Ken Rinaldo (b.1958, Queens, New York, USA)
Artist, researcher, curator. For over two decades, Rinaldo has worked at the intersection of art and biology, creating interactive multimedia installations that blur the boundaries between the organic and inorganic and focusing on interactive robotics, biological art, artificial life, interspecies communication, rapid prototyping and digital imaging. His works have been exhibited and commissioned by national and international institutions such as: Transmediale (Berlin), BEAP (Perth), ARCO (Madrid), Ars Electronica (Linz), the Kiasma Museum of Contemporary Art (Helsinki), the Chicago Art Institute, the Museum of Contemporary Art (Chicago), V2 Dutch Arts Festival (Rotterdam), SIGGRAPH (Los Angeles), and the Exploratorium (San Francisco). Rinaldo has curated numerous exhibitions specializing in Art and Technology including: Wavicle Illuminata (1995), Digital Art in the New Millennium (2000), Digital Perturbations (2001), Digerati (2001), Frequency Shifts (2001), and Algorithmic Mash/Machinations (2003). He was awarded first prize at VIDA 3.0 (Madrid), an international competition on Art & Artificial Life; honorary mention at Ars Electronica (Linz, 2001); and the Interactivity Ars Electronica Distinction Award (Linz, 2004). Rinaldo has received numerous grants and awards including an Ohio Arts Council Grant and commissions from the Lille – Cultural Capital of Europe Festival in 2004 and AV Festival England in 2006. He is a professor of interactive robotic sculpture, 3D modeling and motion graphics and Director of the Art and Technology Program at Ohio State University (Columbus, Ohio, USA). Rinaldo is currently a visiting Professor in the Art Department of Carnegie Mellon University (Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, USA).