Artengine aims to deepen the practices of artists, designers and critics around emerging technologies for creative production, and to reflect on specific urgencies in society and the arts. Questions of technological change and cultural change have become entangled, almost inextricably, and this brings as many challenges as it does opportunities. The complex space of these challenges and opportunities is where Artengine thrives.
Our activities take place across three complementary, mutually reinforcing platforms
Artengine drives conversation about emergent practices in art and technology. We connect and spread ideas through symposia, publications, workshops and open studios. By engaging in local, national, and international dialogue about groundbreaking fields and their social impact, we connect Ottawa to the larger creative world.
Artengine serves as a nexus for creative experimentation with technology, art, and society. Our creative workshop space serves as the physical space for creative thinking and critical making. Artists use our workshop to collaborate and combine vastly different disciplines such as architecture, biology, fashion, art, design, media technology, engineering, sociology, gaming, and robotics in new and exciting ways. The lab is activated through commissions, artist-in-residence programs and self-directed projects.
Artengine’s public programs range from exhibitions to festivals. These events showcase the most exciting developments in the field of art and technology, and present research, creation, and emerging practices.
Artengine’s Managing Director, Remco Volmer
Remco Volmer, has a broad-based media arts and curatorial experience providing him with a detailed understanding of production and presentation practices. A graduate of Utrecht University of Art’s Creative Media program, Volmer has focused his research on technologically mediated interaction design. He has a strong interest in innovation in the arts, both on the individual level of the artist and on the aggregated level of the institution, and recently completed the Banff Centre’s “New Fundamentals: Leadership for the Creative Ecology” residency.
Artengine’s Artistic Director, Ryan Stec
Beyond his role as a cultural producer as Artengine Artistic Director, Ryan Stec, also has a wide ranging background including community activism, 15 years experience as a practicing artist, professional design training (Masters of Architecture) and is pursuing advanced studies in art and design through a PhD at the Azrieli School of Architecture and Urbanism, Carleton University. He is also a part-time professor in the Visual Arts Department at the University of Ottawa where he teaches both history and theory and studio practices in media arts.