Don Ritter/Vox Populi, Digestion, Badlands - exhibition opening & Kibela 10 years

Kibela - the opening of the exhibition by the Canadian artist Don Ritter on Friday 16th January 2009 at 8 pm. The artist presented his video and sound installations Vox Populi, Digestion in Badlands. At this occasion we celebrated the 10th anniversary of Kibela, space for art.

Vox Populi
interactive video and sound installation, 2005
A video projected crowd of 28 people yells “speech, speech” andencourages visitors to speak from a lectern equipped with a microphone and a teleprompter that displays the text of historical political speeches. When a visitor assumes the role of leader by delivering a speech through the microphone, the text scrolls on the teleprompter, the crowd responds with varying degrees of hostility, support or ridicule, and the leader’s speech is mixed with the screaming of the crowd through a large sound system. There are no indications within the installation that the speeches on the teleprompter are from influential leaders, including John F. Kennedy, Martin Luther King Jr, and George W. Bush.

Digestion
interactive video and sound installation or performance, 2003
Digestion presents organic imagery--originating as boiling water--that is interactively transformed into a series of mechanical movements with synchronized sound. Viewers are presented with an abstract experience of multi-channel imagery that is controlled by sound. The unpredictable nature of the work provides an internal interactivity which can be observed by an audience, but not controlled by them.

Badlands
multi-channelinteractive video and sound performance, 2003
Processed imagery of the Canadian Badlands is controlled and manipulated by live music. Acomputer analysis of the music controls clip selection, tempo and cinematic features of the video.

Don Ritter is a Canadian artist and writer living in Berlin, Germany. Since 1986, his interactive video-sound installations and performances have been exhibited at festivals and museums throughout Europe, North America and Asia, including SITE Santa Fe (New Mexico), Images du Futur (Montréal), Metrònom (Barcelona), Ars Electronica (Linz), Sonambiente Sound Festival (Berlin), New Music America (New York City), and ArtFuture 2000 (Taipei). His work has received recognition from the Canada Council, The Banff Centre (Canada), Pratt Institute (USA), ZKM (Germany), and Ars Electronica (Austria).

Ritter has collaborated with various musicians during interactive video performances, including George Lewis, Thomas Dimuzio, Ikue Mori, Trevor Tureski, and Tom Walsh. His interactive sound installation “Intersection,” created in 1993, has been experienced by over 600,000 people in seven countries.

Ritter has degrees in Fine Arts and Psychology (University of Waterloo), Electronics Engineering Technology (Northern Alberta Institute of Technology), a Masters in Visual Studies (CAVS, Massachusetts Institute of Technology), and he studied cinema at Harvard University. His professors included artist Otto Piene, film maker Richard Leacock, and film theorist Vladimir Petric. Ritter has held tenured professorships in art and design at Concordia University (Montréal) and at Pratt Institute (New York City).

"Don Ritter belongs to the most original contemporary video-artists. Although Ritter uses complex technologies to create aesthetic experiences for audiences, he is not a technocrat; for him the interaction is not the aim but the means to test the influences and impacts of nature, machines and media to human personality."
Jozef Cseres, curator/writer, Profil Contemporary Art Magazine, Slovakia

"In none of Mr. Ritter’s maturing phases as an artist did he employ technology without reason or merely for its own sake as we have so often witnessed with other artists. In other words, with Don Ritter’s work we are dealing with interactive art in its purest and most beautiful form."
Dr. Christine Schöpf, co-director, Ars Electronica, Linz, Austria

"Ritter's play with his viewers' phobias recalls the anxiety-provoking tendencies of Surrealism."
Dottie Indyke, ARTnews

Solo Exhibitions:
SITE SANTA FE, New Mexico, USA. "Vox Populi" and "Intersection", 2005

