chaz evans
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Chaz Evans
Artist, Educator, Art Historian, and Curator
Columbia, SC

chazevans(at)gmail(dot)com

EDUCATION
2012
MFA University of Illinois at Chicago
New Media Arts

2011
MA University of Illinois at Chicago
Art History

2006
BA North Park University
Communication Arts with an Emphasis in Theatre and Performance Studies

2004
University of Edinburgh
Coursework in Art History

TEACHING/PROFESSIONAL
2021-
Assitant Professor of Media Arts
School of Visual Art and Design
University of South Carolina

2018
Visiting Lecturer
Northwestern University at Qatar
Course:
2015-2021
Lecturer
Media Arts and Game Design
Department of Radio, Television, and Film
School of Communications
Northwestern University
Courses:
2013-
Director of Exhibitions and Programs
Video Game Art (VGA) Gallery

2013-15
Instructor
Contemporary Practices
Art History, Theory, and Criticism
School of the Art Institute of Chicago
Courses:
2012-15
Part-time Assistant Professor of Art and Art History:
New Media and Digital Art
DePauw University
Greencastle IN
Courses:
2008-12 Gallery 400, Graduate Gallery Assistant

2006-8 Museum of Contemporary Art Chicago, Box Office Coordinator

2005-6 Lucky Pierre, Intern

EXHIBITIONS/PERFORMANCES/SCREENINGS
2019
FRAME SWITCH
Bit Bash 2019
Museum of Science and Industry, Chciago

Evans Dances Baldessari Sings Lewitt
Conference for Research on Choreographic Interfaces
Granoff Center, Brown University, Providence, RI

2018
Escape from the Bonaventure: 4th Floor Mezzanine, Restroom
ACRE Residency, Steuben WI

2016
Past Lives
UnionDocs, New York NY

FRESH SHEET
Open House Contemporary, Chicago IL

Document V
The Luminary, St. Louis MO

2015
Tele-Nature, Post-Ecologies
ACRE Projects, Chicago IL

Post-Nature, Tele-Ecologies
ACRE Projects, Chicago IL

Once More For The Very First Time
Comfort Station, Chicago IL

Prospect.3
Hammond Regional Arts Center, Hammond LA

2014
PUBLIC HEARING
The Nightingale, Chicago IL

Automatabahn
ACRE_TV, online, Chicago IL

Space Station / Play Station
The Gallery, Antenna Space, Shanghai, China

VIA Festival Chicago
Multiple venues, Chicago IL

These Streams
ACRE_TV, online, Chicago IL

PLEASE STAND BY
ACRE_TV, online and screened at Mana Contemporary, Chicago IL

2013
pARTicipatory
Chicago Artists Coalition, Chicago IL

Value: Assigned, Transposed and Imagined
Chicago Artists Coalition, Chicago IL

2012
Tete-a-Tete: Belknap, Evans, Romero, Happy Collaborationists
MDW Fair, Mana Contemporary, Chicago IL

Low Fidelity
Tower Fine Arts Center Gallery, State University of New York at Brockport, Brockport NY

Artworks Which are About Games but are Not Themselves Games
Low Road Gallery, Greencastle IN

DePauw University Faculty Exhibition
Galleries at Richard E. Peeler Art Center, Greencastle IN

Crossing Wires: Technology and Play
Evanston Art Center, Evanston IL

Data Screens Machines
Tall Grass Arts Association, Park Forest IL

I Accidentally Turned Off the Sun
2012 UIC Art MFA Thesis Exhibition 4
Gallery 400, Chicago

2011
Screenology: UIC New Media Arts Exhibition
Hyde Park Art Center, Chicago

2010
Machinina Drone Bath Spa Package Sampler Pack
Chopin Theatre, Collaboraction Sketchbook X

2009
Freakie Outie
Eastern Expansion Gallery

Freakie Outie
North Park University Alumni Exhibition

2008
Memetic Jukebox
University of Chicago "Summer Inc" Residency Program

Green and Melted: The Best and Worst Song Ever Written
Striding Lion InterArts Festival '08

Freakie Outie
South Union Arts, Version Fest '08

2007
Freakie Outie
InCubate residency

Fancydom
National Pastime Theatre, Striding Lion InterArts Festival '07

Kung-Fu Suburbia
North Park University Theatre
(Musical Director, Composer, Performer)

2006
Blast Theory: Can You See Me Now?
Museum of Contemporary Art, Chicago

Lucky Pierre: The Life of Juanita Castro
The Significance of Queer Underground Cinema, 1950 – 1968 Conference
University of Chicago

