CURRICULUM VITAE

KURTIS LESICK

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TEACHING POSITIONS

2019-Present        Associate Professor, Alberta University of the Arts, Calgary, Alberta Canada.

2013- 2019            Assistant Professor, Alberta College of Art & Design, Calgary, Alberta, Canada.

2013-2015             Adjunct Professor, Digital Futures Initiative, Faculty of Graduate Studies, OCAD

                              University, Toronto, Canada.

2012                      Sessional Faculty, Digital Futures Initiative, Faculty of Graduate Studies, OCAD

                              University, Toronto,Canada.

2012                      Visiting Faculty, Values in Design Doctoral Workshop, School of Information and

                              Computer Science, University of California at Irvine, Irvine, California, USA (August 19-26, 2012).

2009                     Senior Faculty and Scholarship Student Facilitator, Interactive Screen, The Banff

                              New Media Institute, the Banff Centre, Banff, Alberta, Canada.

2008-2012           Sessional Faculty in Media Arts + Digital Technology, Alberta College of Art +

                              Design, Calgary, Alberta, Canada.

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EXECUTIVE/ ARTS ADMINISTRATION POSITIONS

2021-22             Director, School of Craft and Emerging Media, Alberta University of the Arts 

2021-22             Director, MFA in Craft Media, Alberta University of the Arts

2015-Present     Programme Lead, Media Arts School of Craft + Emerging Media, Alberta University of the 

                            Arts. Administration, Curriculum Development, Student Advising, Departmental Liason.

2013-2015          Chair, School of Craft + Emerging Media, Alberta College of Art + Design, Calgary, 

                            Canada. Administration, operations, visioning, direction of the five Craft and Media Arts + 

                            Digital Technology programmes; Academic Leadership; Academic Council; Research 

                            Liaison. 

2009-Present    Director/Curator, Creative Environment for Emerging Electronic Culture

                           (CE3C.com), Calgary, Canada. Fund development, administration, direction, programme 

                           development, and curriculum integration for research and residency programmes in 

                           MADT at the Alberta College of Art & Design.

2005-Present    President/Creative Director – Kulturlab Inc. Content Development and strategic creative 

                           consulting for a variety of clients including the Office of the Dean, Donald Bren School of 

                           Information and Computer Science, University of California at Irvine; Development Office, 

                           Donald Bren School of Information and Computer Science, University of California at 

                           Irvine; Department of Film and Media, the Banff Centre; the National Film Board of 

                           Canada; Alberta College of Art +Design; Association of Alberta Colleges and Technical 

                           Institutes; Calgary Arts Development Authority; and others. 

2009-2012        Digital Alberta, Board of Directors. Worked with industry, key stakeholders,  and the 

                           provincial government as an advocate for digital industries; created programming and 

                           policy positions to better situate digital industries in Alberta; Committee chair for 

                           education, arts, rural development and community outreach. 

2009-2010        AACTI Chair of Development for IT and Digital Media. Coordinated the direction of 

                          research and development for IT and Digital Media for 14 Post-secondary institutions 

                          in Alberta. Advocated with industry and government to help initiate funding and 

                          support programmes. 

2006                 Acting Director of Marketing and Communications, Alberta College of Art +

                          Design, Calgary, Alberta, Canada. Coordinated and directed all Academic, 

                          Administration, and Support Departments at ACAD in producing content for ACAD’s 

                          new website; implemented College rebranding; project managed new website launch 

                          over two months (despite preparation being 9 months behind); maintained all internal 

                          and external communications at ACAD. 

1997-2005        President/Creative Director – The HUMANUS Collective: cultural research and

                          media arts collective and think tank. Coordinated and directed applied research and 

                          media projects for key stakeholders including: Department of Canadian Heritage; 

                          National Parks Service; Banff National Park; Banff New Media Institute; Union of BC 

                          Performers; Department of Aboriginal Affairs and Northern Development; Canadian 

                          Archaeological Association; and others. 

 

EDUCATION

In Progress:    PhD, Philosophy, Art, and Social Thought, European Graduate School.

1998:               Master of Philosophy Research Degree Programme in Archaeology, Department  of Archaeology and Prehistory,                           The University of Sheffield, England. Thesis: Materiality and the Limits of Archaeological Knowledge.

