Personal

Artist (amongst many) & Concept (with Saeed Taji Farouky and Sarah Jane Pell), 2011. Arctic Circle.
Film: "There Will Be Some Who Will Not Fear Even That Void"
An ecological film for the 21st century. It is a film about the future of our planet that will turn the traditional environmental documentary on its head. Rather than looking at our influence on the environment, ...Even That Void examines the environment's influence on us - emotionally, psychologically and ethically. The film suggests that the limits to exploring and dominating nature are no longer technological, but moral. We now have the technology to "conquer" virtually any part of the planet if we want to - the question is no longer "can we" but "should we"?
The Jury of the 2013 Tromsø International Film Festival awarded ...Even That Void the prestigious Tromsø Palm for "Best Film From The North", calling it "an excellent example of artistic ambition, brilliant sound design and unconventional narrative. It offers a subtle and also personal approach to the essential questions of mankind."
"Highly original...I have high expectations for ...Even That Void." Mikael Opstrup - Head of Stories, European Documentary Network
"Daring, original and stunning..." Elizabeth Radshaw - Director, Hot Docs Forum & Market
"A wonderful re-invention of the eco genre...gives audiences a new vision and, just maybe, a new understanding of the Arctic wilderness." Simon Marriott, Jerwood Prize-winning artist
"...Even That Void looks gorgeous and will resonate with many at a time when the official notion of "environmentalism" as an "ism" is no longer working...The film's imagined future is dead on and I look forward to seeing what I'm sure will be a brilliant film." Maude Barlow - Environmentalist, best-selling author and Chair of Council of Canadians
Link: Even That Void

Crew Member, Summer 2014.
Atlantica Undeasea Habitat. Atlantic Sea floor.
Founded by Dennis Chamberland, Aquanaut and seven-time Mission Commander for NASA underwater missions. I will be joining the rest of the Atlantica crew in an attempt to create the world's first permanent underwater colony. I will use this opportunity to continue my investigations into the development of novel human augmentation technologies.

Link: Atlantica

Technical Director. 2009.
With Marisa Jahn. Dushanbe, Tajikistan.
A culturally engaged art initiative.
"Many Tajiks are aware that for those cell phone users who have a plan with the Central Asian telecommunications company named Babilon, the first ten seconds of any phone call are free. To take advantage of this freebee, strategic users have developed a new art form - the ten second conversation.
Inspired by this contemporary cultural form and the Tajik tradition of 2-verse poetry (or "Bayt"), Marisa Jahn in collaboration with Connor Dickie, the Sogd Education and Culture Center, CEC Artslink, and Bactria are initiating a competition for the best ten second poems. You are invited to participate; newcomers to Tajik poetry are invited to try their hand."
In Canada and the States we have various cell phone services that record incoming calls and parse them into .mp3 files. This service is not available in Tajikistan. Further, we wanted the audio files to be instantly published to the web. To solve these problems, I built a robot that automatically answered the phone when someone called the line, record the file, reduce the file size, and posted it to the web. Since we did not know whether we would be able to access the call log for the duration of the project, I created an alternate automated system in which a computer automatically took a photo of the phone that is positioned directly in front of the screen's camera; the pic allowed us to correlate the audio file to the phone number based on the time the file was created.
Media: link (10sec1bayt.com), .pdf (poster), link (submitted poem recordings), video (phone-answering-blogging robot in action), video (participants in action), image (seminar on Canada at Bactria), image (developing the robot in Dushanbe), video (video/poem montage)

Editor, Sound, Developer. 2009.
With Steve Mann and Chris Aimone. Toronto, Canada.
An ultra-high-resolution (photo-stitched) time-lapse movie showing the construction of the Art Gallery of Ontario's recent Frank Gehry designed expansion. This video begins a week before the construction started, and ends having shown the long lines at the re-opening gala. Audio is a composite of Toronto sounds that have been manipulated based on feedback from a custom computer-vision audio filter.

