ADA Emerge Symposium, Dunedin, November 2005

Aotearoa Digital Arts is New Zealand/Aotearoa's only digital artists' network. Instigated in 2003 by Stella Brennan and Sean Cubitt during Brennan's stint as inaugural Digital Artist in Residence at Waikato University's Screen and Media Department, ADA has grown to claim a particular place in the local context. ADA was born of the observation that although new media artists were often highly networked in terms of both their own practice and their professional relationships, there was no national organisation drawing together those with a common interest in digital art. This recognition suggested the irreversible importance of place against the frictionless communication enabled, in theory, by network technologies.