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Dr Matthew Harkness
Associate Lecturer

Dr Matthew Harkness

PhD - University of New South Wales

Master of Design - Emily Carr University of Art and Design

Bachelor of Fine Arts - The University of British Columbia Okanagan

Arts,Design & Architecture
School of Art & Design

Matt is an early-career designer, researcher, and academic based in Sydney, Australia. He specialises in object design from critical making, speculative, co-design, and more-than-human perspectives. Matt's research draws on these to interrogate the ethics of making, specifically, wasteful, exclusive and exploitative, maker practices. Through material experiments, his practice-based research includes waste plastic and bioplastic materials, ceramics, electronics, and repurposed objects.
E-mail
m.harkness@unsw.edu.au
  • Creative Works (non-textual) | 2022
    2022, Bioplastic Futures: 3D Printing and the Maker Movement, Bioplastic Futures: 3D Printing and the Maker Movement, Australian Design Centre, 16 June 2022 - 02 July 2022, at: https://australiandesigncentre.com/bioplastic-futures-3d-printing-and-the-maker-movement/
    Conference Papers | 2021
    2021, '3D Printing and Bioplastic Waste: A Matter of Concern Explored through Actor-Network Theory, Co-design, and Critical Making', Hybrid event, presented at ACUADS/DDCA 2021 Conference New Networks, Hybrid event, 28 October 2021 - 29 April 2022, https://acuads.com.au/conference/article/3d-printing-and-bioplastic-waste-a-matter-of-concern-explored-through-actor-network-theory-co-design-and-critical-making/
    Creative Works (non-textual) | 2021
    2021, Polylactic Acid Chains (1 & 2), Sampling the Future, National Gallery of Victoria, 05 November 2021 - 06 February 2022, medium: PLA plastic, at: https://www.ngv.vic.gov.au/exhibition/sampling-the-future/
    Creative Works (non-textual) | 2020
    2020, The Biorecycling Machine, Global Grad Show, Global Grad Show Virtual Exhibition, 09 November 2020 - 16 November 2020, medium: PLA 3D printed components, acrylic, electronic components, tattoo needle, PLA and saline solution, latex-free gloves, and fasteners, at: https://globalgradshow.com/
    Conference Papers | 2019
    2019, 'Unpacking the thinking and making behind a slow technology research product with slow game', in C and C 2019 - Proceedings of the 2019 Creativity and Cognition, pp. 15 - 28, http://dx.doi.org/10.1145/3325480.3326567
    Conference Papers | 2018
    2018, 'Attending to Slowness and temporality with Olly and Slow Game: A design inquiry into supporting longer-term relations with everyday computational objects', in Conference on Human Factors in Computing Systems - Proceedings, http://dx.doi.org/10.1145/3173574.3173651

  • Finalist, Australia’s Next Top Designer - Interiors Australia | Denfair, 2022
  • Winner, HDR Research Output Award - UNSW, 2022
  • Winner, Sustainable Design Award - WORKSHOPPED21, 2021
  • Highly Commended, Northern Beaches Environmental Art & Design Prize - Northern Beaches Council, 2021
  • Winner, HDR Research Output Award - UNSW, 2021
  • Highly Commended, Reimagine Art Prize, Hornsby Shire Council, 2021
  • Winner, Dean’s List Award - UBCO, 2012
     

Member of UNSW Art and Design - DesignforCE (https://www.instagram.com/design_for.ce/)