{"id":13857,"date":"2015-07-31T00:07:27","date_gmt":"2015-07-31T07:07:27","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.jewishindependent.ca\/?p=13857"},"modified":"2015-07-28T23:01:46","modified_gmt":"2015-07-29T06:01:46","slug":"reva-stone-at-isea2015","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.jewishindependent.ca\/index.php\/2015\/07\/31\/reva-stone-at-isea2015\/","title":{"rendered":"Reva Stone at ISEA2015"},"content":{"rendered":"

Winnipeg artist Reva Stone is interested in \u201cexamining ideas about the mediation between our bodies and the technologies that are altering how we interact with the world.\u201d (photo by Harold Stone)<\/em><\/strong><\/span><\/p>\n

The International Symposium on Electronic Art comes to Vancouver Aug. 14-19. One of the artists featured in this \u201cshowcase of creative productions applying new technologies in art, interactivity, electronic and digital media\u201d is Reva Stone.<\/p>\n

It should come as no surprise, with Stone\u2019s artwork comprising computer-assisted installations since 1992, that she has been invited to participate in ISEA once again. The first time Canada played host to the international symposium was in Montreal in 1995 and the Vancouver event marks only the second time that it has come to\u00a0our country. In the last four years, it has been hosted in Istanbul, Albuquerque, Sydney and Dubai.<\/p>\n

Stone, 70, was born to Sarah and Don Atnikov in Winnipeg and raised in Regina before returning to Winnipeg for university, earning a bachelor\u2019s in sociology and psychology in 1966 and a bachelor of fine arts in 1985. She has been a professional electronic and digital media artist for more than 25 years.<\/p>\n

\u201cAs far back as I can remember, I was always interested in making art, but it wasn\u2019t seen as a practical decision when I was in university in the early 1960s,\u201d said Stone. \u201cBy my early 30s, I was married [to Harold Stone] and a stay-at-home mom with two children. I was taking local art classes, but not finding them satisfying. I needed to learn more, experience more and experiment more.\u201d<\/p>\n

Stone returned to school to take fine arts. \u201cI thought I was going to become a painter, but that didn\u2019t last long,\u201d she recalled. \u201cI learned quickly that I love to take chances and am really comfortable trying things I have never done before.\u201d<\/p>\n

She graduated when she was in her 40s and was told that a woman her age could not have an art career. So, she said, \u201cI did it anyways. Since that time, I have been creating computer-assisted installations that explore the mutable space between human and machine.\u201d<\/p>\n

Stone always begins new work with a concept that she has read about or an occurrence that she has observed, developing her ideas through research and experimentation. Each work comes to fruition, sometimes in collaboration with other artists and scientists, and other times with hired computer programmers. Stone has shown her work across Canada, the United States and Europe.<\/p>\n

In addition to ISEA2015, Stone\u2019s work is featured in the 2015 Governor General\u2019s Awards Exhibition at the National Gallery of Canada, which runs to Aug. 30, and will be at Gurevich Fine Art in Winnipeg in September, as part of the exhibit A Celebration of Women\u2019s Art.<\/p>\n

The Winnipeg show includes the work of her studio partners, Aganetha Dyck and Diana Thorneycroft. \u201cWe have shared space for over 20 years and this is the first time we are showing together,\u201d said Stone.<\/p>\n

\u201cMy interest is in researching and examining ideas about the mediation between our bodies and the technologies that are altering how we interact with the world,\u201d explained Stone. \u201cI then use various forms of digital media to make artwork that comments on this changing nature of what it means to be human.\u201d<\/p>\n

Stone\u2019s art has encompassed works such as \u201cImaginal Expression\u201d (an endlessly mutating, responsive, 3-D environment), \u201cCarnevale 3.0\u201d (an autonomous robot that reflects on the nature of human consciousness) and \u201cPortal\u201d (which combines custom software, media, robotics and mobile phone technology to create a work that appears to be sentient).<\/p>\n

\u201cRecently, I began altering and repurposing obsolete devices that refer to the history of communication and technology,\u201d said Stone. \u201cI am altering them by adding small, embedded computer boards, video screens, lights, sensors, custom software, robotics and found video.<\/p>\n

\u201cI am choosing objects that possess an historical richness that merges with the alterations I am making to create a rich layering of ideas. As I continue to explore this series of work, I am finding that humor and a sense of play have become an increasingly important element.\u201d<\/p>\n

Over the years, Stone has received numerous research and production awards, including from the Canada Council for the Arts, the Major Arts Award from the Manitoba Arts Council and, of course, the Governor General\u2019s Award in Visual and Media Arts this year.<\/p>\n

She has also been internationally recognized. In 2002, for example, \u201cCarnevale 3.0\u201d received an honorable mention in Fundaci\u00f3n Telef\u00f3nica\u2019s Vida 5.0 Art and Artificial Life International Competition. In 2009, Stone presented at Super Human \u2013 Revolution of the Species Symposium, organized by the Australian Network for Art and Technology in Melbourne. The proceedings were published in Second Nature: The International Journal of Creative Media.<\/em><\/p>\n

The theme for ISEA2015 is \u201cDisruption,\u201d inviting \u201ca conversation about the esthetics of change, renewal, efficiencies and game-changing paradigms.\u201d Conference events will be held at the Woodward\u2019s campus of Simon Fraser University, with exhibitions and events taking place at Emily Carr University of Art + Design and other venues throughout the city.<\/p>\n

Vancouver Art Gallery\u2019s Fuse event will be held in partnership with ISEA2015 on Aug. 15. In addition to music and live performance, the works of some 50 artists will be on display, including that of Stone. The event is open to the public starting at 8 p.m. (tickets are $20 plus tax). For more information, visit isea2015.org\/schedule<\/a>.<\/p>\n

Rebeca Kuropatwa<\/strong> is a Winnipeg freelance writer.<\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Winnipeg artist Reva Stone is interested in \u201cexamining ideas about the mediation between our bodies and the technologies that are altering how we interact with the world.\u201d (photo by Harold Stone) The International Symposium on Electronic Art comes to Vancouver Aug. 14-19. One of the artists featured in this \u201cshowcase of creative productions applying new […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":13821,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[989],"tags":[4253,4250,4252,288,4251],"class_list":["post-13857","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-visual-arts","tag-digital-art","tag-isea2015","tag-reva-stone","tag-vag","tag-vancouver-art-gallery"],"blocksy_meta":{"styles_descriptor":{"styles":{"desktop":"","tablet":"","mobile":""},"google_fonts":[],"version":8}},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.jewishindependent.ca\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/13857","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.jewishindependent.ca\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.jewishindependent.ca\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.jewishindependent.ca\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.jewishindependent.ca\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=13857"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.jewishindependent.ca\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/13857\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.jewishindependent.ca\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/13821"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.jewishindependent.ca\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=13857"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.jewishindependent.ca\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=13857"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.jewishindependent.ca\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=13857"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}