Camille Utterback

Biography

Camille Utterback's interactive installations, generative, site-specific, and reactive works engage participants in a dynamic process of kinesthetic discovery and play. Utterback's work explores the aesthetic and experiential possibilities of linking computational systems to human movement and gesture in visually layered ways. Her work aims to focus attention on the continued relevance and richness of the body in our increasingly mediated world. To create her projects, Utterback combines various sensing and display technologies with the custom software she writes. Whether expressed in the form of architectural-scale projections, custom LED lighting, or intimate sculptures with embedded LCD screens, Utterback’s work engages participants in a process of embodied discovery as they explore the possibilities and behaviors of her physically engaged systems. Utterback's extensive exhibit history includes more than fifty shows on four continents. Recent shows include Watch This! at the Smithsonian American Art Museum (2014), a solo retrospective at the The Frist Center for Visual Arts, Nashville, TN (2013), The California-Pacific Triennial, curated by Dan Cameron at The Orange County Museum of Art, Newport Beach, CA (2013), and Patent Pending at ZER01 in San Jose, CA (2013). Utterback’s work is represented by Haines Gallery in San Francisco. Utterback's work has been collected by The Smithsonian Museum of American Art, The La Caixa Foundation in Barcelona, Spain; Itaú Cultural Institute in São Paolo, Brazil; Henderson Development Corporation in Hong Kong, China; The Orange County Museum of Art in California; Hewlett Packard; The 21c Museum and Hotel, Louisville, KY; The Pittsburgh Children’s Museum;The Whitney Museum’s Artport website; and many private collectors. Awards include a MacArthur Foundation Fellowship (2009), an IBM Innovation Merit Award for her solo show Animated Gestures in the Boston Cyberarts Festival (2007), a Transmediale International Media Art Festival Award (2005), and a Rockefeller Foundation New Media Fellowship (2002). Utterback holds a U.S. patent (2004) for video tracking software she co-developed with collaborator Romy Achituv for their Text Rain installation. Recently completed commissions include works for The Liberty Mutual Group executive corridor in Boston, MA (2013), The FOR-SITE Foundation (2012), the City of Sacramento, California (2011), the City of San Jose, California (2010), and the City of St. Louis Park, Minnesota (2009). Utterback has been an Assistant Professor at Stanford since 2013. She also co-directs the Stanford Graduate Design Program with faculty in the School of Mechanical Engineering.

Research Interest

Digital Art, Experimental Media Art, Installation, Interactive Art