Short Bio (300 words or 600 words)

EDUARDO KAC

Chronological Biography

1962 Birth
1980

Creates a performance group focused on public interventions and performs regularly on beaches, squares, theaters, television.
Begins "Pornograms", series of works that merge poetry, photography, performance and body politics.

1981

Begins to wear a pink mini-skirt both to carry out daily chores and in performances.
Creates object-poems, sticker-poems, t-shirt-poems and other non-traditional forms.
Publishes two poetry books.

1982

Conclusion of performance series with intervention and demonstration on Ipanema beach, Rio de Janeiro.
Conclusion of "Pornograms".
Expands experimentation with multiple media and processes, including graffiti, photography, visual poetry, artist's book, rubber stamps, photocopiers, clothing, billboards.
Creates his first digital poem "No!".

1983 Invention of Holopoetry; creation of first holopoem
Publication of artist's book "Escracho", in which Kac includes performance documentation, pornograms, and digital poetry, among other works by him as well as other artists and writers.
1984

Participates in the landmark exhibition "Como Vai Você, Geração 80?", at Escola de Artes Visuais do Parque Lage, Rio de Janeiro.
Installs a digital poetry permanent display at Centro Cultural Cândido Mendes, Rio de Janeiro. Inaugurates the digital poetry permanent display with his digital poem "No!".

1985 First Holopoetry solo show, at Museum of Image and Sound, São Paulo
Presents online pieces in the Brazilian digital network (videotext aka minitel, a precursor of the Internet)
Acquisition Award at the National Salon of Fine Arts, Museum of Modern Art, Rio de Janeiro
Finishes his studies in communications theory, linguistics, philosophy and semiotics at Rio's Catholic University
Shows holopoetry in a group exhibition at The School of The Art Institute of Chicago.
1986 Organizes the group show "Brasil High Tech" at the Galeria Centro Empresarial Rio, Rio de Janeiro.
First telepresence work with wireless radio-controlled robot shown at "Brasil High Tech" ; participants could converse with the public through the body of the mobile robot.
Resident Artist at the Museum of Holography, New York.
1987 Works with fax, televison, Slow Scan TV (aka videophone).
1988 Holopoetry solo show at Funarte, Rio de Janeiro.
Studies philosophy and contemporary theory at Universidade Federal, Rio de Janeiro.
1989 Moves to Chicago.
Creates the Ornitorrinco telepresence project (with Ed Bennett).
1990 First international Ornitorrinco event, linking Chicago and Rio de Janeiro.
Solo show, Museum of Holography, New York.
Master of Fine Arts, The School of The Art Institute of Chicago, Chicago.
1992 "Ornitorrinco in Copacabana", shown at Siggraph Art Show, Chicago.
1993 "Ornitorrinco on the Moon", shown at Künstlerhaus, Graz, Austria, linking Chicago to Graz.
1994 First wireless telerobotic artwork on the Internet: "Ornitorrinco in Eden", shown online and simultaneously in galleries in Chicago, Lexington (KY), and Seattle.
First bio artwork: "Essay Concerning Human Understanding" (a telecommunications piece conceived for a bird and plant, not humans).
1995 "Escracho" enters the collection of the Museum of Modern Art, New York.
Develops the "Telepresence Garment".
1996 "Ornitorrinco, the Webot, travels around the world in eighty nanoseconds going from Turkey to Peru and back", shown on the Internet and at Otso Gallery, in Espoo, Finland.
"Ornitorrinco in the Sahara", shown at St. Petersburg Biennale, in Russia, linking Chicago and St. Petersburg.
"Rara Avis" premieres on the Internet and at Nexus Contemporary Art Center, Atlanta.
"Teleporting An Unknown State" premieres on the Internet and at the Contemporary Art Center, New Orleans.
Kac's anthology "New Media Poetry" is published as a special issue of the journal Visible Language.
1997

"A-positive" (with Ed Bennett) premieres at Gallery 2, Chicago.
"Time Capsule" is commissioned and subsequently censored by Itaú Cultural Center, São Paulo, generating media controversy.
"Time Capsule" is presented live on televison, as a live webcast, and at Casa das Rosas, a cultural center in São Paulo. It is the first microchip implant tracked online. The international press debates its social and cultural implications.

