Poplin is an researcher and artist. She studied Film and Video at UNSW Australia, where she completed her first degree a Bachelor of Fine Art (Multi Media) and continued studying a Master of Arts in Visual Communication by research at RMIT Melbourne, Australia in 2001. Her MA project was a study of multi media and the operatic form examining the rapid cross-fertilisation in the arts in the digital age alluding to a ‘physicality’ in projection, extending preconceived notions of screen-based culture. Poplin's doctoral thesis (PhD) Cultural Flows in the Digital and Beyond: The Potency of a Symbol in Visual Culture in Mainland China examines emergent Chinese Visual Culture in the 21st century, focuses on new symbolism co-created anonymously through social media entering offline representations in art and design.
Since the early 90’s her professional experience has witnessed the shift from analogue to digital. Her background has seen her involvement with a variety of hybridised art forms and New Media presentations of performance works both in Australia and in China. Poplin has exhibited, curated, collaborated and project managed shows with artists and designers and has also been awarded grants and research residencies for her own work. Her work examines the rapid cross-fertilisation in the arts in the digital age, which extends preconceived notions of screen-based identity culture.
Education
2018 PhD [Creative Arts] Victoria University Melbourne VIC Australia
2001 Master of Media Arts by Research [Visual Communication] RMIT Melbourne VIC Australia
1995 Bachelor of Fine Arts [Multi Media] College of Fine Arts University of NSW Sydney Australia
Grants & Awards & Residencies
2017 Secomb Conference and Travel Grant, Victoria University Melbourne
2015 University of Canberra, Faculty of Arts & Design HDR Conference Funding award
2012 Australian Postgraduate Award
2005 Red Gate Gallery Studio Residency ‘Shangrila’ Beijing China
2000 CCP Fitzroy Australia - Summer Salon: 'The sound of grass growing'
1999 City of Yarra Australia- Project grant
Selected Solo shows
Habitat - Pickled Arts Centre Beijing 2006
Shower Songs - 1st Floor Gallery Melbourne 2001
Vox Pop Environ - The Builders Arms Hotel Melbourne 2001
Cropped - Centre for Contemporary Photography Melbourne 2000
Scuzzi Probe Pornography - Australian Centre of Photography Paddington Sydney 1994
Selected Performances, Exhibitions & Arts Related Projects
2007 - 2018
Unruly Orchestrations: Other Mythologies Belconnan Arts Centre Canberra Australia
Death Be Kind the rest is silence, Artist: The Alderman Brunswick Melbourne Australia
Nv Yishu Series V:Viriditas 'Imagine Australia ' 2011 Redtory Art and Living District – Guangzhou China Project Manager
Fresh - United International College Zhuhai China, Curator
Logo City - United International College Zhuhai, China Curator
Screenshot - The Bunker Zhuhai China, Curator
2000 - 2006
Colour is the result of the battle between light & dark - Ivan Dougherty Gallery Sydney
Blink - Plimsoll Gallery Hobart
Swimming In Foreign Places - Bowen Lane Melbourne
Blink - Selected screening Australian Centre for Contemporary Art Melbourne
My Beautiful Laundrette - My Beautiful Laundrette Melbourne
1998- 1999
Bleep Bleep - Event Coordinator Revolver Chapel st Prahran Melbourne
Suitcase - Melbourne Fringe Festival Theatre Works St Kilda Melbourne
Swizelstik's Madame Butterfly - The Performance Space Redfern Sydney
Cosmetic - Stripp Gallery Fitzroy Melbourne
1996- 1997
The Collector - First Draft Gallery Surry Hills Sydney
Bleep Bleep - multi media, performance and installation - The Lounge Melbourne
Axle Presents Vicious Habit - Swizelstik Performance 235 Nelson St Annandale Sydney
Rossini – Swizelstik performance -The Performance Space Redfern Sydney