1993:               Double Degree, Bachelor of Arts Programmes in Archaeology and Anthropology,  Departments of Archaeology                             and Anthropology, The University of Calgary, Canada. Convocation: June 1993. Arts undergraduate thesis:                                       “Towards an Associational Theory for Archaeology.” Sciences undergraduate thesis: “An Analysis of Temper                                   Properties in Ceramics from Laguna Bustillos, Chihuahua, Mexico.”

 

GRADUATE COMMITTEES

Primary Supervisor: 

Patrick Moskwa, MFA Craft Media Candidate, Alberta University for the Arts, 2021-22

Anahita Mosayabi, MFA Craft Media Candidate, Alberta University for the Arts, 2022-23

 

Supervisory Committee Member:

Phillip Bandura, MFA Craft Media Candidate, Alberta University for the Arts, 2021-22

Tomo Ingalls, MFA Craft Media Candidate, Alberta University for the Arts, 2021-22

Yuan Yin, MFA Craft Media, Alberta University for the Arts. Thesis: “Our Fingers, like an idle breeze: Glass studio practice as an outcome”, 2020.   

Anton Cu Unjieng, Alberta University for the Arts, MFA Craft Media, Alberta University for the Arts. Thesis: “A study in restraint, nanlaban” 2018.

 

External Examiner:

Marcelo Zavala Baeza,  MFA, University of New South Wales, Australia. Thesis: “Time Stories Postdigital Aleatory Crafting” 2021. 

Bryn Hewko, MFA, University of Lethbridge, Canada. Thesis: “The techniques of cinema for head-mounted displays”, 2016.

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SELECT LIST OF WORKS

2023

• “The unbearable lightness of being” (Performance for video) recitation of opening of Georg Wilhelm Friedrich Hegel’s “The Science of Logic” illuminated only by the light of the text on a monitor.

2022

• “The plane of penetration” (single channel Keynote Installation) 13-minute animated (Keynote) concrete poetry installation exploring the contingencies in time, space, and materiality through archaeological excavation.

2021/22

• “Touch like the touch of an other”  (Multi-channel video installation) 20 performances for video exploring the nature of touch in the constitution of personhood in the light of Covid19.

2021 

• “What is an Event?”  (6 channel installation) Part of Killing Me Softly, Group Show, Kyle Marks Projects at the Ribtor  Warehouse, Calgary, March 20-22

2020

• #athingisaholeinathingitisnot - photographic installation considering thing/object and space/place through the lens of the work and writing of Carl Andre. Fountain Studio, Calgary. October/November, 2020.

2019

• Data Dance, movement and dance performance with Małgorzata Suś investigating the generative nature of the relations between data and information in “the archive”. Performed in Sellasia, Greece, June 9, 2019.

• I Know, performance exploring the burden of knowing, an implication of the archive that holds knowledge that we can never unknow. Documented by Dasha Ilina. Performed in Sellasia, Greece, June 6, 2019.

• Rite de Passage, video collaboration with Dasha Ilina that explores the initiation of two characters into the archive they are attempting to negate. Videoed by Michael Higgins. 

• Points of Contact, performance/video carving a pathway through the wild scrub of a hillside outside of Sellasia, Greece with only my body. Videoed by Michael Higgins. Performed in Sellasia, Greece, June 3, 2019.

2018-Present

• #athingisaholeinathingitisnot - (in progress) photographs, media interventions and/or sculptures considering thing/object and space/place through the lens of the work and writing of Carl Andre.

2016 

• In Grottos / Nelle Grotte, Mixed Media Video Installation, and Consider the Book / Considerate il Libro, Video Installation, both on the relationship between knowledge time and matter. Created in Residence at Palazzo del Gatto, Casaprota, Italy.

• Entanglement - Series 1, Mediated Landscape Interventions on Aluminum with hand poured resin. Series of Landscape interventions from Llorenc del Penedes, Spain. Exhibited as part of “String Theory” at the Ruberto Ostberg Gallery, Calgary, Canada.

2015

• Seven Deadly Sins / Fall of the House of Usher, Video Projections accompanying the Calgary Philharmonic during their annual festival performance.  Visuals Directed by Kurtis Lesick; Line Producers: Greg Debicki, Mathew Lindenberg; Performance Intern: Kaylee Novakovski.

