Ryan Stec

PhD Candidate (All But Dissertation), Azrielli School of Architecture and Urbanism, Carleton University (2014-2018)

Developing a participatory project for public space while focusing on the exploration of making art and architecture as a research methodology.

M.Arch with Distinction, Azrielli School of Architecture & Urbanism, Carleton University (2014)

Thesis: Useless Architecture – A staircase to nowhere for the Chaudière Ring Dam.

B.A. Communications Magna Cum Laude, University of Ottawa (2000)

Part Time Professor/Adjunct Professor, Department of Visual Arts, University of Ottawa (2015-Present)

Teaching Assistant, Azrielli School of Architecture and Urbanism, Carleton University

Studio 1 with Prof. H. Masud Taj (2015), Introduction to Modern Architecture with Prof. Inderbir Riar (2013 & 2014), Post WWII Urbanism with Prof. Benjamin Gianni (2014), Introduction to Architecture with Prof. Roger Connah (2011 & 2012)

Artistic Director, Artengine (2006-present)

As Director (and now Co-Director) of this creative centre for art, design and research Stec has been responsible for the innovative evolution of the organization: development of new models of programming; major commissioning projects and knowledge sharing.

Major achievements: established a community driven electronics and media lab; initiated a critical writing residency for media art with national partners; developed a significant electronic art and sound festival; implemented Canada’s first Maker Faire, part of an exclusive network of 16 international festivals in Shanghai, Rome, Berlin, and Detroit among others.

Media Producer, Independent (2001-2007)

Media development, production and consultation for various clients including the National Arts Centre, the Ottawa International Jazz Festival, the Ottawa International Animation Festival, the Ottawa Art Gallery and the City of Ottawa.

Workshop Instructor (video editing, video production), SAW Video (2001-2007)

Mesh (2011, public art competition) produced with Véronique Couillard.

Short listed entry, Somerset Street West Public Art Competition, City of Ottawa

Public Domain (2010, video project) co-created with Véronique Couillard

Commissioned by: SAW Video and Library and Archives Canada (Ottawa, ON)

Touring program presented at: Cambridge Galleries (Cambridge, Ontario); Zeitgeist Multi-disciplinary Arts Centre (New Orleans, Louisiana); Eyedrum Arts Centre (Atlanta, Georgia); Halifax Independent Filmmakers Festival; Winnipeg Film Group (Winnipeg); MediaNet @ Deluge Gallery (Victoria); No.w.here (London UK); Metro Cinema (Edmonton); EMMedia (Calgary); Visual Studies Workshop (Rochester, NY)

Bright Lights, Big City (2009, public art installation)

Original concept by Véronique Couillard, Jason St-Laurent and Ryan Stec, Produced by Ryan Stec

Commissioned by: CN Tower (Toronto, ON) and Scotiabank Nuit Blanche 2009 (Toronto, ON)

Camouflage Video Performance (2009)

Commissioned by: Canadian War Museum (Ottawa, ON)

Swim (2008, immersive audio-video installation) In collaboration with Jan Pienkowski

Commissioned by: Le Labo (Toronto, ON) and La société des arts technologiques (Montréal, QC)

Motel to Motel (2005, video project) Co-created with Véronique Couillard

Commissioned by: SAW Video (Ottawa, ON) and Modern Fuel (Kingston, ON)

Mixed Tape2 (2006, live performance) Commissioned by: Video Pool (Winnipeg, MB)

Norman McLaren Remix (2004, live performance) Commissioned by: New Forms Festival (Vancouver,BC)

2018 We All Become Stories – A Survey of the Ottawa-Gatineau Region (Group Show), Ottawa Art Gallery

2014 Live video performance, Winterlude, National Capital Commission, Ottawa

2010 Live audio-visual performance with if then do, MUTEK, Montreal

dead end job, video, Sorting Daemons: Art &Surveillance Regimes, Agnes Etherington Art Centre

2009 Mix (with if then do), solo show including HD Video and holographic prints, Canteen, Ottawa

Motel to Motel, video, Media Souvenirs, SAW Video, Ottawa

Wrestlers are hot, video, Videodrome, Museum of Contemporary Canadian Art, Toronto

Governor General Awards for Visual and Media Arts, Art Matters, Ottawa

2008 Mixed Tape (Video Pool Edition), artist talk and performance, Video Pool

Disorganized Resident VJ for international music talent, Jokers of the Scene

2007 dead end job, video, In The Mix, Interaccess, Toronto

Transformer Remix, video, Videodrome, FameFame, Toronto

Motel to Motel, video, Festival international du cinema francophone, Fredericton

2006 Mr. Roger’s Vacation, video, The Quarter Century, SAW Video, Ottawa

Motel to Motel, video, Folie-à-deux, Modern Fuel, Kingston

Motel to Motel, video, Folie-à-deux, SAW Video, Ottawa

Sundown, video, Where Water Meets Land, Festival of the Arts, Pontiac

dead end job, video, Flow, Truck/CSIF, Calgary

2005 Bastard, documentary, Cinematheque, Winnipeg

the itch, video installation, My Culture Includes My Scene, The Ottawa Art Gallery, Ottawa

dead end job, video, Off-Grid, The Ottawa Art Gallery/Available Light Screening Collective, Ottawa

2004 dead end job, video, Videogram, MUU Gallery/SAW Video, Helsinki, Finland

2003 Jolly Fat Men, documentary, CineVic, Vancouver

2001 Mr. Rogers Vacation, video, Video Bordello, SAW Video/IFVA National Conference, Ottawa

2000 Jolly Fat Men, documentary, SAW Video, Ottawa

Live Video Performance for Iceberg, 90 min, NAC

Bastard (2005) 55 min

Following the filmmaker and his father as they retrace the complicated story of a bastard child.

