Dr Baden Pailthorpe is an Australian contemporary artist and researcher of Celtic (Scottish, Irish & Manx) descent, who works and lives in Kamberri (Canberra). He is interested in emerging and experimental technologies and community-based practice. He is a Senior Lecturer at the Australian National University School of Art & Design.

Since 2011, Baden’s practice has focused on installation of digital objects and artefacts, alongside screen-based interventions. Examples include: a commissioned performance at the Centre Pompidou, Paris (2014); video work depicting a hacked military simulator at the Palais de Tokyo, Paris (2012); documentation of a video game performance exhibited at the Triennale di Milano, Milan (2016); a ‘start-up as artwork’ at Sullivan+Strumpf (2017); and an experimental data visualisation of AFL player GPS data at UTS Art, Sydney (2017).

Since 2017, Baden has worked collaboratively with Adam Goodes, a proud Adnyamathanha and Narungga man, on Indigenous Data Sovereignty and creative projects. Other significant projects/exhibitions include Something you know, something you have, something you are (2023), a major public artwork commissioned by the ACT Government; Clanger, UTS Art Gallery, Sydney (2018); Pitch Deck, Sullivan+Strumpf, Sydney & Singapore (2017); GAME ART/VIDEO, 21st Triennale di Milano, Milan (2016); Spatial Operations, Newcastle Art Gallery, Newcastle (2015); Guarding the Home Front, Casula Powerhouse, Sydney (2015); On Return and What Remains, Artspace, Sydney (2014) & CACSA, Adelaide (2015); Students of War, Hors Pistes, Centre Pompidou, Paris (2014); Cadence, Westspace (2014); Moving_Image 10, La Gaîté Lyrique, Paris (2013); and Rencontres Internationales, Palais de Tokyo, Paris (2012).

Baden’s work is held in significant private and public collections, including Artbank, Australia; Australian Parliament House Art Collection, Canberra; Newcastle Art Gallery, Newcastle; The Art Gallery of South Australia, Adelaide; The Australian War Memorial, Canberra; The Netherlands Media Art Institute (NIMk), Amsterdam; The National Library of Australia, Canberra; UTS Art, Sydney; and UQ Art Museum, Brisbane. 

PhD (UNSW); MFA (Paris 8); MA (UNSW); BA (USYD)

I'm interested in data, bodies and space, and I work on these broad topics through digital creative practice, emerging and experimental technologies and community-based practice.