I am a Toronto based electronic media artist working primarily in the field of interactive installations. I am Associate Artist at the Bell Centre for Creative Communications, Instructor at the Ontario College of Art & Design, as well as Facilities Manager at Charles Street Video in Toronto.

I have recently completed testing an internet-based interactive installation titled STOCK MARKET SKIRT at the Bell Centre for Creative Communications (Toronto, Canada). This mediawork is dedicated to Brenda Laurel - who asked if she could wear it. An installation titled THE MEDUSA PROJECT (AUTOBIOGRAPHY) was recently completed in 1997. This mediawork is dedicated to Nora McCardell and Martes Farrugia.

I am currently working on two mediaworks: SUIT OF ARMOUR, an installation in collaboration with Camille Turner, and MEMORY DRESS.

Previous mediaworks include HAIR SALON TV; WRINGER/WASHER TV; BICYCLE TV; THE MACHINE IN THE GARDEN; A WALKING TOUR OF TROIS RIVIERES; EX(OR)CISER; HOW THE REST WAS WON; THE MEADOW.

Upcoming, THE MACHINE IN THE GARDEN will be exhibited at the Canadian Museum of Contemporary Photography/National Gallery of Canada in Ottawa, Ontario (May 30-September 20). An exhibition of the same work has recently concluded at the Canadian Cultural Centre in Paris, France. THE MEDUSA PROJECT (AUTOBIOGRAPHY) was recently exhibited at the Thunder Bay Art Gallery (Thunder Bay, Ontario) and at the Thames Art Gallery (Chatham, Ontario). These Ontario exhibitions were organized with the assistance of the Art Gallery of Ontario's 'Artists With Their Work' program.

Other recent exhibitions of my mediaworks include CYBERLISBON which took place at the Centro Cultural de Belem in Lisbon, Portugal (April 1997); LANGUAGE GAMES which took place at the Walter Phillips Gallery, Banff Centre in Banff, Alberta (May 1997); and ARS ELECTRONICA in Linz, Austria (September 1996).

I have recently completed a paper titled 'Curly, Larry & PoMo' (http://www.bccc.com/nancy/curly.html) which situates
cyberfeminism within contemporary culture, deals with the role of irony in post-postmodernism, and describes the relationship between art and technology in a period defined by millennial theory. This paper was presented at the ASTARTI conference in Paris, France in April 1998. Also in April, I spoke to the Carnegie Mellon University 'Art and Robotics Group' about my mediawork STOCK MARKET SKIRT. In May 1998 I was invited to participate on a panel titled 'Sculpture in Motion: A Discussion of Kinetics, Robotics and Performance' at the International Sculpture Conference in Chicago, Illinois. In February 1998 the College Art Association held its 86th Annual Conference in Toronto and I participated on a panel titled 'Advancing Neo-Colonialism: Emerging Theory and the Changing Work of Art in the Age of Information Technology.' The title of my presentation was 'Cyberfeminism: Cultural Theory and the Convergence of Feminism, Technology and Art.'

In the spring of 1997 I was also invited to several Conferences and Festivals to present my paper titled 'Cyberfeminism.' Since January 1997 this paper has been presented at the VANCOUVER ELECTRONIC ART FESTIVAL in Vancouver, BC, the Sixth International FRAUEN FILM FESTIVAL, 'Uncanny Pleasures' in Dortmund, Germany, and the 'Sense of the Senses' Congress organized by Kunst Ausstellungshalle der Bundesrepublik Deutschland in Bonn, Germany. A book including this and other select papers presented at this Congress will be published in Summer 1998.

A paper titled 'Technology (does not equal) Art' was published in the December 1997 issue of FUSE magazine. The journal FIREWEED (Summer 1996) published 'Cyberfeminism' and this paper is available online at: gopher://echonyc.com/00/Cul/Cyber/paterson. A second site where this paper is available is: http://internetfrauen.w4w.net/archiv/cyberfem.txt

Previously, papers which I have written have been published in journals including LEONARDO, PARALLELOGRAMME, and CANADIAN ART. A paper titled 'Lust & Wanderlust: Sex and Tourism in a Virtual World' was published by MEDIA AUSTRALIA in a collection titled 'Art and Cyberculture.' An article titled 'Feministiche Astehtik im Zeitalter des Technischen Utopismus' was published by FEMME TOTALE, Germany.

During the month of October 1996 I was the featured artist on the Arts Wire Interactive Conference. ArtsWire is a computer-based communication network for the arts community. This conference is intended to engage artists and cultural workers in the investigation of contemporary art and new communications technologies.

nancy@utcc.utoronto.ca
Homepage of Nancy Paterson

STOCK MARKET SKIRT: A blue taffeta and black velvet party dress is displayed on a dressmaker's mannequin or 'Judy,' located next to a computer and several monitors of varying sizes. In large type, the stock ticker symbol and price which is being tracked, marches from right to left across the monitor screens as the stock price is continuously updated. Large white numbers and letters on a blue background (matching the blue of the taffeta skirt) scroll in simulation of the pixel board displays used to track stock values on traditional exchange room floor.