Splaylunch an animation Directed by Linda Murdoch Sydney
1995
Late - The Sydney Festival - Frumpus, The Harbourside Brasserie Sydney
Perspecta Opening - Frumpus, The Harbourside Brasserie Sydney
Post Arrivalist Below - Les Girls Kings Cross Sydney
The Big Makeover - Frumpus, The Performance Space Redfern Sydney
Women's Comedy Festival - Frumpus, Belvoir St. Theatre Surry Hills Sydney
The Demonstrators Ball - Swizelstik, Les Girls Kings Cross Sydney
The Melbourne Festival - Post Arrivalists, Three Valiant show
1994
The Horden Pavilion - 'Post Arrivalists' 10 shows Sydney
25 years of Performance Art - 'Post Arrivalists' The Performance Space, Redfern Sydney
Open Season - Solo Vox Performance The Performance Space, Redfern Sydney
Despoiled Shore, Medea Material, Landscape with Argonauts directed by Ulla Neuerburg, Sydney
Women and Technology - Eventspace The Performance Space Redfern Sydney
1993 Sounds Like - EventSpace: The Performance Space Redfern Sydney
The Surrealist Exhibition - Post Arrivalists Directed by Angharad Wynne-Jones The Art Gallery of NSW Sydney
1991 ArtExpress The Australian National Gallery Sydney
The Westpac Museum The Rocks Sydney
Published:
2016
Poplin, Justine. Symbolism in Chinese Visual Culture: A New Visual Grammar in Mainland China Iterates Shifting Ideologies: The Arts Collection The International Journal of New Media, Technology and the Arts, Volume 11, Issue 4, Common Ground, pp 1-11 September 1, 2016
Poplin, Justine. New Heroes, Ideological Shifts and Chinese Visual Culture: E-Journal of the National Academy of Screen and Sound: IM 11 2016 http://imjournal.murdoch.edu.au/im-issue-11-2016/
2015
Montana Hoya, Carlos, Poplin, Justine, Scharoun, Lisa. The Importance of Cross-Cultural Learning in the Design Disciplines: A Case Study Reviewing a Series of Short Term Study Tours Designed to Support Cross-Cultural Exchange in the Asia-Pacific Region. International Journal of Arts & Sciences 2015 8 (5), pp 435 – 442
2013 Creativity in the Chinese classroom: Does censorship constrict creativity? ISBN: 978-986-89844-8-6
2011 ISEA International Symposium for Electronic Art - Istanbul Turkey ‘Opera & the cult of the Dj’
2008 ‘Contemporary Art Studio- International Artists in China’ – Hunan Fine Arts Publishing House(pp114-115)
2000 'Cropped' Centre for Contemporary Photography Melbourne, The Age 'Signs Jostle in a posh forum' Review Robert Nelson
1998 ‘42 Snowdrops’ Polyester books Melbourne, Yarra Leader ‘Oh so cheeky crowd drawers’ - Lin Fong
1997 ‘The Snowdropper’ First Draft Sydney, The Sydney Morning Herald - Review Bruce James
1992 'Art Process Guide' - N.S.W Board of Education (pp21 – 28)
Conferences & Presented Papers:
2017 The Twelfth International Conference on the Arts in Society ‘Gestures that Matter’
American University of Paris/Sorbonne University, Paris 14-16 June 2017 'Mapping the meme in China: online and offline signification’
Culture of Knowledge: Creative Economy and China Summer School Curtain University, Perth 7 – 11th February 2017 ‘Myth, Meme and Meaning: New Visual Culture in China’
2016 Public Pedagogies Institute Conference Turning Learning Back to Front, November, 2016
2015 Tenth International Conference on the Arts in Society 'The Work of Art in the Age of Networked Society’ Imperial College London, UK 22-24 July 2015 "Symbolism in Chinese Visual Culture: A Visual Lexicon That Is Shaping Mainland China in the Digital Age
2014 ACUADS (Australian Council of University Art and Design Schools) Conference Melbourne The Future of the Discipline. Title of paper::: Cultural, Disciplinary, Experiential and Educational aspects of short – term overseas study trips in Arts and Design disciplines by Justine Poplin, Lisa Scharoun, Carlos Montana Hoyos.
