Exploring New Media Art with current student Madeline Dam Hoang

Hi! My name is Madeline, and my interests are curatorial practice, creative directing, and creating immersive installations and exhibitions. I took the New Media Art stream in my third year because Studio Practice (NMA 501) was the class I looked forward to most - it gave me the space to fully commit to one large piece, and finally allow myself to deeply conceptualize work I felt proud of. My artistic practice focuses on curatorial, shaping how audiences move through, feel, and emotionally connect with a space, which was first sparked by experiencing Yayoi Kusama’s Infinity Rooms at the AGO and realizing how powerful thoughtfully designed environments can be.

My experience in New Media has been incredibly rewarding and full of opportunities that have helped me better understand the direction I want to take my career. Some of my favourite classes were Cybernetics and Body-Centric Technologies (NMA 832) and Studio Practice (NMA 501), as both pushed me to create work that felt big, bold, and meaningful. While I’m proud of several projects from these courses, the piece I’m most proud of is Chi’s House from Studio Practice—an immersive installation rooted in the Vietnamese word for “older sister,” which I plan to develop further into a solo exhibition using the skills I’ve gained through NEXT.

What surprised me most throughout my time in New Media was how fulfilling the collaborative and community-based experiences became. Being part of NEXT from the beginning opened doors to countless opportunities, from hosting GCM galleries and putting on my own exhibition to leading my cohort’s thesis year-end show. These experiences taught me just as much as my classes and continue to shape how I work as an artist and curator.