John WALLER
BIO
John Waller was born in Melbourne in 1954, relocated to Brisbane in 1959, he currently works and lives in Darwin. An artist working today predominately with digital media, John’s current practice focusing on the development of computer animation, video, sound for screen, projection, and installation projects.
During the 1980’s and early 1990’s John was an active participant in the Brisbane ARI sector. He co-founded the ARI, That Contemporary Art Space with artist peers including Dianne Heenan, Wayne Smith, Christopher McKimm, Hollie, Yvette Kiorgaard, Brian Doherty and Paul Andrew in February 1985 and at this time was an active member of the founding committee of the Art Workers Union Qld.
In the early 1980s John had an artist studio located on the second floor of the Brisbane Community Arts Centre located in Edward Street. The Brisbane Community Arts centre had long been an important hub for artist DIY activities. John held numerous solo and group exhibitions during that period, including the opening exhibition and the This Work Was collaboration, with artist Brian Doherty and others, both held at That Space in 1985.
Related artist-run spaces around that period, John also showed at John Mills Annex, Arch Lane Public Art, and Gallery Brutal, in Brisbane, Rondeau in Sydney, and Coode View in Melbourne. In terms of institutional spaces John showed his work in the Peter Cripps curated group exhibition, Brisbane Hot in 1985 at the IMA, and was an assistant curator at the Random Access exhibition held at MOCA in 1987 then located at South Brisbane.
In 2008 John completed a PhD in the School of Art at RMIT, developing entity, an artificial life inspired interactive animated character, to explore interactive engagement and the possibilities an artificial life approach to programming might offer such a character.
Today, John is treasurer for the Darwin Visual Arts Association (DVAA), an ARI in Darwin. In 2009-2013 he was on the Board of Management for J-Studios an artist-run studio and gallery complex in North Fitzroy, Melbourne.
For the past two years John has been lecturing in Interactive Digital Media at Charles Darwin University.
Art Practice Keywords:
Digital Media, Video Art, Installation Art
Artist Role Keywords:
Visual Artist
Collaboration/ Collaborator names Keywords:
Qld Artworkers Union, That Contemporary Art Space, Liquorice Lounge, Night On The Tiles
Collections:
Various Private Collections
University of Queensland Art Museum, Brisbane
Queensland Art Gallery, Brisbane
CV
Education
2000 – 2008
PhD by Project, part-time, School of Art, RMIT, Melbourne
1999
Bachelor of Computer Science (First Year), Latrobe University, Melbourne
1995 – 96
Advanced Diploma in Electronic Design and Interactive Media, RMIT, Melbourne
1978 – 80
Queensland College of Art, Brisbane (Painting Major)
Group Exhibitions
2015
12 x 12, Darwin Visual Arts Association, Darwin
2014
Electricity, Darwin Visual Arts Association, Darwin
Warp Festival, Darwin Fringe, Happy Yess, Darwin
2012
Visible Horizon, AIRY and Fusetsu Galleries, Yamanashi, Japan;
The Library Artspace, J Studios, Melbourne
2011
Experimental Sounds Sculptures and Installations,
The Library Artspace, J Studios, Melbourne
2010
Plus One 2010, The Library Artspace, J-Studios,
Melbourne, collaboration with Natalie Grant
2009
Gulag, Counihan Gallery in Brunswick, Melbourne
Gertrude Street Projection Festival, Melbourne
2008
International Students’ Exhibition, Shanghai Biennale 2008
(exhibition of Phd materials)
Plus One, The Library Artspace, J-Studios, Melbourne,
collaboration with Mary Peacock
2006
Siemens Awards, RMIT Gallery, Melbourne
2003
Modelling Space, Project Space, Building 94, RMIT, Melbourne
1998
White Elephant Sale, Grey Area, Melbourne
1997
QWERTY: approaches to a digital aesthetic, Linden Gallery, Melbourne
RooF RooF: an evening of dance, movement, machine and images, the roof of KC Parksafe, Cardigan St, Melbourne
1996
short, sharp, and very current, Experimenta Media Arts Festival, Lonsdale Street Power Station, Melbourne
CyberFringe, Stop 22, Melbourne
1995
Beta Test, New Media Network, Melbourne
Digital Shifts, Noosa Regional Gallery, Queensland
End of Year Exhibition, Electronic Design and Interactive Media, RMIT, Steps Gallery, Melbourne
1993
Media Wave 93, Gyor, Hungary
Fearless, Artestudio, Bergamo, Italy;
Forum “Kunst und Schule”, Gutersloh, Germany
Empty Land, Focal Point Gallery, Southend-on-Sea, England;
Zone Gallery, Newcastle, England
Post, Coode View Gallery, Melbourne
Vitae, Faculty Gallery, Dept. Fine Art, RMIT Melbourne
1992
Empty Land, Camerawork Gallery, London;
Stills Gallery, Edinburgh
Reference Points: A New Perspective, Queensland Art Gallery, Brisbane
Fact, Institute of Modern Art, Brisbane;
Linden, Melbourne
1991
Instant Imaging, Queensland Art Gallery, Brisbane
1990
SISEA (Second International Symposium on Electronic Art), Gröningen, Netherlands
Scanning the Code, Ivan Dougherty Gallery, Sydney
Space 90, Queensland College of Art Gallery, Brisbane
RSVWWZ, Ausgraph 90, Melbourne;
belowZERO, Institute of Modern Art, Brisbane
Video Art and New Technology Festival, Film and Television Institute, Fremantle
Queensland Images – A Film Festival, Queensland State Library, Brisbane
1989
Visual Poetics, Museum of Contemporary Art, Brisbane
Random Access, Museum of Contemporary Art, Brisbane
1988 Axis File, Sites of Dis-Closure, 2B/The Garage, New York City, U.S.A.;
arch lane PUBLIC ART, Brisbane.
