Royal Melbourne Institute of Technology (RMIT)

News Summary:

On February 6, 2026, Royal Melbourne Institute of Technology (RMIT) hosted the opening celebration for "Creative Antarctica," a multifaceted exhibition showcasing Australian artists and writers influenced by their observations and experiences of the Far South, aiming to foster new encounters and perspectives on the South Polar region. This exhibition was accompanied by several related presentations, including "Recording the Blizzard," which brought together artists with polar fieldwork experience and practitioners engaging with environmental sound to examine how blizzards, wind, ice, and infrastructure shape recording methodologies and artistic outcomes. Another presentation, "Into the White Abyss," reflected on the aesthetic, technical, and conceptual frameworks underpinning artistic practice in extreme environments, with sound artist Philip Samartzis considering how sound operates as both material and method. Samartzis, whose practice explores the relationship between sound, place, and environmental change through field recording in remote locations, was featured in the "Air Pressure" event. Earlier, on February 2, Associate Professor Jessica Holien from the School of Science stated that personalized cancer treatment is entering a transformative phase driven by artificial intelligence. Holien highlighted that the powerful combination of biology, technology, and AI is moving beyond standard chemotherapy and one-size-fits-all therapies toward approaches guided by the unique genetic and molecular features of each patient’s cancer.