Four months ago I posted an innocent feeler on twitter to see if any of our connections on that network would be interested in contributing to the Vague Terrain blog. The tweet (and a subsequent blog post) were widely circulated and we received a wave of interest and the following artists/researchers have emerged as our newfound blogging team. While we dialed back the "two posts a month" clause, we have been pleasantly surprised by the volume of material we've been receiving. These folks are doing a great job of providing a window into issues and events connected to their various creative practices – we are extremely grateful for their contributions. Listed below are brief bios of our diverse team, please note the links to their portfolios, blogs and online media.
Thomas Bey William Bailey is a multi-disciplinary artist and cultural researcher, whose work has manifested itself as books, articles, music releases, sound installations, experimental radio shows, and completely undocumented or personal creative actions / interventions. His work tends towards either 'atomizing' life (e.g. making recordings of asthmatic breath and incomprehensible sleep-talking, strobing videos limited to only a couple visual elements) or illuminating its hyper-complexity with intense noise, etc. Many of these ideas are further fleshed out in Bailey's first book-length survey of his influences and allies, Micro Bionic, published in 2009 on Creation Books. [blog]
Marco Donnarumma (aka TheSAD) is an independent new media artist, teacher, composer, performer and bass player currently based in Edinburgh, Scotland, UK. His works take life in multiple forms such as audiovisual live performances, electronic/electro-acoustic compositions, multimedia installations and interactive sceneries. Past appearances include the Venice Biennale, the Rome White Night at Palazzo delle Esposizioni and the Live!iXem Festival in Italy; the NEMO Festival at Le Cube and Visionsonic #1 in Paris. He works as FLOSS developer as well as MA Professor of Sound Design for Sensitive Environment with FLOSS at LABA – Brescia Academy of Fine Arts, Italy. [blog]
Philip Galanter is an artist, theorist, and Assistant Professor in the Department of Visualization at Texas A&M University. His activities include the artistic exploration of complex systems, and the development of art theory bridging the gap between the cultures of science and the humanities. Philip creates generative hardware systems of his own design, video and sound art installations, digital fine art prints, and light-box transparencies. His work has been shown in the United States, Canada, the Netherlands, and Peru.
Kevin Hamilton is an Associate Professor and Chair of New Media at the School of Art and Design, University of Illinois. His research as an artist and scholar includes writing and publication, cross-disciplinary collaboration, networked media production, and the creation of artworks for public and gallery settings. Kevin is currently completing a commissioned artwork on a forgotten cybernetics lab, and writing on the role of the console operator in Cold War nuclear iconography. [archive, previous website/projects]
Corina MacDonald is a writer, researcher, DJ and data maven working in community radio, electronic music, media art documentation and digital heritage. Under the alias of Cyan she hosts modular_systems on alternating Sundays at CKUT FM 90.3 (ckut.ca). Corina recently joined the Vague Terrain editorial team.
Abinadi Meza is a sound artist currently based in Texas. He is a graduate of SCI-Arc (Southern California Institute of Architecture) and University of Minnesota, Twin Cities. His work has been presented at venues including the Institute of Contemporary Arts, Dunaújváros, Hungary; FILE Festival, São Paulo; Biennale of Electronic Arts, Perth; Walker Art Center, Minneapolis; Irish Museum of Modern Art, Dublin and La Casa Encendida, Madrid.
Ben Baker-Smith has a B.A. in Visual Arts and Cinema Studies from Oberlin College. He is currently working as a video post-production engineer and web designer in Chicago, IL. [blog, flickr photostream, vimeo]
