Rebecca Allen

Birthyear: 1953
Currently based: Los Angeles, USA
Affiliated institution: UCLA Department of Design
Website: http://rebeccaallen.com/

Last updated: 2014-08-13

About

For over thirty years Rebecca Allen has investigated a variety of technological forms of expression including 3D computer animation films, music videos, large-scale performance works, interactive art installations, video games, artificial life systems and virtual reality. Allen is not interested in technology for its own sake, however. Rather, she is interested in a technoculture which humanizes technology even while maintaining a critical stance towards it. Or perhaps one can even say that it is her critical approach towards technology that helps humanize it. Allen demonstrates this critical approach with her concern with artistic quality and the conceptual integrity of her worka conceptual integrity that stresses the effect on the mind of the viewer. Indeed her main concern appears to be the investigation of the perceptual and cognitive processes of the viewer. Thus she approaches technology from an almost expressionistic angle, where human feeling and emotional reaction predominate the art. (Text by Frank Popper)

CV

2003 - 2005 Senior Research Scientist at MIT Media Lab Europe, Dublin / Director Liminal Device Research Group
2002 First Prize - rhein.tanzmedia.web, Cologne/Düsseldorf / for The Brain Stripped Bare
2001 - 2003 Study about Virtual Reality and Pediatric Pain Distraction / cooperation with Dr. Skip Rezzo from the Integrated Media System Center at the University of Southern California and the Los Angeles Childrens Hospital
2001 - 2002 Principal Investigator of the UCLA project Mixed Reality and the Aesthetics of Coexistence
2001 - 2002 Principal Investigator of the UCLA project E-motion and Emergent Behavior / Continuation of the Emergence Project
2001 - 2002 Awarded research grant of the Interaction Design Institute Ivrea, Italy / commission Coexistence
2001 - 2002 Awarded research grant from Intel Corporation / for Mixed Reality and the Aesthetics of Coexistence
2000 Visiting Artist and Visiting Professor at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology Cambridge, MA
2000 Deployed Application Award of theAmerican Association for Artificial Intelligence (AAAI) / for the Emergence Project
2000 Awarded research grant from Intel Corporation / for E-motion and Emergent Behavior
1997 - 1998 Awarded research grant from Intel Corporation / for the Emergence Project
1996 - 2002 Emergence Project / six-year Intel Corporation funded research project
1996 - 2000 Principal Investigator of the UCLA project Emergence Project: Aesthetic Issues in the Design of Virtual Environments
1996 - 1999 Founding Chair, UCLA Department of Design | Media Arts
1996 - 1997 Founding Co-Director of the UCLA Center for the Digital Arts (CDA), School of Arts and Architecture
1996 Professor at the University of California Los Angeles Los Angeles / Department of Design | Media Arts
1996 Awarded research grant from Intel Corporation / for Aesthetic Issues in the Design of
Virtual Environments
1993 - 1995 Creative Director of Virgin Interactive Entertainment Irvine, CA
1992 - 1992 Jury member Prix Ars Electronica 1992 / Computer Graphics and Animation
1991 - 1991 Jurymitglied Prix Ars Electronica 1991 / Computer Graphics and Animation
1991 National Endowment for the Arts Award (NEA)
1990 - 1991 Hochschule fur Angewandte Kunst Vienna, Austria / Director of Visual Media Department / Guest Professor
1990 Honorable Mention Ars Electronica, Linz / in the category Computer Animation for Steady State
1986 - 1993 Lecturer and Visiting Associate Professor at the UCLA Department of Design
1980 - 1986 Computer Graphics Laboratory Old Westbury, NY / Research Scientist/ Designer/ Director/ Producer
1980 M.S. at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology Cambridge, MA / Architecture Machine Group (predecessor to MIT Media Lab)
Master of Science in Computer Graphics / Interactive Media / Interface Design
1980 Computer Corporation of America Cambridge, MA
1978 - 1980 Research assistant to the Machine Group/ MIT Cambridge, MA
1975 B.F.A. at the Rhode Island School of Design Providence, RI / Film / Animation / Graphic Design