JACK THE PELICAN PRESENTS, Brooklyn, USA. "Vox Populi", 2004

BANFF CENTRE FOR THE ARTS, Banff, Canada. "Skies", 1998

METRONOM, Barcelona, Spain. "Intersection" and video retrospective. 1997

NEW YORK COLISEUM, New York City, USA. "TV Guides", "Fit" and "Intersection", 1997

Group Exhibitions:
STRICTLY BERLIN, GdK, Berlin, Germany. "Personal Armour", 2008

SITE UNSEEN, SITE Santa Fe, New Mexico, USA. "Reach", 2008

LES CHANTS MECANIQUES, Lille, France. "o telephone" and "Intersection", 2007

BALLHAUS NAUNYNSTRASSE, Berlin, Germany. "o telephone", 2007

STRICTLY BERLIN, GdK, Berlin, Germany. "Badlands", 2007

ART GALLERY OF ALBERTA, Edmonton, Canada. "Vox Populi", 2006

NAME Festival, Lille, France. "Vox Populi", 2005

EXPLORATORIUM, San Francisco, USA. "Intersection", 2005

FILE, Electronic Language International Festival, São Paulo, Brazil, “every-thing.net.” 2004

THE WORKS FESTIVAL, Edmonton, Canada. "Intersection", 2004

SCHAFLER GALLERY/Pratt Institute, Brooklyn, USA. documentaries of installations. 2004

iDEAS, Orlando, USA. “every-thing.net", 2005

VICTORIA INDEPENDENT FILM and VIDEO FESTIVAL, Canada. "Digestion", 2003

RIVA GALLERY, New York City. "Digestion", 2001

ARTFUTURE 2000, Taipei, Taiwan. "ntersection", 2000

EXIT Festival, Creteil, France. "Intersection", 2000

VIA Festival, Maubeuge, France. "Intersection", 2000

THAI ELEPHANT CONSERVATION CENTRE, Lampang, Thailand.
"Elephant Keyboard", 2000

TAIPEI GALLERY, New York City, USA. "Fit.", 1999

KUNST HAUS/COMTEC ART FESTIVAL, Dresden, Germany. "Intersection", 1999

SIGGRAPH '99, Los Angeles, USA. "TV Guides", 1999

CYBER MONDE, Montreal, Canada. "TV Guides", 1997

ARS ELECTRONICA, Linz, Austria. "Intersection", 1996

SONAMBIENTE FESTIVAL, Berlin, Germany. "Intersection", 1996

IMAGES du FUTUR, Montreal. "Intersection", 1995

SAM MUSEUM, Osaka, Japan. "FIT", 1994-95

SOUND SYMPOSIUM, St. John's Newfoundland. "Intersection", 1994

EUROPEAN MEDIA ART FESTIVAL, Osnabruck, Germany. "Intersection", 1993

IMAGES du FUTUR, Montreal. "FIT", 1993

BADISCHER KUNSTVEREIN, Karlsruhe, Germany. "Stithy", 1988

CAVS/MIT, Cambridge, MA. "Fish" & "Stithy", 1986-88

Awards and Grants:
CANADA COUNCIL, New Media Production Grant. 2007

CANADA COUNCIL, Senior Fellowship Grant in Media Arts. 2003

PRATT INSTITUTE, Faculty Development Grants. 1998, 2000

ZKM, Karlsruhe, Germany. "Intersection" nomination/honourary mention for International Media Art Award. 2000

COMTEC Art, Dresden, Germany. Anerkennung/Recognition for "Intersection", 1999

ACREQ Electro-Vidéo Clip Competition, Montréal, Canada. Prix du Public/Public's Selection for "Excity", 1996

CANADA COUNCIL, Integrated Media Arts Grants. 1989,1990, 1991, 1994

PRIX ARS ELECTRONICA, Honourary Mention for “Orpheus,” Linz, Austria. Interactive Art Category. 1991

BELL-NORTHERN RESEARCH, Graduate Education Grant, Ottawa, Canada. 1986-1988

More about artist at: http://aesthetic-machinery.com/

The exhibition is on display until 29. 1. 2009.