BIO

Michael Alstad is a Toronto based artist and curator working in installation and digital media. He is a founding member of the Canadian artist collectives Year Zero One and Symbiosis. Michael has coordinated several site-specific projects in Toronto including The Bank of Symbiosis, The Hoarding Project, the Transmedia video billboard exhibitions, Teletaxi, Geostash and Terminal Zero One. His web/video/interactive works have been exhibited in several media arts festivals and online exhibitions.

This site is quite out of date ..a complete design overhaul coming soon (hopefully)! A few current projects:

Nature Version 2.0: Ecological Modernities and Digital Environmentalism
ECOCENTRIC
Pixelgrain
Terminal Zero One





CV


Video/Web

[liquid] - Toronto
A 12 hour DVD loop on pavement in front of Beaver Hall Artists Cooperative as part of Nuit Blanche
September 30th, 2006

Teletaxi - Montreal
mobile media art exhibition in taxi
Presented by Dare Dare as part of the DIS/LOCATION programme
March 21 to June 21, 2005

Free Sample - Halifax, Nova Scotia
Video, MSVU Art Gallery
March 12 – April 25, 2005

11th Biennial of Visual Arts - Pancevo, Serbia
Web Art Programme, the Gallery of Contemporary Art
May 29th - July 10th, 2004

OUTVIDEO - Ekaterinburg, Russia
International video-art festival in public spaces
May 5 - June 5, 2004

The Derelict Sensation - London, UK
site -specific video installation
November 1 - 2, 2003

Tranz Tech Media Art Biennal - Toronto
TeleTaxi - mobile gps triggered media art in taxi
October 10 - 31, 2003

Ed Video - Guelph, Ontario
dataland, net.art exhibition
January 16th - July 16th, 2003

Le Musée di-visioniste, Cinematheque - Cologne
Winter Streams: - streaming video programme
January 12, 2003

2nd Annual Detroit International Video Festival, Detroit
January 11 - February 22, 2003

Mediatopia: Networked Technology for the Creative and Critical - Los Angeles
January 1 - December 30, 2003

Transmedia 2002 - 15 Seconds of Fame, Toronto
outdoor video billboard exhibition
October 24 - November 15, 2002

Images Festival - Toronto
dataland - group exhibition of data driven net art
April 11 - 20, 2002

ARTIMAGE - Graz, Austria
the 5th Graz biennial on media and architecture
November 7 - 10, 2001

contemporary art forum - Kitchener, Ontario
artworks.01 video programme
September 15 - 23, 2001

FILE (International Festival of Electronic Language) - São Paulo
Museum of Image and Sound Programme
August 7th - September 10, 2001

Fly Gallery - Toronto
Storefront Pussy: Video Installation in Storefront Gallery
Dec 1 - 31, 2000

Global Multimedia Interface - London, UK
Public screenings of international web/video works
projected on 7 metre screen in Leicester Square
November 25, 1999 - January 31, 2000

Goethe Institute - Toronto
Currents: Survey of Canadian Media Art
November 13 -15, 1999

MIX NYC - New York
Festival of Experimental Gay & Lesbian Film and Video
November 18 - 24, 1998

London Electronic Arts - London, UK
Pandæmonium: Festival of Moving Images
October 16 - 23, 1998

Modern Fuel Gallery, Kingston
Rapid Eye Movement, Group Show
May 30 - July 18, 1998


Exhibitions/Site Specific Installations

MELT - St. John's, Newfoundland
Video Installation, Eastern Edge Gallery
November 9 - 18, 2006

Reasonable And Senseless - A Technical Disaster - Surrey, BC
Video Installation, Surrey Art Gallery Techlab
May 21 – July 10, 2005

New Forms Festival ’04: Technography - Vancouver
Ethno Techno: An Exhibition of Digital Print
October 14 – 28, 2004

The Rooftop Series at the CONTACT 2004 Toronto Photography Festival
Toronto Image Works
May 1 - June 30, 2004

Cambridge Gallery - Cambridge, Ontario
Territories - kinetic sculpture
September 6 -October 19, 2003