Funders: The Canada Council for the Arts, the Ontario Arts Council and Independent Filmmakers Cooperative of Ottawa. Premiered at the Canadian Film Institute.

Jolly Fat Men (2000) 55 min, co-directed with Jacob Hanna

Cinema vérité and behind the beard interviews of three shopping mall Santa Clauses.

Funders: SAW Video and the National Film Board of Canada Filmmaker Assistance Program.

2016 Ontario Graduate Scholarship

2015John Ruddy Scholarship for excellence in Phd research proposal

2014 Azrieli Scholarship, PhD, Azrieli School of Architecture and Urbanism

Azrieli Scholars Award for Master’s Thesis Project: Useless Architecture

2013 Azrieli Scholars Program, Azrieli School of Architecture and Urbanism

2012 Departmental Scholarship, Azrieli School of Architecture and Urbanism

2010 Production Grant, Integrated Arts, Ontario Arts Council

2009 Exhibition Assistance, Visual and Media Arts, Ontario Arts Council

2006 Council for the Arts in Ottawa Mid-Career Artist Award

2005 Production Fund, SAW Video

Grants to Media Artists: Emerging, Ontario Arts Council

2004 Travel Grant, Canada Council for the Arts

2002 Development Grant, City of Ottawa

2000 Media Arts, Emerging Category, Canada Council for the Arts

1^st Productions Film and Video, Ontario Arts Council

1999 Filmmakers Assistance Program, National Film Board

Soundtrack(2015)

Produced a group of six emerging artists and designers in the production of a collaborative project to be presented at the 2015 Maker Faire. Soundtrack is a custom built slot car racetrack which turns the competitive race into a collaborative sound experiment.

We Make The City! We Are The City! (2013)

Festival project involving six commissioned projects for public spaces in the city, themed around participation and place. (Artengine)

Surrounding Sound (2012)

International symposium on the relationship between sound and space presented partially in collaboration with Carleton University. Included production of open model web publication at surroundingsound.ca. Project Director and Curator. (Artengine)

SwimSound(2011, Commissioning Program)

Commissioned collaboration between musician Jesse Stewart, electronic artist Rob Cruickshank and an architect for performance work in a public swimming pool facility. (Artengine)

NiteRide(2009, Commissioning Program)

Commissioned musician Tim Hecker and artist Marla Hlady to produce sound scores for specific driving routes around the region of the national capital. (Artengine)

Superfan (2007, Commissioning Program)

Commissioning project about art and sport designed for installation in sports bars around the city of Ottawa. (Artengine)

Remix(2002-2005, Commissioning Program) Producer and co-curated with Anne Clarke

Artists commissioned to create new videos using only one continuous hour of a television broadcast. The footage included CBC’s The National (2002), 1 hour of Much Music (2003), the Stanley Cup Finals (2004) and North of 60 (2005).

Presented as part of Galerie SAW Gallery’s Video Art Biennale: Art Star in 2003 and 2005.

HomeMovies, (2004, Curatorial Committee)

Code régional/SAW Video

An outdoor video exhibition presented through the windows of homes in the neighborhood of Vanier.

MixedTape, (2004)

Platform Gallery, Vaasa, Finland

A curated program of Scandinavian video works remixed in a live environment accompanied by an exhibition in the gallery space.

2016 The Contemporary Manifesto: a dialogue on the space between artist, architect and intellectual

What is our role? Artists in Academia and the Post-Knowledge Economy, YYZ Artist Outlet, Toronto

2015 Video is Dead: A debate on the state of media arts

In the context of Necropolis, Karsh-Masson Gallery, City of Ottawa

Interrupted: artistic interventions in the circulation city

Flux &Flow, Art History Graduate Student Society, Carleton University, Ottawa

2014 Sound and the City, Elektra(IDM), Montreal

2013 Media Hubs as Urban Catalysts, Creative City Summit, Ottawa

2010 Building Capital through Community Access, Elektra(IDM), Montreal

2009 Developing Artistic Communities through Network-Based Technology

Subtle Technologies, Toronto

2008 FEEDBACK, SAW Video

2007 Electric Fences: creating &destroying barriers with technology in performance

Performance Creation Canada, Ottawa

2006 Running Interference – VJ software, live performance and video art.

Independent Media Arts Alliance National Conference, Winnipeg

2005 Characters in Space (in collaboration with Howie Tsui),The Ottawa Art Gallery, Ottawa

The Remix and media recontextualization, Un-censoring: MediaMorphosis, Carleton/OPIRG Carleton

925 Belfast Public Art Jury, City of Ottawa

Rideau Center Public Art Jury, Cadillac Fairview and the City of Ottawa

Subventions aux artistes du cinéma et de la video, Arts médiatiques, Conseil des arts du Canada

Annual Assistance for Programming, Media Arts, Canada Council for the Arts

Multi and Inter-Arts Projects, Multi and Inter-Arts, Ontario Arts Council

Media Artists: Mid-Career and Established, Media Arts, Ontario Arts Council

Individual Grants, Arts Funding Program, City of Ottawa

JumpStart Grant, SAW Video