Steve Rowell

+1 202-421-8105

Steve Rowell is an artist, curator, and researcher based in Los Angeles. His spatial practice involves overlapping aspects and perceptions of technology, culture, and infrastructure on, beneath, and above the landscape – contextualizing the built and the natural environment, appropriating the methods and tools of the geographer and cartographer. Photography, video, and audio field recordings are the media of his projects, often exhibited as installations or as public interventions.

In addition to being Program Manager at The Center for Land Use Interpretation since 2001, he collaborates with SIMPARCH and The Office of Experiments.

2012 projects include:

- A visiting artist residency at the University of Applied Art in Vienna where Steve is focusing on a landmarking project stemming from infrastructures of extreme durations and a 2006 quantum teleportation experiment along the Danube River carried out by quantum physicists based in Vienna.

- One of 5 curators of the DC5x5 public art initiative in Washington D.C. in March / April 2012, where Steve brought 5 artist and artist teams from Germany, England, Canada, and the US to D.C. to explore the singular qualities of the Federal District beyond the monumental core with his curatorial project entitled Suspension of Disbelief.

- A residency on Fogo Island, Newfoundland, at the extreme Northeastern corner of North America, in the summer of 2012 which will continue his fieldwork, filming, and research on the topic of historical submarine cables and wireless links between the "Old and New Worlds".

As part of CLUI, Steve's work has been exhibited internationally at a range of galleries and museums including: The 2006 Whitney Biennial; Columbia University, Graduate School of Architecture, New York; Yerba Buena Center for The Arts, San Francisco; The Smithsonian American Art Museum, Washington, D.C.; The Barbican Art Centre, IBID Projects, and Between Bridges, London. With SIMPARCH, his work has exhibited at The Ballroom, Marfa, TX and Year_06 Art Fair in conjunction with Frieze Art Fair 2006, London (among other locations).

EXHIBITS / EVENTS / PROJECTS (note: repeat, traveling CLUI exhibits do not appear here)

      2012

May: "The Cold Coast Archive" exhibition (with Annesofie Norn and Signe Lidén), Center for PostNatural History, Pittsburgh

March:Suspension of Disbelief curatorial project, DC 5X5 public art initiative, Washington, D.C.

February: "Sites of Monumental Institutional Response to Catastrophe", talk, Association of American Geographers 2012 Annual Meeting, New York

February: "The Cold Coast Archive" video presentation,The Long Now Foundation SALT seminar, San Francisco

      2011

November-December: Artist in Residence, The University of Applied Arts Vienna

December: Selected for the DC 5X5 curatorial competition, Washington, D.C.

July: Telegraph (live video broadcast), Field Broadcast: Seven Sunsets, 20:13 EDT 07/28/2011,Washington, D.C.

July: ASAP Kamp Kippy residency, Mt. Desert Island, Maine

June: A-Z West in Context: A Spatial Analysis (article), Afterall, issue 27 - mapping

May: Pre-production of Territorial Nature, a collaborative video installation project with the Office of Experiments

May: Eden's Edge Workshop, University of Applied Arts, Vienna

May: Incidental Soundscapes: High and Low, Yerba Buena Center for the Arts & the Long Now Foundation, San Francisco

May: Hollow Earth (sound installation / performance), Performances in Hansaviertel, TiergartenEins, Berlin

May: Workshop, The College of Fine Arts, Braunschweig

March: Ultimate High Ground (online version), Triple Canopy, New York

February: A Field Guide to Future Island (fieldwork) with Annesofie Norn and Signe Lidén, Svalbard, Norway in partnership with Kulturkontakt Nord, the Norsk kulturråd and the Long Now Foundation

January - present: ongoing research / production on underground, think tanks, 'complexes', and monuments in the Federal District region

      2010

November - December: Routes of Least Surveillance (with the Institute for Applied Autonomy, credited as SITE-R),
Saint Étienne International Design Biennial, Saint Étienne, France

July - October: Background Listening Post, Angst in Form, Werkleitz Festival, Halle (Saale), Germany
See this project webpage for more

June : HaSS Visiting Fellowship, Global Urban Research Unit, Newcastle University, Newcastle upon Tyne

May - October: Greater New York 2010 (with An Atlas of Radical Cartography), P.S.1, New York

May 21-23: TelePort – A Tour of the Lizard’s Landscape of Telecommunication, conference and bus tour,
Falmouth Convention, Cornwall

May: Ultimate High Ground Global Map, Theater of Peace group show, NGBK, Berlin
Order a copy of the map

March - May: The Sonic Boom Archive, Aural Indicators, Contemporary Conflict Institute, Troy, New York

