Linda Dement facts for kids
Linda Dement (born in Brisbane in 1960) is an Australian artist who works with many different types of art. She uses digital art, photography, film, and writing. Linda Dement is well-known for exploring new ways to create art using technology. This includes things like CD-ROMs, 3-D modeling, interactive computer programs, and early computers.
Contents
About Her Art Career
Linda Dement started showing her art in 1984. She earned a degree in Fine Arts in 1988.
Her amazing computer art and digital pictures have been shown in Australia and around the world. Her work has been featured in famous places like the Institute of Contemporary Art in London and the Ars Electronica festival in Austria. She also showed her art at big electronic art events in Sydney and Montreal.
Working with Others
Linda Dement often works with other artists. This is a very important part of her art.
The Eurydice Project
One of her award-winning projects is "Eurydice 1997–2007." For this, she first planned to work with American writer Kathy Acker. They wanted to make an interactive digital artwork based on Acker's book, Eurydice in the Underworld. Kathy Acker wrote this book after she had surgery for cancer. Sadly, Kathy Acker passed away in 1997.
Linda Dement continued the project by herself. She created a new series of images for each place they had planned for the interactive work. These large prints explored different ways to show difficult feelings. Two of these artworks won the National Digital Art Award: "Blue Plastic" in 2005 and "White Rose" in 2006.
Critics really liked "Eurydice 1997–2007." One critic, George Alexander, said that the images were so real and powerful that you didn't just look at them, you gave them your full attention.
Bloodbath and Roller Derby Art
In 2010, Linda Dement created "Bloodbath" with five other artists and the Sydney Roller Derby League. This was a live event where art was made from real-time information! Sensors were attached to the roller derby players' helmets. When players bumped into each other during the game, the sensors sent data to a computer. This data then created digital artworks. For example, one artwork called "Axle Grind" used a robotic guitar that played sounds when players collided on the track. This project showed how art can be made through human interaction and sports.
Art and Technology for Change
Linda Dement's work, along with another Australian art group called VNS Matrix, helped start "cyberfeminism" in art in Australia many years ago. Cyberfeminism uses technology to challenge old ideas about what it means to be a girl or a boy in society. It also helped women be part of the growing world of electronic culture in the early 1990s.
Through her art, Dement wants to "give form to the unbearable." Her work often explores the connection between our physical bodies and how society sees us. She often highlights how women might be seen as "different" or "monstrous" in some ways.
Cyberflesh Girlmonster
One of her famous works is "Cyberflesh Girlmonster" (1995), which was a CD-ROM. To make this, Linda Dement asked women to scan parts of their bodies and record a sound or sentence. About 30 women took part. She then used these scanned body parts to create new, combined digital "monsters." When someone clicked on these monsters, they could hear or see the words linked to that body part. Sometimes, another monster would appear, or a video would play. The artwork was designed to be a bit confusing to navigate, without clear menus. It was a unique and sometimes funny way to show ideas about female identity from a feminist point of view.
Art and Rules
Some of Linda Dement's early artworks faced censorship from the Australian Government.
Her work Typhoid Mary was discussed in the Parliament of New South Wales and was later classified as "not suitable for those under the age of 18." Another work, In My ..., also received a formal "Restricted" classification. This means it could only be shown to adults.
List of Artworks
| Year | Title | Media | Notes | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2018–19 | Cyberfeminist Bed Sheet Flown as a Flag | Performance art, and mixed media | A collaboration with Nancy Mauro-Flude. They performed with a bed-sheet-flag that had quotes on it. | |
| 2013 | Awry Signals | Performance art, augmented reality, and mixed media | A collaboration with Nancy Mauro-Flude to create a special device and performance. | |
| 2013 | 50BPM | A collaboration with Kelly Doley. | ||
| 2013 | Kill Fix | |||
| 2012 | Moving Forest | Also known as "Castle 2012." | ||
| 2011 | Killing the Host | |||
| 2010 | Bloodbath | A collaboration with Francesca da Rimini, Kate Richards, Nancy Mauro-Flude, Sarah Waterson and Sydney Roller Derby League. | ||
| 2009 | The Ends of the Earth | A collaboration with Jane Castle. | ||
| 2009 | On Track | A collaboration with a group called Serial. | ||
| 2008 | Moving Forest London | A collaboration with Shu Lea Cheang and Martin Howse for a festival in Berlin, Germany. | ||
| 2007 | I Know You Think It's Too Late | |||
| 2007–1997 | Eurydice | A collaboration with Kathy Acker. | ||
| 1999 | In My ... | CD-ROM | ||
| 1995 | Cyberflesh Girlmonster | CD-ROM | Linda Dement scanned body parts from 30 women to create "mutant" digital bodies for this work. | |
| 1991 | Typhoid Mary | CD-ROM | ||
| 1991–1981 | Various photographic works |
Her Writings
Linda Dement has also written for several books and publications:
- Artists Thinking About Science (1994)
- I Really Want to Kill You But I Can't Remember Why (1995)
- "Girl #4 Late 70s" in Love Cries (1995)
- "Payment" in Warp Drive (1998)
- Byte Me: art + culture + technology (1999)
Awards and Recognitions
Linda Dement has won many awards for her work:
- She won the Harries Australian National Digital Art Award twice, in 2005 and 2006.
- She received a New Media Arts Fellowship in 1996 and the Digital Futures Fund in 2010 from the Australia Council for the Arts.
- Her work won Best CD-ROM at a festival in Germany.
- She also received special mentions from New Voices/New Visions in California and Ars Electronica in Austria.
Artist Residencies
- Linda Dement was an artist in residence at the City of Sydney William Street Creative Hub in 2014.
See also
In Spanish: Linda Dement para niños
