JOE CANTRELL, multimedia artist

JOE CANTRELL is a digital artist specializing in sound art, installations, and performances inspired by the implications of technological objects and practices. By using the physical remnants of these processes as raw materials, his work investigates the incessant acceleration of technological production, ownership, and obsolescence. He has performed and installed at numerous venues in the US and abroad, and has been honored with grants by New Music USA and the Creative Capital foundation, among others.

Joe holds a BFA in music technology from Cal Arts, an MFA in digital arts and new media from UC Santa Cruz and a PhD in music from UC San Diego.

“Today's hot commodity is tomorrow's garbage. In the rush to get the newest and shiniest things, the less new and less shiny are cast off. In solidarity with these abandoned objects and the hands that put them together, I make electronic feedback soundscapes using only discarded, obsolete and / or broken technology. It's a physical collaboration: the machines listen to themselves and and act accordingly. I offer suggestions to them and we make sound together.” - Joe Cantrell