About Us

Mission Statement

Artengine is a non-profit, artist-run centre that fosters democratic and innovative approaches to electronic art and its evolving relationship with society.

Mandate

Artengine is committed to:

1. The creation, presentation/dissemination and promotion of art concerned with technological experimentation, both online and in physical space.
2. Ensuring that artists have affordable access to specific technological resources needed for their work. This would include both physical and information based resources. Relevant artistic endeavors include computer programming, custom electronics, network adaptation and many other practices in which the production or presentation technology plays a distinct role in shaping the work.
3. Carving out artist-run space in the on-line world by owning and operating its own server with the direct goal of providing more accessible services to artists and other art and artist-run organizations. These services include web space for presentation and promotion, email, listservs and other network based services as well as technological support and guidance.
4. Maintaining a space dedicated to technological experimentation with the recognition of the important role a locally-based community of practice plays in the artistic process. This space functions as a laboratory for production and presentation, and for the exchange of ideas and methods, both formal and informal, as they relate to technological based art.
5. Actively supporting the open source movement by working with specific software projects that provide artists with distinct and accessible tools for the creation of their work.

History

Incorporated as a non-profit artist-run centre in 1996, Artengine strives to promote accessibility of technological tools to the local and regional community. Artengine has always provided members, artists, and other centres access to services, shared knowledge, and technical assistance in the creation of artworks.

In 1999, Artengine created the Artlist, its most significant point of public access and the oldest cultural mailing list in the Outaouais region. Serving both the Francophone and Anglophone art communities, the Artlist maintains a subscription base of up to 1500 email addresses. In 2008, the Artlist was incorporated into the new Artengine website. A customizable on-line events calendar was built onto the existing service to build on the networking capacity of this important regional service.

Over the years the organization has engaged in a wide variety of programming including exhibitions, both online and in locally-based galleries, artistic residencies, performance series, workshops, lectures, artist talks and master classes. Many of these activities are collaborative efforts between Artengine and other cultural institutions, from the Magnetic North Theatre Festival to the National Gallery of Canada. These collaborations have strengthened the organization's access to resources while increasing the exposure and awareness of the electronic arts across all disciplines.

Artengine has contributed custom scripting and programming to the open source projects PureData and GridFlow, which are visual programming platforms for real-time audio and video processing. Artengine continues to receive recognition from the international open source community with regards to these projects, and has been an active contributor, as presenter and host, to both International PureData conventions (in Graz, Austria in 2004, and in Montreal, Quebec in 2007).

With the help of a grant from the Trillium Foundation in 2005, Artengine evolved from a solely virtual space to include a physical one as well. This organizational evolution reinforced Artengine's role as a central hub for all artists impacted by the electronic arts in the Outaouais. Currently, Artengine is housed in the City of Ottawa's Arts Court facility, positioning it in a unique place for securing an important role within the cultural community as it begins its next stage of development.

Artengine's recent history has been defined by a significant transformation of the organization's capacity, including a new staffing structure, centralized office, significant on-line presence, and a modular Laboratory for production and presentation use.

In addition to the development of its organizational infrastructure, Artengine also continued to create a wide variety of production and dissemination oriented programming which cultivates the unique position of electronic art within the media arts.

Board of Directors

Andrew O'Malley, Chairperson, appointed in 2008
Andrew is a Patent Examiner employed by Industry Canada. He has an electrical engineering background and is a practicing visual artist, working with acrylics and collage, in conjunction with new mediums such as electronics/lighting, audio and video. He maintains active involvement in the Ottawa arts scene, having exhibited work in numerous group shows in the Ottawa area. Andrew also hosts a monthly DJ+VJ night called Techcetera focused on "techno-media", with electronic music from resident and guest DJ's, and live visual/video performances by rotating VJ guests.

Andrée Préfontaine, Vice-Chair, appointed in 2007
Andrée was born and raised in Québec and now lives and works in Gatineau. She is a working artist who specializes in media arts. Her videographic work has been seen in Canada, the US, South America, and Europe. She teaches art at the École Multidisciplinaire de l'Image at the University of Québec in the Outaouais. She holds bachelor degrees in Cello Interpretation and in Visual Arts, a graduate degree in Cello Interpretation and a Masters in Visual Arts. She sits on the board of directors at Axe-Néo-7, Daïmõn and has been a jury member for the Conseil des arts et des lettres du Québec.

Rupert Allen, board member, joined 2009

Jonathan Dickinson, board member, joined 2008

nichola feldman-kiss, board member, joined 2008

Alexandre Castonguay, 1996 – 2006 (Ex-Officio)
Born in Hull, Québec in 1968, Alexandre studied at the University of Ottawa (B.F.A. 1991 and B.A. 1993) and at Concordia University, Montréal (M.F.A. 2004). He currently teaches at the University of Ottawa and represented by the gallery Pierre-François Ouellette Art Contemporain in Montréal. Castonguay's practice is based in new media and digital art, and his works exploit both obsolete technology and open source software. "Elements", a recent installation, was shown at the Musée d'art contemporain de Montréal in 2006. His interactive installation "Digitale" was shown at the Digital and Video Art Fair (2005), Medienkunstlabor in Graz, Austria (2004), at Pierre-François Ouellette Art Contemporain (2003), and at the Ottawa Art Gallery (2003). His digitally-mastered photographs have been featured in group exhibitions at the Montreal Museum of Fine Arts, the Los Angeles County Museum of Art, the Jack Shainman and Laurence Miller Galleries in New York and the Canadian Museum of Contemporary Photography in Ottawa. His works are included in the collections of the Canada Council Art Bank, the Los Angeles County Museum of Art, the Montreal Museum of Fine Arts, the Musée d'art contemporain of Montreal, the Canadian Museum of Contemporary Photography found as part of many corporate and private collections.