Rate My Professor Mark Cypher

Mark Cypher is a senior lecturer, Academic Chair of Graphic Design, and Associate Dean of Engagement in the School of Media and Communication at Murdoch University in Perth, Western Australia. He has held positions at the university since 1999, initially as Manager and Lecturer of the Electronic Art Studio (1999-2004), before advancing to Senior Lecturer and Academic Chair for Graphic Design in 2004. With more than 30 years of teaching experience in art and design, Cypher earned his PhD from the University of Western Australia in 2011, Graduate Diploma in Secondary Education from Edith Cowan University in 1998, Master of Visual Arts (by Research) from Sydney College of the Arts in 1995, and Bachelor of Fine Arts from Curtin University of Technology in 1990. Prior to Murdoch, he held sessional lecturing positions at institutions including Curtin University, Central TAFE, and Claremont School of Art in the mid-1990s. Additionally, he is the principal of BoxCudos Design, a consultancy specializing in communications design, publication design, identity design, and web design.

Cypher's research focuses on the intersection of practice and discourse in contemporary art and design, critical design practice, practice-based research, actor-network theory, agential realism, sociomaterial design, graphic design, user experience (UX), and digital design. His key publications include "How Difference Comes to Matter: Intra-Action and Mediation in Digital Art Practice" (Visual Arts Research, 2018), "Unpacking collaboration: non-human agency in the ebb and flow of practice-based visual art research" (Journal of Visual Art Practice, 2017), "A Question of Inheritance: the Problem of Interactivity in the Visual Arts" (2015), and a book chapter "The Composition of a Digital Aesthetic" in the Encyclopedia of New Media Art (Bloomsbury, 2022). He has supervised postgraduate research students, including PhD candidates in arts, media, and creativity. Cypher's artistic practice has been exhibited in over 30 international exhibitions, such as the Yanjiao Biennale (China, 2025), The Wrong Biennale (2025), CYFEST at the State Hermitage Museum (Russia, 2017), and ISEA2017 (Colombia). His works are held in collections including the National Library of Australia. Notable awards include a $10,000 Australia Council New Media Grant (2004) and serving as Institutional Project Leader for a $150,000 Australian Learning and Teaching Council Grant (2009).