HELDEN DER ARBEIT - Berlin
site specific installation at a formal industrial site on the banks of the River Spree in Berlin-Oberschsneweide.
Sept 7 - October 7, 2002

SHE SAID BOOM - Toronto
site specific window installation
Sept. 3 - Oct. 13, 1999

Mercer Union - Toronto
The Last Supper - installation
September 10 - October 31, 1998

The Hoarding Project - Toronto
site specific art behind the hoarding windows of Festival Hall construction site
June 11 - December, 1998

The Bank of Symbiosis - Toronto
site specific art at the bank, Installation
October 2- 25, 1997

A Space Gallery - Toronto
Unhuman Kind, Group Show
June 20 - July 27, 1996

Partisan Gallery - Toronto
Flaring Nigeria - Artists Against Crude Repression, Group Show
December 7 - January 4, 1996

Partisan Gallery - Toronto
Installation
September 15 - October 7, 1995

Symbiosis, The Clinic - Toronto
Site Specific art in the cosmetic surgery clinic, Installation
April 21 - May 13, 1995

Symbiosis, 1087 Queen West - Toronto
Installation
November 7 - 13, 1993

Courtyard 9 - Toronto.
Artsweek Group Show at the Church of Saint George the Martyr
September 24 - October, 1993

You Are For Gutting Me - Toronto. Site Specific Installation at an abandoned building in the financial district.
March 1993


Reviews/Press

Montreal Gazette
Sarah Musgrave. Not your typical taxi fare.
Montreal, April 7, 2005

Le Devoir
Bernard Lamarche. Taxi, suivez cette oeuvre!
Montreal, April 2, 2005

CBC Radio 3 online magazine
Featured Artist - The Rooftop Series
October 15 -21, 04

The Globe and Mail
Guy Dixon, Boring cab ride? Teletaxi will entertain you
Toronto, Oct 21, 2003

The Globe and Mail
RM Vaughan, So this is fame? 15 Seconds on the street
Toronto, November 2, 2002

The Toronto Star
Peter Goddard, Fleeting Fame
Toronto, October 28, 2002

Berliner Zeitung
Marin Majica, Helden am Werk
Berlin , September 14, 2002

Märkische Oderzeitung
Stefft Bey, Vergangenhiet riechen können
Berlin, September 13, 2002

Eye Weekly
RM Vaughan, Micro Movies take Art to the Street
Toronto, October 12, 2000

Eye Weekly
Jennifer Leonard, Beyond the Cube
Toronto, October 5, 2000

Chicago Art Journal
Kerry Boeye, Michael Alstad’s Last Supper
Chicago, Spring 2000

Espace
John K Grande, L'oeuvre/site comme echange et action
Montreal, Winter 2000

Eye Weekly
RM Vaughan, Shame Garnishes Farewell Dinners
Toronto, October 8, 1998

Xtra Magazine
Gordon Bowness, Sex & Deconstructing Construction
Toronto, No. 360 Toronto, August 13, 1998

The Globe and Mail
Gary Michael Dault, Gallery Going
Toronto, August 8, 1998

CBC Infoculture
Bob Steele, Web art: pushing the boundaries
June 17, 1998

The Globe and Mail
Gillian MacKay, Gallery Going
Toronto, October 11, 1997

Vie Des Arts
John K. Grande, Humains Inhumains
No. 163 Montreal, Summer, 1996

Xtra Magazine
Corneil Van Der Speck, Mutant Latex is No Stretch
Toronto, No. 306 Toronto, July 18, 1996

Matriart
Virginia Macdonell, Do Not Talk of It
Toronto, Spring 1996

Eye Weekly
Oliver Girling, The Curse of Twiggy
Toronto, April 27, 1995

Xtra Magazine
Donna Lypchuck, Injecting Life Into Art
Toronto, April 14 1995



Catalogues/Publications

Free Sample
Forward by Ingrid Jenker: Interviews with Otino Corsano
curated by Kelly Mark
MSVU Gallery- Halifax, March 2005

