Distinguished Lecture Series: David Rokeby
The computer as a prosthetic organ of philosophy
| What |
|
|---|---|
| When |
Nov 05, 2009 from 04:15 PM to 06:00 PM |
| Where | Barus and Holley rm 168 |
| Contact Name | sharon_king@brown.edu |
| Contact Phone | 401-863-7557 |
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Over the past 28 years David Rokeby has been creating art installations using computers. His practice involves a great deal of intense engagement with the computer both in production and in the interactive experience of the actual work. Ironically, he has found that this engagement has cast an unexpected and revealing light on what it means to be human. He will elaborate on this notion using examples of his works and his experiences creating and showing them.
Biographical note
Born in Tillsonburg, Ontario in 1960, David Rokeby has been
creating interactive sound and video installations with computers since
1982. His early work Very Nervous System (1982-1991) is
acknowledged as a pioneering work of interactive art, translating
physical gestures into real-time interactive sound environments. Very
Nervous System was presented at the Venice Biennale in 1986, and was
awarded the first Petro-Canada Award for Media Arts in 1988
and Austria's Prix Ars Electronica Award of Distinction for Interactive
Art in 1991.
Several of his works have addressed issues of digital surveillance,
including Watch (1995), Taken (2002), and Sorting
Daemon (2003). Watched and Measured (2000) was awarded the
first BAFTA award for interactive art from the British Academy of Film
and Television Arts in 2000.
Other works engage in a critical examination of the differences
between human and artificial intelligence. The Giver of
Names (1991-) and n-cha(n)t (2001) are artificial subjective
entities, provoked by objects or spoken words in their immediate
environment to formulate sentences and speak them aloud.
David Rokeby's installations have been exhibited extensively in
the Americas, Europe and Asia. He has been an invited speaker at
events around the world, and has published two papers that are
required reading in the new media arts faculties of many
universities. In 2002, Rokeby was awarded a Governor General's Award in
Visual and Media Arts, Canada's highest honour in visual art, the Prix
Ars Electronica Golden Nica for Interactive Art
(for n-cha(n)t) and represented Canada at the Venice Biennale of
Architecture with Seen (2002). In 2004 he represented Canada at the
São Paulo Bienal in Brazil. In 2007 he completed major art commissions for
the Ontario Science Centre and the Daniel Langlois Foundation
in Montréal.
David Rokeby is represented by Pari Nadimi Gallery.
