DR BETTY SARGEANT: Artist
PhD (Creative Media, RMIT University), B.A. (Hons), B.Ed
Dr. Betty Sargeant (she/they) is an internationally acclaimed media-artist whose practice operates at the intersection of art and technology. Her immersive and public artworks confront the critical concerns of our times.
Sargeant’s artworks have enjoyed extensive exhibition within Australia and abroad, including commissioned works for the National Taiwan Museum of Fine Arts, the Karachi Biennale Pakistan, and the Asia Culture Centre South Korea. Sargeant was the Melbourne Knowledge Fellow and is the recipient of multiple Good Design Awards and a Premier’s Design Award in recognition of her progressive creative practice. In 2019 she represented Australia in a federal government delegation, forming new international creative collaborations and partnerships (Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade and Asialink).
Sargeant has been working with machine learning since 2015. In 2016 she delivered her multi-award-winning interactive installation THE STORYTELLING MACHINE at the ACT Festival in South Korea. This involved leading a team to design an AI, an automated system that made creative determinations. Sargeant currently trains machine learning models to diversify the ways that humans and nature are represented within AI generated materials. She has designed the AI robot Betty Sargeant AI, through which she explores digital impersonation. Sargeant frequently speaks at international panels, often embodying her AI persona, and she is an expert in digital futures, contemporary art and creative technology. Her CV is available on LinkedIn.
Betty Sargeant takes an active interest in creating an inclusive work environment for a diverse range of people. Check out her diversity and inclusion tips for the arts.
SELECTION OF AWARDS AND ACCOLADES
2022 Good Design Award. Highly Commended, Indigenous Design Award.
2022 Waterhouse Natural Science Art Prize. Australia: Shortlisted.
2021 Victorian Pride Centre’s Visual Art Working Group. Selected member.
2020 Good Design Award. Winner.
2019 Rupert Bunny Foundation Visual Art Fellowship. Winner.
2019 DEFAT International Cultural Delegation. Represented Australian creative sector.
2018 Good Design Award. Winner.
2017 Premier’s Design Award. Winner.
2016 Melbourne Knowledge Fellow. Winner.
2016 Consensus Innovation Award: Winner.
2016 CHASS Prize: Top 3.
SELECTION OF RECENT ART INSTALLATIONS
2024 GROW, you are star dust. Interactive led screen. Public artwork. Under Development.
2024 THE FAUXREST. Temporary Public Artwork. Mornington Peninsular Shire, AUSTRALIA.
2024 REAL FAKE. Immersive solo installation. Linden New Art, Projects Space, AUSTRALIA.
2023 QUEEN. Permanent road-painting artwork. George Lane, St Kilda, AUSTRALIA.
2022 DISCO APOCALYPSE. Immersive installation. Karachi Biennale, PAKISTAN. (Sargeant, Brigdale, Dwyer).
2022 UNEARTHED. Projection mapped mural. **Good Design Awards: Highly Commended, Indigenous Design Award, 2022**. GoTafe street frontage, Shepparton Festival, AUSTRALIA. (Sargeant, Brigdale, Dwyer).
2021 EMERGE. 360 degree immersive projection room. MAP (Multi-Arts Pavilion) mina, AUSTRALIA.(Sargeant/Dwyer: PluginHUMAN).
2021 THE ART OF CONSTANT CHANGE. Large-scale architectural projection. Shepparton Festival, Shepparton Art Museum, AUSTRALIA. (Sargeant/Dwyer: PluginHUMAN).
2021-23 PULSE. Environment-controlled light sculpture. Experimenta Triennial, Experimenta Media Arts, AUSTRALIA (2021-23). Waterhouse Natural Science Art Prize, Sth Australian Museum, AUSTRALIA (2022). (Sargeant/Dwyer: PluginHUMAN).
2020 [ I MISS YOUR TOUCH ]. Interactive online video art. **Winner: Good Design Award 2020** Be/Hear-Now Festival AUSTRALIA. (Sargeant/Dwyer: PluginHUMAN).
