Erik Conrad's work investigates the relationship between a phenomenal understanding of the body with individual and collective experiences and understandings of space. His work explores the role of the sensing body in possible thought, and especially what role new technologies can play in infusing spaces with life.
His writings and installations exploring the relationship between gesture and vision, mobile tactile displays and tactual media have been presented and exhibited internationally, including the establishment of a temporary Theatre for Tactilism during the 2nd Annual Bumpkin Island Art Encampment [Boston], Young Investigators Forum on Culture Technology [KAIST, South Korea], ImageRadio: Interactive experiments in public space [MAD Emergent Arts Center, Eindhoven, Netherlands], Responsive Architectures [Subtle Technologies, Toronto], SIGGRAPH, What Matter(s)? [Critical Digital, Harvard Graduate School of Design], CHI 2006, Journées de la culture [Place des Arts' Hall des Pas perdus, Montréal], Hybrid Vigor [Beall Center for Art and Technology, Irvine, CA] and the International Symposium for  Wearable Computing (ISWC), among others.
He has taught courses in art, theory, computation, electronics at various institutions including the Rhode Island School of Design, University of California Irvine, Concordia University, and University of Maryland Baltimore County. His background is interdisciplinary, including a MS Information and Computer Science from University of California Irvine's Arts, Computation and Engineering program, MS Information Design and Technology from Georgia Tech, and BA Visual and Performing Arts from University of Maryland Baltimore County. Conrad is concurrently pursuing a PhD in Arts Research with the Topological Media Lab at Concordia University in Montréal and teaching in the Department of Media Study, University at Buffalo State Univesity of New York.
© Erik Conrad 1998-2010