Conceptual Information Arts 
Faculty and Student Information

 

Stephen Wilson, Professor of Art

M.F.A., (1980) School of the Art Institute of Chicago
Ph.D., (1972) University of Chicago

Stephen Wilson creates art that explores the cultural implications of emerging technologies (such as artificial intelligence, hypermedia and the structure of information, GPS, and environmental and biological sensing). His computer mediated installations have won international acclaim in museums, galleries and technology art shows such as SIGGRAPH and Ars Electronica. Other activities include NSF projects to investigate the role of new technologies in education and artist-in residencies at the Xerox PARC and NTT (Nortel) research centers.

Publications include four books: Using Computers to Create Art (Prentice Hall, 1986), Multimedia Design with HyperCard (Prentice Hall, 1991),  World Wide Web Design Guide (Hayden, 1995), and Information Arts:Intersections of Art, Science, and Technology (MIT Press, 2002) and numerous articles exploring the intersection of art and research such as "The Aesthetics and Practice of Designing Interactive Events", "Interactive Art and Cultural Change", and "Noise on the Line: Emerging Issues in Telecommunications Art".

Paula Levine, Assistant Professor, Acting Director 2001-2002

M.F.A. (1988) San Francisco Art Institute

Paula Levine works in digital media, looking at the interface of culture, history, and narrative. Her roots lie in photography, video and installation and her work has shown at numerous museums and galleries including the National Gallery of Canada, the Canadian National Embassey in Tokyo, Japan, and the San Francisco Museum of Modern Art. Recent award fromthe Canada Council for her work in experimental documentary.

Adjunct Faculty & Founders

Over the last years the following have served as adjunct faculty or otherwise been involved with the program:


Working within the Art Department at San Francisco State University, Bryan Rogers and James Storey created the Conceptual Design program in 1978.  The pioneering program attempted to define a relevant education for artists in the  technological era.  It was one of the first art programs in the country to move beyond historical media and to try to engage the contemporary cultural context.  Storey was an inventor and product design researcher who worked in art education and Rogers was an artist who had a joint MFA and PhD in Engineering from UC Berkeley.  Rogers felt that most art programs clung to traditional formats that did not respond to the cultural foment of the scientific and technological worlds and to the innovations of art movements such as the conceptual, electronics, performance, and earth art, which challenged conventional notions.  The program had several important features:


Rogers went on to found the Studio for Creative Inquiry at Carnegie Mellon and to be dean of the art department at the University of Michigan.  To get insights on his contemporary views consult his prospectus for the U of Michigan progaram.  http://www.art-design.umich.edu


- This page created by Stephen Wilson, Professor Conceptual/Information Arts Program, Art Department, SFSU (http://userwww.sfsu.edu/~swilson) swilson@sfsu.edu
- More information about the Conceptual Information Arts program is available at (http://userwww.sfsu.edu/~infoarts)