1998 First proposes transgenic art.
Publishes "Transgenic Art" text in Leonardo Electronic Almanac proposing the creation of a green fluorescent dog and its social integration.
"Teleporting An Unknown State - Web Version" premieres on the Internet and at Kibla Art Gallery, Maribor, Slovenia.
1999 "Darker Than Night" is shown in a bat cave at the Rotterdam Zoo, as part of the exhibition "Fables of a Technological Era".
First transgenic artwork: "Genesis" premieres at Ars Electronica, Linz, Austria, and on the Internet.
Presents and discusses transgenic art in a lecture at Ars Electronica, generating controversy with the audience and in the international press.
"Uirapuru" premieres at ICC Biennial, InterCommunication Center, Tokyo, and on the Internet. "Uirapuru" receives an award at the ICC Biennial.
2000

Alba, the green fluorescent rabbit, is born in Jouy-en-Josas, France, as part of the work "GFP Bunny".
"GFP Bunny" presented publicly at Grenier à Sel, in Avignon, in the context of the Avignon Numerique festival.
"GFP Bunny" is censored by the lab where Alba, the green bunny, was born, thus generating media controversy.
Front page article on "GFP Bunny" in the "Boston Globe" starts international press chain reaction and provokes global debates on the social presence of genetically engineered organisms and their cultural implications.
"Genesis" is shown at Itau Cultural Center, São Paulo
Fellowship (Phase I) at Institute for Studies in the Arts, Arizona State University, Tempe, to develop "The Eighth Day"
"Genesis" is shown at Exit Art, New York
The book "Eduardo Kac: Telepresence, Biotelematics, Transgenic Art" is published.

2001 Solo exhibition at Julia Friedman Gallery, Chicago
"Teleporting an Unknown State" is shown as part of the travelling exhibition "Telematic Connections: The Virtual Embrace", organized by Independent Curators International (ICI), New York, and curated by Steve Dietz.
Fellowship (Phase II) at Institute for Studies in the Arts, Arizona State University, Tempe, to exhibit "The Eighth Day"
"The Eighth Day" is shown Arizona State University, Tempe
"Genesis" is shown at the Yokohama Triennial, Japan
"Genesis" is shown at the Fundación Telefonica, Madrid
"Free Alba!" photo series shown at Kaohsiung Museum of Fine Arts, Taiwan
2002 "Free Alba!", solo exhibition at Julia Friedman Gallery, Chicago
"Genesis" is shown at Henry Art Gallery, Seattle
"Genesis" is shown at Maison Européenne de la Photographie, Paris
2003

Ronald Feldman Fine Arts, New York, "American Dream: A Survey" ("Free Alba!" photographs, t-shirts, "It's not easy being green!" artist's book)
Lieu Unique, "L'Art Biotech", Nantes, France ("Free Alba!" photographs,, "Transcription Jewels", "The Eighth Day" video", "Free Alba!" posters)
Public art commission for the University of Minnesota, MN
The book "The Eighth Day: The Transgenic Art of Eduardo Kac" is published
Begins development of "Natural History of the Enigma" (Edunia)

2004 "Move 36" is shown at Gwangju Biennale, Korea, and at XXVI Bienal de São Paulo, Brazil
"Rabbit Remix" solo exhibition at Laura Marsiaj Arte Contemporânea, Rio de Janeiro
Kac's book "Luz & Letra : Ensaios de arte, literatura e comunicação [Light & Letter. Essays in art, literature and communication]" is published by Editora Contra Capa, Rio de Janeiro
2005 "Move 36" solo exhibition at Galerie Biche de Bere, Paris
Kac's book "Telepresence and Bio Art: Networking Humans, Rabbits, and Robots" is published by University of Michigan Press, Ann Arbor
The book "Eduardo Kac : Move 36", edited by Elena Giulia Rossi, is published by Filigranes Éditions, Paris (French/English)
2006 Solo show at ARCO 2006, Madrid, with Black Box Gallery, Copenhagen
"Time Capsule" receives the ARCO/BEEP Acquisition Award at ARCO 2006, Madrid
Solo exhibition at Fundación Telefónica, Buenos Aires
Solo show at Scope art fair, New York, with Ashley Gallery, Philadelphia
Solo show at SLICK art fair, Paris, with Ashley Gallery, Philadelphia
Participation in the Singapore Biennial, Singapore, with "Specimen of Secrecy about Marvelous Discoveries"
Lives and works in Paris between 2006 and 2007
2007