If Contrary Were Red You'd be an Apple
Xunesis Studio Space

PUBLICATIONS
2017
Anders Johnson - Polymer Relic
Exhibition Essay
Carlson Tower Gallery, North Park University, Chicago IL

2015
“Mapping the Mediascape: The Politics of Chinese Software Art”
in Locating Emerging Media (eds. Benjamin Aslinger, Germaine Halegoua),
Routledge

Reverie: A Field Guide For Exploring Scapes
-scape Exhibition Catolog
Zhou B. Art Center, School of the Art Institute of Chicago

“Seeing without crosshairs: a survey of the first-person non-shooter”
A.V. Club

2014
“John Cage was a Gamer”
Motherboard

“The Brechtian, Absurd, and Poor Video Game:
Alternative Theatrical Models of Software-based Experience”
Journal of Games Criticism: Volume 1, Issue 2

“Depth Sensing: The Connotations of Body Data and the Microsoft Kinect”
Media Commons

2011
“Erik Peterson” and “Nick Harvey” in Proof
University of Illinois at Chicago MFA Thesis Exhibition Catalog
(eds. Erik Peterson, Mary Katie Leech)

CURATORIAL
2019
Studio Oleomingus: Notes in the Margins of History
Video Game Art Gallery, Chicago IL

Chicago New Media: 1973-1992
with lead curator Jon Cates co-associate curator Jonathan Kinkley
Ars Electronica, Linz Austria

2018
Hunt & Peck: Alternative Expressions of the Keyboard
Co-curated with Brice Puls
Maryland Institute College of Art Dolphin Gallery, Batlimore MD

Chicago New Media 1973-1992
with lead curator Jon Cates co-associate curator Jonathan Kinkley
Gallery 400, Chicago IL

Backlog: Five Years Building the VGA Print Collection
Co-curated with Brice Puls
Video Game Art Gallery, Chicago IL

The Ears Have Walls: A Survey of Sound Games
Co-curated with Stephan Moore
The Museum of Art and Digital Entertainment, Oakland CA

VGA Print Collection at Rules and Play
The Living Arts & Science Center, Lexington, KY

Hunt & Peck: Alternative Expressions of the Keyboard
Co-curated with Brice Puls
Video Game Art Gallery, Chicago IL

2017
The Ears Have Walls: A Survey of Sound Games
Co-curated with Stephan Moore
Video Game Art Gallery, Chicago IL

Savior
Co-curated with Brice Puls
Video Game Art Gallery, Chicago IL

Machinima Report
Co-curated with Rob Lach
Comfort Station, Chicago IL

2016
GAME ART VS. ART GAME
Co-curated with Jonathan Kinkley
Columbia College Arcade Gallery, Chicago IL

Bit Bash 2016
Guest curator: glitch art and print selections
Revel Fulton Market, Chicago IL

Psychedelic Tourism
Cards Against Humanity Black Box Gallery, Chicago IL

2015
The Neocade
Print selections
The Neofuturist Theater, Chicago IL

William Chyr - Manifold Garden
Mana Contemporary, Chicago IL

Bit Bash 2015
Guest curator: juried print competition and print selections
Threadless, Chicago IL

Weird Telephone, Only Dials One Number
The Nightingale, Chicago IL

2014
Video Game Art Gallery at INTERPLAY Arcade and Exhibition
In collaboration with INTERPLAY conference organizers
Northwestern University and University of Chicago
Jackson Junge Gallery, Chicago, IL

Video Game Art Gallery at ACTIVATE
Chicago Loop Alliance, Sullivan Center, Chicago, IL

Video Game Art Gallery Launch Exhibition
Galerie F, Chicago

2011
File Type
Co-curated with Lorelei Stewart
Gallery 400, Chicago

2009-10
Series Coordinator, Hot Media Series
Gallery 400, Chicago

2008-9
Series Coordinator, People's Matinee Series
Gallery 400, Chicago

CONFERENCES/SPEAKING
2020
Co-chair and presenter
“The Legacy of Jack Burnham on Video Game Art and Emerging New Media”
College Art Association 2020

Discussant
“Artist-made Objects of Indeterminate Status and the Catalogue Raisonné”
College Art Association 2020

“Horizontal Nodes: Notes on a Studio-based approach to Video Game Art Pedagogy”
Computation and Creativity Luncheon
Northwestern University

2019
Co-chair
"VGA Reader Roundtable: Emerging Infrastructures for Video Game Art"
Society for Literature, Science and the Arts Conference, Irvine CA

