Andy Cameron is an artist, designer, curator, writer and educator. His focus is interactive media.
Andy co-founded the antirom studio - an influential art and design collective - in London in 1994. In the same year he created the Hypermedia Research Centre at the University of Westminster.
As a partner at antirom he led major interactive projects with commercial clients and arts institutions, won D&AD and BIMA awards for interaction design, and published two critical essays – ‘Dissimulations, the Illusion of Interactivity’ and ‘The Californian Ideology’ (with Richard Barbrook).
He co-founded Romandson Interactive in London 1999. In 2001 he was appointed visiting artist, and subsequently, Creative Director, in interaction design at Fabrica, the Benetton research centre in Italy. At Fabrica he is responsible for the research programme in interactive media as well as guiding Benetton’s online and interactive communication strategy. Andy has organised Fabrica workshops with visiting artists like Yugo Nakamura, Golan Levin, Amy Franchesini and Casey Reas. Alumni of Andy's research programme at Fabrica include Jon Harris (10X10), Ross Phillips (VideoGrid) and Juan Ospina (Flipbook).
In 2002 Andy directed United People, an in-store video installation and online community for Benetton megastores worldwide. Andy has revitalised Benetton's web communication and directed several innovative marketing projects for the company, including an interactive shop window display system and a store based marketing TV channel - UCBTV.
Andy has created interactive installations around the world for museums, art galleries and public spaces. These include Jam at the Barbican in London in 1995, DARE at the Museum of the Moving Image in New York, 2003, I've Been Waiting for You at the Seoul Biennale in 2006, Remote Control at MoCA Shanghai, 2007, and Les Yeux Ouverts at the Pompidou in Paris, 2006, Milan Triennale 2007, the Museum of Art, Shanghai, 2007, the Tokyo Shiodomeitalia in 2008 and We are the time. We are the famous at Sonar, Barcelona 2008.
In 2006 Andy collaborated with Sam Baron, head of product design at Fabrica to create a ground breaking interactive and mixed media installation for Colette in Paris.
Andy continues to write about the politics and aesthetics of interactive and networked media. He published ‘The Art of Experimental Interaction Design’ for IdN, 2004, a major survey of 30 of the most exciting interactive artists from around the world. Andy teaches interaction art and design at IUAV University in Venice where he combines critical theory with tuition in programming. He regularly speaks at at design industry and creative conferences around the world on the impact of interactive technologies on design, marketing and the fine arts.
Andy is currently developing new directions for Benetton's online and store based marketing communication, including Benettonplay, an interactive gaming website which develops the Benetton brand through creative play and user generated contents. He also directs filmit, an innovative internet video project for primary schools in the UK for the Helen Hamlyn Trust.
Andy served as a jury member for the Interactive Arts prize at Ars Electronica, Linz in 2008 and 2009 and is guest curator for the Share festival of interactive art in Turin, 2009. He is a member of the International Academy of Digital Arts & Sciences and a judge for the international Webby awards.
Andy currently has a major interactive installation - Venetian Mirror - at Decode at the V&A in London.
Andy was appointed Executive Director of Fabrica in May 2009. He divides his time between Treviso and London.
-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Andy Cameron biography
Andy Cameron co-edited two issues of Ten8 magazine - Digital Dialogues (Photography in the Age of Cyberspace) with Derek Bishton and Timothy Druckrey, and Critical Decade (Black British Photography in the 1980s)with Stuart Hall, Derek Bishton and David A Bailey.
Andy created the Hypermedia Research Centre at the University of Westminster and went on to co-found the influential antirom design collective in London in 1995. As a partner at antirom he collaborated on major interaction design projects with commercial clients and arts institutions, won D&AD and BIMA awards for interaction design, and published two influential essays – ‘Dissimulations, the Illusion of Interactivity’ and ‘The Californian Ideology’ (with Richard Barbrook).
He co-founded Romandson Interactive Design studio in London 1999. In 2001 he was appointed visiting artist, and subsequently, creative director, in interaction design at Fabrica, the Benetton research centre in the Veneto, North Italy. At Fabrica he is responsible for the research programme in interactive media as well as guiding Benetton’s online and interactive communication policy. In 2002 Andy produced United People, an interactive video installation and online community for Benetton megastores worldwide, and in 2005 Andy created UCBTV, an instore digital signage system for Benetton’s commercial network. Andy has also produced a number of CD-roms and interactive installations for museums, commercial clients and art gallerys, including DARE at the Museum of the Moving Image in New York, 2003, and 5 key installations for the ‘Eyes Wide Open’ exhibition of Fabrica work at the Pompidou in 2006, the Milan Triennale in 2007, Shanghai Art Museum 2007 and the Tokyo Shiodimetalia Centre in 2008. Andy co-curated and exhibited in “I’ve been waiting for you”, a group show of interactive and relational art at the Triad Gallery in Seoul as part of the Seoul Biennale, 2006.
As Interactive Creative Director of Fabrica Andy has built a strong creative team and nurtured and directed a number of up and coming talents like Jon Harris (10x10) and Juan Ospina (Flipbook). In 2006 Andy created Filmit, an innovative video sharing community for junior schools in the UK for OpenFuture and the Helen Hamlyn Trust. He continues to write about the politics and aesthetics of interactive and networked media – most recently with ‘The Art of Experimental Interaction Design’ for IdN, 2004. Andy has taught interactive art and design to postgraduate students at IUAV University in Venice since 2006. Forthcoming commitments include a major redesign of benetton.com, an installation at the Sonar festival in Barcelona in the summer of 2008, keynote presentations at Toca Me in Munich and at OFFF, Lisbon, 2008, and as a jury member for this year’s prestigious Interactive Art prize at Ars Electronica, Linz.
