptions of humanity.
Nirma Madhoo: Augmented Constructions of the Fashion Body in New Media
Completions:
Zoe Bastin: Becoming (Again and Again): Transforming Patriarchal Hierarchies of Bodies and Objects Within Dance and Sculptural Practice, 2020
Programs: (https://www.rmit.edu.au/study-with-us/art/photography)
Master of Photography
Bachelor of Arts (Photography)
Bachelor of Arts (Photography) (Honours)
Expanded photography
Post-photography
21st century photography
Intersections with queer and feminist creative practices
Supervisor projects:
Isabella Capezio: Bodies beyond the skin - How do we image/imagine queer landscapes through photography in the 21st century?
Liss Fenwick: Marginal Territories: Photography, liminality, and the frontier
J Rosenbaum: How do machines perceive gender? A study in gender and aesthetics of computer perceptions of humanity.
Nirma Madhoo: Augmented Constructions of the Fashion Body in New Media
Completions:
Zoe Bastin: Becoming (Again and Again): Transforming Patriarchal Hierarchies of Bodies and Objects Within Dance and Sculptural Practice, 2020
Programs: (https://www.rmit.edu.au/study-with-us/art/photography)
Master of Photography
Bachelor of Arts (Photography)
Bachelor of Arts (Photography) (Honours)
Research interests
Dr Bennett's research is firmly located within the emerging field of expanded photography, also known as imaging futures, post-photography, 21st century photography, and computational photography. Their work contributes to understanding and testing the emerging dynamics of photography diffused with ubiquitous computing. Expanded photography includes the expansion of photography from an isolated two-dimensional frame to a spatialized three dimensional field; and the shift from print to the accessible networked mesh of online presentation. As a photographic artist, Dr Bennett has established a reputation for innovative practice-led research that contributes to the evolving understanding of photography in the 21st century.
Research keywords:
Photography, Post-photography, Expanded Photography, 21st Century Photography, Photography 4.0, Photogrammetry, WebXR
Research keywords:
Photography, Post-photography, Expanded Photography, 21st Century Photography, Photography 4.0, Photogrammetry, WebXR
