Art x Tech @SAW - Places, Platforms, Practices: Mediating Art and technology Panel Discussion

Featuring Gunalan Nadarajan (Art theorist, Curator), Sabine Himmelsbach (Director of House of Electronic Arts (HEK)), and Victoria Ivanova (Head of Innovation at Serpentine Galleries), the panel discussion examined the complex relationship between arts institutions and technology-driven creative practices. It explored how parallel platforms have emerged to support digital art when traditional museums fall short, and discovered innovative curatorial approaches that bridge conventional art spaces with technological innovation. Panellists also addressed institutional challenges, alternative exhibition strategies, and the evolving infrastructure needed to support art and technology intersections in contemporary practice.

About the Speakers

Gunalan Nadarajan, an art theorist and curator working at the intersections of art, science and technology, is a professor at the Penny W. Stamps School of Art and Design at the University of Michigan. He is active in the development of media arts internationally and has previously served on the Board of Directors of the Inter Society for Electronic Art, is on the Advisory Boards of the Archive of Digital Art (Austria), the New Media Caucus and was an advisor on creative programs of digital culture to the UNESCO and the Smithsonian Institution.

Sabine Himmelsbach, Director of House of Electronic Arts (HEK), brings over two decades of curatorial and institutional leadership experience at the intersection of art and technology. As Director of HEK Basel since 2012, she has curated landmark exhibitions exploring critical themes such as artificial intelligence (Entangled Realities, 2019), data and networked culture (Poetics and Politics of Data, 2015), and technology's relationship with nature (Earthbound, 2022).

Victoria Ivanova, R&D Strategic Lead at Serpentine Galleries, leads the Future Art Ecosystems initiative at Serpentine Galleries, which develops new infrastructural models at the intersection of culture, technology, and society. Her 15+ years of experience spans establishing innovation frameworks at major institutions, advising technology companies such as Google, VIVE Arts on cultural programmes, and co-founding cultural platforms.