Sylvia Grace Borda location: Canada > British Columbia> Vancouver
genres: New Media | Net authoring | Photography | Urban Studies
Languages:
Email: sylvia[at]innovativemedia.ca
Websites:
Interest: New Media | Net authoring | Photography | Urban Studies | Social cultural histories | Interface Design
Bio: I am a Canadian new media artist and theorist with over 7 years of teaching practice in digital art, media curation, photography, and electronic cognitive learning practice.
As of recent I have taught new media and photo driven courses at the University of British Columbia; British Columbia Institute of Technology; and at Emily Carr Institute, all in Vancouver, Canada.
I am well versed in new media practice and theory. In the last 12 months I have led 6 conferences on new media technologies and computer generated art. I was a keynote speaker at Banff New Media Institute(BNMI) Skinning Our Tools: Designing for Context and Culture, sponsored by School of Creative Media, Hong Kong University and University of California, San Diego, CALIT2, and the Aboriginal New Media group. I lead two colloquium forums for the National Research Institute, Institute for Information Technology and the University of Ottawa in partnership with ArtEngine in 2004 on new media development in the arts.
I have also worked with Centre A (Vancouver, Canada) as an adjunct curator to tour a new media exhibition sponsored by the Canada Arts Council. The exhibition entitled [ESC] Electronic Social Cultures addresses transglobalization in new media art production. In conjunction with this project I chaired the gallery’s MUTATIONS < > CONNECTIONS Cultural (Ex)Changes in Asian Diasporas International Symposium held in June 2004 on photography and new media.
My graduate degree is in Studio Arts (New Media) from the University of British Columbia. I hold an undergraduate degree in Studio Arts Photography, and taught for over 5 years as part of Langara College’s photo certification program, teaching beginner’s to intermediate darkroom and studio practice to photographic art history. My practice continues to be engaged with photography, as well as, video installation and net art.
As an active practicing media artist, I am drawn to works that draw from art historical models. I am currently part of exhibitions at Dazibao Gallery (Montreal) Gallery 44 (Toronto) and am scheduled to be the first exhibiting international artist at the Rutherglen Centre (Scotland)
My interests lie in the examination of social cultural anthropology, new media histories, civic planning and interface design; wherein, research from each of these disciplines overlaps into my own artistic practice. Among other academic responsibilities, I manage ontherundesign.com, a partnership of curators and international artists addressing emerging definitions of Net Art.
Pedagogy Statement
In my teaching practice, I try to present a balance of history, theory and direct application so that the students will be able to position themselves in relation to contemporary and historical aesthetics. Teaching should expand a student’s knowledge of past and current practices while grounding the student’s experiences in learning new applications and also encourage new ways of assessing media and criticality. The dissemination of information (conceptual content, theoretical frameworks and related exercises) and technique (process) are balanced in a ying-yang model – neither one is greater than the other, both are equal in accomplishing successful artwork; similarly, the dialogue between student and teacher should be reciprocal, and not single-sided.
I travel frequently through Europe and down the West Coast of North America throughout the year and welcome meeting students in Vancouver or elsewhere if time and resources allow.