rachel beth egenhoefer presents
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For
me the greatest thing about being an artist is that it allows me to be
any number of things on any given day. My art requires me to study electronics,
circuitry, weaving, linguistics, programming, neuroscience, psychology,
philosophy, culinary and other subjects. In order for me to make my art,
it is necessary for me to explore many fields.
My background in material based sculpture attracted me to the structures,
webs, and codes of digital technology. But for me their concept wasn't
enough to fulfill me as an artist. I wanted to touch them and see them;
the zeros and ones that is, I wanted to hold them. My art often becomes
science fair project-esc as I question how theses systems operate as pattern,
communication, code, image, and decision.
I want to uncover the patterns which digital information uses as its structure;
the zeros, the ones, and the cloth they weave. I have used binary codes
both physically and conceptually.
Some of my work directly stems from the actual zeros and ones, writing programs to decode and use information as a map or a system on which to base both my digital, conceptual, and sculptural-based works. Other works relate more abstractly through the ideas of relationships, association, structure, memory, and communication.
I see myself as an artist who uses digital technology. I think these intangible skeletons of digital art raise important questions of how we perceive "new media" in the art world and how their divide might be addressed. Creating works that attempt to cross boundaries and speak to multiple art circles on conceptual, creative, and artistic levels
Rachel
Beth Egenhoefer considers her Commodore 64 Computer and Fischer
Price Loom to be defining objects of her childhood. She received her BFA
from the Fiber department with a concentration in Video from the Maryland
Institute College of Art in May of 2002. The self-proclaimed digital arts
nerd formerly worked on the editorial staff of Artbyte Magazine in New
York City, and continues freelance writing on art, modern society, and
media culture.
In 2001 she was chosen to participate in 'daidalosdreams', an International
Arts Symposium of emerging artists in Enschede, the Netherlands. The OPTIONS
2002 Biennial in Washington DC included Egenhoefer among the top emerging
artists in the mid-Atlantic region. Simultaneously she presented recent
video works at the Corcoran Gallery of Art as a part of the Washington
Projects for the Arts Media Series. Her videos have most recently been
screened at London's Institute for Contemporary Art (ICA) Digital Showcase.
Currently an MFA fellow at the University of California, San Diego, Rachel
Beth has brought her unique brand of art to various destinations around
the world, and now looks forward to exhibiting at the 2003 Boston Cyber
Arts Festival and in the UK at the boredomresearch Hello World: People
vs. Programming Forum.