March 31: Show and (Fore)Tell event, Nottingham Contemporary, Nottingham

March: The Atrocity Exhibition group show, FEINKOST, Berlin

February: American Oil Vol. I audio piece for Framework & Resonance FM, London

January: Contribution to The Redactor (ed. Neal White), for the The Incidental Person exhibition at apexart, New York

      2009

December: ZEIGEN, an Audio Tour group show, Temporäre Kunsthalle, Berlin

December: Crisis: Exercises in the State of Emergency (Krise. EinÜbungen in den Ausnahmezustand) group show, Villa Ichon, Bremen

November: Ultimate High Ground, UK, for Arts Catalyst's Dark Places group show, John Hansard Gallery, Southampton

November: Overt Research Project (with The Office of Experiments), for Arts Catalyst's Dark Places group show, John Hansard Gallery, Southampton

October: Urban Crude: The Oil Fields of the Los Angeles Basin (with CLUI), CLUI, Los Angeles

October: Mountain Radio Redux, Herbst Radio 99.1, Berlin

June: Radical Nature - Art and Architecture for a Changing Planet 1969–2009 group show (with CLUI), Barbican Art Centre, London

May: Not A Cornfield (with Lauren Bon & The Metabolic Studio), George Eastman House, Rochester

January: Texas Oil: Landscape of an Industry (with CLUI), Blaffer Gallery, Houston

      2008

September: TX AUX IN (with SIMPARCH), The Marfa Sessions, Ballroom Marfa, Marfa

September: Experimental Geography (with CLUI), Richard E. Peeler Art Center, DePauw University, Greencastle, Indiana

July: Room Tone (18 sounds in 6 models), A group project by Brandon LaBelle, Staalplaat Record Shop, Tuned City Festival, Berlin

July: Autotechnogeoglyphics: Vehicular Test Tracks in America (with CLUI), Between Bridges London

February: Routes of Least Surveillance (with the Institute for Applied Autonomy, credited as SITE-R), An Atlas of Radical Cartography, Redhouse Arts Center, Syracuse

Sound design and composition for Deborah Stratman's film O'er The Land

      2007

November:Routes of Least Surveillance (with the Institute for Applied Autonomy (IAA) as SITE-R), An Atlas of Radical Cartography, Gallery 400, Chicago

October:Routes of Least Surveillance (with the Institute for Applied Autonomy (IAA) as SITE-R), An Atlas of Radical Cartography, LACE, Los Angeles

September: Exhibit Poster Retrospective (with CLUI), The Smithsonian American Art Museum, Washington, D.C.

June: Pavement Paradise (with CLUI), CLUI, Los Angeles

Feb: Vacation: Dauphin Island (with CLUI), The Natural History Museum of Los Angeles County, Los Angeles

January: Hydromancy (in collaboration with SIMPARCH), Stanlee and Gerald Rubin Center for the Visual Arts, El Paso

      2006

October: Shock and Awe (with SIMPARCH), Year_06 Art Fair in conjunction with Frieze Art Fair 2006, London

October: Dissipation and Disintegration (with CLUI), CLUI, Los Angeles

May: Gloom and Doom I (with SIMPARCH), Richard Rosenthal Center for Contemporary Art, Cincinnati

May: Gloom and Doom II (with SIMPARCH), Arnoff Center for the Arts Gallery, Cincinnati

March : CLUI Touch-screen Informational Display (with CLUI), Whitney Biennial 2006, The Whitney Museum of American Art, New York

      2005

September: Interstate (group show, with CLUI), Nicole Klagsbrun Gallery, New York

June: Southern California Landscape Information Display (with CLUI), CLUI, Los Angeles

May : Weather Radio, Materials + Applications / 88.5 FM, Los Angeles

May: Three Projects Revisited (with CLUI), Columbia University, Graduate School of Architecture, New York

March: Terminal Island (with CLUI), CLUI, Los Angeles

March : KDRS, The CLUI Desert Research Station, Hinkley, California

January: Immersed Remains: Towns Submerged in America (with CLUI), CLUI, Los Angeles

      2004

October : Site:Nonsite:Quartzsite (in collaboration with AUDC), High Desert Test Sites 2004, Joshua Tree, California

August: Wendover, USA (with CLUI), CLUI, Los Angeles

May: Emergency State: First Responder and Law Enforcement Training Architecture (with CLUI), CLUI, Los Angeles

April: Diversions & Dislocations: California's Owens Valley (with CLUI), CLUI, Los Angeles

