Editing David Rokeby

{{Short description|Canadian artist (born 1960)}}
{{Infobox person
| honorific_prefix   = 
| name               = David Rokeby
| image              = Ontario Science Centre Project Art Rokeby.jpg
| caption            = Rokeby at the unveiling of the work<br>''Cloud'' (2007)
| birth_date         = {{birth year and age|1960}}
| birth_place        = [[Tillsonburg, Ontario]], Canada
| nationality        = 
| spouse             = [[Eve Egoyan]]
| children           = 1
| father             = Richard Rokeby
| mother             = Jane Rokeby (née Jane Walkington)
}}

'''David Rokeby''' (born 1960) is a Canadian artist who has been making works of [[electronic art|electronic]], [[video art|video]] and [[installation art]] since 1982. He lives with his wife, acclaimed pianist [[Eve Egoyan]], in Toronto, Canada.
[[File:Long Wave (Luminato 2009).jpg|thumb|long wave by David Rokeby 2009]]
His early work ''Very Nervous System'' (1982–1991) is acknowledged as a pioneering work of [[interactive art]], translating physical gestures into real-time interactive sound environments. ''Very Nervous System'' was presented at the [[Venice Biennale]] in 1986.

==Work==
Rokeby's pioneering interactive work<ref name="Douglas Cooper 1995">Douglas Cooper, "Very Nervous System: Artist David Rokeby adds new meaning to the term interactive",  ''Wired'' Issue 3.03 (Mar 1995)</ref> ''Very Nervous System'' has been evolving since 1982. In ''[[Wired Magazine]]'' the work is described as 
<blockquote>"A combination of technologies, some off-the-shelf, some rare and esoteric, and some cooked up by Rokeby himself. Initially, in 1982, much more of the system was homemade. His circuitry, designed to speed up the response of the sluggish Apple II, was still not fast enough to analyze an image from an ordinary video camera, so he built his own low-res device: a little box with 64 light sensors behind a plastic Fresnel lens. But Very Nervous System has been evolving for 13 years, during which time the world has seen any number of technological revolutions. So Rokeby now has a lot more store-bought components incorporated into the system: it can handle a Mac Quadra and real video cameras, via sophisticated "[[Max (software)|Max]]" software from Paris."<ref name="Douglas Cooper 1995"/></blockquote>

A number of Rokeby's works address issues of digital surveillance,<ref>Mark Schilling, "This must be the place: Vera Frenkel, David Rokeby, [[Nell Tenhaaf]] and Norman White", ''para-para- 022: Parachute Magazine'' No. 122 (April 2006), 7-8 {{cite web |url=http://www.parachute.ca/para_para/22/para22_Schilling.html |title=Parachute - para-para |accessdate=2004-12-03 |url-status=dead |archiveurl=https://web.archive.org/web/20070715195645/http://www.parachute.ca/para_para/22/para22_Schilling.html |archivedate=2007-07-15 }}</ref> including ''Watch'' (1995), ''Guardian Angel'' (2002) and ''Sorting Daemon'' (2003). In addition to his [[surveillance art]], other works engage in a critical examination of the differences between human and artificial intelligence. ''The Giver of Names'' (1991) and ''n-cha(n)t'' (2001) are artificial subjective entities, provoked by objects or spoken words in their immediate environment to formulate sentences and speak them aloud.

He has exhibited and lectured extensively in the Americas, Europe and Asia. He is the Director of the BMO Lab for Creative Research in the Arts, Performance, Emerging Technologies and AI at the Centre for Drama, Theatre and Performance Studies at the University of Toronto. http://www.bmolab.ca

== Major exhibitions ==
Chengdu Biennale:SUPERFUSION, Chengdu, China (2021)

Human Intelligence, Centre Culturel Canadien, Paris, France (2020)

Realidad Elástica, Laboral Centro de Arte y Creación Industrial, Gijòn, Spain (2013)

Panorama 14, Le Fresnoy Studio Nationale des arts contemporains, Tourcoing, France (2012)

See This Sound, Lentos Museum, Linz, Austria (2009)

Synthetic Time, National Art Museum of China, Beijing, China (2008)

e-art, Musée des Beaux Arts de Montréal, Montréal, Canada (2007)

Profiling, Whitney Museum of American Art, New York City, U.S.A. (2007)

David Rokeby, Silicon Remembers Carbon (retrospective), FACT, Liverpool, and CCA, Glasgow, U.K. (2007)

Algorithmische Revolution, Zentrum für Künst und Media, Karlesruhe, Germany (2004)

Einbildung, Das Wahrnehmen in der Kunst, Kunsthaus Graz, Graz Austria (2003) 

Governor General's Award Winners, National Gallery of Canada, Ottawa Canada (2002)

