Northwestern Prof Brings Expertise, Vision and Commitment to New Post at Columbia College Chicago
Artist and educator Annette Barbier has been named chair of the college's newly organized Department of Interactive Arts and Media announced President Warrick L. Carter. The appointment came after a nation-wide search. She joins the arts and media college directly from her post on the faculty of Northwestern University.
Barbier has been exploring and teaching the expressive possibilities of new media – computer animation, virtual interactive worlds and electronic installation – since the 1980s. Her work examines the themes of home, domesticity, gender and the ways in which identity is bound up in environment. Barbier and her husband and artistic collaborator Drew Browning, who teaches at the University of Illinois at Chicago, have recently been nominated for a 2006 Rockefeller New Media Fellowship. The couple lives at the edge of a forest preserve and Barbier takes inspiration from a close connection to the natural environment.
“From both the artistic and educational perspectives, the fields of new media and interactive technology are wide open. They are the future and the possibilities are endless,” says Barbier. “The reorganization, in effect the re-launching, of these programs at Columbia comes at a perfect time. Whether we are talking about web design, developing video gaming for education or entertainment, or using the technologies to create art that engages and challenges the audience, Columbia will be providing education that keeps our graduates at the cutting edge of the interaction of culture and technology. And, the wonderful diversity of Columbia’s student body will be significant in the development of a broader range of interactive arts and games than is currently available. I look forward to bringing my vision and passion to these endeavors.”
“Barbier’s educational philosophy of providing students with the theoretical and technical foundation of their art/communications form, and then encouraging them to develop their own strengths, vision and personal aesthetic, is a perfect fit for Columbia,” says Doreen Bartoni, dean of the School of Media Arts. “Her own aesthetic challenges the perceived notions of what New Media is all about and we look forward to her leadership as we grow the department.”
Annette Barbier began her work in New Media during her undergraduate days at the University of Illinois Chicago where, as an assistant in the department of art and design, she programmed analog computer and special effects systems for faculty video/sculpture research projects. Before studying at UIC she completed a Certificate in French Language at the Sorbonne, completing her BA at UIC with honors, in 1974.
In 1977 she received her MFA from the School of the Art Institute in Chicago and began her career in video documentary and education working with community groups, high school students and local arts groups in venues such as the Center for New Television, Videopolis and the Community Television Network.
She joined the faculty at Northwestern in 1982 and held the position of Associate Professor, Department of Radio/TV/Film since 1989, including two years as department chair. For the past six years she has also served as the Director of Northwestern’s Center for Art and Technology.
Barbier’s work has been widely exhibited, both nationally and internationally, and includes exhibitions at the International Digital Media and Arts Association, National Museum of Women in the Arts, Museum of Science and Industry in Chicago, International Society of Electronic Artists in Paris and the Associacao Internacional Da Semiotica Visual in Sao Paulo, Brazil. Her work is in the permanent collections of the Cornell University Library, the Milwaukee Art Museum, the State of Illinois Gallery, the Chicago Public Library, and the U.S. Consular Library in Madras, India, to name a few.
She has twice been published in the Leonardo Electronic Almanac, as well as several other magazines, newspapers and websites. Reviews of Barbier's work have appeared nationally in publications including the Journal of Film and Video, New Art Examiner, LA Weekly, The Village Voice, the Chicago Tribune and Chicago Reader.
Barbier has been interviewed and her work excerpted for various broadcasts on WTTW-Chicago, Channel 11, including "Image Union" and "Arts Across Illinois." She has been the recipient of numerous Illinois Arts Council Fellowship awards, and was recently nominated for a Rockefeller New Media Art Fellowship. Barbier is also an Emeritus Trustee of the University Film and Video Association, of which she was President in 1996-1997.
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