Joe Cantrell is a multidisciplinary artist specializing in installations, compositions, and performances inspired by the consequences of technological objects and practices. His work examines the incessant acceleration of technology and media production, its ownership, and the waste it produces. In the rush to get the newest and shiniest things, the less new and less shiny are cast off: today’s hot commodity is often tomorrow’s garbage. In solidarity with these abandoned objects and the hands that put them together, Joe uses their embedded histories as points of entry for exploring new work.
Joe has presented his research, art, and performances for audiences around the world, including at the International Computer Music Association and the New Interfaces for Musical Expression conference, and has held artist residencies in New York, London, Beijing, and Rotterdam.
His work has been supported by grants from the Creative Capital Foundation, New Music USA, the University of California Institute for Research in the Arts, and the Qualcomm Institute Initiative for Digital Exploration of Arts and Sciences, among others.
Joe holds a BFA in Music Technology from the California Institute of the Arts, an MFA in Digital Arts and New Media from UC Santa Cruz, and a PhD in Music from UC San Diego.
