Below is the culmination of interviews, research, and story-writing from the last 7 weeks. It’s been a great learning experience, both about Ottawa’s electronic arts community and journalism.
Don Monet’s electrician thought he was crazy.
“I asked him to put wall plugs five feet off the floor,” Monet said. “And he asked why.”
Monet is the curator and owner of Cube gallery in Westboro, and he says these raised outlets help him show electronic light art. He can plug the pieces in the wall directly behind them so no cords or plugs are visible.
“You have to deal with how [art] interfaces with electrics in your room,” he said in an interview at his gallery. “To me, when you’re showing it you don’t want stuff in the way.”
Raised outlets are just one way gallery owners can solve what Monet calls “curatorial problems” with showing electronic art.
Electronic art is any art that requires power, either from batteries or outlets, to trigger light, sound, moving parts, or web-based technology.
Electronic art differs from other kinds of contemporary art in that it often doesn’t have the same life span, buyers, or options for display. Parts risk needing replacement. The pieces don’t necessarily fit into traditional venues like art galleries and theatres due to the emphasis on innovation and experimentation.
Many curators are hesitant to take on electronic art commissions because of these barriers. The lack of options for commissions and sales has led some digital artists to take on commercial projects like app or video game programming.
Sarah Cook, a UK new media curator, said in an interview with website We Make Money Not Art that this kind of art has the potential to completely redefine what art is. So, how does Ottawa accommodate new media electronic art and its artists?
The local community has been fairly supportive, said Ryan Stec, electronic artist and artistic director of Artengine, a non-profit artist collective that supports technological innovations.
Local and federal governments have supported electronic artists, but Stec seems skeptical of the support. “The government has responded by supporting things that have been traditionally supported … they’re throwing money at things because they’re sexy,” he said in a phone interview.
Stec said he doesn’t think a single place in Ottawa compares to what artists have in Montreal or Toronto.
“The relationship that the city has to media arts is different in Toronto,” Stec said.
Though Stec thinks overall creative output in the city is growing, he said there are no hard statistics.
“It’s a very elusive thing to measure,” he said. “We’ve got our own metrics to determine growth.”
For example, membership at Artengine has increased and more artists are visible within the city. But he said it’s difficult to tell how many of those people were already active before connecting with Artengine.
In Ottawa, art enthusiasts can find forms of electronic art at a few galleries in the city. In addition to Monet’s Cube Gallery, Gallery 101, the Carleton University Art Gallery, Axe Neo 7 in Gatineau, the National Gallery and the Ottawa Art Gallery have shown art involving electronics.
Graham Bird, Ottawa Convention Centre project manager, has requested funding for a large video screen to be installed on the side of the new building. Though there would be advertising on the screen, the Ottawa Citizen reported the “Art Wall” would be primarily about Ottawa embracing the future and new technologies.
“We have some great proponents [in Ottawa], but not enough,” Monet said.
Monet said “curatorial problems” might make gallery owners hesitant about showing the pieces. “The inherent problem is endurance,” he said. Electronic art doesn’t have the same staying power as a painting that can hang on the wall for years to come.
“When you sell a piece, it becomes the owner’s problem. Luckily, most things that could go wrong on a piece of electronics is not on the aesthetic part, so an electrician could fix it,” Monet said.
Cook told We Make Money Not Art new media or interactive art can scare curators because they are trained to show exhibits that are unchanging and static.
James Acres, a professor of media and design at Algonquin College, said in a phone interview that artists sometimes have to turn commissions down due to galleries’ concerns over how to maintain their art.
“There’s always the question of permanence,” said Acres, the co-ordinator of the Bachelor of Information Technology program at Algonquin College.
Andrew O’Malley, a light artist and half of DJ/VJ team the Latest Artists, said in an interview he’s never had to turn down a commission based on the fact his art uses electronics, but he has had concerns from patrons and potential buyers over conservation and maintenance.
“Working in this medium is harder to sell to collectors,” said O’Malley. “A lot of people are intrigued by the work but hesitant to have it in their home.”
“People compare this type of work to little mood lamps in Wal-Mart,” said O’Malley. “They hear the prices and say forget it.”
Stec also said it can be difficult to find buyers.
“For the people [Artengine] works with, it’s a concern in the sense that there are many people engaged in models of how to generate income from it,” he said.
Stec and Acres both said many electronic artists have turned to commercial endeavours like producing and selling apps and video games.
Though artists face the obstacles of finding commissions and selling their work, the infrastructure for the community to grow seems in place.
“People around the world are collaborating … In Ottawa, a lot of people are kind of coming out of the woodwork,” said Acres.
Acres said he thinks things have transformed around the world over the last couple of years and have reached levels previously unavailable thanks to a huge variety of free online resources.
“It used to be hard to get into from an artist level because [the resources] were originally designed for programmers,” he said. But now, the digital art online community has exploded.
Open-source hardware and software such as Arduino, openFrameworks, Cinder and Processing.org function as libraries intended for technological artists. Social media and video hosting websites like Vimeo, Flickr, and Twitter also allow artists to network and self-promote, Acres said.
Even locally, online and in-person networks are forming. Artengine hosts a biweekly Modlab where technologists and artists can come to work on their projects, seek advice and learn what others in the community are working on.
There is also a massive Artengine membership mailing list, which allows artists to send out emails and swap advice with others in the community.
Artists at Modlab work on a lot of interesting projects: LED video screens, an Arduino project that plays musical tones when a hand passes over a sensor, 3D printing with a device called the Cupcake CNC and more.
Despite all of this creativity, there’s still room for growth in the community. Stec said he hopes Ottawa one day has a venue dedicated solely to the efforts of digital artists.