2020 CAPTURE. Public video art projection. Rupert Bunny Visual Art Fellowship exhibition, City of Port Phillip, AUSTRALIA. (Sargeant/Dwyer: PluginHUMAN).
2019-20 CONCEAL. Public video art projection. Luminous Festival, AUSTRALIA (2019). Light Windows Festival, HoloCenter, NYC, USA; Centre for Projection Art, AUSTRALIA (2020). (Sargeant/Dwyer: PluginHUMAN).
2019 HIDDEN CITIES. Interactive art installation. C-Lab, TAIWAN. (Sargeant/Dwyer: PluginHUMAN).
2019 BREATHE. Environment-controlled media art installation. Melbourne Museum, White Night Festival, AUSTRALIA (2019). Geelong Performing Arts Centre, Geelong, AUSTRALIA (2019). Digital Agora Festival, AUSTRALIA (2019). (Sargeant/Dwyer: PluginHUMAN).
2019 QUEIMADAS [The Burning]. Light installation. INPA, Manaus, BRAZIL.
2019 WITHIN. Video art. Dinacon, PANAMA.
2019 THE LOOP. Multi-sensory projection art performance. Melbourne Knowledge Week Festival, Melbourne Meat Market, AUSTRALIA. (Sargeant/Dwyer: PluginHUMAN).
2019-23 FRACTAL MOODS. Interactive brain-controlled touring installation. Born or Built, Questacon, AUSTRALIA. (Sargeant/Dwyer: PluginHUMAN).
2018 DREAM 2.2. Interactive brain-controlled immersive art installation. National Taiwan Museum of Fine Arts. TAIWAN. (Sargeant/Dwyer: PluginHUMAN).
2018 THE WORD TREE. Interactive art installation. Oil Tank Culture Park, SOUTH KOREA. (Sargeant/Dwyer: PluginHUMAN).
2018 INTER-DREAM. Interactive multi-sensory art installation. RMIT University, AUSTRALIA. (Sargeant/Dwyer: PluginHUMAN).
2017 THE PLAYGROUND. Interactive sculptural light installation. ACT Festival, Asia Culture Centre, SOUTH KOREA (2017). Ararat Regional Art Gallery, AUSTRALIA (2017). State Library of Victoria, Melbourne Knowledge Week Festival, AUSTRALIA (2017). (Sargeant/Dwyer: PluginHUMAN).
2016 THE STORYTELLING MACHINE. Interactive immersive art installation. **Winner: Good Design Award**. ACT Festival, Asia Culture Centre, SOUTH KOREA (2016). Geelong After Dark Festival, AUSTRALIA (2017). Glen Eira City Art Gallery, AUSTRALIA (2018).
SELECTION OF RECENT ART RESIDENCIES
2022 Digital Naturalism Lab, Sri Lanka: Node leader and art residency.
2019 LabVerde Artist Immersion in the Amazon Program: Art residency.
2019 Digital Naturalism Lab, Panama: Selected for art residency.
2016-19 XGL Research Lab, RMIT University: Artist in residence.
2016-17 Creators Lab, Asia Culture Centre, South Korea: Selected for art residency.
ACADEMIC PUBLICATIONS
Sargeant, B, Dwyer, J, Mueller, F 2020, Investigating Novel BCI Displays that Support Personalised Engagement and Interpersonal Connections, Proceedings of the 2020 Conference on Human Factors in Computing Systems (CHI), ACM, New York.
Semertzidis, N, Sargeant, B, Dwyer, J, Mueller, F 2019, Towards Understanding the Design of Positive Pre-sleep Through a Neurofeedback Artistic Experience, Proceedings of the 2019 Conference on Human Factors in Computing Systems (CHI), ACM, New York.
Sargeant, B, Dwyer, J, Mueller, F 2018, Using EEG to Design Embodied Play for the Resting Mind, Proceedings of the 2018 CHI Play Conference, ACM, New York.