2013 The Global Symposium on Social Sciences (IBSSS) Okinawa, Japan Creativity in the Chinese classroom: Does censorship constrict creativity? ISBN: 978-986-89844-8-6
2012 Austral + Asia: Cultural Space, Theatricality, and the Performance of Asia in Australasia Monash University Australia ‘Being the Alien’
Melbourne Conference on China: Global Media and Public Diplomacy in Sino-Western Relations Melbourne University Australia ‘Creativity in the Chinese classroom’
2011 ISEA International Symposium for Electronic Art - Sabanci University Istanbul Turkey ‘Opera & the cult of the Dj’
Work and Professional Experience
2018
Lecturer - MA Communication & MA Digital Media, Victoria University
Unit convenor for MA [Digital Media] & MA [Communication]
• Communicating Research
• Approaches to Research
Unit convenor for undergraduate unit • Aesthetics and Art Criticism
2015 -2017
Lecturer - Bachelor of Creative Industries, Victoria University Footscray Park
Digital Art - Integrate the techniques and practices involved in the creation of digital art in the context of contemporary art practice. Conceptualise ideas for original digital artworks in written and visual format. Apply and modify artistic techniques to studio practice via a range of relevant digital software and imaging tools. Create and present a folio of digital art that reflects contemporary art practices.
Lecturer - Bachelor of Arts/Bachelor of Screen & Interactive Media, Victoria University Footscray Park
Graduating Project/Studio Project. Students implement knowledge and practise skills acquired across their courses to choose their own area of interest within their specialisation. Students collaborate in achieving interdisciplinary team outcomes with responsibility and accountability for own learning and professional practice.
2013 - 2014
Lecturer in Graphic Design, University of Canberra
Delivering lectures, workshops and flexible content to third year students. Course Convening and managing staff on the Melbourne campus. Units delivered, Professional Practice and Engagement, Cross-Media Production, Global Design Strategy and Planning, Major Creative Project, Exhibition Design and Promotion.
2012 Lecturer – Arts Industries, School of Communications & the Arts, Victoria University Melbourne Australia
Providing an introduction to the arts industries, investigating issues such as the role of arts industries in the commercial and social environment. A focus is to provide students with the skills to write proposals, including grant applications, in the domain of the arts industries. Students are provided with the opportunity to investigate a specific industry examining current work practices and identifying emerging skill requirements for that industry.
2010 – 2012
Lecturer - Public Relations & Advertising Programme United International College, Zhuhai China
Course coordination, practical classes, workshops, marking assessments, supervision, student field trips and community extra-curricular activities. I have also been instrumental in developing original course content for undergraduate courses and enhancing existing ones. The courses I taught here range from Visual Communication, Advertising Strategy and Planning, Computer Visual Design, Publication Design, Advertising Copywriting & Media Planning. This position requires a working knowledge of contemporary design practice and current advertising trends for international markets and applying that in a way that invigorates cross cultural learning. Students present their work in various ways from printed material or in an exhibition hall or public space, to digital portfolios on the web.
Guangzhou Project Manager - Nv Yishu Series V:Viriditas 'Imagine Australia ' 2011 Redtory Art and Living District
2009 – 2010
English Teacher, IELTS Clerical marker & Invigilator - RMIT Worldwide Melbourne
2007 – 2008
Lecturer- Cinema & Television Programme - United International College, Zhuhai China
Lectures on the Mechanics and Aesthetics of Cinematography. Digital video hardware and software packages incl. Final Cut Pro
Exhibition and screening curator.
English Lecturer - United International College, Zhuhai China
English for Academic Purposes including course content & material development.
2006
English Lecturer - Liaoning University Asia-Australia Business College, Shenyang China
English for Academic Purposes - Essay Writing, Debating and Oral presentation
2004 -2006
Lecturer - Video Art -Victoria University of Technology, St Albans Melbourne
Digital video hardware and software packages - Adobe AfterEffects, Photoshop and Final Cut Pro
Course coordination in conventional and experimental Video Art Tutorials in software packages including - Final Cut Pro, Adobe AfterEffects and Photoshop. Devising workshops on the use of digital video cameras and related hardware, lectures on the history of Video Art and the concepts that fuel creation.