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Kirsty Boyle

Australian artist, born in 1975

Selected Solo and Group Exhibitions

2010 X (a collaboration with Natalie Jeremijenko and Remnant/Emergency ArtLab), UTS Gallery, Sydney

2010 – 2011 Robot Dreams, Museum Tinguely (coinciding with Art Basel); Kunsthaus Graz

2010 Dockbot, Dock18, Zurich held in conjunction with SGMK (Swiss Mechatronic Art Society)

2009, 2010 Love the Robots, Dock18, Zurich

2009 Social Machines, MedienKunstLabor @ Kunsthaus Graz

2009 Artist in Residence, MedienKunstLabor @ Kunsthaus Graz

2009 Interactivos?’09: Garage Science, Medialab Prado, Madrid

2008 Fuse, The Jam Factory, Adelaide

2006 Traditions and Departures: highlighting Japanese influences in Australian craft and design, Australia Japan Year of Exchange Exhibition, Craft ACT, Canberra and Cowra Art Gallery

2006 Robot Culture, Consulate-General of Japan, Melbourne

2005 Art and Heart, Curious Eidolon, Melbourne

2005 – 2006 Otakulture, Rocket Art Gallery, in conjunction with the 2005 Electrofringe Festival, Newcastle; The Whitehouse, Brisbane; Manning Regional Art Gallery, Taree

2005 Toytakeova, Yarra Sculpture Gallery, Melbourne; China Heights, Sydney; The Whitehouse, Brisbane

2004 Mechalust, in conjunction with the Straight Out Of Brisbane Festival, IMA and TC Beirne Centre, Brisbane

2004 Replicate Automate Infiltrate, Electrofringe2004/net.ART, Newcastle

2004 karakuri, in conjunction with the 2004 Next Wave Festival, North Melbourne Town Hall, Melbourne

2003 karakuri.info, WestSpace Gallery, Melbourne

2003 Run_Way Young and Emerging Artists, Australia Council for the Arts, Sydney

Selected Writing and Websites

2009 ‘OpenMaterials :: P2P Theory in Practice. an open research group case study’ presented with Catarina Mota at 4th Inclusiva-net Meeting: P2P Networks and Processes, Medialab Prado, Madrid

2009 Founded http://openMaterials.org with Catarina Mota, a research group and website dedicated to open investigation and experimentation with DIY production methods and uses of materials.

2009 ‘Karakuri: Ancient Japanese Robot Craft’ presented at Interactivos?’09: Garage Science, Medialab Prado, Madrid

2006 Chapter commissioned for ‘The Mechanical Moving: From Automata to Robots’ exhibition catalogue, Hangaram Design Museum in Seoul Arts Centre, South Korea

2005 ‘Robot Culture’ presented at Imagining Japan:  A Symposium held in collaboration with the Japanese Studies Centre, Monash University and Osaka University’s Centre of Excellence’s 21st century program:  Japan as Image

2003 Produced http://www.karakuri.info, the first online English archive about the Karakuri tradition.

Selected Screenings

2006 – present Researcher and writer of ‘karakuri.info’ – a documentary film in development.  Supported by the Japan Foundation.

2001 Computer systems administration, stop motion animation and post production work on 6 minute puppet film Dad’s Clock funded by the Australian Film Commission, Cinemedia and SBS TV for Kanga Manga Studios.  The film has since been showcased internationally, and won various awards including-

• 2002 Australian Film Industry Open Craft Award
• 2002 Sydney International Film Festival Best Animation
• 2002 Melbourne Fringe Festival Best Film
• 2002 St Kilda Film Festival Best Use of Digital Technology
• 2002 Berlin Film Festival Special Mention, Best Foreign Film

2001 Animated music clip Mr Convenience Man created collaboratively with 13 Melbourne animators, known as the Southern Ladies Animation Group-

• 2002 The 11th International Festival of Animated Film, Stuttgart, Germany
• 2002 Melbourne International Animation Festival
• 2002 The 4th Brisbane International Animation Festival
• 2002 St Kilda Film Festival, Melbourne

2001 Design, construction and activation of robots for Blue Dahlia production house, footage used for opening title sequence and animated segment breakers for ABC Digital Youth Arts TV Program Chromatic.  Robots and footage were featured in Zoo Quarterly magazine & DVD, 2002.

2000 Media Producer – Robocup 2000, Melbourne

1998 – 2000 Visuals Producer/Multimedia Provider/VJ – Hardware and Future Entertainment, Melbourne.  Events included Welcome 2000 and Two Tribes, attracting crowds of 25,000+

Selected Performances

2009, 2010 Love the Robots Show, Dock18, Zurich A hybrid showcase combining media art, exhibition, network performance, informal lecture and discussion centred around the theme of robots, contemporary art, culture and society

1999 Co-ordinator – UNICEF International Day of Broadcasting for Children, Melbourne.  I held a puppetry workshop and multicast on the Internet puppet plays performed by children in the Starlight Room at the Royal Childrens Hospital.

1994 – 1997 Puppetry performances at various venues, including the launch of The Puppetry Handbook by Anita Sinclair, the opening of the Geelong Fine Art Gallery and for Polyglot Puppetry Theatre Company.

