CAFKA Announces Lineup Of Artists Participating in the CHRISTIE-CAFKA Artist-in-Residence Programme

Late in the spring of 2011, Christie Digital and CAFKA (Contemporary Art Forum Kitchener and Area) announced the formation of the CHRISTIE-CAFKA Artist In Residence Program. The program allows artists working with new media such as video and animation to build new work using the digital projection systems that Christie produce.

 


CAFKA initiated an international call for proposals, and selected seven artists and collectives to participate in the program. Each artist/collective will be residing in Waterloo Region for a period of three months to create new work. 

 

The first artist participating in this program is Waterloo, Ontario-based artist Laura De Decker. De Decker creates abstract images, prints, and video animation, using computer programs she writes to view form and colour in dynamic ways and explore aesthetic possibilities. She has exhibited her work across Canada. Recently, she produced animations to accompany a performance with the Pedereski String Quartet as part of the Quantum to Cosmos festival at the Perimeter Institute, and her recent appointment as artist in residence has lead to a commissioned work for a Christie-built display system at the University of Waterloo’s new Digital Campus in Stratford, Ontario, which will be unveiled in 2013.

 

The artist-in-residence program provides the artist with a unique platform to collaborate with the experts who build the systems that the projects will be designed to work with.  “This opportunity challenges me to expand on aspects of my art-marking such as developing interactive applications and 3D and real-time graphics” says De Decker. As the end of her residence, Laura will be exhibiting the works that she produced during her residency and will also be doing a presentation about her experience in working in the program. 

 

“We are hoping that by introducing artists to new technologies, and to a new community at Christie, they will not only push the boundaries of their work, but also the ways that those technologies have been used in the past,” says CAFKA’s Artistic Director, Sarah Kernohan. There will also be overlaps between some of the artists participating in the program. “We are delaying the presentation of Laura’s work until the beginning of March so that our next resident will have the opportunity to interface with Laura, and learn from her experiences.”

 

The program will continue through the spring of 2014. The other artists and collectives participating in the program include Pascal Dufaux (Montreal, QC), Igloo (Ruth Gibson and Bruno Martelli (London, UK), Nova Jiang (New York, NY), Michelle Latimer and Peter Mettler (Toronto, ON), Dylan Reibling (Toronto, ON), and Jesse Scott (Vancouver, BC).