1985 Brisbane Hot, Institute of Modern Art, Brisbane
Opening exhibition, THAT Contemporary Art Space, Brisbane
This is THAT, Gladstone Art Gallery, Gladstone
This Work Was, THAT Contemporary Art Space, Brisbane
Individual Exhibitions
2012
The River, The Night Screen, Seventh Gallery, Melbourne
2011
Propeller, The Night Screen, Seventh Gallery, Melbourne
2007
PhD examination exhibition, School of Art Gallery, RMIT, Melbourne
2006
For one night only, Gossard Project Space, RMIT, Melbourne
1994
burning . . ., Bartlem Galleries, Brisbane
Video installation, McWhirters shop front window, Valley Mall, Brisbane
1992
Recent Drawings, Savode Gallery, Brisbane.
1989
The Great Australian Landscape:
Part I, MINI MOCA, Museum of Contemporary Art, Brisbane
Part II, arch lane Annex, arch lane PUBLIC ART, Brisbane
Part III, arch lane PUBLIC ART, Brisbane
1981
Brisbane Community Arts Centre Gallery, Brisbane
Collaborations
1997
Print of a Pulse, dance/performance/installation project, Dance House, Melbourne
1991
K/nights in Shining Amour – Part II (The Maiden’s Revenge), with David Crouch, Jacqueline Eyers, and Adam Wolter, Institute of Modern Art, Brisbane
1990
K/nights in Shining Amour, with David Crouch, Jacqueline Eyers, and Tony Moore, Galerie Brutal, Brisbane
1985
Something Fishy (A Little Cat Nap), with Adam Wolter, installation, La Boite Theatre Foyer, Brisbane.
Gallery of the Dyslexic Frog, with Tony Moore, gallery/installation/performance/community art project, Public Service workplace, Brisbane
1984
Installation, with Ruth Propsting, Art-Space/Street-Space, Art Space Annex, Sydney
1983
Sunday Afternoon at the Gallery, Friday Night in the Mall, Sunday Afternoon in the Gardens, series of public performances, Brisbane, with Barbara Allen, Peter Anderson, Barbara Campbell, Maria Filippow, Claudje Lecompte, Ruth Propsting, and Ted Riggs
Grants and Awards
2010
ArtStart, Australia Council, funds to develop business, marketing, and networking tools for a new media art practice
2002
Digital Media Fund, Film Victoria. Funds for research and experimentation towards developing a computer-based interactive virtual character
1992
Individual Professional Development Program, Arts Division, Queensland Government
1989
New Image Research program, the Australian Film Commission and the Queensland Film Development Office
Bibliography
Johnson, F., “Out of the gulag”, The Age, Friday, April 17, 2009
Zurbrugg, N., “John Waller Interviewed by Nicholas Zurbrugg”, Electronic Arts in Australia, Continuum, Vol. 8, No. 1, 1994, pp. 437-443
Lillington, D., “Southern Crossings/Empty Land”, Time Out, London, August 5-12, 1992
Zurbrugg, N., “Instant Imaging”, Eyeline, No.16, Spring 1991, p 32
Zurbrugg, N., “Random Access”, Eyeline, No.11, Autumn 1990, p 27
Woolcock, P., “Charlotte Street arrives as an art centre”, The Courier Mail, June, 1985
Catalogue, Gulag Studios 1994 – 2009, Sheridan Palmer, Gulag Publishing, 2009
Catalogue, RMIT University Shool of Art Postgraduate Art Research by Project, catalogue for International Students’ Exhibition, Shanghai Biennale 2008
Catalogue, Southern Crossings/Empty Land, Camerawork, London, 1992, pp 11, 67-68
Catalogue, Instant Imaging, Queensland Art Gallery, 1991, pp 6, 8-9
Catalogue, Visual Poetics, Museum of Contemporary Art, Brisbane, p 55, 1989
Catalogue, Random Access, Museum of Contemporary Art, Brisbane, 1989