Mid-career survey at Instituto Valenciano de Arte Moderno (IVAM), Valencia, Spain, with catalogue [curator: Angel Kalenberg]; "Time Capsule" online event during the opening celebrates 10th anniversary of microchip implant
"Genesis" and "Telepresence Garment" accessed into IVAM's permanent collection.
"Specimen of Secrecy about Marvelous Discoveries" : solo show at Fringe Exhibitions, Los Angeles
Solo show at ARCO 2007 with Laura Marsiaj Gallery
As the first poet-in-residence at the French Poetry Biennial, Kac holds the exhibition "Hodibis Potax," a survey that includes holopoems, digital poems, and biopoems.
Kac's book "Hodibis Potax," collecting Kac's experimental poetry, is published by Action Poétique (France) and Kibla (Slovenia) in English and French
Kac's book "Signs of Life: Bio Art and Beyond", is published by MIT Press
Kac's book "Media Poetry: an International Anthology" (2nd edition; 1st edition 1996), is published by Intellect, Bristol, UK
Kac's book "Life Extreme," in collaboration with Avital Ronell, is published by Dis Voir, Paris, as separate English and French editions
The monograph "L'art à l'ère des biotechnologies: La question du vivant dans l'art transgénique d'Eduardo Kac" [Art in the Biotech Age: The Transgenic Art of Eduardo Kac], by Mathieu Noury, is published by Le Manuscrit, Paris.

2008 Edunia germinates (after five years of development)
Kac’s permanent public sculpture “Natural History of the Enigma” is installed in St. Paul, Minnesota (commissioned by the University of Minnesota)
Visiting Artist at Le Fresnoy, France
Publication of the DVD "Eduardo Kac: Holopoèmes, Poèmes minitel, poèmes numériques, Biopoèmes:, Son@rt, Paris
2009

"Natural History of the Enigma", solo show at the Weisman Art Museum, Minneapolis
"Natural History of the Enigma" prints and seedpacks containing Edunia seeds accessed into Weisman Art Museum permanent collection.
"Natural History of the Enigma" receives the 2009 Golden Nica Award (Hybrid Art category), the highest prize awarded by Ars Electronica, the most prestigious award in the field of media arts
Solo show at Center for Contemporary Art, Gdansk, Poland, "Lagoglyphs : The Bunny Variations"
Solo show at Black Box Gallery, Linz, Austria,"Lagoglyphs : The Bunny Variations"
"Genesis" is shown at Espace Sextius, during the Seconde Nature Festival, in Aix-en-Provence, France, celebrating ten years of non-stop exhibition of this work
Visiting Artist at Le Fresnoy, France; Kac's commission [the biotope entitled "Doohickey"] is exhibited in the show "Panorama".

2010

"Pornograms", solo Show at Laura Marsiaj Arte Contemporânea, Rio de Janeiro
"Lagoglyphs, Biotopes and Transgenic Works", solo show curated by Christiane Paul, Oi Futuro, Rio de Janeiro
The bi-lingual book book “Eduardo Kac: Lagoglyphs, Biotopes and Transgenic Works” (English-Portuguese) is published by Oi Futuro and Contra Capa
Hodibis Potax is published by Contra Capa, Rio de Janeiro (English-French-Portuguese)
The book "Eduardo Kac : El creador de seres imposibles" [Eduardo Kac: Creator of Impossible Beings], edited by Andrés Burbano, is published by Universidad de Caldas, Manizales, Colombia and Brumaria, Madrid.
The Spanish translation of Kac's book "Telepresence and Bio Art" is published in Spain by Cendeac
DVD Boxed Set published by Video Data Bank, Chicago
Artist's residency in Santiago de Compostela, Spain.

Many grants, awards and residencies including Creative Capital (New York), ArtsLink (New York), Illinois Arts Council (Chicago), The Daniel Langlois Foundation (Montreal), Leonardo Award for Excellence (San Francisco), InterCommunication Center Biennale '99 Award (Tokyo), Greenwall Foundation (New York), ARCO/BEEP Acquisition Award (Madrid), Le Ministère de la culture (Paris), Le Fresnoy (France), Erasmus Mundus (European Union).
Lectures and publishes worldwide.



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