• Entanglement, Sculptural installation, photography, and video installation exploring metaphors of quantum and astrophysics in relation to human experience. 

2014 

• Turangalila, Video, Animation, Generative Audio Visualisation and Projection Mapping. Composed by Olivier Messiaen; Music Performed by the Calgary Philharmonic Orchestra; Visuals Directed by Kurtis Lesick; Technical Direction by Craig Fahner; Programming Intern: Mathew Lindenberg; Animation Intern: Kelly-Ann Desouza; Video Intern: Kaylee Novakovski.

2013 - 2015 

• The Agora (S.E.G.E.N.S.), (Director) Interactive screen and web-based news and community building intervention. Researcher: Angus Leech; Programmers: Paul Robert and Craig Fahner.

2013 

• Iran Do Espirito Santo: Drawings and Manifestos
. Documentary Video, Co-directors: Noam Gonick and Kurtis Lesick, in collaboration with Martha Affleck, Kyle Anderson, Dani Anderson and Kirk Loveland
. Producer: Corus Entertainment/W. Baerwaldt
 (Canada, 2013, 9 minutes).

2012 

• Inner Waters Flowing Faster, Video Projected on Glass Sculpture in collaboration with Kai Scholefield (Glass Artist) and Greg Debicki (Audio Engineer and Original Music). At the Ruberto Ostberg Gallery for the 2012 Exposure Photography Festival.

2011 

• (re)production: a reading for Cormac McCarthy’s Blood Meridian. Digital Performance Commissioned by Dandelion Magazine for “Performance/MACHINE” edited by Kathleen Brown and Michael Nardone.

• The Vulcan Explorer, (Director) Interactive edu-tainment experience at the Vulcan Trek Station, Vulcan, Alberta, Canada.

• Possibilities Exceed 9, Poetry and computer generated performance piece in collaboration with Travis Kirton, Poetic Performance Laboratory, John Dutton Theatre, Calgary Public Library, Calgary

• (mis)read, Interactive, Multi-Media Installation, Commissioned for “Popsex!” curated by Annette Timms and Michael Thomas Taylor, Illingworth Kerr Gallery, Calgary, Canada.

2009 

• Good Medicine – Producer/Director of an Experimental Documentary on Aboriginal Perspectives on health and wellness in Alberta. Funded by Health Canada, AACTI, ACAD, Keyano College.

2008 

• Problems with History (Elements 13, 14, 15) – 3 video-based installations exploring issues in historical representation installed at the Ruberto Ostberg Gallery, Calgary, Canada.

2007 

• Problems with History (Element 14) – Interviews, performances, and audio video installation conducted/installed at the Banff Centre, Banff, Canada, that explores the creation, exchange and destruction of history.

2007 

• In the Shadow of Progress (multi-platform digital documentary) – personal and subjective explorations of life in the industrial north using web, email, terrestrial phone and locative/time accessed mobile media. Developed for the National Film Board of Canada.

2006 

• Ghosts of Industry (Locative Media) – location driven outdoor audio and video installation over PDA/ I-Pac and GPS.

2005 

• Technosaurs/C.I.E. – branded multi-platform educational participatory narrative for ‘tweens’.  Co-produced with RocketFuel Inc. and the Royal Tyrrell Museum of Palaeontology. Funders: Canada New Media Fund; Virtual Museum of Canada.

2003-04 

• Warhospital (web documentary) – intimate observations on life at the largest Red Cross war casualty facility in Lokichokio, Kenya. Project Developed for the National Film Board of Canada with the assistance of the Interactive Project Lab.

2001-04 

• Ghosts of Industry (ghostsofindustry.com) – experiential documentary of the industrial ghost town of Bitumount in northern Alberta. Collaborators: Jeff Dawson, Wayne Dunkley, Leonard Paul.

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GRANTS AND AWARDS

2023     AUArts Sabbatical Fellowship

2022     AUArts FPAF Funding. MAI Workshop + Euroatla residency

2021      AUArts FPAF Funding. Seminar: "Gilles Deleuze” with Sven-Olov Wallenstein.

2020     Benjamin Meaker Visiting Professorship Fellowship Award, the University of Bristol.

2020     AUArts Sabbatical. January to June

2019      AUArts FPAF Funding. Project: Koumaria Residency, Sparta, Greece; Society for Literature, 

              Science and Arts (EU) Conference, Athens, Greece

2016      ACAD FPAC Funding. Project: "High Fives to the Avant-Garde" Presented at the

              Human-Computer Interaction International Conference, Toronto, Canada, July 20, 2016.

