Evolving Traditions: Artists Working in New Media

[Seth Thompson]

   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."


   The documentary is currently distributed by Wigged Productions and is

   available for $29.95 (includes S/H) at


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


   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 Two, to serve as an historical document, so that in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).


   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" byPublisher'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
   seththompson at wigged.net
   http://www.wigged.net

   *************************************************************
   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/
   *************************************************************