BY Nkosazana Ngwadla
The Wits School of Arts (WSOA) partnered with a leading media art school at the Federal University of Santa Maria in Brazil (UFSM). A memorandum of understanding solidified the partnership between WSOA and UFSM’s Interactive Interdisciplinary Laboratory known as LabInter.
LabInter’s transdisciplinary investigation involves Art, Science and Technology. LabInter’s research groups are made up of artists, scientists, engineers, developers, graduates and undergrad students, and research fellows, all working on media art projects towards carrying out advanced studies on the current conception of interactivity concerning digital technologies in Media Art.
The relationship with LabInter will extend WSOA’s engagement with the exciting work that is taking place in Brazil, a leading centre in the Global South.
The partnership was facilitated by Media Art Professor and Arts Researcher, Andréia Machado Oliveira, alongside Wits University’s Dean of Humanities Professor Mucha Musemwa.
“Our universities and researchers need this kind of support. This agreement allows us to develop a joint project we’ve been working on with Wits’ Head of School, Professor Rene Smith, since 2017. Media art must have the right kind of visibility in both Brazil and South Africa,” said Oliveira.
Oliveira, director of LabInter and recently appointed Research Associate at Wits, hopes that this partnership will also allow students from both countries to learn from each other through academic exchange programmes.
The WSOA has since secured a postdoctoral candidate for September 2023 who will help build on their Arts-Science research projects currently underway.
“We appreciate that there will be stronger synergies between us. We are a living example of how the regional economies of BRICS do not just apply to Presidents and Prime Ministers but also within academic spaces,” said Musemwa.
Image and source: Wits University