March: Loop Feedback Loop: The Big Picture of Traffic Control In Los Angeles (with CLUI), CLUI, Los Angeles

February: A View into the Pipe: East Central Interceptor Sewer (with CLUI), CLUI, Los Angeles

      2003

October: The Nellis Range Complex - Revisited (with CLUI), Ibid Projects, London

September: Ground-Up: Photographs of the Ground in the Margins of Los Angeles (with CLUI), CLUI, Los Angeles

July: West Coast Points: A Linear Portrait from North to South (with CLUI), CLUI, Los Angeles

July: The Best Dead Mall in America: A Photographic Documentation and Indefinite Installation (with CLUI), CLUI, Los Angeles

June: Between Oregon and Mexico: The California Coastal Records Project (with CLUI), CLUI, Los Angeles

February: The Silent Key: Incursions into Knob Culture (Mountain Radio performance with Mason Cooley) (touring performance) Sheffield, Glasgow, Brighton, London

February: The Most Expensive Space in North America, Form + Function group show (with AUDC), Chapman Univ. - Guggenheim Gallery, Orange, California

January: Property in the Harper Lake Basin: A Project of the CLUI Desert Research Station (with CLUI), CLUI, Los Angeles

      2002

September: Antarctic 1: Views Along Antarctica's First Highway (with CLUI), CLUI, Los Angeles

August: One Wilshire: Telco Hotel Central (with CLUI), CLUI, Los Angeles

June: Alternate Routes: An Aerial Survey of the 'Inland Empire'group show (with CLUI) The California Museum of Photography, The University of California - Riverside

June: Ecovention – Current Art to Transform Ecologies group show (with CLUI), Richard Rosenthal Center for Contemporary Art - Cincinnati

March: Proximity Issue: The Barricades of the Federal District (with CLUI), CLUI, Los Angeles

January: Genius Loci (with CLUI), The Southern California Institute of Architecture (SCIARC) - Los Angeles

January: Genius Loci (Mountain Radio Project performance with Mason Cooley), (SCIARC) - Los Angeles

January: Lobby in Rear - DIY lo-fi electronic sounds (Mountain Radio Project with M. Cooley), The Schindler House & The MAK-Schindler Scholarship Program - Los Angeles

      2001

December: Hallucination of Theory, reading (Mountain Radio performance with M. Cooley), China Art Objects Gallery, Los Angeles

December: 100 Years of Radio (Mountain Radio performance with M. Cooley), Lat / Long: 34.08’52” x - 118.26’17”, Los Angeles

August: Back to the Bay: An Exploration of the Marginal Zones of the San Francisco Bay (with CLUI),
The Yerba Buena Center for The Arts, San Francisco

August: Vision Embraces the World (Mountain Radio performance with M. Cooley), Echo Park Projects, Los Angeles

AWARDS & HONORS

2011
Acadia Summer Art Program aka: Kamp Kippy residency, Mt. Desert Island, Maine
Fellowship, Landscape Design department, University of Applied Arts, Vienna

2010
HaSS Visiting Fellowship, Global Urban Research Unit, Newcastle University, Newcastle upon Tyne
Werkleitz Festival commission, Werkleitz Center for Media Art, Halle, Germany

2009
The Arts Catalyst commission for Ultimate High Ground, UK project and for The Overt Research Project with The Office of Experiments, London

2008
Ballroom Marfa commission for TX AUX IN, Marfa

2007
Stanlee and Gerald Rubin Center for the Visual Arts commission for Hydromancy, El Paso

2006
Richard Rosenthal Center for Contemporary Art commission for Gloom & Doom I&II, Cincinnati
The Durfee Foundation Exhibition completion grant

2005
The Institute for Figuring Research grant for Sonic Boom Archive
Texas A&M University Artist residency

2004
Vectors residency at the Annenberg Center for Communication Institute for Multimedia Literacy, University of Southern California

With CLUI
Lucella Award - The Smithsonian American Art Museum; Grants from: The Annenberg Foundation, The LEF Foundation, Los Angeles Cultural Affairs Department, The Los Angeles County Arts Commission, The National Endowment for the Arts, The Nevada Humanities Committee, The Lannan Foundation, The Peter Norton Family Foundation, The Andy Warhol Foundation for the Visual Arts, The David and Lucille Packard Foundation, The Nathan Cummings Foundation

SELECTED PRINT BIBLIOGRAPHY (photographs and/or text)

      2001 - present

The Lay of the Land - CLUI Newsletter

   2011

“A-Z West in Context: A Spatial Analysis”, Afterall, Issue 27: “Mapping”, London, June 2011
“A-Z West in Context: A Spatial Analysis”, republished in Landscape, Vol 1 “Editing Spatial Relations”, Vienna, Autumn/Winter 2011

