[ISEA2015] Artist Statement: Diana Burgoyne – STUCK TO THE WALL

Artist Statement

(1985)

Diana Burgoyne, renowned for her intensive durational work, is considered a pioneer in the electronic media art community. For Lively Objects Burgoyne performs Stuck to the Wall, animating the museum and enlivening the site itself. On entering the gallery the audience is confronted with high frequency sounds emanating from circuits mounted to the wall. Two performers attempt to silence the incessant din by pressing on predetermined points. They hold their respective poses until fatigue causes them to release the switches and the sound. As they repeat the performance several times the viewer becomes distinctly aware of the co-dependence of machine and body. Like a hungry animal the wall cries out for interaction, for attention in order to cease its relentless chorus. Stuck to the Wall is one of two historical electronic media artworks incorporated into this exhibition. Its inclusion is intended to demonstrate the long commitment of Canada’s media art community to the investigation of human-machine interaction. Burgoyne’s use of sound to implicate her audience has come in numerous forms, but always through the most efficient electronic circuitry. Her performance art is grounded, embedded in the everyday, whimsical, and terrifyingly accurate in its implications regarding our collective relationship to technology.

  • Diana Burgoyne has worked as an artist and educator creating performances, installations, sculptures and facilitating workshops. An “electronic folk artist” as defined by the late electronic music composer Martin Bartlett, Burgoyne has performed at The Franklin Furnace, New York, Gianzzo Live, Berlin and Soundwaves, San Francisco, among others. Her work has been exhibited in Montreal, Toronto, New York, Reims (France), Eindhoven (Holland), and Auckland New Zealand. She has been an artist in residence at the The Banff Centre, San Francisco’s Exploratorium, New Zealand’s Colab and Symbiosis in Mexico. She has taught “Creative Electronics” at Emily Carr University, Vancouver, Canada, since 1998.

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