David Rokeby
Tillsonburg, Canada, 1960
David Rokeby studied at the Ontario College of Art. Using technology to reflect on human issues, he has won acclaim in both artistic and technical fields for his new media artworks. A pioneer in interactive art and an acknowledged innovator in interactive technologies, he has seen the technologies which he develops for his work given unique applications by a broad range of arts practitioners and medical scientists.
Rokeby’s best known work, Very Nervous System (1986-90) premiered at the Venice Biennale in 1996, won the first Petro-Canada Award for Media Arts in 1988, and is permanently installed in several museums around the world. The work uses video cameras, computers, and synthesizers to create an interactive space in which body movements are translated into music.
The technology Rokeby developed for this work is widely used by composers, choreographers, musicians, and artists. It is also used in music therapy applications and is currently being tested as an activity enabler for victims of Parkinson’s Disease. Other works engage in a critical examination of the differences between human and artificial intelligence.
The Giver of Names (1991-present) and ncha( n)t (2001) are artificial subjective entities, provoked by objects or spoken words in their immediate environment to formulate sentences and speak them aloud. Rokeby has twice been honoured with Prix Ars Electronica of Distinction (Linz, 1991 and 1997). 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. He recently received a Governor General’s Award in Visual and Media Arts.
