TYLER CALKIN
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Tyler Calkin is an interdisciplinary artist and educator who examines social habits and anxieties through play and improvisation. His multi-modal practice uses objects, performance, video, augmented and virtual reality, machine learning, and motion capture, often in recursive combination. Responding to current developments in consumer technologies, and most recently to pandemic tech practices, he constructs interactive and immersive propositions for interpersonal experience.
His work has been exhibited and performed in art and educational institutions around the world, including in Venice; Beijing; Kathmandu; Gimpo, South Korea; Guadalajara, Mexico; London; Berlin; New York City; and Los Angeles. He received his MFA in Art and Integrated Media from California Institute of the Arts and is currently an Associate Professor and Head of Digital Media at the University of Nevada, Reno where he teaches critical theory and experimental practices in video, immersive and interactive media, and digital fabrication.
His work has been exhibited and performed in art and educational institutions around the world, including in Venice; Beijing; Kathmandu; Gimpo, South Korea; Guadalajara, Mexico; London; Berlin; New York City; and Los Angeles. He received his MFA in Art and Integrated Media from California Institute of the Arts and is currently an Associate Professor and Head of Digital Media at the University of Nevada, Reno where he teaches critical theory and experimental practices in video, immersive and interactive media, and digital fabrication.
CURRICULUM VITAE
EDUCATION
MFA 2011 California Institute of the Arts - Art, Integrated Media
BA 2009 Whitman College - Art, Minor in English, Magna Cum Laude
EXHIBITIONS, PERFORMANCES & SCREENINGS (*SOLO or 2 PERSON EXHIBITION)
2024
GUI/GOOEY, Plexus Projects, New York, NY
One-Off Moving Image Festival, Noemata, Valencia, Spain
Digerati Experimental Media Festival, Denver, CO
*Green Dissonance, Plexus Projects, New York, NY (virtual)
*Living Memories: World COVID Tribute, AIIMS, New Delhi, India
2023
*Living Memories: World COVID Tribute, Aguascalientes, MX
Seoul Metro International Subway Film Festival, Seoul Metro, South Korea
Cosmic Bodies, THE REEF, Los Angeles, CA
*Living Memories: World COVID Tribute, Lincoln Center, New York, NY
2022
10th International Exchange Arts Festival, Changwon, South Korea
Alkali Syllabi, Sheppard Contemporary, Reno, NV
Silent Screen: Supernova Digital Animation Festival, Denver, CO
Reno Tahoe International Art Show, Reno, NV
9th International Exchange Arts Festival, Changwon, South Korea
Life Perfect, 60 Seconds Festival, Copenhagen, Denmark
One-Off Moving Image Festival, Noemata, Valencia, Spain
Contemporary Deisgn Art International Exchange Arts Festival, Changwon, South Korea
EYE Want Candy, MELHOP GALLERY º7077, Zephyr Cove, NV
In-Between, Tiger Strikes Asteroid LA, Los Angeles, CA
Contemporary Design Web Ats International Exchange Festival, Changwon, South Korea
Processed, Sierra Arts Foundation, Reno, NV
2021
International Exchange Exhibition, Changwon, South Korea
The Maze, Escape010101, Mozilla Hubs (virtual)
DOOMSCROLL, Leonardo ISAST Pavilion, 5th thewrong biennale, web
*Gesture Index, New Glyph Gallery, The Holland Projet, Reno, NV (virtual)
Silent Screen, Supernova Digital Animation Festival, Denver, CO
Re-generation, Supernova Digital Animation Festival, Denver, CO