2012      ACAD Scholarly Research and Creativity Initiative. Project: Tex(t)ech (Letters to our

              Father)

2012      AACTI AR&I Fund. Project: SEGENS | Social Engagement through Geographically    

              Embedded News Systems. (In partnership with the Calgary Herald).

2012      Digital Alberta Awards, People’s Choice Award, Most Inspirational Digital Leader.

2012      AACTI CAP Talks Grant

2012      AACTI Regional Innovation Network (RIN) Capacity Building Grant

2011       ACAD Scholarly Research and Creativity Initiative

2010      FMSIC Grant, AACTI. Project: The Enterprise Challenge

2009     FMSR and FSRD Grants, AACTI. Project: Complex Input | Rational Output (CIRO) Cirolab.org

2009     Marion Research Fund, Alberta College of Art + Design. Project: Complex Input | Rational Output

2007     First Place – “Pitch-it”, Kidscreen Summit, New York. Project: Technosaurs/C.I.E.

2006     Telus Innovation Fund. Project: Technosaurs.

2005     Canada New Media Fund, Telefilm Canada, Project:Technosaurs.

2005     Virtual Museum of Canada Investment Program. Project:Technosaurs

2003     Interactive Project Lab, Prototyping Grant. Project: War Hospital

2001      Canadian Independent Film and Video Fund. Project: Ghosts of Industry.

2001      Telus Television Fund. Project: Ghosts of Industry.

2001      Alberta Historical Resources Foundation, Media Grant. Project: Ghosts of Industry.

 

EXHIBITIONS/PERFORMANCES

2022    “The plane of penetration” (single channel Keynote Installation) Open Studios, Hangar, Lisbon, Portugal, June 30.

2022    “The soup meditations” Lesick VS Woulg (spoken word and sound piece) Ears have Eyes: “THE TIME BETWEEN US:                       duration and anticipation, chronological or nonlinear.” Broadcast on CJSW 90.9 April 13.                    

              https://hibernationproject.ca/2022/04/12/the-time-between-us/ .

2022     “Touch like the touch of an other (Version 2)”  (2-channel video installation) Particle and Wave Festival, Emmedia Main                    Gallery Calgary, Canada, March 25 to April 29.

2021      “Touch like the touch of an other (Version 1)”  (3-channel video installation) Part of New Normal, 

               Group Show, Ruberto Ostberg Gallery, Calgary, October 22 - November 12.

2021      “What is an Event?”  (6 channel installation) Part of Killing Me Softly, Group Show, Kyle Marks Projects at the Ribtor

               Warehouse, Calgary, March 20-22

2021      Touch like the touch of another  (2 channel video installation) Kyle Marks Projects at Two House, Calgary, POSTPONED                due to Covid19.

2020     #athingisaholeinathingitisnot - photographic installation, Fountain Studio, Calgary. October/November, 2020.

2019      Data Dance, movement and dance performance with Małgorzata Suś investigating the

              generative nature of the relations between data and information in “the archive”. Performed in

              Sellasia, Greece. (June 9, 2019).

2019     I Know, performance exploring the burden of knowing, an implication of the archive that holds

              knowledge that we can never unknow. Documented by Dasha Ilina. Performed in Sellasia,

              Greece. (June 6, 2019).

2019      Points of Contact, performance/video carving a pathway through the wild scrub of a hillside

              outside of Sellasia, Greece with only my body. Videoed by Michael Higgins. Performed in 

              Sellasia, Greece. (June 3, 2019).

2017      Possibilities Exceed Nine, Curated by Barbara Sutherland. The Fountain Studio, Calgary, 

              Canada. (May 19, 2017)

2016      In Grottos / Nelle Grotte, Palazzo del Gatto, Casaprota, Italy (June 25-27) Ruberto Ostberg

              Gallery: Entanglement (Series 1) Landscape Interventions.

