James Partaik
James Partaik’s truly hybrid creative practice embraces a range of non-mainstream contemporary art forms and media – audio, video, electronic site specific installations, performance art and installActions – in pursuit of a project that he himself characterizes as a ‘renewal of the language of art’. James Pataik has created numerous installations, interventions, performances and audio works, which have been presented extensively across Canada, Asia, Europe, South America and Africa.
Partaik also has a longstanding commitment to initiating and facilitating artist-led projects, including multimedia exhibitions in Québec and Japan. He is a founding member of ARQHÉ, a multidisciplinary collective which examines the relationship between art, architecture, landscape and multimedia, and AVATAR, widely regarded in Canada as pioneers for their creation and dissemination of audio and electronic art in the context of media arts, notably through their innovative use of the internet. (www.meduse.org/avatar) Partaik lectured at Laval University in Québec City, where he taught video and new media art as well as audio art at the Université du Québec à Montréal. He is presently a professor at the Université du Québec à Chicoutimi where he heads the digital and computational art sector. Partaik is the founding member of INSERTIO, an interdisciplinary research group exploring issues of interactive architecture.