Goldsmiths - University of London

Jennifer Gabrys BA (Hons), MLA, PhD

Teaching

BA Design, MA Design – Critical Practice, MRes in Design, MPhil/PhD

Areas of supervision

My research student supervision is located in the following broadly defined areas: Design and ecology; environmental design (landscapes, cities, habitats); critical practice; material culture; waste; weather and climate change; transdisciplinarity and emerging modes of practice; creative methods; technonatures; communication technologies and communication media

Research interests

Gabrys’ research focuses on critical ecologies, material culture, and communication technologies. She conducts the interdisciplinary design-research practice, Signal Space (www.signalspace.net), which engages with environments and media, and takes the form of publications, multimedia design and landscape installations. Gabrys is undertaking a collaborative environmental design and research study on climate change, Weather Permitting (www.weatherpermitting.org), with Dr Kathryn Yusoff at the University of Exeter.

Selected publications

Books:
Forthcoming Signal Space (manuscript in preparation)
Forthcoming The Natural History of Electronics (manuscript under review)
2004 Airdrop, Chapbook No. 1 (London: Bookworks; ISBN: 1 870699 72 6), 40 pp.

Chapters in Books / Edited Works:
Forthcoming “Sink,” forthcoming in The World Turned Inside Out: Waste in History and Culture, eds. John F.M. Clark and John Scanlan (Cambridge Scholars Publishing, 2007)
Forthcoming “Atmospheric Communication,” forthcoming in Sampling the Spectrum: The Politics, Practices and Poetics of Mobile Technologies, eds. Barbara Crow, Michael Longford and Kim Sawchuk (Toronto: University of Toronto Press)
Forthcoming “Telepathically Urban,” forthcoming in Cultures of Circulation, eds. Will Straw and Alexandra Boutros (anthology under review)
2007 “Bear Life,” co-authored with Kathryn Yusoff, in Focas: Forum on Contemporary Art and Society, ed. Lucy Davis (National University of Singapore Press and the Documenta 12 Magazines Project, 2007)
2006 “Media in the Dump,” in Alphabet City: Trash, ed. John Knechtel, No. 11 (Cambridge: MIT Press; ISBN: 0-262-11301-5), 156-165
2003 “Motor Chorus: Spatializing an Automotive City,” in Surface Tension, eds. Brandon LaBelle and Ken Ehrlich (Los Angeles: Errant Bodies Press; ISBN: 0965557049), 245-254

Journal Articles:
2007 “Automatic Sensation: Environmental Sensors in the Digital City,” in “Senses and the City,” special edition of The Senses and Society, eds. Mags Adams and Simon Guy, Vol. 2, Issue 2 (Oxford: Berg Publishers, July 2007; ISSN 1745-8927), 189-200
2006 “Paper Mountains, Disposable Cities,” in “Refuse Report,” Surface Tension Supplement, eds. Brandon Labelle and Ken Ehrlich, No. 1 (Los Angeles: Errant Bodies Press; ISBN: 0977259404), 130-139
2006 “Time Lapses: Robert Smithson’s Mobile Landscapes,” co-authored with Kathryn Yusoff, in “Cultural Geographies in Practice,” Cultural Geographies, Vol. 13, No. 3 (London: Hodder Arnold; ISSN: 1474-4740), 444-450
2006 “The Quick and the Dirty: Ephemeral Systems in Silicon Valley,” in “Ephemera,” Thresholds, Issue No. 31 (Cambridge: MIT Department of Architecture; ISSN: 1091-711x), 26-31
2006 “Appliance Theory,” in “Electricity,” Cabinet Magazine, Issue No. 21 (Brooklyn, NY: Immaterial Incorporated; ISSN: 1531-1430), 82-86
2005 “Machines Fall Apart: Failure in Art and Technology,” in “Re:Searching Our Origins: Critical and Archival Histories of the Electronic Arts,” special edition of Leonardo Electronic Almanac, eds. Catherine Mason and Paul Brown, Vol. 13, No. 4 (Cambridge: MIT Press, April 2005; ISSN: 1071-4391), http://mitpress2.mit.edu/e-journals/LEA/
2004 “Leaflet Drop: The Paper Landscapes of War,” in “Casting Doubt,” Invisible Culture, Issue 7 (University of Rochester, Winter 2004; ISSN: 1097-3710), http://www.rochester.edu/ in_visible_culture/Issue_7/Gabrys/gabrys.html
2002 “The Television in the Garden,” in “Transit,” Loud Paper, Vol. 4, No. 1 (Berkeley, CA; ISSN: 1523 8733), 10-13

Online Publications
2004 “Residue in the E.A.T. Archives,” online essay, The Daniel Langlois Foundation for Art, Science and Technology, Centre for Research and Documentation (Montreal),
www.fondation-langlois.org/flash/e/index.php?NumPage=521
2003 “Noise and Contamination in the Information City,” in Visual Knowledges Conference Proceedings, ed. John Frow (University of Edinburgh; ISBN: 0953271331), http://www.iash.ed.ac.uk/vkpublication/gabrys.pdf

Reviews and Exhibition Catalogues
2007 “The Art of Salvage,” forthcoming in USED/Goods exhibition catalog, ed. Lorraine Oades, Kim Sawchuk and Gisele Amantea (Montreal: Cut Rate Collective)
2006 “Dirty Water Initiative,” introduction to Simparch installation at inSITE 05, in Surface Tension Supplement, eds. Brandon Labelle and Ken Ehrlich, No. 1 (Los Angeles: Errant Bodies Press; ISBN: 0977259404), 78-80 / 78-86
2006 “Acts of Disposal,” exhibition review of “Unwanted, Broken and Useless,” installation by Adrienne Spier (Toronto: YYZ Artists’ Outlet / YYZ zine)
2004 “Wasting Time,” exhibition review of “Continuous Surface” performance and installation by Yvette Poorter (Toronto: Trinity Square Video)
2003 “Crime and Ornament,” book review in “Economies,” Parachute, No. 110 (Montreal; ISSN: 0318 7020), 132-133