*Social Stress Test, Czong Institute for Contemporary Art, Gimpo, South Korea
2020
Undocumented events and object permanence, The Wrong, online exhibition
Six Small Gestures, Not To Scale, Spring Dance Concert, Reno, NV
Human, Stay Gallery, Downy, CA (virtual)
Feelin’ Loopy, Treat Gallery, Fizz Digital (virtual)
Clouds: The 6th International Exhibition on New Media Art, CICA Museum, Gimpo, South Korea
Connections, Reno-Tahoe International Airport, Reno, NV
The Body Language, THE ROOM, Venice, Italy
Art Teleported Brooklyn NY 2020, Brooklyn, NY
2019
*Handshake Flag, Harborview & Pole, San Pedro, CA
*Small Gestures, Czong Institute for Contemporary Art, Gimpo, South Korea
Screening, AR Projects, Other Places Art Fair, San Pedro, CA
2018
Apparatus, Plexus Projects, New York, NY
*Metafork, Thank You For Coming, Los Angeles, CA
Scroll, The Reef, Los Angeles, CA
2017
National/Washington, LARC/UMM, Klowden Mann, Culver City, CA
Inauguration, Main Gallery, Valencia, CA
Town Hall, ltd los angeles, Los Angeles, CA
soundbodyspace, Mumbo, Valencia, CA
2016
Play: Open Call 2016, LA Municipal Art Gallery, Los Angeles, CA
OneHouse Arts, OneHouse ArtsExperience Museum, Temple City, CA
PMBW, Laboratory for Lifelong Learning Tsinghua University, Beijing, China
Body Part Position Points (Portland, OR), Otherplaces.la, online
2015
* Performance Protocol, AR Projects, Los Angeles, CA
*Social Haptics Learning Center, themonthly, online
*FLOP, Mitchell Gallery, USC Roski School of Art and Design, Los Angeles, CA
*GAME Night, Monte Vista Projects, Los Angeles, CA
* Key-Swipe Finger-Calligraphy, Monte Vista Projects, Los Angeles, CA
2014
Watchmen: Surveillance and the Flanuer, Torrance Art Museum, Torrance, CA
Trans•pose, The dA Center for the Arts, Pomona, CA
Hello L.A., studio 1.1, London, England
2013
Future Play:Active A John Cage Birthday Party Workshop, Centre for the Living Arts, Mobile, AL
Have You Seen My Privacy?, Concord, Los Angeles, CA
Gastro-Aesthetics: History of Food & Art, Thank You For Coming, Los Angeles, CA
Fast Service While You Wait, Venice 6114, Los Angeles, CA
2012
*Dental Focus Focal Group, Six & Six, Los Angeles, CA
Los Angeles Road Concerts: Mulholland Dérive, Mulholland Drive, Los Angeles, CA
Perform WOW!, Small Form Space, Los Angeles, CA
Trash, The New Children’s Museum, San Diego, CA
2011
Saved by the Eternal Telethon, Woodbury University, Burbank, CA
*Pericutaneous Model Building Workshop, A116, CalArts, Valencia, CA
*Reciprocal Handwashing Station, D300, CalArts, Valencia, CA
*Human Architecture Headgear Activity (HAHA), Woodbury University, Burbank, CA
Los Angeles Road Concerts: Sunset Boulevard, Sunset & Fig, Los Angeles, CA
GLAMFA (Greater Los Angeles MFA Exhibition), Cal State University, Long Beach, CA
Fast-Forward II: A Screening of Contemporary Video Art, SBCAF, Santa Barbara, CA
Into My Seas, REDCAT, Los Angeles, CA
Intimacies, The Farley Building, Los Angeles, CA
LA Napoli, Cercle Blanc Gallery, Berlin, Germany
2010
*Egress, Main Gallery, CalArts, Valencia, CA
Eternal Telethon: Infinity + 24, Machine Project, Los Angeles, CA
Playing Dumb, Amy Adler’s Studio, Los Angeles, CA
Cut/PASTE Collage as Methodology in Video Art, PØST, Los Angeles, CA
Energia 14-15, Energy Gallery, Toronto, Ontario
2009
Dirty Communication, A402, CalArts, Valencia, CA
Thesis Exhibition, Sheehan Gallery, Walla Walla, WA
PUBLICATIONS, RESEARCH & DISTRIBUTION
“Death & Magic Castles.” SIMA Studios, SIMA TRAVELING SERIES and SIMA ACADEMY, 2023.
