Evolving Traditions: Artists Working in New Media

Contact:
Seth Thompson
330.375.0927
[email protected]

For Immediate Release


NEW DOCUMENTARY PROFILES FOUR ARTISTS WHO USE COMPUTER TECHNOLOGY TO
CREATE INNOVATIVE ARTWORK

Akron, Ohio-June 4, 2002- Media artist Seth Thompson recently
completed the documentary Evolving Traditions: Artists Working in New
Media. The hour-long documentary focuses on four internationally
recognized artists and how their work has evolved from traditional
disciplines into the form now coined "New Media."

Featured in the documentary are artists Mark Amerika, Tennessee Rice
Dixon, Toni Dove and Troika Ranch. Ranging in such diverse artistic
backgrounds as painting, dance, music, bookmaking and writing, these
artists have incorporated current computer technology into their work
to enhance their artistic visions.

"The documentary serves two purposes," said Thompson. "One, to show
people how artists are incorporating computer technology into their
work with new and innovative ideas. Two, to serve as an historical
document, so that in the future people can look back to the beginning
of the 21st century and see what some of the leaders in this movement
were thinking at the earliest stages of this developing new art form."

Don Freeman, director of programming at PBS Channels 45/49, said,
"The evolving interaction between artists and computer/video
technology is an area that hasn't been explored often in traditional
television terms. Thompson's documentary will significantly
contribute to a wider understanding of this field."

Evolving Traditions: Artists Working New Media was supported in part
by generous grants and contributions from the Ohio Arts Council, the
Wexner Center Media Arts Program at The Ohio State University, Media
100 Inc., and The University of Akron (Myer's Faculty Grant).

The documentary is currently distributed by Wigged Productions and is
available for $29.95 (includes S/H) at
http://www.wigged.net/evolvingtraditions/ .

-more-

-Evolving Traditions Documentary Continued-

Mark Amerika
Mark Amerika, a "Time Magazine Top 100 Innovator," is the author of
two novels, The Kafka Chronicles and Sexual Blood. His most acclaimed
project Grammatron (www.grammatron.com), a groundbreaking work of
Internet art, was one of the first Web sites to be included in the
prestigious Whitney Biennial. Amerika is also the publisher of Alt-X
(www.altx.com), dubbed "the literary publishing model of the future"
by Publisher's Weekly.

Tennessee Rice Dixon
Tennessee Rice Dixon creates interactive texts and animated works for
CD and performance art. Her first interactive digital work, Scrutiny
in the Great Round, is an award-winning CD-Rom that is dreamlike in
effect and sensibility. Scrutiny is based on her limited edition
artist book of the same name. Her recent work is focused on moving
pictures with verse and behaviors responsive to sound and other
environmental data. Dixon currently teaches at the School of Visual
Arts, New York.

Toni Dove
Toni Dove is an artist/independent producer who works primarily with
electronic media, including virtual reality and interactive video
installations, performance and DVD-ROMs that engage viewers in
responsive and immersive narrative environments. Dove has received
numerous grants for her work, including support from the National
Endowment for the Arts, The Rockefeller Foundation and the Langlois
Foundation.

Troika Ranch
Since forming the dance theater company Troika Ranch in 1993,
Artistic Directors Mark Coniglio and Dawn Stoppiello have been
creating dynamic live performances that combine dance, music, theater
and interactive digital media. Through fierce choreography, dense
musical scores and an evocative use of media and theater, they
explore how we can maintain our most human attributes in a time of
accelerating change and growing physical disconnection

Seth Thompson
Seth Thompson is a media artist and educator whose work has been
exhibited internationally. Thompson began his career at Harvestworks
Digital Media Arts where he was Business Manager and Education
Director. In addition, Thompson was a Contractual Artist/Lecturer
with the Metropolitan Museum of Art. Thompson holds a BFA in Studio
Arts from the University of Colorado, MA in Visual Arts
Administration from New York University and an MFA in Visual Art from
Vermont College.

###
–
Seth Thompson
Wigged.net
[email protected]
http://www.wigged.net

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Evolving Traditions: Artists Working in New Media
Video Documentary. 2002. (Color, 56:35)
Directed and produced by Seth Thompson.

Profiles four internationally recognized artists who have
incorporated current computer technology into their work to enhance
their artistic visions. Artists addressed are: Mark Amerika,
Tennessee Rice Dixon, Toni Dove, and Troika Ranch.

http://www.wigged.net/evolvingtraditions/
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