C.E.B Reas

C.E.B. Reas is an artist who employs ideas explored in conceptual and minimal artworks as focused through the contemporary lens of software. Reas’ software and images are derived from short text instructions explaining processes that define networks. The instructions are expressed in different media including natural language, machine code, computer simulations, and static images. Each translation reveals a different perspective on the process and combines with the others to form a more complete representation.

He has shown his work at the Whitney Museum of American Art's artport, Ars Electronica in Austria, ZKM in Germany, Transmediale in Berlin, Uijeongbu International Digital Art Festival in Korea, the Danish Film Institute, bitforms gallery in New York and Seoul, IAMAS and ICC in Japan, the Microwave International Media Art Festival in Hong Kong, and the Sonar Festival in Barcelona.

Reas was a graduate student and researcher in the Aesthetics and Computation Group at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology’s MIT Media Lab from 1999-2001. Building on his professional experience and undergraduate studies in design at the University of Cincinnati, he spent the next two years developing software and electronics as an artistic exploration. After graduating, Reas began to exhibit his software and installations internationally in galleries and festivals.

In 2003, Reas moved to Los Angeles where he is currently an associate professor in the department of Design | Media Arts at the University of California, Los Angeles.