Active for over 20 years in the local, national and international media and contemporary arts arena, Melinda has extensive knowledge of art forms emerging in new and traditional technologies, such as e-literature, networked, distributed, responsive and mediated arts. 

As a pioneering Australian Internet artist - intertwining narratives of still and moving image, responsive code, sound and hypertext, Rackham exhibited her award winning net art sites and virtual worlds at major global festivals and biennales from 1995.

 

In 2002 she established -empyre-, one of the world’s leading networked media arts and critical theory forums. Documenta XII published extensive discussions from -empyre-, and lively debate continues today under changing global editorial teams.

Melinda was appointed inaugural Curator of Networked Art at the Australian Centre for the Moving Image (ACMI) in 2003 where she curated Australia’s first major survey of Networked Art. Moving to South Australia in 2005, as Director of the Australian Network for Art and Technology (ANAT) until 2009, she widened opportunities and audiences for artists and writers working with Science and emerging technologies. 

More recently Dr Rackham was Adjunct Professor of Media and Communications at RMIT University and spent several periods curating moving image in public arenas and researching the cultural impact of media arts in China and Hong Kong.

 

Melinda is currently reengaging with her personal creative practice, writing her memoir on identity formation in forced adoption and relations in online environments.