Getting to know Kit Wise
Associate Professor Kit Wise
Title: Associate Professor; Associate Dean (Education) and Bachelor of Fine Art Honours Course Coordinator
Faculty/Division: MADA (Monash Faculty of Art Design & Architecture)
Dept: Fine Art
Campus: Caulfield
How long have you worked at Monash?
11 years.
Where did you work prior to starting at the University?
London, Rome and a coffee shop in Hobart…
What do you like best about your role?
As BFA Honours Course Coordinator, it is seeing good students take their first steps towards becoming major artists. It is very exciting to see that first glimmer of potential greatness. As ADE, it is working with like-minded colleagues to maximise the experience and opportunities for our students; especially when working on new teaching innovations.
Why did you choose your current career path?
I love being an artist, but I also enjoy the stimulation of engaging with students – after all, they are the next generation and keep us on our toes – as well as my colleagues. I learn a lot from both.
First job?
Delicatessen.
Worst job?
Putting up marquees one summer in Oxfordshire. Gorgeous locations but the physical hard labour nearly killed me.
What research/projects are you currently working on and what does it involve?
Exploring the relationships between animation, new media and film; and considering the role of these in providing ethical responses to the ‘spectacle’ of disaster - in particular, our complex relationship with water.
What is your favourite place in the world and why?
Rome. I was fortunate enough to live there for 2 years after my studies, where I met my now wife, a Tasmanian Classicist. What more could you ask for…
What is your favourite place to eat and why?
Rome. See above.
What is the best piece of advice you have received?
It is better to regret what you have done than what you haven’t.
Tell us something about yourself that your colleagues wouldn’t know?
I am an obessive year-round open water swimmer – a Brighton iceberger. I have bored most of my colleagues with this information; but not that I am also allergic to chlorine.