Sylvia Grace Borda

Sylvia Grace Borda is a Canadian artist working in photography, video, and emergent technologies. Outside of her artistic practice, Borda has worked as a curator, a lecturer, a multimedia framework architect with a specialization in content arrangement (GUI) and production.^[1] Born and raised in Vancouver,^[2] Borda is currently based in Vancouver, Helsinki, and Scotland. Borda studied anthropology and fine art at the undergraduate level at the University of British Columbia (1991–1996) and digital media at the graduate level, also at the University of British Columbia (1999–2001 MFA) and photography and video at the Emily Carr University of Art and Design (1993–95 BFA).^[3][2] Her work has been exhibited locally, nationally, and internationally.^[4][5]

Artistic practice

Borda achieved early recognition for her photographic practice. Her first exhibition was a national, juried photography exhibition entitled Photoperspectives '88, which ran from October 28 – November 27, 1988 at the Presentation House Gallery. Adjudicated by Sheila Hall, Geoffrey James, and Russell Keziere, the project was supported by the Province of British Columbia through the Ministry of Tourism, Recreation, and Culture. the North Vancouver Community Arts Council, and the District of West Vancouver. Writing for the Vancouver Sun, Elizabeth Godley praises Borda's work as "[leavening] an otherwise deadly serious exhibit with her cheerful view from Grandma's Window."^[6]

More recently, Borda has produced works as a part of Frontiers in Retreat^[7] that captures "intimate insights into Finland’s agricultural resources and peoples. Only recently has Finland shifted significantly away from an agrarian-based country where nearly 60% of the population was involved in agricultural production up until the mid 1950s. [Borda's] portrayals of farming reach far beyond the romantic stereotypical notions viewers might hold ranging from new perspectives on Lapland to intensive farming or green house production."^[8] This is in line with her recent interests in "re-addressing public views about specific socio-cultural landscapes and how cultural symbols may be co-opted to form new media platforms,"^[9] an interest which has generated an array of stereo-works and multi-dimensional tableaux produced in Google Streetview.^[10] The innovative^[11] Farm Tableux won her the 2016 Lumen Prize,^[12] and was a product of the "first explorative artworks in Google Street View in partnership with Google Business StreetView photographer, John M Lynch."^[13]

Research and teaching

Borda has held teaching positions as Senior Photography Lecturer at Salford-Manchester University from January – September 2010,^[14] MA Convenor in Photography and Imaging at Queen’s University Belfast,^[15] and Associate Researcher in New Media at the University of British Columbia.^[16] From 2009–2016 Borda was an Honorary Research Fellow in Visual Arts at the University of Stirling, Scotland.^[17][2]

As an Associate Researcher and Lecturer in Digital Arts at the Department of Art History, Visual Art, and Theory at the University of British Columbia and Emily Carr Institute of Art and Design, Borda examined how "cognitive responses evolve over time in relation to a media stimuli" as part of her broader research interests in "examination of popular culture and in the emergence of convergent graphical user interface systems." At the same time, Borda conducted research on "accessibility standards, tools and the plausibility of their facilitation for projects supporting cultural collections". She has participated in research projects on PDA deployment and cultural/visual recognition, examined the Canadian Heritage Information Network's mobile technologies and new wireless (was) enabled catalogue, and was the architect behind EdWeb, an "educational on-line content generation tool, designed to meet England's National Curriculum needs for school children aged 8–13."^[18]

Publications

• Borda, Sylvia Grace (January 1, 2009). "[20 Modernist Structures in NI I Love]". Building Material (19): 82–85. 

Solo exhibitions

• New works, Oxygen Arts Centre, British Columbia, Canada (June – August 2017).
• Murals, Serde Arts Centre, Aizpute, Latvia (2017)
• The Lumsden Biscuit, Scottish Sculpture Workshop, Scotland (2016)
• Revisiting a Holiday in Glenrothes, The Lighthouse, Scotland's Centre for Architecture and Design. (March 28 – May 8, 2015) Produced by the Scottish Civic Trust.
• Camera Histories, Street Level Photoworks, Glasgow, Scotland. (November 22, 2013 – February 2, 2014) Curated by Malcolm Dickson.^[4]
• Aerial Fields, Surrey Urban Screen, British Columbia. (September 8, 2013 – January 6, 2014) Curated by Liane Davison and Alison Rajah.^[4]
• Beyond Sight: Interrogations of a Camera, A&D Gallery, London, UK. (2009–2010) Curated by Karen Downey^[4]
• Cameras and Watercolour sunsets, CSA Space, Vancouver, Canada. Curated by Christopher Brayshaw and Steven Tong.^[19][4]
• A Holiday in Glenrothes, Royal Institute of Architect’s Scotland Gallery, Edinburgh, Scotland (2008).^[4]
• Traveling to Glenrothes, Rothes Hall Galleries, Fife, Scotland (2008).
• EK Modernism, CSA Space, Vancouver, Canada. (2007) Curated by Adam Harrison.^[4]
• EK Modernism: New Town Passages, EKAC Galleries, East Kilbride, Scotland. (2006)
• New works, East Kilbride Arts Centre, Scotland (2005)
• Minimalist Portraits, Net Art Launch, SAW Art Gallery, Ottawa, Ontario (2004)^[4]
• Every Bus Stop in Surrey, BC, Surrey Art Gallery, Surrey, British Columbia. (2002)^[4]
• Capital Cities, Centre A, Vancouver, British Columbia. (2002)
• In Transit, Pocket Gallery, Vancouver, British Columbia (1999)
• Of Myth and Muse, Richmond Art Gallery, Richmond, British Columbia (1996)^[20]

