BIOGRAPHY

Annette Barbier is a media artist whose roots are in sculpture and video and who is currently exploring the expressive possibilities of new media: computer animation, virtual interactive worlds, and electronic installation. Recent exhibitions include showings of Home, a VRML world: http://www.unreal-estates.com at the Betty Rymer Gallery at the School of the Art Institute of Chicago, 12/02 – 2/03; ISEA, Paris, 12/2000 and FILE, Sao Paolo, Brazil, 8/00 (with a permanent link to Northwestern University's Block Museum Virtual Museum website); exhibition of a VR version of Home in the CAVE environment at the Ars Electronica festival/center in Linz, Austria in 9/01; installations at Women in the Director’s Chair 3/98; Home Invasion, a website, at the National Museum of Women in the Arts, 4-5/97.
Barbier is Director of the Center for Art and Technology and an Associate Professor at Northwestern University. Selected video work is distributed by the Video Data Bank. She received a Master of Fine Arts degree from the School of the Art Institute of Chicago in 1977.

ARTIST’S STATEMENT

Beginning in the early 80’s with “Inside”, a videotape about the gradual constriction of consciousness of an elderly woman, through “Kitchen Goddess” in the early 90’s, videotapes concentrated on an exploration of the individual in the home space. The expressive possibilities of new media, including the potential for interactivity, led to ongoing investigations of the same theme in computer graphics and web work. In the mid 90’s, I created a Home Page which has continued to expand since that time. Naturally, it was about home. One portion of the site, “Home Invasion”, is a personal war with telemarketers, and contains numerous recorded conversations. Excerpts of interviews with American expatriates about leaving home and establishing a new one in another culture also became part of the growing work.
New technologies engage the artist in unique and innovative ways of thinking. The continual growth of technological media is challenging and invigorating. I plan to continue this direction of using personal themes as a basis for exploration using new media tools. In my most recent work, interactivity as well as broad availability on the internet have proven central to the shape, direction, and meaning of the work.

SELECTED PROFESSIONAL ACTIVITIES/ACHIEVEMENTS
- 12/02 - 2/03; exhibition of HOME at the Betty Rymer Gallery, School of the Art Institute of Chicago, SAIC Alumni show "Home Works".

- April 18/19, 02; exhibition of HOME in V.03 at the Museum of Contemporary Art, Chicago; http://www.select-media.com/content/events/events.php

-"Contact Zones", Nickle Art Museum, Calgary, Alberta, Canada, 10-12/01. "Home" included in show of interactive CDROMS.

-Chicago Artists' Month, exhibit of Home at the CAVE at UIC, 10/24/01

- Block Museum, part of the permanent collection of The Virtual Block, from 9/25/01 and ongoing, http://www.blockmuseum.northwestern.edu/art_tech/virtual.html

-Ars Electronica Conference and Exhibition, 9/2001, Linz, Austria; "Home", a virtual reality environment for the CAVE, part of Alive on the Grid

-Home 2000, a 3-D navigable website (www.unreal-estates.com) is accepted into FILE in Brazil (Second Place), ISEA in Paris, 8 – 12/2000.

- Block Museum, Collaborating faculty, “Portal”, a sound and image installation, 9/00

-Women in the Director's Chair, "Patio Lights" and "3 Minute Life", 3/98, Chicago, IL

-Creation of a Center for Art and Technology at Northwestern University. Obtained funding, Direct activities, 1998 - present,

-Included in "Electronic Immersions: 4 Generations of Illinois Artists" at the State of Illinois Gallery, Sept. - Oct. 1997, in connection with the International Society of Electronic Artists conference in Chicago.

-Website, "The Home Page", was featured in "Women and the Art of Multimedia" at the National Museum of Women in the Arts, 4-5/97.

-IV CONGRESSO DA ASSOCIACAO INTERNACIONAL DA SEMIOTICA VISUAL (from 26 -30 August 1996) at PUC/Sao Paulo. Screening of The Homestead including Home Invasion: Conversations with Telemarketers.

-Museum of Contemporary Art, Chicago 1945-1995, included in screening "Chicago Video Narratives" November 14- December 1, 1996.

-James River Festival of the Moving Image, Virginia Commonwealth University, "Longing", April 15 - 17, 1994

-Houston Worldfest, Houston, TX, 5/94, for "Longing", Gold Award

-Mill Valley Film Festival, Mill Valley, CA, "The Kitchen Goddess", 11/93

-Dallas Video Festival, Dallas, TX, "The Kitchen Goddess", 11/93

-Women in the Director's Chair, "The Kitchen Goddess" featured in Home Girls, 3/93.

-Intimate Technologies/Fictional Personas, St. Lawrence University, Canton, NY, "Table of Silence", 3/92

-My Country 'Tis of Thee (show named after the videotape), American Museum of the Moving Image, Astoria, NY, Jan 13-19, 1990

-In Search of Paradise, Artists Space, NYC, and L.A.C.E., Los Angeles, "Women's Movements", Jan 18-Feb 24, 1990

-Twelfth Annual San Francisco Art Institute Film and Video Festival, "Women's Movements", April 20-22, 1990

-imMEDIAte family, Newhouse Center for Contemporary Art, Snug Harbor Cultural Center, Staten Island, NY, "Table of Silence", April 28 - Sept 2, 1990. (Subsequently toured with these tapes on NY cable stations).

-The Houston International Film Festival, "Women's Movements", Silver Award Certificate, April, 1990

- Chicago International Film Festival, independent video categorySilver Plaque, 11/89, for "Women's Movements"

-Fulbright Award to India, 1 – 4, 1988

- Chicago International Film Festival, Independent Video category for "Inside", Gold Plaque, 11/84

-for "Eye See the World so Beautifully", Silver Plaque, Chicago International Film Festival, Independent Documentary Category, 11/80; Second Place Award, Great Lakes Film Festival, Sponsored Productions Category, 10/80