Gunalan Nadarajan

 

Gunalan Nadarajan is an art theorist / curator from Singapore and is currently Associate Dean of Research and Graduate Studies, College of Arts and Architecture at the Pennsylvania State University (USA). His publications include a book, Ambulations (2000), numerous catalogue essays and various academic articles including most recently, “Ornamental Biotechnology and Parergonal Aesthetics”, in Signs of Life: Bio Art and Beyond (MIT Press; 2006) and “Islamic Automation: A Reading of al-Jazari’s ‘Book of Ingenious Mechanical Devices’ (1206)”, in Media Art Histories (MIT Press; 2006). He has curated exhibitions in several countries including Ambulations (Singapore), 180KG (Jogjakarta, Indonesia), Negotiating Spaces (Auckland, New Zealand) and media_city 2002 (Seoul, S.Korea). He was contributing curator for Documenta XI (Kassel, Germany) and served on the jury of several international exhibitions including ISEA2004 (Helsinki / Talinn) and transmediale 05 (Berlin, Germany). He is also currently Artistic Co-Director of the Ogaki Biennale 2006. Gunalan is one of the Board of Directors of the Inter Society of Electronic Arts. He was recently elected a Fellow of the Royal Society of Arts. Gunalan’s research interests include art and biology, robotic arts, nanotechnology and toys.

He has been a corresponding editor to Contemporary and contributing writer to Flash Art and Moscow Art Magazine. He has been the Chair of Cyberarts and of Publications at the SIGGRAPH Singapore Chapter and also served as Co-Chair of the Electronic Theatre for GRAPHITE 2003, the SIGGRAPH Regional Conference to be held in Melbourne. He has been investigating a series of phytorobots that involve the biomachinic interfacing of plants and robots. He has  previously been the Dean of the Faculty of Visual Arts, LASALLE-SIA College of the Arts, Singapore. Gunalan has also served as the founding Director of the newly established Intermedia Lab, an interdisciplinary research lab at the college.