CONTACT

Send Email to: mail [at] dominicsmith.info (replace the [at] with an @)

SHORT BIO

Dominic Smith is an artist and curator whose practice explores open source methods of project development through a hands-on, open approach to working with art & technology.

He has a  doctorate with CRUMB at Sunderland University that examines the relationship between open source production methods and methods employed by artists and curators. His current research focuses on the connective nature of digital platforms and materialisation of transient media.

Up until April 2014 he ran the Pixel Palace digital arts programme in the North East of England as Curator of Digital Media Art. As part of this programme he developed Basic.fm a highly regarded sound art web radio station that embraces collaboration and experimentation. He is now freelance developing a number art and technology based projects including working as Curator of Digital Memorials for the Society of Chief Librarians and works as consultant curator with Queens Hall Hexham building a creative digital media programme.

MORE ABOUT ME

The more I think about it the more I reflect upon a formative part of my childhood as being the first version of what I do now. My parents owned a small computer shop in the early 80s. It sold games for microcomputers i.e. the Commodore 64, ZX spectrum and Atari 800 etc. I would help out in the back room watching people write code and get excited as new stock arrived. I got to witness the first wave of domestic computer technology, watching as trends emerged and the industry became increasingly complex.

I became a teenager, rebelled and went to art school. But, in many ways I am still watching trends and behaviours that form around new technologies. I began engaging with computers and software, creating art that reflects the continuous, iterating nature of code and the hierarchies that form around its exchange. I began using Commodore Amigas in the early 1990’s and progressed on to more complex machines and hardware as it became available. I continue to engage and play with codified hierarchies and systems. The outcomes of this play are rarely complex displays of super hacker abilities and are much more likely to be highly social engagements with emergent trends and behaviours. I have a strong ‘Genchi Genbutsu’ ethic i.e. get your boots on and get involved. I love what I do. The outcomes can be curatorial, artworks, sonic, writing and all of the things in between with a specialisation in new/digital media.