In this episode we speak with Neil Mendoza, self-described "maker of stuff," about his humorous art inventions which poke fun and draw attention to contemporary culture and social issues. These include a fish-controlled hammer that smashes miniatures of human things, a knife orchestra, and a hamster powered drawing machine just to name a few. Tune in to hear more about Neil's wacky inventions and his reflections on tech art and contemporary culture.
-About Neil Mendoza-
Neil Mendoza’s work combines sculpture, electronics and software to bring inanimate objects and spaces to life. By decontextualizing objects with technology and vice versa, the constituent parts of his work can be looked at in a new ways. Using this medium, he explores themes of the absurd, the humorous, the futile and the surreal. He has an MA in math and computer science from Oxford University and an MFA in design media art from UCLA and has taught classes on art and technology at Stanford and UCLA.
His artwork has been exhibited by AND Festival, Arena 1 Gallery, The Barbican, BBC Big Screens, The Children’s Museum of Pittsburgh, Currents New Media Festival, The Exploratorium, ISEA, Kinetica, Minnesota Street Projects, Oi Futuro, PICNIC Festival, The Museum of London, The Nottingham Playhouse, YouFab, Young Projects Gallery, The Science Museum, The V&A and Watermans among others.
He has created digital artworks and installations for a wide range of clients including Accenture, Adidas, Adobe, AntiVJ, Arcade Studios, Audi, Bentley, Brother, Burton Snowboards, Doritos, Ford, Guild LA, HTC, IBM, Jason Bruges Studio, LCF, The Light Surgeons, Local Projects, Moving Brands, New Angle, Nokia, Nuit Sonores, O2, Orange, Poke, Swatch, Universal Everything, Wieden & Kennedy and Wired Magazine. He also co-founded the art collective is this good?.
Learn more at http://www.neilmendoza.com/
Follow him @neilmendoza