Prof. Dr. Nora O’ Murchú is appointed as Professor and Head of the Master’s programme in Digital Communication Environments at the Institute for Digital Communication Environments (IDCE) at HGK Basel with effect from 1 January 2027.
The Basel Academy of Art and Design FHNW is pleased to welcome Prof. Dr. Nora O' Murchú to the HGK Basel as Professor and Head of the Master's programme Digital Communication Environments at the Institute Digital Communication Environments (IDCE), effective 1 January 2027.
The search committee, chaired by Prof. Dr. Claudia Perren (Director of HGK Basel), unanimously selected Prof. Dr. Nora O' Murchú. Members of the search committee were: Prof. Dr. Dietmar Offenhuber (Head of the Department of Art and Design, College of Arts, Media and Design, Northeastern University, Boston, Massachusetts), Ted Davis (Lecturer, IDCE, HGK Basel), Sophie Kellner (Lecturer, IDCE, HGK Basel), Dr. Ralf Michel (MOM Representative, HGK Basel), Alper Yagcioglu (Student Representative, HGK Basel), Annette Schönholzer (Member of the University Board, FHNW), Nadine Seiler and Nadja Brunazzi (HR, HGK Basel).
Prof. Dr. Nora O' Murchú is an Irish curator, writer and researcher whose work examines how digital technologies, computational systems and contemporary image cultures shape politics, governance and collective life. Through exhibitions, publications, conferences and public programmes, she develops practice-based approaches that bring contemporary art, design and critical inquiry into dialogue with technological change.
Since 2013, Nora O' Murchú has been Associate Professor in the Department of Computer Science & Information Systems at the University of Limerick, where she previously led the BSc in Digital Media Design programme. From 2020 to 2024, she served as Artistic Director of transmediale, Berlin's festival for art and digital culture, directing exhibitions, conferences and publications exploring the cultural and political conditions of digital technologies.
Her curatorial work spans exhibitions, conferences and collaborative research projects developed with museums, universities and cultural institutions internationally. Current projects include How to Read an Image at FACT Liverpool and SKULKESKOLEN at Bergen Kunsthall. She is also a member of the Research Ireland Centre for Research Training in Artificial Intelligence (CRT-AI), contributing to interdisciplinary research on technology, culture and society.
Writing forms a central part of Nora O' Murchú's practice. Her recent research explores the transformation of images from representations into systems that organise perception, governance and political life. Her essays have appeared in academic journals, artists' books and exhibition publications, including Journal of Curatorial Studies, OVER Journal and IEEE MultiMedia. She is co-editor of Are You a Software Update? (2025) and A Short Incomplete History of Technologies That Scale (2023), and is currently completing Irish Cosmotechnics, a book exploring technology, language and colonialism through Irish histories of technical knowledge and collective life.
Nora O' Murchú studied Electronic & Computer Engineering at the National University of Ireland, Galway, before completing an MA in Interactive Media and a PhD at the University of Limerick. Her doctoral research, Designers as Curators, Users as Designers: A Reflective Study of Hacking and Curation to Extend Interaction Design Practice, examined the relationship between interaction design, curatorial practice and open source technologies.
HGK Basel is committed to developing ambitious, contemporary programmes that strengthen research, teaching and international collaboration while responding to current social and technological transformations. With Prof. Dr. Nora O' Murchú, the Academy welcomes a curator, writer and researcher whose practice has contributed significantly to international discourse on art, technology and contemporary image cultures through exhibitions, publications and public research.
We wish Prof. Dr. Nora O' Murchú every success as Professor and Head of the MA Digital Communication Environments programme.
The date of her inaugural lecture will be announced in due course.
Prof. Dr. Nora O' Murchú's contact details will be available on the HGK Basel website from 1 January 2027.