An interview by
, curator and curator
Many artists from the contemporary scene attempt to establish effective synergies between Technology and Art: but most of them just uses cutting edge techniques to explore concepts: what instead marks out Byron Rich ' s approach is an incessant investigation about the inner nature of the variety of medium he probes, to unveil the impact of techno-sphere on identity. Rich ' s multimedia installations reject any conventional classification and could be considered an interface between the ever growing unstable categories of reality and fiction: we are particularly pleased to introduce our readers to his stimulating production.
Hello Byron and welcome to ART Habens. To start this interview, would you like to tell us something about your background? You have a solid formal training and after your studies in New Media, you nurtured your education with a MFA of Emerging Practices that you received about two years ago from the University of Buffalo. How have these experiences influenced your evolution as an artist? And in particular, since you currently hold the position of Assistant Professor at the Allegheny College, I would like to ask how does teaching informs the way you nowadays relate yourself to art making: have you ever happened to draw inspiration from the idea of your students?
Sure. I was born in Calgary, Alberta, in western Canada. I grew up there, spending much of my youth riding my bike in the foothills in the shadow of the Rocky Mountains. It was a pretty idyllic childhood actually. My parents are fairly free-spirited, and there weren’ t a ton of restrictions on me as long as I was home by dinner. I was free to just be immersed in this beautiful landscape. The city itself has a weird paradox about it.
Byron Rich
There are vast parks with massive Douglas Firs, then wild grasslands juxtaposed against the contemporary office towers that spring up out of seemingly nowhere. I think that juxtaposition was more important than I really could comprehend as a child. In retrospect I always grappled with the idea of reconciling a vast unknowable wild world with the strict geometry and formalism that humanity likes to impart on it.
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