Prof. Eduardo Kac

Eduardo Kac is internationally recognized for his interactive net installations and his bio art. A pioneer of telecommunications art in the pre-Web '80s, Eduardo Kac (pronounced "Katz") emerged in the early '90s with his radical telepresence and biotelematic works. His visionary combination of robotics and networking explores the fluidity of subject positions in the post-digital world. His work deals with issues that range from the mythopoetics of online experience (Uirapuru) to the cultural impact of biotechnology (Genesis); from the changing condition of memory in the digital age (Time Capsule) to distributed collective agency (Teleporting an Unknown State); from the problematic notion of the "exotic" (Rara Avis) to the creation of life and evolution (GFP Bunny).

At the dawn of the twenty-first century Kac shocked the world with his "transgenic art"--first with a groundbreaking installation entitled Genesis (1999), which included an "artist's gene" he invented, and then with his fluorescent rabbit called Alba (2000). Kac’s work has been exhibited internationally at venues such as Exit Art and NY Media Arts Center, New York; OK Contemporary Art Center, Linz, Austria; InterCommunication Center (ICC), Tokyo; Chicago Art Fair and Julia Friedman Gallery, Chicago; and Museum ofModern Art, Rio de Janeiro. Kac's work has been showcased at the 1st Yokohama Triennial, Japan, 49th International Venice Biennale, Italy, 1st Mercosul Biennial, Brazil, and 4th Saint Petersburg Biennial, Russia.

His work is part of the permanent collection of the Museum of Modern Art in New York, Joan Flasch Artists' Book Collection in Chicago, and the Museum of Modern Art in Rio de Janeiro, among others. Kac's work has been featured both in contemporary art publications (Flash Art, Artforum, ARTnews, Kunstforum, Tema Celeste, Artpress, NY Arts Magazine) and in the mass media (ABC, BBC, PBS, Le Monde, Boston Globe, Washington Post, Chicago Tribune, New York Times).

The recipient of many awards, Kac lectures and publishes worlwide. His work is documented on the Web in eight languages: www.ekac.org. Eduardo Kac is a Ph.D. research fellow at the Centre for Advanced Inquiry in Interactive Arts (CAiiA) at the University of Wales, Newport, United Kingdom. He is an Associate Professor of Art and Technology at the School of the Art Institute of Chicago. Eduardo Kac is represented by Julia Friedman Gallery, Chicago.