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Rachel Clarke
The Present Moment
Center for Contemporary Art, Sacramento, CA
September 7-October 29, 2006


Bio of Rachel Clarke


Rachel Clarke is a digital media artist and is Assistant Professor in Electronic Art in the Art Department at California State University, Sacramento. Clarke's work intertwines themes of nature and culture, and explores intersections of technology and identity.  Works involve a variety of approaches and media: drawing, video, imaging, installation and interactivity.

In this exhibition, installation spaces invite the viewer to enter into and/or move around the artworks to promote multiple layers of engagement. In addition to video installation, Clarke uses real-time processing software to create embodied human/computer interactions, where the viewer's presence completes the work. The show also includes traditional and digital drawings that further explore themes of nature and technology.

Clarke has exhibited internationally and throughout the United States. In 2002, she curated a show of national and international artists using new media, entitled Postflesh: Visualizing the Techno-Self at the University Library Gallery, Sacramento State University.

Exhibitions include The Present Moment, solo exhibition at the Center for Contemporary Art, Sacramento (current: 9/06) A World Away, solo show at Auburn University, Alabama (1/06) Endless Forms: Engaging Evolution at University of Michigan, Ann Arbor (2/06) Light in the Dark, Space Gallery, Portland Maine (1/05) and the IDEAS exhibit at the International Digital Media and Arts Conference, Orlando (3/04).

Time-based work includes Avatar (video performance with music by Stephen Blumberg) screened at VAD International Festival of Video and Digital Arts in Girona, Spain (11/05) and INPORT Video Performance Art Festival in Tallinn, Estonia (12/05). In 2003 she created Skirr – a collaboration with composer Stephen Blumberg – for chamber ensemble with digital projection, performed at the Mondavi Center, Davis (11/03), the Festival of New American Music, Sacramento (11/03) Florida State University, Tallahassee (2/05) and California State University, Chico (2/06).  It was awarded a jurors’ citation at the San Francisco Art Institute 11th Annual International Film Festival (2/04). In 2004 Clarke and Blumberg collaborated on The Gold Kitchen – an interactive sonic/visual installation commissioned by the Crocker Art Museum, Sacramento for the Art Ark.

Clarke is currently Vice-President of the CAA New Media Caucus and Editor-in Chief of their online journal, media-N, a national journal of digital and media arts:

http://www.newmediacaucus.org/media-n/index.htm

Rachel Clarke's Website