Artist Statement, Elliot Anderson
During the 1980’s Anderson worked as a computer graphics engineer in the field of flight simulation. His expertise as a software engineer and the concepts of interactivity from flight simulation to create dynamic environments using computers, video and sound. His work is an investigation of intertwining and interaction with the computer, the construction of an environment from computer information and an unfolding of time and through interaction with computer algorithms.
Anderson’s work encompasses a wide range of media including video, sound, computer interaction, animation, Augmented Reality and digital imaging. His work includes interactive computer sculptures and installation, public art, interactive video for performance, and digital photography.
Anderson incorporates computer technologies to engage questions about land use, social interventions into the environment and community dialog. His work Silicon Monuments uses augmented reality software on hand-held devices to create a site-specific, multimedia documentary about toxic Superfund sites in Silicon Valley. His current work Leather Memoir is a site-based Augmented Reality documentary in Ringold Alley South of Market. The work tells the history of the LGBTQ Leather community at places where this history unfolded.
Anderson is co-director with Dee Hibert-Jones of the UCSC Social Practice Arts Research Center (SPARC). As director he has formed research and practice collaborations with artists and collectives. He is a member of the Berkeley Art Center Curatorial Board.
Andersonons work has been exhibited and performed widely in Europe, Asia, Australia, and New Zealand. Venues include the Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts in Washington, DC, the Walt Disney Concert Hall in Los Angeles, the Princeton University Art Museum, the Los Angeles County Museum of Art. and the M.H. de Young Museum (Average Landscapes). His work includes a commissioned large-scale photographic diptych that is a centerpiece for the U.S. Embassy in Lusaka, Zambia.