Panelist
“At War: Alternative Games and Critical Play”
DePaul Art Museum

Panelist
“Play on Display: Games, Notation, and the Networking of Musical Spacetime”
Northwestern University, Evanston IL

Panelist
Conference for Research on Choreographic Interfaces
Granoff Center, Brown University, Providence, RI

2018
Presenter
“Horizontal Nodes: Notes on a Studio-based approach to Video Game Art Pedagogy”
Panel: Video Game Pedagogy and Research
Chicago Colloquium on Digital Humanities and Computer Science

Guest Speaker
“Hunt & Peck Curators Talk”
Maryland Institute College of Art Dolphin Gallery, Baltimore, MD

Speaker
“No Chill” Alumni Panel
Gallery 400, University of Illinois at Chicago

Keynote Speaker
“Fidelities of Context in Global Game Production”
Digital Humanities Alliance of India Conference
India Institute of Management, Indore

2017
Guest Lecturer
"(A Casual Selection) of Developments and Experiments in Video Game Art"
Course: Modern and Contemporary Moving Image
School of the Art Institute Chicago

Guest Speaker
"Mapping the Mediascape: The Politics of Chinese Software Art"
Chicago Design Museum

Presenter
"Exponential Backlogs: Notes Toward the Recognition of Short Games"
Panel: Playing Time
Society for Literature, Science and the Arts Conference, Tempe AZ

Invited Talk
“21st Century Exhibitions from Video Game Art Gallery”
Christian Petersen Art Museum, Iowa State University, Ames GA

Conference Organizer, Speaker
Progression Mechanics
The Garage, Northwestern University, Evanston IL

2016
Presenter
"The Hacker as Artist/Critic: Recovering the Mutability of Virtual Space"
Panel: Technology as Art
Society for Literature, Science and the Arts Conference, Atlanta GA

2015
Moderator
Chicago Made Video Games as New Media Art Panel Discussion
Adler Planetarium, Chicago IL

Moderator
-scape Panel Discussion
Zhou B. Art Center, Chicago IL

Presenter
"Explorations of Alternative Economies"
New Media Caucus
College Art Association Annual Conference, New York NY

2014
Presenter
"From Chuck E. Cheese to the White Cube:
Contemporary Developments in the Public Exhibition of Video Games"
INTERPLAY Conference
Northwestern University, Evanston IL

Artist Talk
North Park University, Chicago IL

Artist Talk: Satire and the work of Chaz Evans
DePauw University Artsfest, Peeler Arts Center, Greencastle IN

Guest Lecturer
“Three Introductions to New Media”
North Park University, Chicago IL

2013
Guest Speaker
"Living as Form: The Ethics of Crowd-Sourced Computing in New Media"
In conjunction with Living as Form: The Nomadic Version
DePauw University Artsfest, Peeler Arts Center, Greencastle IN

Workshop Leader
"Teaching Processing: Workshops and Panel Discussion"
Processing Chicago, Electronic Visualization Laboratory, University of Illinois at Chicago

Guest Speaker
“Video Games in Art Historical Context: Interpreting Meaning in an Emerging Medium”
Information Technology Associates Program Professional Development Series
DePauw University

2012
"From Cinematic Detournement to Software Derive"
DePauw University Artsfest, Peeler Arts Center, Greencastle IN

Presenter
"The Brechtian Video Game (and Other Theatrical Conceptions of Software-based Experience)"
Panel: Playing With Feelings 2: Medium, Immersion, and Affect
Society for Cinema and Media Studies Annual Conference, Boston

"Luxury Permissions by Schlesinger's Best"
Procesing Chicago: March 2012 Meeting
Electronic Visualization Laboratory, University of Illinois at Chicago

2010
Presenter
"The Brechtian Video Game (and Other Theatrical Conceptions of Software-based Experience)"
Art History Master of Arts Symposium, University of Illinois at Chicago

2009
Presenter, Animation Section:
"Carnivorous Vulgaris: Chuck Jones, Postwar Animation and Consumer Culture"
National Popular Culture Association/American Culture Association Annual Conference, New Orleans

PRESS
2018
Caroline Picard
"'Chicago New Media 1973-1992' pays tribute to the city’s contribution to video games and digital art"
Chicago Reader, 11-29-18

Brian Andrews and Dana Bassett
"Episode 661: Chicago New Media and Jon Cates"
Bad at Sports WLPN 105.5FM, 10-31-18

2017
Steve Heisler
"It’s a Wonderful Life at Stage 773 and more of the best things to do in Chicago this weekend"
Chicago Reader, 12-22-17