Invited Lectures and Talks
2007 Forecast Factory, invited symposium speaker, “Polar: Fieldwork and Archive Fever,” British Library, London
Waste and Modernity, invited panel participant, The Philoctetes Center for the Multidisciplinary Study of the Imagination, New York
2006 Media in the Dump: Global Geographies of Electronic Waste, interviewed by BBC / Open2Net on Interdependence Exhibition, http://www.open2.net/interdependenceday/interviews.html
2005 Electronic Waste, interviewed by Fiona Downey for “All in a Weekend,” CBC Radio 1, May 15
Atmospheres of Communication, invited panel participant for Mobile Digital Commons Network (MDCN) symposium, Society for Art and Technology, Montréal
The History of Excess in the Information Age, invited speaker at “Knowledge and Society” seminar, Institute of Historical Research, University of London
2004 Projects Outside Art, invited participant for panel on “The Virtual Object,” presentation at Canadian Art Museum Directors Organization (CAMDO) conference, Canadian Centre for Architecture (CCA), Montréal
2002 D.I.Y. and the Translocal Landscape, invited panel participant for NEURO[TICK] 2.1, “Local Bits, Global Bytes,” Society for Arts and Technology, Montréal
2000 Temporary Public Art, invited participant for public art panel, Weisman Art Museum, Minneapolis

Conference Presentations
2007 Snow Globes: The Frozen and Transient Scenes of Nature, conference presentation with Kathryn Yusoff at “Nature Behind Glass,” Manchester Museum, University of Manchester
2006 Spaces of Remainder, conference presentation at “Modernity and Waste,” University of St. Andrews
2005 Media in the Dump, conference presentation at CATH Congress 2005, “The Ethics and Politics of Virtuality and Indexicality,” University of Leeds
2005 Weather and the Eroding Globe, conference presentation with Kathryn Yusoff at “Globalisation and Representation,” University of Brighton
2005 Electronic Waste: The Case of Disposable Media, conference presentation at “Making Use of Culture,” Cultural Theory Institute, University of Manchester
2004 Machines Fall Apart: Failure in Art and Technology, conference presentation at “Futures Past,” CHArt (Computers and the History of Art), Birkbeck, University of London
2004 Expanding the Interface: From Digital City to Urban Database, co-author, conference presentation by Prof. Michael Longford at “Culturepoles: City Spaces, Urban Politics and Metropolitan Theory,” Canadian Association of Cultural Studies, McMaster University, Hamilton, Ontario
2004 Debris Landscapes: The Excesses of Print, conference presentation at “Print Culture and the City,” McGill University, Montréal
2003 Urban Database as Feedback Loop, Digital Cities conference presentation with Prof. Michael Longford at VSMM 2003, Montréal. Awarded best Media Arts presentation
2003 Noise and Contamination in the Information City, conference presentation at “Visual Knowledges,” University of Edinburgh
2003 Leaflet Drop, conference presentation at “Casting Doubt,” Visual Studies Department, University of Rochester, New York
2002 Satellites: The Orbital Environment, conference presentation at “Transparencies: Technology, Culture, Communication,” Department of Radio, Television and Film, University of Texas, Austin

Exhibitions and Workshops
2006 Response and Responsibility, invited participant for ESRC /NERC Interdependence Seminar Series, Royal Society, London
2006 Media in the Dump: Global Geographies of Electronic Waste, exhibition on electronic waste, Interdependence Day 2006, Royal Geographic Society, London
2006 Mobile Digital Commons Network, fieldwork and workshop participant for development of co-locative gaming project, Montréal
2005 Community Mapping Workshop: Sensing Pollution in London Fields, fieldwork and workshop participant with Proboscis, Space Studios, London
2004 The Art of Salvage, essay and postcard project for USED/Goods group show organized by Cut Rate Collective at Salvation Army, Montréal
2002 Glovebox Gardens, Jardins Virtuel, New Media Group Show, Studio XX, Montréal
2002 Please Take the Ticket, parking lot installation in collaboration with landscape architect Nathan Anderson, Jerome Foundation, Temporary Public Art on Campus, Weisman Art Museum, Minneapolis
2001 Transit, Jerome Foundation fellows exhibit, Minnesota Center for Book Arts, Minneapolis

Grants & awards

2007-2008 Research and Knowledge Transfer Committee Research Funds, seed-funding for “Design Ecologies” research project, Goldsmiths, University of London
2007 Arts Council of England artist commission for Weather Permitting “Forecast Factory: Snow Globes and Climate Change,” as part of “Curating Climate Change,” organised by Kathryn Yusoff and Arts Catalyst
2004 Daniel Langlois Foundation, Centre for Research and Documentation, Researcher in Residence Grant, for research on Experiments in Art and Technology, Montréal
2003 Bookworks, Chap Book Commission for Airdrop, London
2000-2002 Jerome Foundation Grant, Temporary Public Art commission, Weisman Museum, University of Minnesota, Minneapolis
2000 Jerome Foundation Grant, Book Arts commission, Minnesota Center for Book Arts, Minneapolis

Professional activities

Memberships
2005-present Surface Tension, Editorial Board Member for art and design journal edited by Brandon Labelle and Ken Ehrlich
2005-presentLeonardo / International Society for the Arts, Sciences and Technology: Associate Member
2003-2007 The Centre of Research on Intermediality: Member
2002-present Rhizome: Member
2000-present Center for Land Use Interpretation: Member