Upcoming and recent group exhibitions

• Sites of Assembly, the Morris and Helen Belkin Art Gallery, Vancouver, British Columbia. (June 23 – August 13, 2017)^[21]
• Napier University, Edinburgh, Scotland (2017)
• Glasgow Women's Library Group exhibition, Scotland (2017)
• Summer Exhibition, Mustarinda Arts Society, Finland (2017)
• Lumen Prize Digital Arts Tour 2017: Canary Wharf Winter Festival, London, England; FQ Projects, Shanghai, China; Leeds Digital Art Festival, UK; New York City's Creative Tech week, USA
• Lumen Prize, Digital Arts Tour 2016: Hackney House, London, England; Cardiff Technology Centre, United Kingdom; Berlin Electronic Visualisation Conference, Germany; Caerphilly Castle, Wales (2016)
• Man-Made Art, A+D Gallery, London, England (Jan 11 – February 22, 2016)
• Summer show, Photographs and prints. A&D Gallery, London, United Kingdom. Guest curated by Maika (July 16 – August 30, 2015)
• Mantta Summer Exhibition: a new present || uusi nykyisyys. (June 13 – August 31, 2015) Curated by Kalle Hamm & Dzamil Kamanger.
• A Sense of Place, Oulu Art Museum, Finland (January 23 – March 15, 2015) Curated by Helka Ketonen.
• Cultural Productions, SERDE Residency, Latvia (September 2015)
• Views from the Southbank: Information, Objects, Mapping, Surrey Art Gallery, British Columbia (September 19 – December 13, 2015) Curator: Jordan Strom.
• Residency: Frontiers in Retreat workshop, Helsinki International Artist Programme, Finland (2014). Curated by Jenni Nurmenniemi & Nuno Sacremento.
• Digital Cultures, Museum of Finnish Photography, Helsinki, Finland (2014)
• "Figuring Ground: Sylvia Grace Borda and Jeremy Herndl," Surrey Art Gallery, British Columbia (September 21 – December 15, 2013) Curated by Jordan Strom.
• NORTHERN IRELAND: 30 Years of Photography, Belfast Exposed Gallery and the MAC, (May 10 – July 7, 2013) Curated by Karen Downey, Catalog by Colin Graham.
• Blueprint, Street Level Photoworks, Glasgow, Scotland. (February 2 – March 31, 2013)
• Beyond Vague Terrain: The City and The Serial Image, Surrey Art Gallery, Canada. Curated by Jordan Strom (2012)
• Zoo Art Sculptural Biennale, Cueno, Italy (2012)
• Seeing and Being in the Landscape, Blue Wall Gallery, Ireland Curated by Joe Keenan (2011)
• Scoping Worlds, Leitrim Scultpure Centre, Ireland. (2010) Curated by Sean O'Reilly.
• Glocal, Cultural Capital of Canada Artist Project, Tech Lab, Surrey Art Gallery (2009–2010)
• '(Not) A Photograph' Exhibition Obalne Galerije, Piran, Slovenia. (2008) Curated by Vasja Nagy.
• re-COLLECT-ing, Naughton Gallery, Belfast, Northern Ireland (2008)
• Subversive Cartography, National web launch – Virtual Net Art,Gallery TPW, Toronto, Ontario. (2007) Curated by Michael Alstad and Daniel Young.
• Proun series, HZ Net Gallery. (2007) Curated by Sachiko Hayashi.
• Two Chicken Noodle, Barcode Series, Digital Fringe, Melbourne (2007)
• National web launch – Virtual Net Art, Gallery TPW, Toronto, Ontario. (2007) Curated by Michael Alstad and Daniel Young
• Node.London'06, Media Arts Festival and exhibition (2007)
• Pixelware, Travelling exhibition: Dazibao Gallery, Montreal and Photographer’s Gallery, Toronto (2005) Pixelware, a sublime forgery is a collaborative project curated by Dazibao, France Choinière and Marisa Portolese, and Gallery 44, Sara Angelucci and Elaine Whittaker.
• Ruins and Civilization: Stan Douglas, Antonia Hirsch, Sylvia Grace Borda, International art exhibition, Eslite Vision Art Space, Taipei, Taiwan. (August 7–29, 2004) Curated by Amy Cheng.^[22][23][5]

Residencies

• Helsinki International Artists Program, March 28, 2016 – April 3, 2016.^[4]
• Helsinki International Artists Program, January 1, 2014 – December 31, 2015.^[4]

Public grants and awards

• Frontiers in Retreat, EU Visual Arts and Innovation (2014–17) ^[4]
• Lumen Prize Web Based Award (2016)^[24]
• BC Innovation and Media Grant (2011–12) ^[4]
• Creative Communities Grant, Province of British Columbia, Canada.^[4]
• Surrey Art Gallery Urban Screen Production Grant.^[4]
• City of Richmond Public Art Commission: No.4 Pump Station (2010–11).^[4]
• Cultural Capital of Canada Artist status award in combination with Cultural Olympiad project status for the Vancouver Winter Olympics (2008–10)^[4]
• the Innovation Award, The Lighthouse Gallery Glasgow (2006)^[4]
• the Urban Culture Award (through the Millennium Commission, Cities of Culture Liverpool) for 2005–07.^[4]

Further listening

"Sylvia Grace Borda talking about the photography activity ’ Take a Holiday In Your Own Back Yard’," 2014, with the Scottish Civic Trust.^[25]

References