Bio

As a new media installation artist, Suzi Webster's practice is concerned with exploring and critiquing the ways in which technologies impact and shape our experiences of being human. In particular, Webster is excited by the possibilities offered by digital media to create work that is collaborative, responsive and dynamic, rather than fixed and static, and that undermines traditional fine art distinctions based on medium specificity. Her current research interests center around wearables that explore intersections between sculpture and performance, fashion and computing, the body and its context, public and private, in a critical way. Recent exhibitions have included Node London; Artefact, at FACT in Liverpool, UK; Cyborgs: man or machine at the Science Museum in Newcastle UK and Codelive 2010 in Vancouver. Webster completed a BFA at Emily Carr University and an MFA Media at the Slade in London, UK, and is currently faculty at Emily Carr University in Vancouver.

Research Interests

• Bio-responsive wearables
• Technological bodies
• Cyborgs/Hybrids
• Sensor networks and responsive spaces
• Media as ecology
• Time as an object

 

Exhibitions(Solo)
2008

• Suzi Webster, curated by Monica Reyes, BackGallery Project, Vancouver, BC

2007

• Artefact, curated by Tomas Harold, Foundation for Art and Creative Technology, Liverpool, UK

 

Selected Exhibitions(Group)
2010

• Electromode Code Live, curated by Malcolm Levy, Vancouver, CA

2008

• Ideas08, curated by Dena Eber, International Digital Media Arts Association, Savannah, USA
• Technothreads, curated by Marie O’Mahoney, Science Gallery, Naughton Institute, Trinity College, Dublin, Ireland
• Project Walkway and Fashionable Technology, Eyebeam Gallery, New York
• Social Fabrics, curated by Patrick Lichty and Susan Ryan for Leonardo Educational Forum and College Art Association, Dallas, Texas

2007

• Cyborgs: man or machine, curated by Sabine Seymour and Andrew Chetty, Dott 07 Design Biennale, Discovery Museum, Newcastle, UK
• Best of Graduate Video Art 2007, curated by Paul Chisholm, The Mouth That Roars, Studio 23, Shoreditch, London, UK

• MA/MFA degree show, Slade School of Fine Art, UCL, London, UK
• Charitable art/science collaborations, curated by Arthur Miller, Gallery 27, Cork Street, London, UK

2006

• Girls on Film, curated by Alissa Juvan, Manchester, UK
• Virtual Residency, organised byMonika Bohr, Claudia Brieske, Leslie Huppert and Gertrud Riethmüllerin with the Gallery Biala in Lublin (PL), the Gallery Faux Mouvement, Centre d'Art Contemporain in Metz (F), the BWA Gallery in Breslau (PL) and the Casino Luxembourg Forum d'art contemporain in Luxembourg (L).
• Wormhole Saloon, curated by Joel Cahen, Whitechapel Gallery, London
• Node London - Framed, curated by Susan Collins and Simon Faithful, Woburn Square Research Center, London, UK

2005

• Capturing Utopia, curated by Daphne Dragona, Fournos Center for Digital Culture, Athens, Greece
• Piksel05, curated by Gisle Froysland, Bergen Center for Electronic Arts, Norway
• Sixteen artists published in Itch, curated by Mehita Iquani, Boekehuis, Gauteng, South Africa
• Evolutions, juried Alumni Show at Emily Carr Institute, Vancouver, Canada
• Point of View, a media-art project by Euroscreen21projects online exhibition
• Project Room 203, curated by Wesley Yuen, Dominion Hotel Artist Room Installation
• Interactive Futures 05, the Victoria Independent Film and Video Festival at Open Space Artist’s Centre, Victoria, Canada

2004

• House Games with A Ruth, Jyväskylä, Finland
• Boundless with Jan Christiansen, Stenersenmuseet, Oslo, Norway
• VJ Fleet performer for Julie Andreyev, New Forms Festival, Vancouver, Canada

 

 

Research/Artist’s Talks/Residencies
2010

• NSERC Researcher: Investigating Hyperlocal Geo Narratives on Mobile Platforms with lead researcher Dr Maria Lantin and industrial partner Lat49
• Panelist: On the Edge of Chaos – Contemporary Neuroscience, Creative Patterns and Material Production invited by Landon Mackenzie, Emily Carr Research Symposium, Vancouver Canada
• Codelive Conversations, Codelive, Vancouver, CA

2009

• Artist’s Talk: Weaving across Time and Space, Langara College, Vancouver, CA
• Artist in Residence; e-text and textiles, Riga, Latvia
• Guest Artist: Nets of Connection, North Island College, Fine Art Department, Vancouver Island, CA
• Artist’s Talk: Just Google It? Praxis and Pedagogy in the Age of Digital Reproduction  Master’s Program, Emily Carr University, Vancouver, CA

2008

• Panelist: The Future of Digital Media Education, IDMAA 08, Savannah, USA
• Artist’s Talk: Inhale, Exhale; The Ins and Outs of Bioresponsive Wearables, Technothreads, Science Gallery, Dublin, Ireland
• Electric Dreams and Open Source Eeg; Ongoing research project partly supported by IDS

2007

• Artist Talk: Cyborgs Dreaming, ECI, Vancouver, Canada
• Independent research initiative: Digital Dust: investigating the possibilities of virtual site specificity, Woburn Square Research Center, University College London, UK

2006

• Presenter: How Smart Are We Symposium, Royal Institute of British Architects, London, UK
• Guest Artist: Drifting, technical textiles and documentary film potentials in design research, with Bas Raijmakers, PhD candidate Interaction Design, Royal College of Art, London, UK