Kendra Villiese
"Video games: Listen up"
Columbia Chronicle, 12-4-17

Graham Meyer
"The best (mostly) holiday events for the week"
Crain's Chicago Business, 11-29-17

Steve Johnson
"Putting video games on gallery walls"
Chicago Tribune, 11-1-17

Melanie Van Horn
"Video games and art intertwine in "Game Art vs. Art Game""
Iowa State Daily, 9-26-17

Gary Zidek
"The Arts Section: Chicago Non-Profit Opens Gallery Space Dedicated to Video Game Art"
The Arts Section, WDCB 90.9 FM, 8-20-17

Niala Boodhoo
"New Video Game Art Gallery Comes to Chicago"
The 21st, Illinois Public Media, 8-14-17

Alan Bradley
"'Savior': Politics, Game Development, Performance Art in an Evolving Cuba"
Rolling Stone, 8-14-17

"Terra Foundation for American Art Awards $2.5 Million in Grants to Art Design Chicago"
Artforum, 7-29-17

Trisha Ping
"A new gallery in Chicago is dedicated to the artistic merit of the video game"
Lonely Planet, 7-13-17

Zach Long
"Video Game Art Gallery is getting a permanent home near the 606"
Time Out Chicago, 7-7-17

Ryan Smith
"Chicago’s first art gallery devoted to video games will open next month"
Chicago Reader, 7-6-17

Mina Bloom
"Chicago's First Video Game Art Gallery Opening Next To The 606"
DNA Info, 7-6-17

2016
Ryan Smith
“Black Video game characters finally get their due in Dateline: Bronzeville”
Chicago Reader

Dan Solberg
“The Vaporware Games and Glitch Art at This Year’s Bit Bash Festival”
Kill Screen

Ryan Smith
“Video games level up to high art—and Chicago artist William Chyr is at the controls”
Chicago Reader

2015
"Critic's Picks"
Time Out Chicago

Stephanie Burke, "Top 5 Weekend Picks!”
Bad at Sports

Ryan Smith, "A 'haunted' telephone can be all yours Saturday at the Nightingale”
Chicago Reader

Amy Haddad, "Telephone Starring in Video Game to Make an Appearance at Nightingale"
Newcity

2014
Zach Long, “VGA Gallery makes a case for video games as art”
TimeOut Chicago

Jake Malooley, “Gaming and art collide at VGA Gallery”
Chicago Reader

Matt Morris, “News: Video Game Art Gallery Opens in Chicago”
Newcity

Cat Wendt, “New Video Game Gallery with a Mission Formed”
International Game Developers Association

2013
Critic's Pick, HATCH: pARTicpatory
Time Out Chicago

Laura Pearson, "5 art shows to see this weekend"
Time Out Chicago

2012
Corinne Granof, "Crossing Wires: Technology and Play at Evanston Art Center, Illinois"
The Flaneur

2011
Lauren Weinberg, "File Type at Gallery 400"
Time Out Chicago

Catharine Pancake, "F Gallery Visits: Gallery 400 "File Type"
F Newsmagazine

Jennifer Nalbantyan, "File Types: An Interview with Chaz Evans and Lorelei Stewart"
The Chicago Arts Archive

Nicholas O'Brien, "Center Field: Talking with File Type curators Chaz Evans and Lorelei Stewart"
art:21 Blog

Noel Radley, "Sol Lewitt, #StankyLegg, and the Publics for Conceptual Art"
.viz blog

AWARDS/GRANTS/RESIDENCIES
2018
MacArthur International Connections Fund
Video Game Art Gallery and The Media Majlis at Northwestern
University at Qatar

2017
Gaylord & Dorothy Donnelly Foundation
Video Game Art Gallery

City of Chicago Department of Cultural Affairs & Special Events CityArts Grant
Video Game Art Gallery

The MacArthur Funds for Arts and Culture at The Richard H. Driehaus Foundation
Video Game Art Gallery

Terra Foundation for American Art
Video Game Art Gallery

2016
Elizabeth Morse Charitable Trust
Video Game Art Gallery

Illinois Arts Council
Video Game Art Gallery

2015
Graham Foundation
Video Game Art Gallery

2014
Artists' Cooperative Residency and Exhibitions
ACRE Residency

2013
Chicago Artists' Coalition
Hatch Residency

2011
UIC Graduate College Dean's Scholar Award
Nominee

2008
Summer Inc. Residency, University of Chicago
University Theatre/Theatre and Performance Studies Department

2007
Community Arts Assistance Program grant recipient
Chicago Department of Cultural Affairs