UC EVENTS

Speaker: Owen BullockDate\Time: Thursday 4 September 2025, 12:30-13:30Location: Building 1 Level A Room 1A21, University of Canberra (NB Room 1a21 is accessed from the foyer joining Building 1 and Mizzuna café); or Zoom: https://zoom.us/j/95029077504 AbstractIn the first half of 2025, I was fortunate enough to conduct research on the Outside Studies Program towards completion of an academic textbook, How to Write Haiku, to be published by Bloomsbury Press. This included a month spent in Japan conducting background cultural research and, more specifically, interviewing and talking with contemporary poets and critics about Gendai Haiku. Gendai literally means ‘new style’ and arose with the New Rising Poets movement of the late 1930s, a group that was suppressed by the government in what became known as the Haiku Persecution Incident. Gendai leans towards surrealism, and, I argue, constitutes a significant form of postmodernism which has the potential to inform and re-invigorate English-Language Haiku. All are welcome! BioOwen Bullock’s most recent poetry collection is Pancakes for Neptune (Recent Work Press, 2023), following three previous poetry titles, five books of haiku, a bilingual edition of tanka, and a novella. His research interests include arts and health; haikai literature; poetry and process; semiotics and poetry; prose poetry, and collaboration. His scholarly work has appeared in Antipodes, Journal of Creative Arts Therapies, Axon, Journal of New Zealand Literature, Ka Mate Ka Ora, Medical Humanities, New Writing, Qualitative Inquiry, Social Alternatives, TEXT and Westerly. He is Discipline Lead for Creative Writing and Literary Studies at the University of Canberra. The Culture and Creativity Seminar Series is hosted by the Centre for Cultural and Creative Research (CCCR), Faculty of Arts and Design, University of Canberra. To discover upcoming seminars, please follow us on Facebook @uccccr, or Instagram and Twitter @uc_cccr. Alternatively, join our mailing list by emailing cccr@canberra.edu.au. Any questions and accessibility requests please contact: cccr@canberra.edu.au.

Speaker: Joel BennettDate\Time: Thursday 2 October 2025, 12:30-13:30Location: Building 1 Level A Room 1A21, University of Canberra (NB Room 1a21 is accessed from the foyer joining Building 1 and Mizzuna café); or Zoom: https://zoom.us/j/95029077504 AbstractWe will be having lunch while Monica shares with us about recycling textiles. Make some This seminar explores the rapidly developing field of virtual production, a form of filmmaking that combines live-action and computer-generated elements on set, enabling real-time interaction between performers and digital worlds. Drawing on several years of practice-led inquiry and professional experience as a freelance motion capture technician, it examines the lived experience of performance within these hybrid spaces. The discussion will focus on how actors and other creative practitioners navigate the perceptual, spatial, and social challenges of working in digitally mediated environments, offering new insights into immersion, embodiment, and the evolving relationships between people and technology in contemporary screen production.All are welcome! BioJoel Bennett is a Lecturer in Digital Media and Game Development at UC. He is a designer and technology enthusiast with a background in games, animation, and creative media. His work explores how people engage with emerging technologies in screen-based and interactive environments, with a focus on virtual production, extended reality, and digital performance. He is the author of Facilitating an Immersive Performance Environment in Virtual Production (Routledge, 2025), and his current research and teaching support innovative approaches to practice-based learning in digital media and game development.The Culture and Creativity Seminar Series is hosted by the Centre for Cultural and Creative Research (CCCR), Faculty of Arts and Design, University of Canberra. To discover upcoming seminars, please follow us on Facebook @uccccr, or Instagram and Twitter @uc_cccr. Alternatively, join our mailing list by emailing cccr@canberra.edu.au. Any questions and accessibility requests please contact: cccr@canberra.edu.au.