Venice Biennale of Architecture, Venice, Italy (2002) 

Ars Electronica, Linz, Austria (2002, 1998 and 1991)

Alien Intelligence, Kiasma Museum of Contemporary Art, Helsinki, Finland (2000)

Kwangju Biennale, Kwangju, Korea (1995)

Feuer / Erde / Wasser/ Luft, Mediale, Deichtorhallen, Hamburg, Germany (1993)

Venice Biennale, Venice, Italy (1986)

== Awards ==
For his installation ''n-cha(n)t'', Rokeby was awarded the [[Prix Ars Electronica]] (Golden Nica for Interactive Art) in 2002.<ref>
Hannes Leopoldseder and Christine Schöpf, ''Prixars Electronica'', Ostfildern, Germany: Hatje Cantz, 2002, 76</ref> In 2002 he was awarded a [[Governor General's Awards in Visual and Media Arts|Governor General's Award in Visual and Media Arts]].<ref>{{Cite web |url=http://www.canadacouncil.ca/prizes/ggavma/gx127240203513437500.htm?subsiteurl=%2fcanadacouncil%2farchives%2fprizes%2fggvma%2f2002%2fdavid_rokeby-e.asp |title=Governor General's Visual and Media Arts Awards 2002 |access-date=2009-06-16 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120916111736/http://www.canadacouncil.ca/prizes/ggavma/gx127240203513437500.htm?subsiteurl=%2fcanadacouncil%2farchives%2fprizes%2fggvma%2f2002%2fdavid_rokeby-e.asp |archive-date=2012-09-16 |url-status=live }}</ref> ''Very Nervous System'' was awarded the first Petro-Canada Award for Media Arts in 1988<ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.canadacouncil.ca/prizes/petro_canada/ql127238407975312500.htm |title=The Canada Council for the Arts - Petro-Canada Award in New Media Cumulative list of Winners |accessdate=2009-06-16 |url-status=dead |archiveurl=https://web.archive.org/web/20100929085345/http://www.canadacouncil.ca/prizes/petro_canada/ql127238407975312500.htm |archivedate=2010-09-29 }}</ref> and Austria's Prix Ars Electronica Award of Distinction for Interactive Art in 1991.<ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.aec.at/prix_history_en.php?year=1991 |title=ARS Electronica &#124; Prix |accessdate=2009-06-16 |url-status=dead |archiveurl=https://web.archive.org/web/20090221230608/http://aec.at/prix_history_en.php?year=1991 |archivedate=2009-02-21 }}</ref> ''Watched and Measured'' (2000) was awarded the first BAFTA award for interactive art from the British Academy of Film and Television Arts in 2000.<ref>Peggy Gale, Sara Diamond and Su Ditta, ''David Rokeby'', Oakville, Ont.: Oakville Galleries, 2005, 79</ref>

==References==
{{Reflist}}

==Further reading==
[[File:David prix ars corrected.jpg|thumb|267x267px|David Rokeby with his Ars Electronica Golden Nica at Ars Electronica 2002]]
* Cooper, Douglas. "Very Nervous System: Artist David Rokeby adds new meaning to the term interactive."  ''Wired'' Issue 3.03 (Mar 1995) [https://www.wired.com/wired/archive/3.03/rokeby.html]
* [[Peggy Gale|Gale, Peggy]], Sara Diamond and Su Ditta. ''David Rokeby''. Oakville, Ont.: Oakville Galleries, 2005. {{ISBN|1-894707-21-4}}
* Leopoldseder, Hannes and Christine Schöpf. ''Prixars Electronica : 2002 cyberarts : international compendium prix ars electronica : net vision/net excellence, interactive art, computer animation/visual effects, digital musics, cybergeneration : u90-freestyle computing''. Ostfildern, Germany: Hatje Cantz, 2002. {{ISBN|3-7757-1208-9}}

==External links==
* [http://www.davidrokeby.com/home.html David Rokeby - home page]
* [https://web.archive.org/web/20160303201549/http://www.horizonzero.ca/textsite/invent.php?is=3&art=0&file=0&tlang=0 Horizon Zero 3 - Invent issue] with information about Rokeby's works
* [https://web.archive.org/web/20040804023911/http://www.swr.de/swr2/audiohyperspace/engl_version/interview/rokeby.html AudioHyperspace - Interview with David Rokeby]

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{{DEFAULTSORT:Rokeby, David}}
[[Category:1960 births]]
[[Category:Living people]]
[[Category:Canadian installation artists]]
[[Category:Canadian video artists]]
[[Category:Canadian new media artists]]
[[Category:Artists from Ontario]]
[[Category:People from Tillsonburg]]
[[Category:Governor General's Award in Visual and Media Arts winners]]