Colin Black

Biography

Colin Black is an internationally acclaimed artist, having won the 2023 Prix Phonurgia Nova Award (France), 2015 New York Festivals award for sound art, the 2003 Prix Italia Award and being shortlisted as a finalist at the Prix Marulić (Croatia), Grand Prix Nova (Romania) and the APRA Professional Development Awards (Australia). He has received commissions to create innovative major works for installation, performance and broadcast in Australia, the USA and Europe. He completed his PhD at the University of Sydney, where he was a recipient of the University of Sydney Postgraduate Awards Scholarship. More recently, he has been a visiting research fellow at Goldsmiths, University of London, completed a research residency at Northwestern University (USA), and been engaged as a casual academic lecturer at the University Technology, Sydney and Darmstadt University of Applied Sciences (Germany). Currently, he is an adjunct lecturer at Southern Cross University (Australia) and a visiting research fellow at the University of Nova Gorica (Slovenia).

Research

Having obtained a PhD that investigated radio art (a subset of media art), arts-based research and ethnography from the University of Sydney (Australia), his scientific inquiries now include interdisciplinary collaboration and innovation, arts practitioner focused ethnography, art therapy, sound art and the media ecology. His artistic interests range from performances and sound installations to public-space interventions, as well as long-form radio artworks. He is active in the field of cultural and higher education policymaking, having been a subject development committee industry member for the Australian Film Television and Radio School.

Community engagement

Colin’s community engagements include conducting art therapy workshops for university students and institutionalised people with special needs. His community engagements stem from his strong interest in how expressive arts can be used as therapy to help individuals process emotions, reduce stress, and improve mental health. His dedication to helping individuals can be demonstrated by the fact that he is in the process of completing a Master of Arts Therapy with the University of Ljubljana where to date, he has an average grade score of 9.17/10.

Supervision

Colin has experience as an associate supervisor for an honours music student at the University of Western Sydney and by being contracted by the University of Wollongong as an External Assessor for postgraduate creative arts submission. He is interested in supervising postgraduate students who share common research interests.

Teaching

Colin’s teaching engagements include being invited to conduct a masterclass for postgraduate students at Bournemouth University. He has conducted guest lectures/workshops at Technische Universitä Berlin, Macquarie University, Victoria University of Wellington, University of Limerick, University of Zagreb, Bauhaus Universität Weimar, Goldsmiths, University of London, London Metropolitan University, Sydney Conservatorium of Music, Northwestern University and the University of Ljubljana. His casual teaching engagements include TAFE NSW, the Australian Film Television and Radio School (AFTRS), University of Western Sydney, where he taught music technologies, at Darmstadt University of Applied Sciences for their Master’s Program Leadership in the Creative Industries and University of Technology, Sydney where he was the Subject Coordinator, for the Composing with Sound subject