Works

News

Exhibitions & Events

Bibliography

Paul, Christiane. Digital Art. World of Art Series, New York: Thames and Hudson Ltd., 2008.
Camerino, Andrea Andypop. »L´avanguardismo elettronico dei Kraftwerk.« Stile.it (Online Journal) (2006).
Allen, Rebecca and G. M. Reger and A. A. et. al. Rizzo. »Effectivness of Virtual Reality for Attentional Control to Reduce Children's Pain During Venipuncture.« In 2nd International Workshop on Virtual Rehabilitation, edited by G.C. Burdea and D. Thalmann and J.A. Lewis: 2004.
Malloy, Judy. Women, Art, and Technology. Leonardo, Cambridge, MA: MIT Press, 2003.
Allen, Rebecca and Erkki Huhtamo. »I Always Like to Go Where I Am Not Supposed to Be.« In Women, Art, and Technology, edited by Judy Malloy, 224-241. Cambridge, MA: Massachusetts Institute of Technology, 2003.
Allen, Rebecca and G. M. Reger and A. A. Rizzo and Buckwalter, J. G. et.al.. »Evaluating the Effectiveness of Virtual Reality for Pediatric Pain Distraction.« In The 37th Annual Convention of the Association for the Advancement of Behavior Therapy, Boston: 2003.
Flür, Wolfgang. Kraftwerk: I Was a Robot. London: Sancturay Pub Limited, 2003.
Domingues, Diana. Criacao e interatividade na ciberarte. São Paulo, BR: Experimento, 2002.
Duguet, Anne-Marie. Déjouer L´image: Creations elecroniques et numériques. Paris: Jaqueline Chambon, 2002.
Quintero, Fernando. »Digital Arts: The Evolution of A Discipline.« University of California Teaching Learning and Technology Center News and Events (March 2002).
Paik, Nam June and Gottlieb Leinz and Christoph Brockhaus. Das Fremde und das Eigene - Globalisierung der Kulturen : Nam June Paik: Fluxus und Video-Skulptur. Duisburg, DE: Stiftung Wilhelm Lehmbruck Museum, 2002.
Watts, Judy. »Experimental Design and Testing of Visualization in Data Mining.« Profiles in Research, UCSB (2002).
Allen, Rebecca and Eitan Mendelowitz. »Coexistence.« In CAST01 // Living in Mixed Realities, edited by Monika Fleischmann and Wolfgang StraussSchloss Birlinghove: German Federal Ministry of Education and Research, 2001.
Shedroff, Nathan. Experience Design 1. Vol.1. San Francisco, CA: New Riders Press, 2001.
Somajni, Chiara. »Ivrea, nuova fucina per i giovani.« Il Sole 24 Ore (Domenica) (September 30th 2001).
Middlebrooks, Kaley. »New Media Art: A New Frontier or Continued Tradition?.« .
Candeira, Javier. »Rebecca Allen: El arte interactivo tiene mucho que aprender de los videojuegos.« El Mundo - Diario del navegante: Especial Art Futura 2000 (2000).
Mendelowitz, Eitan. »The Emergence Engine: A Behavior Based Agent Development Environment for Artists.« In Proceedings of the Twelfth Conference on Innovative Applications of Artificial Intelligence (IAAI), edited by Los Angeles University of CaliforniaLos Angeles, CA: Computer Science Department, UCLA, 2000.
Association Leonardo/ Olats. »Lorsque les avatars du virtuel se tournent vers l`Afrique: Introduction aux oeuvres de Stasia McGehee et de Rebecca Allen.« .
Allen, Rebecca. »The Bush Soul: Artist Statement.« In Ars Electronica 99: Life Science, edited by Gerfried Stocker and Christine SchopfVienna, New York: Springer, 1999.
Dietz, Steve. »Telling Stories: Procedural Authorship and Extracting Meaning from Museum Databases.« Museums and the Web (online publication) (March, 12th 1999).
Stroud, Michael. »Pictures at a Virtual Exhibition.« Wired (November 8th 1999).
Basting, Barbara. »Alice im Pixelpark.« http://www.xcult.org/texte/basting/ae.html.
Dunn, Ashley. »The Cutting Edge: New Way to Ease Web Traffick James Is Winning Big-Name Fans.« Los Angeles Times (August 1999).
Allen, Rebecca. »The Bush Soul: Traveling Consciousness in an Unreal World.« In Digital Creativity, edited by Colin BeardonVol.9. : 1998.
Allen, Rebecca. »Emergence and The Bush Soul.« In Computer Graphics: ACM SIGGRAPH, edited by Gordon Cameron and Scott Fisher and Glen FraserVol.32. : SIGGRAPH, 1998.
Neuhaus, Wolfgang. »Die Welt der Spiele: Die 5. "Doors of Perception"-Konferenz in Amsterdam.« Telepolis (December 8th 1998).
Popper, Frank. Art of the Electronic Age. New York: Thames and Hudson, 1997.
Gordon, Dan. »By design : Computer networks are on their way to becoming virtual environments. Rebecca Allen is exploring the possibilities and the implications.« Challenge Magazine, Research at UCLA (Spring 1997): 17f..
Ascott, Roy, ed. Consciousness Reframed: Art and Consciousness in the Post-biological era. Newport: University of Wales, 1997.