2016      String Theories, Group Show (Kurtis Lesick, Barbara Sutherland, Mark Vitalis, Joanne 

              McDonald) Ruberto Ostberg Gallery: Entanglement (Series 1) Landscape Interventions.

2015      Seven Deadly Sins / Fall of the House of Usher in Partnership with the Calgary Philharmonic. 

              Jack Singer Concert Hall, Calgary, Canada. 

2015      Beakerhead 4, Main Mall, Alberta College of Art + Design. The Agora.

2015      All Faculty Show, Illingworth Kerr Gallery, Calgary, Canada. Entanglement: Llorenc del Penedes 

              Remix.

2015      "Exposició i presentació de la publicació del 5e aniversari del CeRCCa 2009-2015, a l‘antic 

               cinema Cal Marçal de Llorenç del Penedès, Spain (June 23-28). Entanglement  

               (Entanglement 1, 2, 3).

2014       Turangalila, in Partnership with the Calgary Philharmonic. Jack Singer Concert Hall, Calgary, 

               Canada. 

2012       All Faculty Show, Illingworth Kerr Gallery, Calgary, Canada. Inner Waters Flowing Faster.

2012       Exposure Photography Festival, Ruberto Ostberg Gallery, Calgary Canada. Inner Waters 

               Flowing Faster.

2011        Poetic Performance Lab: an interactive hour of poetic performances, textual theatre and sound 

               action. John Dutton Theatre, Calgary Public Library, Calgary, Canada.

2011        Popsex! Thematic Group Show curated by Annette Timms and Michael Thomas Taylor, 

               Illingworth Kerr Gallery, Calgary, Canada

2010       DigitalCultures001, Digital Alberta Digital Showcase, Alberta College of Art+Design, Calgary,

               Canada

2008      Problems with History, Solo show of 12 paintings and 3 installations at the Ruberto Ostberg 

               Gallery, Calgary, Canada.

2007      Problems with History (Element 14), Performances and Audio/Video Installation at ‘Open 

               Spaces’, the Banff Centre, Banff, Canada.

2007      Art Walk, Group Show, The Ruberto Ostberg Gallery, Calgary, Canada

2006     Ghosts of Industry, Locative Media Installation, Banff New Media Institute, The Banff Centre, 

               Banff, Canada.

2006      Art Walk, Group Show. The Ruberto Ostberg Gallery, Calgary, Canada.

2006      1st Anniversary Group Show. The Ruberto Ostberg Gallery, Calgary, Canada.

2005      Adieu, Public Art Project/Installation.  The Ruberto Ostberg Gallery, Calgary, Canada.

2003      Warhospital: Paper Interactions, Interactive Project Lab, Banff Summer Arts Festival, The Banff 

                Centre, Banff, Canada.

 

CURATORIAL

• 2018    (re)thinking the image, Theatre Junction Grand, Calgary, Canada, 2018 Exposure Photography Festival. (February 9-28, 2018)

• 2018    Limbs and Thresholds, Performance by Oana Avasilichioaei, Theatre Junction Grand, Calgary, Canada (January 30, 2018)

• 2013     Delicate Spaces, The Fluevog Peanut Gallery, Calgary, Canada

• 2013    Letters to My Father. Mediated Text Performances and Installations at “In(ter)ventions”, the Banff Centre, Banff, Canada.

• 2012    Inter(media)tions | Mediated Text Performances and Installations at “Free Exchange”, the University of Calgary, Calgary Canada. Curated with Kathleen Brown.

• 2012     Inter(media)tions | Mediated Text Performances and Installations at “In(ter)ventions”, the Banff Centre, Banff, Canada. Curated with Kathleen Brown.

• 2010     DigitalCultures001 | A Night of Digital Art and Culture. Performances and Installations by 14 artists including artificiel, from Montreal.  Alberta College of Art + Design, Calgary, Canada

• 2009     LIVE(D)CINEMA, 12 Live Cinema Performances including Mia Makela, Illingworth Kerr Gallery, Alberta College of Art + Design, Calgary, Canada

• 2005       Say Goodbye, Ruberto Ostberg Gallery, Calgary, Canada.

• 2001     The Media and Material Culture Summit: Communicating Canada‘s Heritage. In Association with the Canadian Archaeological Association. The Banff Centre, Banff, Canada.​