What we do

The School of Media Arts Research outputs exist in the world of creative practice, alongside a rich range of applied media practice and theory. The breadth of the school’s applied and academic knowledge, combined with a strong and well established postgraduate programme and a proven track record of industry and community engagement, results in productive research culture.

Research at the School of Media Arts is clustered around the wider Wintec research themes. These themes are as follows: Inclusive Culture, Language and Indigenous People; Innovation, Creativity and Design; Human and Societal Health, Wellness and Performance; Transformative technologies and the future of learning, workplaces and careers; and, Regeneration, Revitalisation and Transformation. These themes provide a focus for both individual and collaborative research practice and integrate our ongoing research practice into other elements of the School. We also are regularly exploring work which simultaneously explores a number of the research themes.

How we do it

In order to pursue our Research vision, the School aims to develop partnerships with local, national and international industry connections. We also direct support towards group research projects, and encourage broader research collaboration within the School, as well as with the wider Wintec Research Community, as well as with our direct community and industry partners.

We are actively engaged in the development of new researchers, with opportunities for them to work in collaboration with more established researchers to help facilitate the growth of research capabilities. This will also help to utilise the knowledge and experience gained through our research practice within teaching. This helps to ensure that the teaching remains current and that methodologies of industry practice can be developed through current research and development.

Why we do it

Research in Media Arts is primarily, but not entirely, drawn from elements of creative practice. We do it as a means to pursue original investigation which contributes to knowledge and understanding, while also exploring cultural innovation and/or aesthetic refinement. We want to create work that engages with both industry and community in various formats. We will strive to continue to explore more collaborative, multi-disciplinary and trans-disciplinary modes of research.

A majority of our researchers are also practising artists and industry professionals engaged in a number of internal and external projects. Their breadth of knowledge and experience, developed through research, will continue to inform the teaching practice, and various research projects will continue to be utilised as teaching tools in the form of examples, experiments and collaborative explorations. This also leads to a level of industry expertise that flows on to various commissioned works, collaborative projects and industry secondments.

Our researchers

Media Arts Researchers have a broad range of expertise and knowledge. These areas include:

graphic design;
digital design;
contemporary art;
sculpture;
visual art;
installation art;
photography;
moving image;
creative writing;
interior design;
music (commercial, contemporary, sonic art and musicology);
journalism;
public relations;
and more.

Contact us

Do you have a research enquiry? Get in touch using the form below.

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Wintec casts a virtual light on Hamilton's roading history

Friday, 25 August 2017

The projection of time, the way we traverse Hamilton city and a virtual drive are all part of a new exhibition by Wintec staff and students to open at Waikato Museum on Saturday 2 September until Sunday 15 October 2017.

Linking the City tells the colourful history of the ring road development in unexpected ways. At its centre, a 3D model built by Wintec School of Media Arts lecturer Luke McConnell shows the growth of the city from its beginnings in pre-human times, to recent developments detailing Hamilton’s ring road developments.

“It’s an exciting project and while the 3D model will be the centrepiece for Linking the City, it has been created as a longer term display piece as a gift of the city, to the city,” says McConnell.

“The model takes us on a journey from where we’ve come from as a city, to where we are now by projecting changes over time in a highly visual and engaging way.”

Wintec Media Arts students have also been involved in the exhibition which includes a visualisation of traffic flow on key Hamilton routes, a virtual drive around the route and a life-size representation of the strata of earth revealed by the road cuttings.

Wintec journalism tutor, Richard Walker says now the ring road is almost complete, it presented an opportunity involve students and staff in the creative, visual and writing process in developing an exhibition.

“Hamilton’s ring road, has been a good six decades in the making and it’s a good time to tell the story so far. Linking the City is more than a story about a road, it’s one with a colourful history that stretches back further than you might expect.

“Developing an exhibition involves the many skills our students are studying including the disciplines of journalism, communications, design and moving image. Projects like this give us scope to take the skills we teach and learn into real-world projects through partnerships, and put our work in front of the public.”

The ring road can be traced to a grand plan for a motorway from Auckland to Hamilton which was touted as far back as the 1950s. It will complete a circuit inside the city boundaries that will not only help traffic flow but also connects the present to the past. Milestones have included a front-page political stoush, the building of two bridges (Cobham and Pukete) and a highly successful social media campaign.

Find out more about the exhibition here.

Find out more about Wintec’s School of Media Arts here.

Image: Wintec tutor Luke McConnell and design student Etana Zaguri check out a relief model of Hamilton which will be part of the ring road exhibition.