Bill Vorn

Biography

Bill Vorn is a Canadian artist working in the field of Robotic art since 1992. His installation projects involve robotics and motion control, sound, lighting, video and cybernetic processes. He pursues research on Artificial Life and Agent technologies through artistic work based on the Aesthetics of Artificial Behaviors.

He holds a Ph.D. degree in Communication Studies from UQAM (Montreal) for a thesis on Artificial Life as a Media. He teaches Electronic Arts in the Department of Studio Arts at Concordia University (Intermedia/Cyberarts program) where he is responsible of the alab, a Robotic Art research lab part of the Hexagram Institute.

His work has been presented in many international events, including Ars Electronica,FILE Electronic Language International Festival , ISEA, DEAF, Sonar, Art Futura, EMAF and Artec. He has been awarded the Life 2.0 award (1999, Madrid), the Leprecon Award for Interactivity (1998, New York), the Prix Ars Electronica Distinction award (1996, Linz) and the International Digital Media Award (1996, Toronto). He has worked in collaboration with many Canadian artists (including Edouard Lock, Robert Lepage, Gilles Maheu, LP Demers and Istvan Kantor). He was cofounder of the electronic music band Rational Youth with Tracy Howe in 1981.

Robography

• "Grace State Machines", Bill Vorn, Emma Howes & Jonathan Villeneuve, human-machine performance (2007)

• "Hysterical Machines", Bill Vorn, interactive robotic installation (2006)

• "Red Light", Bill Vorn, interactive robotic installation (2005)

• "Rotoscopic Machines", Bill Vorn, interactive robotic installation (2005)

• "Evil / Live 3", Bill Vorn, interactive sound and light installation (2004)

• "Bedlam", Bill Vorn & Simon Penny, interactive telerobotic installation (2003)

• "Prehysterical Machine", Bill Vorn, interactive robotic installation (2002)

• "Stèle 01", Bill Vorn, interactive robotic installation (2002)

• "Evil / Live 2", Bill Vorn, interactive sound and light installation (2002)

• "Le Procès", Bill Vorn & LP Demers, performance robotique (1999)

• "Lost Referential", Bill Vorn & LP Demers, interactive sound and light installation (1998)

• "La Cour des Miracles", Bill Vorn & LP Demers, interactive robotic installation (1997)

• "Evil / Live", Bill Vorn, interactive sound and light installation (1997)

• "No Man's Land", Bill Vorn & LP Demers, interactive robotic installation (1996)

• "The Frenchman Lake", Bill Vorn & LP Demers, interactive robotic installation (1995)

• "At the Edge of Chaos", Bill Vorn & LP Demers, interactive robotic installation (1995)

• "Espace Vectoriel", Bill Vorn & LP Demers, interactive robotic installation (1993)

• "Sacred Noise & Profanation", Bill Vorn, interactive sound and light installation (1993)

Exhibitions and Performances

• Bios 4 exhibition (Sevilla, Spain), from May 3 to September 9, 2007

• Subtle Technologies Symposium (Toronto, Canada), May 25, 2007

• FOFA Gallery (Montreal, Canada), from January 11 to February 9, 2007

• Utopiales 2006 (Nantes, France), from November 2 to 5, 2006

• Music, Art and Robotics Symposium (Bremen, Germany), from June 13 to 16, 2006

• Galeria Kapelica (Ljubljana, Slovenia), from May 10 to 28, 2006

• STRP Festival (Eindhoven, The Netherlands), from March 24 to 26, 2006

• Arborescence 05 (Aix-en-Provence, France), from Sept. 29 to Oct. 9, 2005

• VAE9 (Lima, Peru), from Aug. 25 to Sept. 25, 2005

• Xtreme Rotation, Montreal Science Centre, from Apr. 30, 2005, to March 2006

• FILE 2004 Electronic Language International Festival (São Paulo, Brazil), from Nov. 23 to Dec. 12, 2004

• Oriente-Occidente Festival (Rovereto, Italy), from Sept. 7 to 9, 2004

• Ciber@rt Bilbao 2004 (Bilbao, Spain), from April 23 to 30, 2004

• Lille 2004, Robots! exhibition (Lille, France), from Dec. 6, 2003, to March 15, 2004

• Sonar 2003 festival (Barcelona, Spain), from June 12 to 14, 2003

• Subtle Technologies 03, Signal show (Toronto), from May 22 to June 7, 2003

• Via 2003, Le Manège (Maubeuge, France), from March 18 to 29, 2003

• Exit 2003, Maison des arts (Créteil, France), from Feb. 26 to Mar. 8, 2003

• Arco, Fundacion Telefonica (Madrid, Spain), from Feb. 12 to 18, 2003

• Sentient Circuitry, Walter Philips Galery (Banff), from June 10 to July 26, 2002

• EMAF 2002 festival (Osnabrück, Germany), from April 24 to May 20, 2002

• V2_Organisatie (Rotterdam, The Netherlands), from Sept. 17 to 26, 1999

• IndustrieProjekt festival (Brück, Germany), from June 26 to July 11, 1999

• Museum of Soissons (Soissons, France), from May 22 to June 20, 1999

• Musiques en Scène, MCA of Lyon (Lyon, France), from Feb. 12 to April 11, 1999

• Museum of Contemporary Art of Montréal, from June 16 to Aug. 30, 1998

• Sonar'98 festival / Off-Sonic (Barcelona, Spain), from June 15 to 28, 1998

• Art Rock'98 festival (Saint-Brieuc, France), from May 29 to 31, 1998

• Lightforms'98 (NYC, New York), from April 17 to May 31, 1998

• ISEA'97 (Chicago, Illinois), from Sept. 22 to 27, 1997

• Artec'97 Biennale (Nagoya, Japan), from June 6 to July 6, 1997

• Art Futura'96 (Madrid, Spain), from Oct. 22 to 27, 1996

• DEAF'96 (Rotterdam, The Netherlands), from Sept. 17 to 29, 1996

• Ars Electronica'96 festival (Linz, Austria), from Sept. 2 to 7, 1996

• Sonambiente'96 festival (Berlin, Germany), from Aug. 9 to Sept. 8, 1996

• ISEA'95 (Montréal), from Sept. 18 to 23, 1995

• SoundArt'95 (Hannover, Germany), from June 3 to 24, 1995

• Images du Futur '95 (Montréal), from May 18 to Oct. 15, 1995

• Palomar (Montréal), from Oct. 5 to 9, 1994

• Sonar'94 festival (Barcelona, Spain), from June 2 to 5, 1994

• EMAF '93 festival (Osnabrück, Germany), from Sept. 12 to 26, 1993

• Siggraph'93 Machine Culture Art Show (Anaheim, California), from Aug. 1 to 6, 1993

Publications

• Es: Das Wesen der Maschine, produced with the help of the EMAF 2002 festival and the Conseil des arts et des lettres du Québec, 2003, ISBN 3-926501-22-7, 114 p.

• La Cour des Miracles, produced by the Musée d'art contemporain de Montréal, 1997, ISBN 2-551-18961-6, 24 p.

External links

* [http://www.billvorn.com Bill Vorn's official homepage]