2005

• Artist Talk: Open Source and pd – a strategy for regaining artistic control of technology, Piksel05, BEK, Norway
• Public Lecture: Disorientations: Nomadic Urban Trajectories, Investigating the Plot: Location, Space and Narrative, ECI, Vancouver, Canada

2003

• Intern, New Media Research Institute, Vancouver, Canada
• Artist Talk: Webs of Connection, The University Women’s Club of Vancouver Young Voices Series, Vancouver, Canada
• SoftWear: Wearable Shareable Multimedia, Presentation for Emily Carr All Institute Meeting, Vancouver, Canada

 

 

Publications
2008

• Webster, Suzi. “Electric Skin”, Technothreads: What Fashion did Next – the Art and Science of Future Fashion (Science Gallery, Dublin, 2008) Marie O’Mahoney ISBN 978-0-9558957-0-8

• Webster, Suzi. “From Electric Skin to Electric Dreams” Fashionable Technology, The Intersection of Design, Fashion, Science and Technology (Springer, Wien and New York, 2008) edited by Sabine Seymour and Joe Lumsden, ISBN 978-3-211-744498-7
• Webster, Suzi. “Barking Mad and Electric Dreams” Intelligent Agent 8.1, edited by Christiane Paul with guest editors Susan E Ryan and Patrick Lichty
• Webster, Suzi. “Electric Skin” Our Cyborg Futures post exhibition publication, forthcoming

2007

• Webster, Suzi “Electric Dreams” visual essay, /seconds issue 7: sci-fi, utopia, roadside picnics, (Leeds Metropolitan University UK 2007) edited by Peter Lewis and Derek Horton

2005

• Webster, Suzi. “Mapping relational space – Mutating Points of View” catalogue essay: Piksel05 Exhibition Catalogue

2004            

• Webster, Suzi. “White Noise visual essay” Itch Contemporary Art Magazine, Volume 1: Issue 4, 2004, Cape Town, South Africa

 

Selected Bibliography (Print, Media)
2010

• Codelive Exhibition Catalogue

2009

• Re-visioning the Interface: Technological Fashion, Susan Elizabeth Ryan, Leonardo Journal, MIT Press, August 2009, Vol. 42, No. 4, Pages 307-313

2008

• Encompassing the Body, Wearable Technology and The Avatar, Susan Ryan, ISEA 2008 Conference Paper, Singapore, July, 2008
• The View: Technothreads, RTE TV One, Ireland, 6 May 2008
• Dreaming of Electric Skin, Marie Boran, Silicon Republic, Ireland, April 28, 2008
• Technothreads, the Tubridy Show, RTE Radio One, Ireland, April 24, 2008
• Gallerista, Aubin Van Berckel, Vancouver Lifestyles Magazine, April 2008
• Electric Skin, Teresa Henry, IDTechEx, March 18, 2008

2007

• Curator Opens Experimental Space, Galleries West, Canada First Impressions, Volume 6 No 2, Summer 2007
• The Arts Editor’s Pick of the Day, Digital (Features), Philip Key, Daily Post Liverpool, UK, 05/14/07
• Two Pints and a Packet of Lists, David Simister, Media-Arts Network Exhibition Review, 04/27/07
• Latest Artefact artist is unveiled at FACT, Foundation for Art and Creative Technology News, March 16, 2007
• Artefact: Suzi Webster, Media Arts Network, March 20, 2007

2006

• Electric Skin, Regine Debatty, we-make-money-not-art.com, 15 September 2006

2005

• Artscetera; review of Killer, Mary Frances Hill, Westender, October 11, 2005 p15
• House Games – Kotipeleja: Home becomes an exhibition Space, Asta Limmeri, Suur Jyvaskylan Lehti February 2, 2005
• Victoria Interactive Futures reviewed by Dene Grigar for Leonardo Online
• Red Feast for the Senses and 'Project', Vancouver Sun weekend edition, Arts and Life section, page D5, January 29, 2005

• Red Feast for the Senses, Information Updates with Maria Weisgarber at 4:56 pm, 7:56 pm, and 9:56 pm January 17 on channel 4, Shaw TV.
• Suzi Webster and Red Feast for the Senses, Stephanie Rosloski for ZeD TV, CBC Television.

 

 

Education
2007    Master of Fine Arts Media. The Slade School of Fine Art, University College London, UK
2004            Bachelor of Fine Arts.  Emily Carr Institute of Art + Design + Media (ECI), Vancouver, Canada
2001            Diploma in Fine Arts.  Langara Community College, Vancouver, Canada
1992            Bachelor of Art (Hons).  University of Cape Town, South Africa

 

Awards
2007

• Slade Scholarship, Slade School of Fine Art, UCL

2006

• Thomas Scholarship, Slade School of Fine Art, UCL
• University College London Alumni Scholarship, UCL
• Lightfoot Scholarship, Slade School of Fine Art, UCL

2005

• Slade Project Award, UCL
• Travel Grant for Media Art Professionals, Canada Council for the Arts
• Senior Award, British Columbia Arts Council, Canada

2001

• Dean’s List for academic excellence, Langara College, Vancouver, Canada
• Summer Scholarship at Malaspina Printmakers, Vancouver, Canada
• Bill Watson Memorial Award, Best Printmaker, Langara College, Vancouver, Canada
• India Club Scholarship for Art and Community, Langara College, Vancouver, Canada

1990 – 1992

• Isaac Ochberg Scholarship, University of Cape Town, South Africa
• Elaine Forsyth Trust Scholarship, University of Cape Town, South Africa