PERL scripts (running under Linux) extract and analyze stock prices from online stock market quote pages on the internet. These values are sent to a program which determines whether to raise or lower the hemline via a stepper motor and a system of cables, weights and pulleys attached to the underside of the skirt. When the stock price rises, the hemline is raised; when the stock price falls, the hemline is lowered.

This mediawork also utilizes a webcam to capture and display real-time images of the hemline as it fluctuates. A website simultaneously displays these images as well as the stock market quotes which are controlling the length of the hemline. This site is made available in conjunction with the exhibition of this installation.

This installation is dedicated to Brenda Laurel - who asked if she could wear it.

MEMORY DRESS: Titled MEMORY DRESS, this mediawork will be constructed of magnetic core memory and integrated circuit boards, laced together with wire. There are many parallels and analogies to be drawn from the passing value of computer hardware/software and other electronic technologies. However, quite unlike fashion design (which seems to follow a cyclical pattern), computer technology has changed at a rate which can only be described as exponential.

Used extensively in the 1950's and 60's, magnetic core memory is today a relatively scarce item, found only in surplus military and medical equipment, such as oscilloscopes. Magnetic core memory will be incorporated into the dress along with other circuit boards, representing the development of computer memory over the past few decades.

MEMORY DRESS will be designed on a dressmaker's 'Judy' but is intended tobe modeled.

SUIT OF ARMOUR: This interactive video installation is a collaboration between myself and Camille Turner. This mediawork is an exploration of the sex, beauty and racial myths which are encountered by a young black Canadian woman and the various conflicting message which attempt to define who she is and where she belongs. The viewer experiences the subtle play between images and audio through interaction with the piece.

Upon entering the semi-dark installation space, the viewer encounters a video image of a dancer, a young black woman, which is projected life size. A pedestal base lit by a spotlight, stands in the centre of the gallery. On the pedestal base is the interface for the installation, a computer mouse. In a semi-circle, between the pedestal base and the projected image, are a total of six small (6" diagonal) colour monitors. When the viewer enters the installation space, these monitors are black.

Emerging from the darkness, the projected image of the young woman is silent before the viewer. She moves slowly, dancing, her gaze intent. A few minutes later, the image dissolves and she is seen seated flipping through a teen magazine, then she speaks directly to the viewer, sharing her hopes and dreams. She is young, strong yet vulnerable, impressionable, with nothing to protect her but her skin, a 'suit of armour' against the voices that surround her, echoing words that influence her developing sense of identity.

Manipulating the computer mouse, the viewer moves the cursor/pointer to click on various parts of the young woman's images. These 'hotspots' trigger audio/video clips which are played back on the six small monitors. The video which appears on these monitors is of a person's mouth speaking. We have videotaped numerous faces, a culturally diverse group of women and men of various ages. The phrases which they speak and the questions which they ask, may be critical, defensive or inspirational.

Each monitor is associated with a theme: race, sexuality, gender, the struggle for self actualization, the triumph of the human spirit and the politics of power. A selection of audio/video clips may be accessed within each of these themes.

THE MEADOW: THE MEADOW explores and manifests the metaphorical space which lies between the 'simulated' and the 'real' - a space to which artists are inevitably drawn. Ambiguity and irony also share this space, and it is here that new mythologies and realities may be imagined. This space is particularly appropriate to artists working with new electronic technologies to bridge the gap between science and fiction.

Stepping into the installation space, the viewer is surrounded by four large colour monitors. Displayed on each monitor is real-time, full motion video of a different view: the four edges or corners of a meadow as seen from a central vantage point. It is winter in the meadow, then suddenly the season shifts. The views remain the same, but a certain motion or sequence of movements has triggered a transformation. Suddenly it is spring. The viewer discovers, as they move within the installation space, how to trigger these seasonal changes and find it is possible to move backwards in time, from winter to fall, or across seasons, from fall to spring, as well.

Other effects, the sound of a flock of geese which suddenly materializes, flies overhead and disappears, the persistent and annoying buzz of a mosquito, children who are suddenly heard laughing or playing just out of sight, may also be triggered. A child whispers on your left and is answered by another child whispering, on your right.

A momentary 'freezing' or speeding up of the video imagery, a sudden change of perspective or shifting of location, may seem to be random. As in real life, the relationship between cause and effect is sometimes blurred.

Ultrasonic transducers, a centralized microprocessor unit and custom-designed micro-controller for four laserdisc players engage the viewer in an interactive environment simulation of a small, intimate meadow. The microprocessor and controller perform two functions: the detection of viewer location/movement and multiple laserdisc control.

Production of THE MEADOW has received technical support from POLAROID, PIONEER and 3M and financial support from the Canada Council and Ontario Arts Council.

HAIR SALON TV HAIR SALON TV was the first installation in a series juxtaposing technological icons of the 1950's (associated with women) and video imagery on issues which have been shaped and distorted by electronic communications technologies. In HAIR SALON TV the chrome helmets of three women's hairstyling chairs are fitted with small colour monitors which display imagery of women and domestic technology, women in the workplace and women and scientific discovery/technological innovation.