ACUADS Conference 2025: Disobedience
Free online event, 12-6pm AEDT Tuesday 2 December 2025.
Recent global and local events, directly impacting art and design institutions and cultural practitioners, reflect a growing fear of the power of creative practice. This demonstrates the perception of art and design as a force of disobedience. How University Art and Design Schools respond to such events has the potential to impact society at large.
With the rise of global conflicts and populism, many research communities are under threat and experiencing rapid and destructive power shifts towards conservatism, economic rationalisation, and authoritarianism. The increase of cultural divisions and divisive censorship has led universities in Australia and around the world to become contentious and factionalised battle zones.
Art and design play a role in provoking, revealing and contesting cultural values and meanings. Disobedience, the act of failing or refusing to obey, can take many creative approaches and responses. Disobedience is not a one singular act but rather a continuum of diverse ways of acting (or NOT acting) in response to corrosive politics in uncertain times. The uncertainty is a fertile zone for a creative groundswell, in which the creative disciplines, such as art and design play a major role.
Now, more than ever, we must uphold the principles of academic and creative freedom, open dialogue, and the right to speak out against injustice. As a volatile political landscape increasingly gives rise to structural drivers challenging our institutional commitments to diversity, equity and inclusivity in the creative arts, it is time for art and design to assert our roles in shaping the future.
NAVA's Executive Director, Penelope Benton will be part of a panel discussion on Generative AI and Art and Design. Other topics to be discussed include diversity equality inclusivity (DEI) and queer activism, climate activism, institutional decolonisation, cultural censorship, social fracturing and the role of University Galleries.
Full program to be announced.
About ACUADS
ACUADS, The Australian Council of University Art and Design Schools, is the leading body for university art, craft and design disciplines. They play an active role in shaping quality education for artists and designers. ACUADS represents twenty Australian university art and design faculties, schools and departments and other academic units offering university degrees at undergraduate and postgraduate levels. The organisation addresses social, economic and cultural policies and discourses affecting the sector.
ACUADS and NAVA acknowledge Traditional Custodians of Country throughout Australia and their connections to land, sea and community. We pay our respect to their Elders past and present and extend that respect to all Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples today.
