THE DAVID BERMANT FOUNDATION
COLOR, LIGHT, MOTION
Founded by David W. Bermant, who began to build in 1965 a collection that has become the pre-eminent private assemblage of work from this genre, the Foundation is devoted to fostering the efforts of artists working with non- traditional materials. These materials include physical sources of energy, light and sound, which are used in works that question and extend the boundaries of the visual arts.
BOARD OF DIRECTORS
The Foundation, governed by a board, seeks to cultivate public awareness of and appreciation for the synthesis of fine art and technology by supporting both those artists and institutions involved in the presentation, study, commission, collection or exhibition of such work.
RESIDENCY
In celebration of Susan Hopmans Bermant’s life, who passed away in April 2013, a residency program was initiated. The program was an opportunity for art historians, artists and writers to spend time at the foundation’s collection to study the work and access the archives. We continued the program through 2020 at which time the collection was relocated to the Butler institute of art.
Linda Weintraub is a curator, educator, artist, and author of several popular books about contemporary art. She has earned her reputation by making the outposts of vanguard art accessible to broad audiences. The current vanguard, she believes, is propelled by environmental consciousness that is not only the defining characteristic of contemporary manufacturing, architecture, science, and philosophy; it is delineating contemporary art. Weintraub’s books exploring contemporary art and ecology include WHAT’s NEXT? Eco Materialism & Contemporary Art (2018), To LIFE! Eco Art in Pursuit of a Sustainable Planet (2012), and Avant-Guardians (2007), a series of textlets that include EcoCentric Topics: Pioneering Themes for Eco-Art; Cycle-Logical Art: Recycling Matters for Eco-Art; EnvironMentalities: Twenty-two Approaches to Eco-Art. Weintraub applies environmental concerns to her personal life by managing a sustainable homestead where she practices permaculture. http://lindaweintraub.com/
Anne Niemetz is a media artist and designer working in the fields of wearable technology, interactive installation and audio-visual design. She is particularly fascinated by the convergence of art, science, design and technology, and she pursues collaborative and cross-disciplinary projects.
Anne holds a Media Arts degree from the Staatliche Hochschule für Gestaltung Karlsruhe (HfG), Germany, with a focus in digital media and interactive sound installation. She continued her studies at the University of California Los Angeles (UCLA) where she received an MFA in Design and Media Arts in 2004. In 2007 she moved to New Zealand, where she holds the position of Senior Lecturer in the Media Design programme at Victoria University of Wellington. www.adime.de
Anne Niemetz is a media artist and designer working in the fields of wearable technology, interactive installation and audio-visual design. She is particularly fascinated by the convergence of art, science, design and technology, and she pursues collaborative and cross-disciplinary projects.
Anne holds a Media Arts degree from the Staatliche Hochschule für Gestaltung Karlsruhe (HfG), Germany, with a focus in digital media and interactive sound installation. She continued her studies at the University of California Los Angeles (UCLA) where she received an MFA in Design and Media Arts in 2004. In 2007 she moved to New Zealand, where she holds the position of Senior Lecturer in the Media Design programme at Victoria University of Wellington. www.adime.de
Anne Niemetz is a media artist and designer working in the fields of wearable technology, interactive installation and audio-visual design. She is particularly fascinated by the convergence of art, science, design and technology, and she pursues collaborative and cross-disciplinary projects.
Anne holds a Media Arts degree from the Staatliche Hochschule für Gestaltung Karlsruhe (HfG), Germany, with a focus in digital media and interactive sound installation. She continued her studies at the University of California Los Angeles (UCLA) where she received an MFA in Design and Media Arts in 2004. In 2007 she moved to New Zealand, where she holds the position of Senior Lecturer in the Media Design programme at Victoria University of Wellington. www.adime.de
Dr. Claudia Schnugg is an independent researcher in intersections of art and aesthetics with science, technology, and business, and producer of art and science collaboration.
Her recent work focuses on intertwining artists and art projects with new technologies and scientific research. She has explored effects of artistic interventions on social settings, especially framing artistic interventions and art programs in organizations.
Claudia produces media art projects as well as art and science programs. She also holds workshops, runs research projects, and gives talks about developments on the intersection of art, science, technology, and business. http://www.claudiaschnugg.com/
Sommerer and Mignonneau previously held positions as Professors at the IAMAS International Academy of Media Arts and Sciences in Gifu, Japan and as Researchers and Artistic Directors at the ATR Media Integration and Communications Research Lab in Kyoto Japan. They also were Visiting Researchers at the MIT CAVS in Cambridge US, the Beckmann Institute in Champaign Urbana, IL, USA and the NTT-InterCommunication Center in Tokyo. http://www.interface.ufg.ac.at/christa-laurent/BIOGRAPHY/Biographylong.html
Anne Niemetz is a media artist and designer working in the fields of wearable technology, interactive installation and audio-visual design. She is particularly fascinated by the convergence of art, science, design and technology, and she pursues collaborative and cross-disciplinary projects.
Anne holds a Media Arts degree from the Staatliche Hochschule für Gestaltung Karlsruhe (HfG), Germany, with a focus in digital media and interactive sound installation. She continued her studies at the University of California Los Angeles (UCLA) where she received an MFA in Design and Media Arts in 2004. In 2007 she moved to New Zealand, where she holds the position of Senior Lecturer in the Media Design programme at Victoria University of Wellington. www.adime.de
Quasha’s video installation/single-channel work art is (Speaking Portraits) asks over 1,000 artists, poets, and composers (from 11 countries and 21 languages) what in their view art is. This ongoing work (art is/music is/poetry is) has been exhibited at the Snite Museum of Art (University of Notre Dame), at White Box in Chelsea, at the Samuel Dorsky Museum (SUNY New Paltz), and in several other countries, including France and India. Further extensions of this work in speaking portraiture include myth is and peace is. Other work in axial video (including Pulp Friction, Axial Objects, Verbal Objects, AxialLandscapes) has appeared internationally in museums, galleries, schools, and biennials. Quasha continues to work on a 30-year performance collaboration (video/language/sound) with artists Gary Hill and Charles Stein. http://www.quasha.com/
Quasha studied at The University of Connecticut with poet Charles Olson and did graduate work in English Literature. http://www.stationhill.org/about/people/
Sommerer and Mignonneau previously held positions as Professors at the IAMAS International Academy of Media Arts and Sciences in Gifu, Japan and as Researchers and Artistic Directors at the ATR Media Integration and Communications Research Lab in Kyoto Japan. They also were Visiting Researchers at the MIT CAVS in Cambridge US, the Beckmann Institute in Champaign Urbana, IL, USA and the NTT-InterCommunication Center in Tokyo. http://www.interface.ufg.ac.at/christa-laurent/BIOGRAPHY/Biographylong.html
Currently, she is also co-curator for Talking to Action, a multi-platform exhibition of social practice artists and researchers from seven Latin American countries and Los Angeles that is part of the Getty Pacific Standard Time LA/LA initiative, 2015 – 2017. http://karenmoss.art/
Although David began his career as a photographer, since 1990 new media has become integral to his own artistic practice and his work as a web producer and technical advisor for individual artists, museums and universities such as Walker Art Center, University of Minnesota and the Orange County Museum of Art. http://www.familian.net/