G.H. Hovagimyan

G. H. Hovagimyan is an experimental cross media, new media and performance artist who lives and works in New York City. Born in 1950, in Plymouth, Massachusetts, he is one of the first artists in New York to start working in Internet Art, beginning in 1993, with such artist's online groups as the thing, ArtNetWeb, and Rhizome. From 1973 to 1986 GH was involved in the SoHo and Lower East Side underground art scene, showing conceptual works at 112 Workshop in 1973. He worked with Gordon Matta-Clark on several projects, including Days' End, Conical Intersect, Walking Man's Arch, and Underground Explorations.

In 1974 during the video-performance series at 112 Greene Street, he performed opposite Spaulding Gray in Richard Serra's video, A Prisoner's Dilemma. Much of his early work is ephemeral in nature. Active in performance art, written and language works, GH used text conceptually in installation. His word piece, Tactics for Survival in the New Culture, was exhibited in "The Manifesto Show" (1979) organized by the artist collective colab. This particular piece was to become the basis for one of his first online hypertext works in 1993.

He showed in several group exhibitions organized by Jean Dupuy, a French Fluxus artist living in New York. In 1980 he did a series of punk performance pieces for Artist's Space series called Open Mic. One piece, Rich Sucker Rap was recorded by Davidson Gigliotti for a video tape called Chant A capella (now in the Electronic Arts Intermix catalog). He also performed in several No Wave Cinema films among them, The Offenders(1980) by Scott B & Beth B and The Deadly Art of Survival by Charles Ahearn.

In May, 1994 he created twenty billboard project for Creative Time, Hey Bozo… Use Mass Transit, widely publicized on television and in print media. His early internet based works, such as BKPC, Art Direct and Faux Conceptual Art, converged conceptual practice with punk aesthetics on the net. His pioneering internet radio/TV talk show, Art Dirt, is part of the Walker Art Center's Digital Studies Archives collection.

Of his collaborative works with Peter Sinclair, the most well known are a Soapopera for Laptops/ iMacs, Shooter and Rant/ Rant Back/ Back Rant. Shooter, an immersive sound and laser installation was developed at Eyebeam Atelier as part of its Artist in Residence program. His new work involves mash-ups online with new art dirt redux at http://nujus.net/gh/ and http://post.thing.net/gh/. He is also active making HD video installations and curating, most recently for SCOPE Hamptons art fair https://www.scope-art.com/main.php July 13-16, 2006.

Awards include; Andrew W. Mellon Foundation (program for Innovative Teaching and Learning), MTA Arts in Transit & Creative Time, CICV residency, Montbelliard, FR, Prix Ars Electronica '98 (honorable mention), CICV (International Center for the Creation of Video) Belfort, FR, 1 month residency Eyebeam Atelier 2001 artists residency pilot program (NYC), CICV (International Center for the Creation of Video) 2000 residency in Belfort, France, and Franklin Furnace's Future of the Present 2002 residency program. Experimental Television Center Finishing Funds 2003 for new media work.

Selected Exhibitions - List Visual Arts Museum at M.I.T, Museum of Contemporary Art, Marseille, FR, Museum of Contemporary Art, Lyon, FR, Postmasters Gallery, New York, NY. Performances/ Festivals - Ars Electronica '98, Les Musiques '98, Marseille, FR, Musiques en Scene '99, Lyon, FR, SVA Digital Salon 99, Les Nuits Savoureuse '99, Belfort, FR, Interferences 2000, Belfort, FR. Collections - Digital Studies Archives, Walker Art Center, Thing.net, artnetweb. He is represented by Postmasters Gallery in New York City. He teaches at the School of Visual Arts MFA Computer Art Dept. in New York City.