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SFist Interviews: SF Artist And MacArthur Fellow Camille Utterback
by Amy Crocker
It always pays to be smart, but sometimes it really pays.
Last week, The MacArthur Fellows Program awarded San Francisco digital artist Camillie Utterback $500,000. Commonly referred to as a “genius grant,” this money comes with no strings attached. The MacAurther Foundation is “in support of people, not projects,” according to their website.
So who is this person?
For starters, she moved to San Francisco in 2005. She has a BA in Art from Williams College, and a Masters degree from The Interactive Telecommunications Program at New York University's Tisch School of the Arts. While at NYU in the mid 90’s, she experimented with early versions of avatars and began to question what was human presence over a network and what do you need to feel connected to a person. An interactive artist was born and her work has been displayed in public spaces across the country, including San Jose.
But to move beyond her resume, SFist spoke with Utterback to find a portrait of the artist in her prime.
SF: So how will the MacArthur grant change the way to you work?
CU: I can relax a little; I don’t have to apply to every single thing. I don’t have to do every speaking engagement or every show. I can clear out some time and focus on the projects I want to do. I don’t have much time to really brainstorm and play around anymore. So I think that will really change my work, having the time to try new things.
SF: What sort of new things will you try?
CU: Having that money might also allow me to actually give other artists that I’ve been wanting to work with, or other technologists, the ability to take some time off and work with me. I always talk about how it would be fun to work with other artists, but if you say, “Let’s work together for a couple of weeks, I can give you this artists fee,” then they can devote some time to it.
SF: What would you have done without the grant money?
CU: I was very seriously considering stopping being an artist last fall because I didn’t see how I was going to pull it off. There just wasn’t stuff out there. I had some things get cancelled on me. I was probably going to apply for a full time teaching job.
I don’t a have huge overhead but I basically run a small business that is very much subject to the whims of our economy.
SF: So now that the studio rent is paid, what sort of art do you focus on?
CU: I was interested in people using technology to focus on where they are right there, where they’re standing. Often technology takes us out of our bodies. Where are you when you’re talking on your cell phones? I didn’t want a work with everyone hunched over their keyboards. Could you throw something in the mix that opened up people’s eyes to a lot more ways to interact with this stuff?
SF: What ways do people interact with your art?
CU: You have to approach the work experimentally. There’s the person that tries to break it, they run as fast as possible and get as many people to come in to place. They’re testing the limits of the system and what it can and can’t follow. There are people who are very systematic; they try little things one on one. Some people are very social; they talk a lot with other people to find out what’s happening. If one person starts being more experimental other people start. If there’s a kid around other people get sillier.
I kind of like watching how different personality types approach things. There are these really varied responses. The more I do these kinds of works, the more I think about what type of behavior I’m encouraging.
SF: Do you always encourage movement?
CU: Certain work I’m doing responds really well to stillness. You know there’s so many computer gadgets that react to twitchy behavior like pushing a button so what does it mean if a system responds more if you stand still?
SF: Did moving to San Francisco from New York in 2005 help your career?
CB: That’s hard to separate out. I’ve been getting more commission the longer I’ve been working but I have done a large number of commissions in the past four years. [I got] the project for the San Jose city hall in part because I was out here.
SF: Does the location of your studio even matter?
CB: I think location actually matters a lot. So many people come through New York - I did lot more studio visits in New York. There were a lot more people visiting my space. I think that led to more shows.
SF: Your art uses technology in new ways. Do you read Science Fiction for inspiration?
CU: I never was that into science fiction and I’m definitely not a gadget freak. I’m almost the opposite - like I still don’t have a Facebook page. There are a lot of things I resist because I don’t like how they change people’s behavior.
SF: Are you concerned that your technology won't be up-to-the-minute?
CU: I'm more interested in using what is already available. So I’m maybe not on the bleeding edge of the technology, but [I’m coming up] with different ways we could use it.