“10th International Exchange Arts Festival Invitation.” Catalogue, Changwon National University, 2022, p.46.
“Contemporary Design Web Art International Exchange Arts Festival.” Catalogue, Changwon National University, 2022, p.63.
“9th International Exchange Arts Festival.” Catalogue, Changwon National University, 2022, p.53.
“Into the Clouds: New Media Art 2021.” Catalogue, Czong Institute for Contemporary Art, 2021, p.78-81.
“Death & Magic Castles.” SIMA Studios, SIMA Collection and SIMA CLASSROOM, 2022.
“Posthuman: New Media Art 2020.” Catalogue, CICA Museum, 2020, cover and p.14-1.
viralnet Research Fellow. viralnet-v4.net, 2017-2018.
“Whimmydiddles ,Whirligigs, and Capital Punishment: A History of Toys and Games, Being A Partial and Idiosyncratic Exploration of Several Centuries of Developments, Focusing Largely on Europe and North America.” viralnet.net, 2016.
“In Response: Some Thoughts on Soap Bubbles and Spiderwebs.” Best Friends Learning Gang Reader, forthcoming.
“An Interview with Chris Bassett on NIKE: Los Angeles Defense Area.” viralnet.net, 2015.
Play:Active—A Curatorial Project in the Form of a Workshop, viralnet.net, 2013.
“Ask Shirley.” Intimacies, 2011.
PRESENTATIONS
“Inelegant Interface: SG 15.” Performance and workshop. Future Bodies Symposium, Virginia Tech, October 2022.
“Death and Magic Castles Virtual Reality.” Presentation. VR/AR Meet-Up, University of Nevada, Reno, October 2022.
“Death & Magic Castles: An autobiographical animated and virtual reality documentary on loss.” Visible Evidence: Images of History, Gdańsk, Poland, August 2022.
“Death and Magic Castles Virtual Reality.” Film and Video Association Conference: Reconnecting Community, Fredonia, New York, July 2022.
“Moving with Machines, Seeing with STYLEGANS.” Stories About Computers Symposium, University of Nevada, Reno, October 2021.
“Dialogical Appearance: Remote Vision.” Performance, Collab Project, New Media Arts Conference, CICA Museum, Gimpo, South Korea, June 2020.
“Augmented and Socialized: Abstracting Interactions Between Bodies and Phones.” Presentation, Art Teleported Brooklyn NY, January 2020.
“Digital Text Inside the Body.” Art Writing Symposium, University of Nevada, Reno, October 2019.
“Gesturing Toward Small Data.” Presentation, CICA New Media Art Conference, June 2019.
“Whimmydiddles ,Whirligigs, and Capital Punishment.” Lecture in “Explorations in Teledildonics” series for Machine Project, Los Angeles, CA, May 2016.
BIBLIOGRAPHY
Exhibition notes, Unbounded Unleashed Unforgiving, CAA Conference, 2021.
NV Arts. “Alone, Together, Resilience In Art, Part I,” Schoole of the Arts, UNR, July 9, 2020.
Curci, Luca. “Interview: Tyler Calkin,” ITSLIQUID, Marc. 1, 2020.
Roesch, Ariane. “The UNIT Talks: Tyler Calkin,” The UNIT Talks, 2015.
Moore, Catlin. “The Quantum Leap to Something New, Part II,” DailyServing.com June 25, 2013.
Sommer, Danielle. “#loveletter,” DailyServing.com Jan. 14, 2013.
TEACHING
2024-Present
Associate Professor & Digital Media Area Head, Department of Art, University of Nevada, Reno.
2018-2024
Assistant Professor & Digital Media Area Head, Department of Art, University of Nevada, Reno.
2012-2018
Special Faculty, The Center for Integrated Media & The School of Art, California Institute of the Arts.