John Crawford
Professor, Intermedia Arts, Dance
Claire Trevor School of the Arts
Claire Trevor School of the Arts
University of California, Irvine
2036 CAC
Mail Code: 2775
Irvine, CA 92697
2036 CAC
Mail Code: 2775
Irvine, CA 92697
Research Interests
intermedia arts, emergent media, digital performance, motion computing, screendance
Research Abstract
My work as researcher and creator integrates socially engaged artmaking with emergent media and connected design, dedicated to creating compelling interactive experiences and building upon the emerging technologies of the 21st century.
Socially engaged artmaking: In collaboration with communities, I make art that grapples with environmental, cultural and political issues, considering both immediate relevance and future potential for societal change.
Emergent media: I engage with new forms of expression enabled by emerging technologies, perhaps turning these media in directions not foreseen by their creators, opening new pathways for creative thinking.
Connected design: I employ connected, responsible methods based on empathy, ideation, intuition and iteration to guide research and development toward solutions based on people's lived experience and actual needs.
My current work is dedicated to creating diverse, collaborative environments where people engage with challenging ideas in tangible, sensorial and experiential ways. These projects aim to engage the next generation of technology-savvy art makers, storytellers and designers, enabling and inspiring them as changemakers.
Socially engaged artmaking: In collaboration with communities, I make art that grapples with environmental, cultural and political issues, considering both immediate relevance and future potential for societal change.
Emergent media: I engage with new forms of expression enabled by emerging technologies, perhaps turning these media in directions not foreseen by their creators, opening new pathways for creative thinking.
Connected design: I employ connected, responsible methods based on empathy, ideation, intuition and iteration to guide research and development toward solutions based on people's lived experience and actual needs.
My current work is dedicated to creating diverse, collaborative environments where people engage with challenging ideas in tangible, sensorial and experiential ways. These projects aim to engage the next generation of technology-savvy art makers, storytellers and designers, enabling and inspiring them as changemakers.
Short Biography
John Crawford is an intermedia artist, performance director and systems designer. Engaging directly with the emerging technologies of our time, his work creates rich immersive environments and compelling interactive experiences through embodied interaction. His artistic projects are performed in theatres, exhibited in galleries and presented as interactive installations, featuring creative exploration of environmentalism, climate justice and community engagement. His work investigates how the human desire to transform our environment is unleashing destructive forces that endanger the world and everything in it, including ourselves.
He is Professor of Intermedia Arts in the Dance Department at University of California, Irvine, where he directs the Embodied Media Research Group, featuring a range of projects, courses and collaboratories that integrate socially engaged artmaking with emergent media and connected design. At UCI he was Associate Dean in the Claire Trevor School of the Arts and has served in many other leadership roles. He is a strong advocate for the university's initiatives to expand transdisciplinary arts-based creativity, including the campus-wide Digital Arts Minor program which he directed for nine years.
Active as an intermedia artist since 1992, Crawford has shown his work across North America and in Asia, Europe and South America, and frequently has been a visiting artist and researcher at universities and other venues in the United States, Europe, China, Japan and India. He is a regular participant in transdisciplinary research projects connecting performing arts and emergent media with computer science, engineering, and medicine.
Prior to working as a professor, he led a dual life, alternating between parallel vocations: theatre artist and software developer. As a theatre director and actor in the 1970s, he studied with Sanford Meisner at the Neighborhood Playhouse in New York, worked with theatre companies including Factory Theatre Lab and Theatre Passe Muraille, and directed an experimental performance group in Vancouver, Canada. As a software designer and research manager in the 1980s and 1990s, his credits included projects for Adobe, Microsoft and many other companies.
He is Professor of Intermedia Arts in the Dance Department at University of California, Irvine, where he directs the Embodied Media Research Group, featuring a range of projects, courses and collaboratories that integrate socially engaged artmaking with emergent media and connected design. At UCI he was Associate Dean in the Claire Trevor School of the Arts and has served in many other leadership roles. He is a strong advocate for the university's initiatives to expand transdisciplinary arts-based creativity, including the campus-wide Digital Arts Minor program which he directed for nine years.
Active as an intermedia artist since 1992, Crawford has shown his work across North America and in Asia, Europe and South America, and frequently has been a visiting artist and researcher at universities and other venues in the United States, Europe, China, Japan and India. He is a regular participant in transdisciplinary research projects connecting performing arts and emergent media with computer science, engineering, and medicine.
Prior to working as a professor, he led a dual life, alternating between parallel vocations: theatre artist and software developer. As a theatre director and actor in the 1970s, he studied with Sanford Meisner at the Neighborhood Playhouse in New York, worked with theatre companies including Factory Theatre Lab and Theatre Passe Muraille, and directed an experimental performance group in Vancouver, Canada. As a software designer and research manager in the 1980s and 1990s, his credits included projects for Adobe, Microsoft and many other companies.
Link to this profile
https://faculty.uci.edu/profile/?facultyId=7231
https://faculty.uci.edu/profile/?facultyId=7231
Last updated
02/24/2024
02/24/2024