Feature exhibition • 19 Sep 2026 - 21 Feb 2027
Book museum tickets“My love letter to the personal computer” – Mel Huang Buntine
What if computation wasn’t about speed, automation and scale but building slower, tender and more personal systems? Radical Computing, guest curated by Mel Huang Buntine, is a love letter to the personal computer and to all those who tinker, weave, extend, stretch, hack, subvert and make with the materiality of code.
Owning your own computer was once a radical concept. When computers started entering our homes from the 1970s, computing was out of reach to most people. Affordable, small computers that could be built by everyday people changed this.
From the raw energy of the Demoscene, Australia’s early rave and hacker underground, to global creative coding and open-source software movements, Radical Computing celebrates those who have shaped, challenged and reimagined our world via code as a medium.
Featuring commissions from artists like Chia Amisola and Chok Si Xuan, plus a revival of Laurie Spiegel’s groundbreaking work Music Mouse, this exhibition is anything but a computer graveyard.
Explore a vast array of personal computers from the Buntine Computer Collection, plus see a rare piece of computing history – NCM’s latest acquisition, a Connection Machine CM-2, restored by our Collections and NCM Studio teams, in collaboration with its original industrial designer, Tamiko Thiel.
Centring communities who have challenged traditional ideas of what computers are, how to use them and who they’re for, this is an interactive exhibition for all ages.
"For me, the computer is an inherently radical object. The people, communities and computers in this exhibition push the boundaries of what computation can be." — Mel Huang Buntine
Mel Huang Buntine, with the Buntine Computer Collection. Photo: Casey Horsfield
About the curator
Mel Huang Buntine
Mel Huang Buntine is a designer and technologist for the cultural and education sectors collaborating with institutions and festivals such as National Gallery of Victoria (NGV), 4A, Powerhouse, Asia TOPA, Art Gallery NSW, Science Gallery, Dark Mofo, Museum of Old and New Art (MONA), RISING and The Australian Ballet. She is currently the Radical Computing guest curator at National Communication Museum (NCM) and Senior Product Designer at Rome2Rio.
Spanning works across data visualisation, interactive design and live performance, Mel is passionate about the creative applications of technology in the arts and an advocate for multidisciplinary education having taught at The University of Melbourne and RMIT. She is the co-director of Creative Technology Melbourne and proud board member of Chamber Made. She co-founded the Buntine Computer Collection with her partner Andy Buntine in 2016.
Artists and collaborators
Chia Amisola
Tim Rodenbröker
Laurie Spiegel
Dan Sandin
Chok Si Xuan
Daniel Shiffman
cTrix
Vandalism News
Tamiko Thiel
Spencer Chang
Aarati Akkapeddi
Cat Full of Ghosts Electronics
Fetle Wondimu Nega (Nū)
VJ Tekno Mandala
Nasenbluten
Daisy Watt
Kate Geck
Ann Nguyen
Mel Huang Buntine
Thomas Tokamu
Dr. Jasmin Pfefferkorn
Dr. Philip Pond
Alex McLean (Yaxu)
Janani Suresh Ram
Cynetic
Panda Wong
John Szetho
Janey Li
ZATHAALGOR
maia
bright garbage
Vidya Rajan
Rita Bass
Ava Dinh-Vu
dsp3
Epiploke
Cyberseed
hellocatfood
Computers
Here is a small selection of the computers on display in the exhibition:
Connection Machine CM-2
IMSAI 8080
EAI PACE TR-48
Altair 8800
Amiga 1000/500/600
Atari 1040ST
Sega SC-3000H
Dick Smith System 80
Microbee (early prototype)
And many more…
CM-2 Connection Machine, courtesy of Tamiko Thiel
"I hope that visitors will recognise some aspect of themselves and their own relationship to technology as they commune with the CM-2 ... not just through their intellect but through their senses." – Tamiko Thiel, Lead Product Designer, Thinking Machines Corporation
Contributors
Curatorial
Guest Exhibition Curator
Mel Huang Buntine
Curatorial Advisors
Artistic Director, Dr Emily Siddons
Senior Curator, Jemimah Widdicombe
Design
Exhibition Designer
Studio Peter King
Exhibition Production and Visual Designers
boom studios
Branding and Exhibition Graphic Designer
Mel Huang Buntine
Brand Visuals
Thomas Tokamu
Digital Graphic Design Support
MASS
Fabrication
Boom studios
Project team
Head of Exhibitions: Megan Cassar
Exhibition Coordinator: Callum Stewart
Technical Lead, NCM Studio: Cameron Holman
Creative Lead, NCM Studio: Jesse Stevens
Creative Technologist, NCM Studio: Twig Takac
Senior Conservator: Ellie Thomas
Audience Engagement Manager: Felicity Dallimore
Operations Manager: Natasha Jackson
Education Manager: Matthew Duncan
Front of House Team Leader: Hayden Matthews
Collections Coordinators: Amelia Halley, Annie Llewellyn, Merryn Stanger
Art Handlers: Isabelle Cowan, Max Straume-Tsui
Technicians: Damian Perkins, Thomas Stokes
Marketing and Communications
Marketing & Communications Manager
Clare O’Connor
Digital Marketing Support
PN Digital
Publicist
Fiona Brook, Zilla & Brook
Public Programs
Accessibility
NCM designs its temporary exhibitions for people of all ages.
Expect noise, rough and uneven surfaces and high sensory elements. This exhibition may also contain flashing lights, rapid images, and other visual effects that may trigger seizures in individuals with photosensitive epilepsy.
Please exercise discretion.
- NCM is fully wheelchair accessible
- All gender and accessible toilets available on both levels
- Hearing loop available
- NCM is a high sensory space with a variety of noise and lighting
If you have any questions or access needs we can help with, please get in touch, we'd love to help. Email us on hello@ncm.org.au.