Media: link (massivechange.ca), video (medium-resolution), image (cv based audio-filter), link (popular Toronto cultural blog coverage)

Background Performer. Since 2008.
Toronto, Canada
I was "discovered" by Canadian pop-singer Nikki Awesome and was asked to be in her debut music video. Since then I have signed with BCast casting agency in Toronto and have appeared as a background performer in a number of Canadian produced movies and television shows.
video (Music video)

Cast in debut iPhone commercial. 2007.
Boston, MA.
I was "discovered" by casting agents acting on behalf of Apple Inc. and TWA Worldwide and was asked to appear as a user in the debut television ad campaign for the iPhone.
To my great misfortune, limitations of the J-1 visa (student) made it impossible for me to work outside of MIT. As a result I was unable to appear in the ad.
image (signed NDA with Apple Inc. and TWA Worldwide)

Animator, Producer, Editor. 2004.
With Mark Hancock. Kingston, Canada.
We created this animation using a head scan of Mark which we imported into the "FRED Attentive Agent System" (Vertegaal et. al.), and animated in realtime using sound energy for the mouth and an Ascension "Flock of Birds" motion-capture system for head orientation. The computer generated head is composited into a motion background that was created using traditional lighting, miniature model and camera tricks.
This video was featured as "animation of the day" on the Canadian Broadcasting Corporation's (CBC) ZeD.tv.ca website - the web counterpart to the nationally broadcast television show ZeD TV.
Media: video

Producer. 2001.
With Maayke Schurer. Malaga, Spain & Tangiers, Morocco.
This is a short documentary that depicts the efforts and experiences of those people who make the attempt to escape poverty and war in Africa by illegally immigrating into Europe via Spain. Shot over the course of a week we embedded ourselves into the realm of the illegal immigrant. We lived as they lived and assisted with their efforts to bring attention to their story.
Media: video

Producer, Interviewer. 1999.
With Lenny Epstein. Kingston, Canada.
The Raelians are an internationally known space/sex/cloning cult. They are perhaps best known for their claim in 2002 that they successfully delivered a full-term human clone with help from their close links to Clonaid Inc., the controversial company helmed by a Raelian Bishop.
Like most cults they are very secretive and protective of their image and as such rarely permit outside media access to their operations. Despite this I was able to successfully negotiate a filming opportunity and created this short documentary.
This video was produced in the first year I was elected Producer (a student media-government position) of the Queen's University (Kingston) broadcast television show "Studio Q".
Media: video

Creator. July, 1996.
My ASCII '.sig' file was selected from somewhere on USENET and published by Wired Magazine's (issue 4.06) "Net Surf" section. The Net Surf section of Wired Magazine was like a printed blog where editorial staff selected and published interesting discoveries, curios, and memes that were found online during the past month.
Media: image (scan of actual Wired Magazine), image (a .gif of the original ASCII layout), link (Wired Magazine online archive @ bottom of page. Unfortunately they are not using a monospaced font for the online edition, rendering the artwork unintelligible)