Jarque, Fietta. »Art Futura introduce la realidad virtual como elemento de la vida cotidiana.« El Pais (October 16th 1997).
Allen, Rebecca. »Demolition Man: The Making of an Interactive Action Movie and the Future of Games.« In Imagina '95, Monte Carlo: 1995.
Allen, Rebecca and Bill Brown and Kit Galloway and Ruth E. Iskin and Sherrie Rabinowitz and Alex Singer. »Design and Entertainment in the Electronic Age.« Leonardo 4, no. 4 (1994): 347-351.
Shedroff, Nathan and Ken Fromm, ed. Multimedia Demystified/ Demystifying Multimedia. New York: Random House/ Newmedia Series, 1994.
Sturman, David J.. »A Brief History of Motion Capture for Computer Character Animation.« .
Dery, Mark. »Fast forward: Art Goes High Tech.« ArtNews Associates 92, no. 2 (February 1993): 74.
Saltzgaver, Harry. »Sugar´n´ Spice More Than Just Nice.« Grunion Gazette (March 4th 1993).
Frank, Peter. »Intriguing Works by New Generation of Women Artists.« Long Beach Press-Telegram (March 1993): 14.
Curtis, Cathy. »Hjce´n´Subversive.« Los Angeles Times (Orange County edition) (March 1993).
Gamblin, Noriko and Carole Ann Klonarides, ed. Sugar´n Spice. Santa Monica: Long Beach Museum of Arts, 1993.
Willis, Holly. »Sweet´N`Sour.« Afterimage 20, no. 10 (May 1993).
Curtis, Cathy. »Sugar ´n´Spice: Sensory Overload in Long Beach.« Los Angeles Times (April 1993): fl4.
Anderson, Michael. »Sugar and Spice.« Art Issues (May/June 1993).
Allen, Rebecca. »'Fire and Air', 'Laberint'.« In Visual Proceedings, edited by John Grimes and Gray LorigChigaco: 1992.
Allen, Rebecca. »Memory Palace.« In The Global Mind - Art Futura 92, edited by Algora MontxoBarcelona: 1992.
Alanen, Antti and Ilppo Pohjola. Sähköiset unet - Musiikkivideot: miten taiteesta tuli pop. Helsinki: VAPK-Kustannus, 1992.
Grimes, John and Gray Lorig, ed. ACM SIGGRAPH´92 Visual Proceedings. New York: ACM USA, 1992.
Allen, Rebecca. »Fleeting Words.« In Cybermedia - Art Futura 91, Barcelona: 1991.
Bódy, Veruschka and Peter Weibel. Clip, Klapp, Bum. Von der visuellen Musik zum Musikvideo. Köln: DuMont, 1991.
Ornia, José Ramón Péreg. El arte del vídeo: Introducción a la historia del video experimental. Madrid, ES: RTVE. Serbal. Colleción Viajes, países, culturas, 1991.
Allen, Rebecca. »Virtual Reality.« In Art Futura 90, Barcelona: 1990.
Allen, Rebecca. »Realidad Virtual.« El Pais (January 1990).
Institut National de l'Audiovisuel, ed. Le Livre Imagina: 10 ans d'images de synthese. : INA-Publications, 1990.
Meijer, Jola and Ernie Tee, ed. What a Wonderful World: Music Videos in Architecture. Groningen, NL: Groninger Museum, 1990.
Katsui, Mitsuo and Toshifumi Kawahara, ed. World Graphic Design Now 6 - Computer Graphics. Tokyo, Japan: Kodansha, 1989.
Willim, Bernd. Leitfaden der Computer-Grafik. Visuelle Informationsdarstellung mit dem Computer. Grundlagen, Verfahren, Einsatzbereiche. Berlin, DE: Drei-R, 1989.
Riviere, Daniele. Paysages Virtuels. Paris: Editions Dis Voir, 1988.
Couchot, Edmond. Images. De l´optique au numerique. Paris: Hermes, 1988.
Allen, Rebecca. »New Techniques for the Creation of Artificial Realities.« In Computer Images and Hi-Vision - CG '88, Tokyo: 1987.
Goodman, Cynthia. Digital Visions: Computers and Art. New York: Harry N. Abrams, 1987.
Weibel, Peter and Oswald Oberhuber. »Vom Symbol zum Logo: Zeichen des Realen.« In Im Bauch des Biestes: Logokultur, Arbeiten des WS 1986/87 der Meisterklassen für Gestaltungslehre and der Hochschule für Angewandte Kunst Wien, edited by Wien Hochschule für Angewandte Kunst, 4-25. Wien: 1987.
Allen, Rebecca. »Computer Animation: A New Aesthetic Approach.« In Proceedings of l'Imaginaire Numerique, Paris: Hermes, 1986.
Wilson, Stephen. Using Computers to Create Art. New Jersey: Prentice Hall, 1986.
Queau, Philippe. Eloge de la simulation. Paris: Diffusion, Presses Universitaires de France, 1986.
Allen, Rebecca and Jane Nisselson. »Computers Who Dance.« Digital Deli (1984).
Jankel, Annabel and Rocky Morton. Creative Computer Graphics. Cambridge, UK: Cambridge University Press, 1984.
Allen, Rebecca. »The Bionic Dancer.« Journal of PERD 54, no. 9 (1983).

67 publications

Rebecca Allen

About

CV

Works

The Brain Stripped Bare

Coexistence

The Bush Soul (#3)

The Bush Soul (#2)

The Bush Soul (#1)

Twisted Turtle

Point of Departure

Laberint

Fleeting Words

Steady State

Behave

Musique Non Stop

Creation Myth

News

Exhibitions & Events

Bibliography

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