David Rokeby

David Rokeby at the unveilling of his recent work Cloud, which is one of three pieces selected for the Ontario Science Centre's Project Art

David Rokeby (born 1960 in Tillsonburg, Ontario) is an artist who has been making works of electronic, video and installation art 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.

Several of his works have addressed issues of digital surveillance, including "Watch" (1995), "Taken" (2002), and "Sorting Daemon" (2003). 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 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.

Awards

For his installation n-cha(n)t, he was awarded the Prix Ars Electronica (Golden Nica for Interactive Art) in 2002. In 2002 he was awarded the Governor General's Award in Visual and Media Arts, one of Canada's highest honours. "Very Nervous System" 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. "Watched and Measured" (2000) was awarded the first BAFTA award for interactive art from the British Academy of Film and Television Arts in 2000.

Installations

His largest sculptural piece, entitled Cloud, is one of three permanent art installations in the Ontario Science Centre's Project Art. Cloud consists of an array of blue and transparent squares that rotate in various ways to simulate the three states of matter: solid, liquid and gas.

External links

• David Rokeby - home page
• Horizon Zero 3 - Invent issue with information about Rokeby's works
• AudioHyperspace - Interview with David Rokeby
• Review of David Rokeby in a group exhibition at Interaccess in Toronto, written by Mark Schilling.