	Artist (amongst many) & Concept (with Saeed Taji Farouky and Sarah Jane Pell), 2011. Arctic Circle. Film: "There Will Be Some Who Will Not Fear Even That Void" An ecological film for the 21st century. It is a film about the future of our planet that will turn the traditional environmental documentary on its head. Rather than looking at our influence on the environment, ...Even That Void examines the environment's influence on us - emotionally, psychologically and ethically. The film suggests that the limits to exploring and dominating nature are no longer technological, but moral. We now have the technology to "conquer" virtually any part of the planet if we want to - the question is no longer "can we" but "should we"? The Jury of the 2013 Tromsø International Film Festival awarded ...Even That Void the prestigious Tromsø Palm for "*Best Film From The North", calling it "an excellent example of artistic ambition, brilliant sound design and unconventional narrative. It offers a subtle and also personal approach to the essential questions of mankind." "Highly original...I have high expectations for ...Even That Void." Mikael Opstrup - Head of Stories, European Documentary Network "Daring, original and stunning..." Elizabeth Radshaw - Director, Hot Docs Forum & Market "A wonderful re-invention of the eco genre...gives audiences a new vision and, just maybe, a new understanding of the Arctic wilderness.*" Simon Marriott, Jerwood Prize-winning artist "...Even That Void looks gorgeous and will resonate with many at a time when the official notion of "environmentalism" as an "ism" is no longer working...The film's imagined future is dead on and I look forward to seeing what I'm sure will be a brilliant film." Maude Barlow - Environmentalist, best-selling author and Chair of Council of Canadians Link: Even That Void
	Crew Member, Summer 2014. Atlantica Undeasea Habitat. Atlantic Sea floor. Founded by Dennis Chamberland, Aquanaut and seven-time Mission Commander for NASA underwater missions. I will be joining the rest of the Atlantica crew in an attempt to create the world's first permanent underwater colony. I will use this opportunity to continue my investigations into the development of novel human augmentation technologies. Link: Atlantica
	Technical Director. 2009. With Marisa Jahn. Dushanbe, Tajikistan. A culturally engaged art initiative. "Many Tajiks are aware that for those cell phone users who have a plan with the Central Asian telecommunications company named Babilon, the first ten seconds of any phone call are free. To take advantage of this freebee, strategic users have developed a new art form - the ten second conversation. Inspired by this contemporary cultural form and the Tajik tradition of 2-verse poetry (or "Bayt"), Marisa Jahn in collaboration with Connor Dickie, the Sogd Education and Culture Center, CEC Artslink, and Bactria are initiating a competition for the best ten second poems. You are invited to participate; newcomers to Tajik poetry are invited to try their hand." In Canada and the States we have various cell phone services that record incoming calls and parse them into .mp3 files. This service is not available in Tajikistan. Further, we wanted the audio files to be instantly published to the web. To solve these problems, I built a robot that automatically answered the phone when someone called the line, record the file, reduce the file size, and posted it to the web. Since we did not know whether we would be able to access the call log for the duration of the project, I created an alternate automated system in which a computer automatically took a photo of the phone that is positioned directly in front of the screen's camera; the pic allowed us to correlate the audio file to the phone number based on the time the file was created. Media: link (10sec1bayt.com), .pdf (poster), link (submitted poem recordings), video (phone-answering-blogging robot in action), video (participants in action), image (seminar on Canada at Bactria), image (developing the robot in Dushanbe), video (video/poem montage)
	Editor, Sound, Developer. 2009. With Steve Mann and Chris Aimone. Toronto, Canada. An ultra-high-resolution (photo-stitched) time-lapse movie showing the construction of the Art Gallery of Ontario's recent Frank Gehry designed expansion. This video begins a week before the construction started, and ends having shown the long lines at the re-opening gala. Audio is a composite of Toronto sounds that have been manipulated based on feedback from a custom computer-vision audio filter. Media: link (massivechange.ca), video (medium-resolution), image (cv based audio-filter), link (popular Toronto cultural blog coverage)
	Background Performer. Since 2008. Toronto, Canada I was "discovered" by Canadian pop-singer Nikki Awesome and was asked to be in her debut music video. Since then I have signed with BCast casting agency in Toronto and have appeared as a background performer in a number of Canadian produced movies and television shows. video (Music video)
	Cast in debut iPhone commercial. 2007. Boston, MA. I was "discovered" by casting agents acting on behalf of Apple Inc. and TWA Worldwide and was asked to appear as a user in the debut television ad campaign for the iPhone. To my great misfortune, limitations of the J-1 visa (student) made it impossible for me to work outside of MIT. As a result I was unable to appear in the ad. image (signed NDA with Apple Inc. and TWA Worldwide)
	Animator, Producer, Editor. 2004. With Mark Hancock. Kingston, Canada. We created this animation using a head scan of Mark which we imported into the "FRED Attentive Agent System" (Vertegaal et. al.), and animated in realtime using sound energy for the mouth and an Ascension "Flock of Birds" motion-capture system for head orientation. The computer generated head is composited into a motion background that was created using traditional lighting, miniature model and camera tricks. This video was featured as "animation of the day" on the Canadian Broadcasting Corporation's (CBC) ZeD.tv.ca website - the web counterpart to the nationally broadcast television show ZeD TV. Media: video
	Producer. 2001. With Maayke Schurer. Malaga, Spain & Tangiers, Morocco. This is a short documentary that depicts the efforts and experiences of those people who make the attempt to escape poverty and war in Africa by illegally immigrating into Europe via Spain. Shot over the course of a week we embedded ourselves into the realm of the illegal immigrant. We lived as they lived and assisted with their efforts to bring attention to their story. Media: video
	Producer, Interviewer. 1999. With Lenny Epstein. Kingston, Canada. The Raelians are an internationally known space/sex/cloning cult. They are perhaps best known for their claim in 2002 that they successfully delivered a full-term human clone with help from their close links to Clonaid Inc., the controversial company helmed by a Raelian Bishop. Like most cults they are very secretive and protective of their image and as such rarely permit outside media access to their operations. Despite this I was able to successfully negotiate a filming opportunity and created this short documentary. This video was produced in the first year I was elected Producer (a student media-government position) of the Queen's University (Kingston) broadcast television show "Studio Q". Media: video
	Creator. July, 1996. My ASCII '.sig' file was selected from somewhere on USENET and published by Wired Magazine's (issue 4.06) "Net Surf" section. The Net Surf section of Wired Magazine was like a printed blog where editorial staff selected and published interesting discoveries, curios, and memes that were found online during the past month. Media: image (scan of actual Wired Magazine), image (a .gif of the original ASCII layout), link (Wired Magazine online archive @ bottom of page. Unfortunately they are not using a monospaced font for the online edition, rendering the artwork unintelligible)