Nam June Paik Art Center (under construction). Photo S. Dietz

As much as I complain about the non-intersection of the so-called contemporary art world and the art formerly known as new media world, recently a prestigious international jury consisting of Hank Bull, executive director of Center A in Vancouver; Doryun Chong, associate curator at The Museum of Modern Art in New York; Udo Kittelman, director of the National Galleries, Berlin; Tetsuo Kogawa, artist and professor at Keizai University, Tokyo; and Barbara Vanderlinden, Belgian curator and author,  selected media pioneer Robert Adrian X to split the $50,000 Nam June Paik Art Center  Award with Eun-me Ahn, Ceal Floyer and Seung-taek Lee.

Robert Adrian and Otto Mittmannsgruber coordinating fax and telephone exchange with Vienna. The World in 24 Hours.

Adrian participated in what was arguably the first telematic art conference, Artists’ Use of Telecom (1980) (as did Hank Bull), helped organize and support ARTEX (1980-90) the Artists’ Electronic Exchange Project, organized The World in 24 Hours at Ars Electronica (1982), helped organize and support Planetary Network, a telecommunications project for the Venice Biennale XLII (1986), among many, many other projects.

Congratulations to Robert! And the Nam June Pak Art Center.

Nam June Paik Art Center Prize

Camille Utterback at the San Jose City Hall Rotunda, installing "Abundance."

Tiredly reading the newspaper this morning, scanning the list of 2009 MacArthur Fellows, jolted awake by the last listing: Camille Utterback. OMG!!

Here is her official MacArthur profile along with some unofficial photos of Camille in action on projects I have worked with her on.

Camille doing some last minute programming on "Abundance," commissioned for the San Jose City Hall Rotunda by ZER01 and the City of San Jose. Photo: Everett Tassevigen

Camille Utterback is an artist who uses digital technologies to create visually arresting works that redefine how viewers experience and interact with art. Drawing upon traditional media such as painting, photography, and sculpture, she writes computer code that seamlessly blends the interactive elements of each piece with her aesthetic vision. In her 1999 video installation Text Rain, made with Romy Achituv, the interface of video camera and tracking software allows a viewer’s entire body to engage with text. As viewers stand in front of the projection, their shadows interrupt the falling streams of seemingly random words; the words eventually come to rest on the outline of the viewers’ bodies to reveal lines of a poem. With this distinctive and absorbing work, Utterback combines interactivity with a visual and literary experience that captivates people of all ages, including children. While her early work focused on text and movement, in recent years painterly imagery has had a profound influence on a number of her projects. In the External Measures series (2001-2008), she turned the digital medium into abstract pictorial compositions of infinite variety. These dynamic installations react to people’s motions and involve the viewer in the act of creating monumental paintings and drawings.

Camille doing some last minute programming on "Abundance," commissioned for the San Jose City Hall Rotunda by ZER01 and the City of San Jose. Photo: Everett Tassevigen

Utterback’s Abundance (2007), a temporary outdoor video projected onto San Jose’s Richard Meier-designed City Hall dome, transformed an impersonal public space and modern edifice into a vibrant, colorful environment responsive to human presence and movement. With each subsequent project, Utterback is creating works that encourage audiences to take part in new and exciting artistic collaborations and enriching the experience of living in a technological age.

Camille installing, with Alan B. Davidson, the interactive touch railing for her latest project at the West End in St. Louis Park, MN

Camille Utterback received a B.A. (1992) from Williams College and an M.P.S. (1999) from the Interactive Telecommunications Program at New York University. Her work has appeared in numerous solo and group exhibitions at such venues as the New Museum of Contemporary Art, the Fabric Workshop, the Netherlands Media Art Institute, and the Massachusetts Museum of Contemporary Art.

Congratulations Camille!

Links

Camille Utterback

Abundance

West End project

In May, one of the videos for The UnConvention won a Silver Pencil at the New York Art Directors Club OneShow. The video, “Park,” was one of a series of PSA’s called Make an Effort, a campaign for The UnConvention designed by Campbell Mithun to

encourage Twin Cities residents to find their own unconventional ways to welcome the visitors who will be arriving for the Republican National Convention. The campaign does not ignore the undeniable irony of the Republicans’ choice to hold the convention here in Minnesota, and the entire tone of the campaign captures the unique brand of intelligent, rewarding creativity that Minnesota is justifiably world famous for.

The other two videos in the campain were Pin and Limo, and there is a series of downloadable poster pdfs here, including Yard Ornaments and Wally the Beer Man.

Congratulaations to CampbellMithun and thanks for their participation in The UnConvention. Special thanks to everyone who made the campaign possible including: The UnConvention, LaBreche, Hungry Man Productions, Jonathan Chapman Photography, Unleashed Productions, and Ditch Edit.

The UnConvention

The UnConvention was a non-partisan collaboration of local and national cultural organizations and citizens, initiated by Northern Lights before, during and after the Republican National Convention in St. Paul, MN, to explore the creative intersection of participatory media and participatory democracy. It existed as a counterpoint to the highly scripted and predetermined nature of the contemporary presidential nomination process and conventions.