Sargeant, B, Dwyer, J, Mueller, F 2018, The Storytelling Machine: A Playful Participatory Automated System Featuring Crowd-Sourced Story Content, Proceedings of the 2018 CHI Play Conference, ACM, New York.
Sargeant, B, Dwyer, J, Mueller, F 2018, Using EEG Technology to Interact with Dream Visualisations: Playful Brainwave Art Workshops, Proceedings of the 2017 CHI Play Conference, ACM, New York.
Sargeant, B, Mueller, F, Dwyer, J 2017, Using HTC Vive and TouchDesigner to Projection-Map Moving Objects in 3D Space: A Playful Participatory Artwork, Proceedings of the 2017 CHI Play Conference, ACM, New York. CHI PLAY’17 ACM, New York.
SELECTED SPEAKING ENGAGEMENTS
2024 AI Futures, Invited speaker. International panel. Bunjil Place, AUSTRALIA.
2022 Multi-Sensory Art, LASER Talks, Stanford University, USA.
2022 NATURE vs STUFF, British Council, British High Commission. Karachi, PAKISTAN.
2021 Eco-Sustainability in Arts Practice, Experimenta, School of Art, University of Tasmania, AUSTRALIA.
2020 Behind the Scenes with Immersive Multi-sensory Artworks, ACMI, AUSTRALIA.
2020 Extra-Terrestrial Ecologies, Environmental Film Festival Australia, AUSTRALIA.
2019 Inter-Reactive Art: Fostering Empathy in the Era of Climate Change, Artist Talk and Discussion, Academy of Art and Design, Tsinghua University, TAIWAN.
2019 Art in the Anthropocene, Artist Presentation, Dinacon, LABVERDE, the Amazon, BRAZIL.
2019 Inter-Reactive Art: Fostering Empathy in the Era of Climate Change, Keynote Speaker and Discussion Panel, C-Lab, Taipei, TAIWAN.
2019 Experimenta Social 24, Artist talk, Experimenta, ACMI X, AUSTRALIA.
2018 Korean Arts and Education Week Festival, Artist Talk and Discussion Panel–Live to TV, Oil Tank Culture Park, Seoul, SOUTH KOREA.
2018 Art, Automation and Social Identity, Keynote Presentation and Panel Discussion, Taipei Culture Lab, TAIWAN.
2018 Art and Design in the Age of Automation, Sensilab, Monash University, Melbourne AUSTRALIA.
2018 Presentation Speaker for Melbourne Knowledge Week, Veski Innovation Awards, Deakin Edge, Federation Square, Melbourne, AUSTRALIA.
2018 Customised Reality Opening Ceremony, Guest Speaker and Discussion Panel, National Taiwan Museum of Fine Arts, TAIWAN.
2017 ACT Festival, Artist Talk, Asia Culture Centre, SOUTH KOREA.
2017 Art, Automation and Social Identity, Invited Speaker, Melbourne Knowledge Week, AUSTRALIA.
2017 Beyond Research: Pathways to Impact, Invited Speaker, RMIT University, Melbourne Convention Centre, AUSTRALIA.
2016 ACT Festival, Artist Talk, The Storytelling Machine, Asia Culture Centre, SOUTH KOREA.
2016 STEM, Art, Technology and Multi-Literacies, Keynote speaker, Australian Literacy Educators’ Association and ACMI, ACMI, Melbourne, AUSTRALIA.
2016 The Remediation Loop, Artist Talk, International Symposium on Electronic Art (ISEA), City University, HONG KONG.
2015 Social interaction over shared mobile devices, Invited speaker, /dev/world/2015, Melbourne, AUSTRALIA.
CONTACT
Betty Sargeant lives and works on the land of the Yaluk-ut Weelam clan of the Boon Wurrung people. She pays respect to elders past and present. Always was, always will be, Aboriginal Land.