Planetary Collegium


The Planetary Collegium is an international transcultural and transdisciplinary new media art educational research platform that promotes on the doctorate level the integration of art, science, technology, and consciousness research under the rubric of the technoetic arts. It is based in the School of Art, Design and Architecture department at Plymouth University in the United Kingdom with nodes in Trento, Lucerne and Shanghai. The founding President is Professor Roy Ascott.

History

The Planetary Collegium was conceived and established by Roy Ascott as the Centre for Advanced Inquiry in the Interactive Arts in 1994 at what is now the University of Wales, Newport
Three years later, Ascott established STAR in the School of Computing, University of Plymouth. CAiiA-STAR constituted a joint research platform, with access to supervisory and technical resources of both universities.
In 2003, Ascott contracted to relocate the platform to Plymouth University, renaming it the Planetary Collegium, where it is currently located in the Faculty of Arts and Humanities.

Structure

As conceived and directed by Ascott, the Planetary Collegium consists of artists, theoreticians and scholars working within the context of transdisciplinarity and syncretism so as to develop their research in the practice and theory of new media art with a special interest in telematics and technoetics. Currently, their doctoral research leads to the award of the University of Plymouth PhD. Post-doctoral research is also pursued.
Currently, the hub of the Collegium, CAiiA-Hub is situated in the School of Art and Media, Faculty of Arts, Plymouth University. The Collegium has a Node De Tao-Node in Shanghai.

Node Directors

  • DeTao-Node Shanghai, China. DeTao Masters Academy in Shanghai. Director: Roy Ascott
  • T-Node Trento, Italy. Fondazione Ahref. Director: Francesco Monico
  • NGL-Node Lucerne, Switzerland. NGL - SAA Neue Galerie Luzern - Swiss Academic Association. Director: René Stettler

Awards

The Collegium was awarded The World Universities Forum Award for Best Practice in Higher Education 2011.

Collegium President

Roy Ascott, Founding President,
2014 Recipient of the Prix Ars Electronica Golden Nica Award for Visionary Pioneer of New Media Art. Doctor Honoris Causa, Ionian University, Corfu, Greece. Honorary Professor, Aalborg University, Denmark. Honorary Professor, West London University, UK. Professor, Shanghai Institute of Visual Arts. DeTao Master of Technoetic Arts, DeTao Masters Academy, Shanghai, China. In 2025 Ascott discussed The Planetary Collegium as part of a comprehensive interview at Artforum conducted by Hans-Ulrich Obrist.

Collegium Advisory Board

Advanced Research Associates

The Advanced Research Associateship involves post-doctoral or advanced practice research. ARAs are required to attend three Composite Sessions within their year of registration, and to participate in the associated international research conferences.

Research Sessions and Public Conferences

Sessions and conferences have been hosted by: