Curating
Curating constitutes a significant part of my service to the university as well as being a means of giving visibility to alternative media practices. As co-Chair of 24/7: A DIY Video Summit, I helped curate more than twelve hours of genre-based screening programs as part of a three-day festival at USC in February 2008; and in 2007, I curated the USC Arts & Humanities Initiative Visions & Voices event Remixing the Archive, which included workshops, screenings, performances and panels devoted to an in-depth investigation of remix culture. The previous year, I curated two programs for the Annenberg Center’s Networked Publics media festival: The Digital Handmade and Political Remix. And in 2002, I co-curated with Holly Willis the Digital Media Salon for the Race in Digital Space 2.0 conference, which featured performances, sound art, interactive installations, a net art exhibit and multiple video programs. For more than a decade I served on the Board of Directors of Filmforum, Los Angeles’ oldest venue for experimental media, and for the past eight years I have co-curated with Holly Willis the screening series Blur + Sharpen at USC, which showcases new work by digital artists in the fields of design, motion graphics, animation, video and interactive media. Due to the rapidly evolving nature of contemporary digital media, these curatorial efforts allow me to remain current with often ephemeral work by cutting edge designers, artists and amateurs, while also allowing me to serve as an advocate for work that is particularly innovative, challenging or provocative. For me, curating also serves to enrich the creative and intellectual culture in Los Angeles and provides inspiration for my own scholarly and creative work.
Blur + Sharpen
Co-curator with Holly Willis
A screening series at USC for recent digital media
2001-present
24/7: A DIY Video Summit
Co-chair (with Mimi Ito)
Three-day international conference and festival at USC
Spring 2008
The Digital Handmade
Curator, screening program; moderator of panel discussion for artists
Networked Publics Conference and Media Festival
Annenberg Center for Communication
Spring 2006
Political Remix
Co-curator, screening program and interactive display
Networked Publics Conference and Media Festival
Annenberg Center for Communication
Spring 2006
Race in Digital Space 2.0 Digital Salon
An evening of performances, screenings and interactive artwork for the Race in Digital Space 2.0 conference
Fall 2002
Los Angeles Filmforum
Member of Board of Directors
LA’s oldest screening venue for experimental film and video
Spring 1999-09
Steve Anderson is an Assistant Professor of Interactive Media and Director of the Ph.D. program in Media Arts & Practice in the USC School of Cinematic Arts. He co-Edits the interdisciplinary online journal Vectors and is the creator of the fair use advocacy site Critical Commons. As a scholar-practitioner working at the intersection of media, culture and technology, his research interests include historiography, the theory and history of emerging technologies, documentary and experimental film and video, and interactive media design.