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:
- Media Performance Technology
2015-2021
Lecturer
Media Arts and Game Design
Department of Radio, Television, and Film
School of Communications
Northwestern University
Courses:
- Introductory Game Studio
- Video Game Studies
- Web Convergence
- Computer Animation: 3D
- Interactive Documentary
- Media-enabled Performance
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:
- Media Practices
- Creative Code for Gaming
- Image and Web
- Trans-dimensional Gaming and Participatory Systems
- Art Game Studies
2012-15
Part-time Assistant Professor of Art and Art History:
New Media and Digital Art
DePauw University
Greencastle IN
Courses:
- Introduction to Digital Art
- Video Games in Art Historical Context
- Intermediate New Media Arts
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