   2010

“A Doubting World? Tesla’s Wardenclyffe Tower Site Agfa Corporation’s Land for Sale”, The Redactor (ed. Neal White,) London 2010

   2009

Cities under Siege: The New Military Urbanism - Stephen Graham (author), Verso (Playas, NM photographs);
On the Banks of Bayou City: The Center for Land Use Interpretation in Houston - Cynthia Woods Mitchell Center for the Arts and Blaffer Gallery

      2008

Art Lies (Summer 2008 issue); DAMnº Magazine

      2007

An Atlas of Radical Cartography (as SITE-R) - The Journal of Aesthetics and Protest Press; Desert America: Territory of Paradox - Ramon Prat, ed., ACTAR Press

      2006

Presidential Doodles - Immaterial Incorporated; Overlook: Exploring the Internal Fringes of America with the CLUI - Metropolis Books; Not A Cornfield Document - FarmLab LLC & The Annenberg Foundation; Cabinet Magazine Issues 20 & 21 - Immaterial Incorporated; Artforum

      2005

Cabinet Magazine Issues 16 & 17 - Immaterial Incorporated; LAFORUM Annual - Los Angeles Forum for Architecture and Urban Design; other media, including: OnEarth,The Christian Science Monitor, The New York Times; LA Weekly; Los Angeles Downtown News; Wired Magazine

      2004

Dwell Magazine; Artforum

      2001

More & Less #1: Hallucination of Theory - Sylvere Lotringer & Giovanni Intra, eds., Autonomedia & Art Center College of Design

SELECTED REVIEW & CATALOG BIBLIOGRAPHY

“Where do Experiments End?”, Geoforum, May 2010, Gail Davies

Angst Hat Grosse Augen, Werkleitz Festival 2010 catalog, Werkleitz Center for Media Art, Halle, Germany, 2010

Friedensschauplätze / Theater of Peace, Exhibition catalog, Neue Gesellschaft für Bildende Kunst, Berlin, 2010

Radical Nature, Exhibition catalog, Barbican Art Gallery, Koenig Books, 2009

“Office of Experiments”, Blueprint, Issue 289, April 2010, Peter Kelly

“Illuminating landscapes”, Afterimage, March 1, 2010, Paul Roberts

Dark Places, exhibition catalog, The Arts Catalyst, SCAN, John Hansard Gallery, Southampton, UK, 2009

On the Banks of Bayou City: The Center for Land Use Interpretation in Houston, Texas Oil exhibition catalog, Cynthia Woods Mitchell Center for the Arts and Blaffer Gallery, 2009

“Immersion in the Land of Oil”, Art Lies, Issue 58 (Summer 2008), Bree Edwards

“Global Issues / Portrait of a Place / CLUI”, DAMnº Magazine, Issue 18, 2008

“The Administrative Sublime, or The Center for Land Use Interpretation”, Afterall, Spring/Summer 2006,Michael Ned Holte

“True beauty: Jeffrey Kastner talks with Matthew Coolidge about the Center for Land Use Interpretation”, ArtForum, Summer 2005, Jeffrey Kastner

“Lords of Muddled Earth - On Site”, ArtForum, January 2004, Daniel Herman

SELECTED ONLINE BIBLIOGRAPHY

CLUI, BldgBlog, Not a Cornfield, Artnet, Artinfo, LA Observed, California State Parks, Online Journalism Review, Curbed LA, Curbed National, Tropolism, AP News, Pruned, Wikipedia, Arthur Magazine, CBS2, Canadian Architect, Eye Spy LA, LA.com, LAist, Ag Online, The College Agricultural Newsletter, Delirious LA, ArtBlogging LA, MetroBlogging LA, Archinect

EVENTS - GUEST LECTURER / REVIEW BOARD

University College London - Department of Archaeology / Anthropology, Hochschule für bildende Künste Hamburg, The University of Dundee, Scotland; The Schindler House (MAK CENTER); Carnegie Mellon University; University of Texas, El Paso (Richard Rosenthal Center for Contemporary Art); University of Southern California; California Institute of the Arts; Texas A&M; SCIARC; Art Center; Chapman University

ASSOCIATIONS and AFFILIATIONS

The Center For Land Use Interpretation (CLUI); SIMPARCH; The Institute for Applied Autonomy; The Office of Experiments; Los Angeles Forum for Architecture and Urban Design; Architecture Urbanism Design Collective (AUDC); Dilettante Press; Semiotext[e]