The MacKenzie Art Gallery is pleased to announce the launch of Landscapes of Digital Art—a new web portal examining definitions of “new media art” and how technology changes our relationship to art and each other. 

Landscapes of Digital Art is the result of two years of digital programming from the MacKenzie Art Gallery that was initially designed to expand digital art literacy across Saskatchewan. Funded by the Canada Council for the Art’s Digital Strategy Fund, the project has evolved from in-person digital arts workshops to online programs, and now exists as a digital publication of dozens of resources and artist-led conversations. Over a two-year period, the Gallery’s Digital Consultants, Cat Bluemke and Jonathan Carroll, experimented with a variety of online programming forms including virtual screenings, workshops, artist discussions, and digital artist-in-resident initiatives. As a result, these programs highlighted dozens of contemporary digital artists, scholars, and curators—presenting their ideas to a Saskatchewan audience within a global context. 

Housing these robust programs, the Landscapes of Digital Art web portal is a framework that serves as an active archive, emphasizing the educational aspects of this project. There are six sections (also known as “islands”) to the portal that users may explore, each guided by their own theme: Virtual Art Galleries, World Building, Indigenous Futurism, Virtual Bodies, Creating on Platforms, and Video Games as Art. While touring each island—accompanied by video and text introductions, as well as a glossary for relevant specialized language—audiences will find several resources for understanding the various elements of digital art, and its influence in the contemporary art world. Featuring a curated selection of digital programming, adapted from its original livestream format, the islands explore the six themes through artist talks, panels, and live demonstrations. Additionally, each island provides hands-on studio activities designed for at-home or in-classroom use. Intended for grade levels eight through twelve, the Landscapes of Digital Art project aims to engage youth interest in the digital sphere, expand the MacKenzie’s programs, and elicit curiosity about our own digital environments. 

ABOUT CAT BLUEMKE AND JONATHAN CARROLL 

Cat Bluemke and Jonathan Carroll are Digital Exhibitions Consultants at the MacKenzie Art Gallery. Working with the gallery since 2019, they have led digital art programming initiatives that include the development of a digital exhibitions toolkit and co-curating an artist residency in Minecraft. In their collaborative artistic practice, they use video games, performance, and mixed reality technologies, exploring how the mechanics of play influence labour. Exhibiting across Canada and internationally, they have shown recently with Rhizome and the New Museum’s virtual reality platform (New York), InterAccess’ augmented reality exhibition Geofenced (Toronto), published an augmented reality comic book through Eyelevel Gallery (Halifax), and exhibited virtual reality art with the American Pavillion at the 2018 Venice Architecture Biennale. 

 

MEDIA CONTACT  

Katie Wilson 

Communications Coordinator 

MacKenzie Art Gallery  

Kwilson@mackenzie.art 

(306)-584-4250 ext. 4271 

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