Selected Art and Design
AntiRom CD-ROM of interactive art, 1995
Levi Strauss Interactive in-store Kiosk, 1996 – 1999 (Winner D&AD)
Interactive Video Installation as part of Jam Exhibition of British Design at the Barbican, 1996
Making Things - Interactive Installation for The Science Museum, London, 1997
Guinness Internet Shockwave site - The Local, 1997 – 1998 (Winner British Interactive Media Award)
Choose Fun CD-rom and web site for Levi Strauss, 1997
Easi-breathe interactive installation for Norton Healthcare/Science Museum, 1998
Networked Video Kiosk system for Levi Strauss - online (London/Berlin), 1998
Interactive Shop Window system for Levi Strauss, 1998
Composition Station interactive music installation for Wellcome Wing, Science Museum, 1999
Projection with Buttons interactive sound installation, Noise, Kettles Yard and the Barbican Gallery, 1999-2000
http://www.romandson.com/projects/htm/blue01.htm
Fabrica INOUT CD-rom of interactive sound art, 2002
http://2005to2007.fabrica.it/project.php?id=127
Fabrica Features interactive video installations Lisbon, Bologna, Shanghai, 2002
FOOD CD-rom interactive art, as part of Fabrica’s publication of Food Book, 2003
http://2005to2007.fabrica.it/project.php?id=128
Benetton.com - major strategic redesign of the way Benetton communicates online, 2003
Benettongroup.com – strategy and website for corporate and press communications, 2003
Benetton intranet – internal website for Benetton employees, 2003
Colorsmagazine.com – major redesign of Colors online, 2003
Video bicycle interactive for Nuvolari, Tra Terra e Cielo, Palazzo Te, Mantova, 2003
http://2005to2007.fabrica.it/project.php?id=129
Interactive Shop Window for Benetton Causeway Bay, Hong Kong, 2004
Creative Direction for 10x10 by Jon Harris, 2004
Creative Direction for Flipbook! by Juan Ospina, 2005, subsequently incorporated into Benettonplay.
http://www.benettonplay.com/flipbookdeluxe
Benettontalk.com – redesigned online publication as a corporate blog, 2005
Performance of Remote webcam interactive as part of Surrogate Cities by Heiner Goebbels, La Fenice, Venice, 2005
Filmit – an online digital video system for schools in the UK commissioned by OpenFuture and the Helen Hamlyn Trust, 2006 to present.
http://www.openfuture.org.uk/filmit
Benettonplay.com – designed Benetton youth oriented website for creative play online, 2006.
I’ve Been Waiting for You – co-curated and exhibited in group exhibition at the Triad Gallery Seoul as part of Seoul Biennale, 2006
http://2005to2007.fabrica.it/waitingforyou
Fabrica, Piacere, MoCa Shanghai, 2007
http://2005to2007.fabrica.it/project.php?id=458
We are the time. We are the famous and Tuned Stairway for Fabrica Pompidou exhibition, 2006.
http://2005to2007.fabrica.it/pompidou/exhibition/we_are_time_famous.html
Creative direction for Flipbook, 10x10 and Fabrica Virtuale installations at the Fabrica Pompidou exhibition, 2006.
http://2005to2007.fabrica.it/pompidou/exhibition/
We are the time. We are the famous. Triennale Milano, Museum of Art Shanghai, Shiodome Tokyo, 2007 – 2008.
Selected Writing, Teaching and Conference Presentations
Author (with Richard Barbrook) "The Californian Ideology", Science as Culture 26, Vol 6 part 1 1996 p44-72, translated into more than 20 languages.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Californian_Ideology
Created Digital Media strand on BA Contemporary Media Practice at University Westminster, 1994
Guest Editor “Interactivities” and author "Dissimulations, the Illusion of Interactivity", Millenium Film Journal, New York, Spring 1995
http://www.mfj-online.org/journalPages/MFJ28/MFJ28TOC.HTML
Co-created Hypermedia Research Centre and M.A course in Hypermedia Studies at University Westminster, 1996.
Presented paper on narrative and interactivity –‘Histoires interactive; le reve impossible’ at Imagina, Monte Carlo 1997
http://imagina.ina.fr/Imagina/97/Conf/1.fr.html
Author "The Medium is Messy", Eye magazine London/Amsterdam, Dec 1998
http://www.eyemagazine.com/opinion.php?id=21&oid=301
Presented paper on interaction design at Scope, Vienna, 1999
Presented paper on interaction design at Numer 02 Pompidou Centre Paris, 2002
http://www.numer.org/2002/francais/numer02/rencontres/fiches-intervenants/andy.html
Presentation of Fabrica at IDN My Favourite Conference, Hong Kong Convention Centre, 2002
http://www.shift.jp.org/en/archives/2002/11/idn_my_favourite_conference.html
Presentation of Fabrica at IDN My Favourite Conference, Singapore, 2004
Edited and wrote The Art of Experimental Interaction Design, a major survey of the state of interactive art and design, IdN, 2004
"Dinner with Myron Or: Rereading Artificial Reality 2: Reflections on Interface and Art". In aRt&D: Research and Development in Art, 2005
Presentation to BBH agency Global Board Meeting on the future of interactive marketing, Singapore, 2006
Created and taught Post Graduate Module in Ludic Design - Illuminotechnica at IUAV, Venice University, School of Design, 2006 to present.
Interview at http://www.we-make-money-not-art.com/archives/008899.php
September 2006
Awards
2 D&AD Silver Pencils 1996-1997 for Best Interactive Kiosk for Levi-Strauss
BIMA Gold(British Interactive Media Association) for Best Web Site for Guinness’s "The Local" shockwave version, 1998
FlashForward Sound Award for Colors Magazine Online 2002