Awards/Grants

2010 Commission of tree ceremony robot installation by Museum Tinguely and Kunsthaus Graz for Robot Dreams exhibition

2009 Recipient of residency support, Australia Council for the Arts, Intra Arts Board

2009 Prix Ars Electronica 2009 nomination (“Hybrid Art” category)

2007 Recipient of Synapse Art/Science International Residency support, Australian Network for Art and Technology (ANAT) and the Australia Council for the Arts, Intra Arts Board

2006 Recipient of skills development support, Australia Council for the Arts, Intra Arts Board

2006 SCINEMA – the 6th International Festival of Science Film, Multimedia finalist, Australia

2005 International Karakuri Contest 2005 finalist, Japan.

2002 Recipient of Run_Way Young and Emerging Artists Initiative, Australia Council for the Arts New Media Arts Board, grant supported self initiated residency in Japan with Mr Tamaya Shobei IX, ninth generation Karakuri Master and research at the Suematsu Robotics Laboratory, Nagoya University.

Resident/Workshop Participant

2010 Artist in Residence @ Artspace, Sydney, in collaboration with Natalie Jeremijenko and Remnant/Emergency ArtLab

2010 Guest Artist, Hackteria Lab + Forum @ Dock18, Zurich

2009 Artist in Residence @ MKL – MedienKunstLabor at Kunsthaus Graz

2009 Collaborator on ‘RepRap’ project for Interactivos?’09: Garage Science at Medialab Prado, Madrid

2008 – 2009 Artist in Residence and Guest Researcher at the AI Lab, University of Zurich, Switzerland

2007 Skills development residency at the AI Lab, University of Zurich, Switzerland

2002 – present Karakuri (mechanical doll craft) instruction with Mr Tamaya Shobei IX, ninth generation Karakuri Master and mentorship with Professor Yoshikazu Suematsu, Director of the Toyota National College of Technology

1999 Resident, RMIT Interactive Information Institute, Melbourne

Speaking/Workshop Engagements

2010 Robot Food Artist talk and presentation @ Headquarters, Melbourne

2010 Media Cultures of the World panelist @ Dock18, Zurich discussing Media Art in Switzerland, Austria, China and Australia

2010 Dockbot presenter @ Dock18 held in conjunction with SGMK (Swiss Mechatronic Art Society)

2010 Robot building workshop for children at the Kunsthaus Graz

2009 ‘OpenMaterials’ lecture presented at the Media Ecologies & Post-Industrial Production Conference, University of Salford, Manchester

2009 ‘OpenMaterials :: P2P Theory in Practice an open research group case study’ lecture presented with Catarina Mota at 4th Inclusiva-net Meeting: P2P Networks and Processes, Medialab Prado, Madrid

2009 “Theatralische Aspekte von Robotern – Karakuri – eine japanische Tradition”/ “theatrical aspects of robots – karakuri – robots inspired by a Japanese tradition” lecture and panelist at Roboterträume / Robot dreams Symposium, Kunsthaus Graz

2009 Organising committee member ‘Roboloco‘ Festival for Mechatronic Art and Robotics, Bern.  Facilitated ‘USB Dollhouse workshop’

2009 ‘Karakuri: Ancient Japanese Robot Craft’ lecture presented at Interactivos?’09: Garage Science, Medialab Prado, Madrid (in English and Spanish)

2008 Karakuri workshops and lectures with Master Tamaya Shobei IX at Questacon (The National Science and Technology Centre) and the Australian National University, Canberra; The Japan Foundation (Sydney office) and at Winmalee High School, the Blue Mountains.  Supported by The Japan Foundation and the Australia Japan Foundation.

2008 girltron – art/sci collaboration with AI Lab, University of Zurich, University of Tasmania, Hobart and Launceston

2008 Virtual Humans Forum, FMX07 International Conference on Animation, Effects, Realtime and Content (held in cooperation with VES Visual Effects Society, ACM SIGGRAPH and AIAS Academy of Interactive Sciences), Stuttgart

2008 girltron Project Progress Report, Doctoral Seminar, AI Lab, University of Zurich

2007 ‘karakuri.info’, cognitive science lecture series, AI Lab, University of Zurich

2005 ‘Otakulture’ panellist, 2005 Electrofringe Festival, Newcastle

2005 ‘Robot Culture’ presented at Melbourne University for the School of Creative Arts & Japanese Studies Department

2005 ‘Robot Culture’ presented at Imagining Japan:  A Symposium held in collaboration with the Japanese Studies Centre, Monash University and Osaka University’s Centre of Excellence’s 21st century program:  Japan as Image

2004 Straight Out Of Brisbane Festival ‘girltron toy hacking’ workshop, Brisbane

2004 Straight Out Of Brisbane Festival community forum – ‘Robot Culture’, Brisbane

2004 Next Wave Festival community forum – ‘Robot Culture‘, Melbourne

2003 – 2004 Guest Lecturer, Advanced Technologies series, Swinburne University of Technology School of Engineering and Science, Department of Mechatronics/Robotics, Melbourne

2003 Artist talk, karakuri.info, WestSpace Gallery, Melbourne