HELDEN DER ARBEIT
essays: SimonGroen, Dorte Huneke
Berlin, November, 2002

The Bank of Symbiosis: An Archeological Intervention
essays: Sally McKay, Harold Alegria-Ortiz
Symbiosis Collective
Toronto, May 1998

INTERTWINING: Artists, Landscape, Issues, Technology
essay: John K. Grande
Black Rose Books, Montreal 320 pages, 1998

UnHumanKind : Paradoxes of Speciesism
essays: Claire Christie, John Grande, Mary Anne Barkhouse
A Space Gallery
Toronto, July 1996

The Clinic
essays: Michael Holmes, Harold Alegria-Ortiz
Symbiosis Collective
Toronto, April 1995

semiotext(e) canadas
essays: Jordan Zinovich, Carole Beaulieu, Christof Mignone
NYC, July, 1994



Curatorial

GEOSTASH
Public site-responsive projects based on GPS game
Presented by Year01 - curators: Michelle Kasprzak/Michael Alstad
Toronto - October 29 - 31, 04

signal
Exhibition of telematic art: Simon Penny, Bill Vorn and Steve Heimbecker
Co-curated with Camille Turner and presented as a programme of Subtle Technologies 03.
Toronto - May 22 - June 7, 03

substance
Co-curated with Camille Turner an exhibition of interactive installations as part of the Subtle Technologies conference. InterAccess Electronic Media Arts Centre Toronto - May 11 - 25, 02

Pixel Plunder©
Co-curated with Michelle Kasprzak an exhibition of seven net.art projects on year01.com which explored issues of artistic authenticity and copyright on the web.
September 01 - April 02

TRANSMEDIA 2000
Curator of site-specific video billboard project.
Progamme featured works from artists in Australia, China, Hungary, the United States, Russia and seven from Canada.
Toronto, September 22 - October 15, 2000

Year Zero One
Curator and administrator of on-line artist run network
dedicated to exhibiting net.art. www.year01.com
1996 - Present

Symbiosis Collective
Project Co-ordinator of four multidisciplinary site specific exhibitions. Duties included grant writing, fund raising, promotion and chairing meetings.
1992 - 1997


Education

EMILY CARR COLLEGE OF ART AND DESIGN
Interdisciplinary Studies
Vancouver: 1984 - 1988

INFORMATION TECHNOLOGY DESIGN CENTRE
Toronto: 1993


Artist Talks/Workshops/Residencies

Gil Society
Artist Residency
Akureyri, Iceland - September, 2005

Video In Studios
Residency and Artist Talk
Vancouver - May, 2005

Emergent Pattern Formation Workshop
Physics Department, University or Toronto
Stephen W. Morris, Associate Professor
November 6 - 7, 04

You Are Here: How Location-Aware Media are Transforming our Urban
Environments
Roudtable at the Drake Hotel, 1150 Queen St. W. Toronto
Part of the McLuhan Festival of the Future
Wednesday Oct. 13, 2 - 5 PM, 04

SHIFTING PRACTICES
A Two Day Symposium on Interdisciplinary Practice
St. John's, Newfoundland, 4.28 - 4.30, 02

DATALAND
Extended workshop by Ping Media Network to develop Internet-based art projects incorporating server programming and databases. The exhibition was presented as part of the Images Festival of Film, Video and New Media.
Toronto, 4.02

TELEANAMNESIS Teleconference
Brazilian initiative involving online and onsite events and publications, curated by Simone Michelin and moderated by Nina Czegledy
Toronto & Rio de Janeiro - 7.12.01

BANFF NEW MEDIA INSTITUTE
GROWING THINGS: The Cultures of Nano Tech, Bio Tech, and
Eco Tech Meat Art
Banff, Alberta, 6.2000

ISEA - Inter Society for the Electronic Arts
Cartographies: Mapping New Media Art
Montreal, 10.99

MUSEUMS AND THE WEB CONFERENCE
Presented Paper: 'Web Specific Art - The Development of a New Genre'
Camille Turner, Michael Alstad
Toronto, 4.98

ONTARIO ASSOCIATION OF ART GALLERIES
New Media Conference
Toronto, 6.96