DNA & Fourth of Four

DNA & Fourth of Four was co-edited by Michael J. Masucci and Victor Acevedo. They also contributed some writings along with the keynote essay which was authored by art historian, Zsofi Valyi Nagy, Ph.D. Most of the artist statements and bios for the DNA: Fourth of Four exhibition were written by the artists themselves. Biographies: Michael J. Masucci, an artist, musician, writer & arts administrator, has been producing digital and multimedia art since 1979 and curating it since 1984. A founding member of EZTV, he collaborated on projects at institutions including the Getty Museum, Museum of Modern Art (NY), the Institute of Contemporary Art (London) the Centre Pompidou, Lincoln Center, PBS, UCLA, the School of Visual Arts (NY) New School/Parsons, the University of Helsinki, ACM SIGGRAPH, Disneyland Paris, CalTech, UNMC, Anthology Film Archives, LA Filmforum, DEFCON, Humanity+, and Burning Man. A retrospective of his early videos as half of the video/music duo Vertical Blanking has been screened at REDCAT/Walt Disney Concert Hall Complex. His work is included in the permanent collection of USC and UCLA. Masucci is an author and lecturer on topics ranging from information security, transhumanism, and the role of art in the digital world. He performed music for performance artist Barbara T. Smith and created visuals for choreographers Donna Strernberg and Zina Bethune. He was included in the Getty's PST in 2011 and 2024, co-founded the DNA Festival Santa Monica and has been profiled in various publications, appeared on podcasts, television and in several documentaries. A cisgender man, he helped save an archive of seminal early Queer media art. He served as Chair of the Santa Monica Arts Commission and is the recipient of six City of Santa Monica commendations for his contributions to the arts. He has been an artist-in-residence since 2000 at 18th Street Arts Center, he holds a degree in law and certifications in music production, graphic design, computer coding, entrepreneurship and mediation/conflict resolution. Among his awards is a Cine Golden Eagle. Victor Acevedo Victor Acevedo is considered a desktop digital art pioneer. He has been making fine art images and videos with computers since 1985. However, his first experiments with computer graphics date back to 1983. He studied briefly with legendary computer artists Frank Dietrich, and Tony Longson. His hybrid imagery has a metaphysical bent; expressed with geometrical abstraction, often with figuration. His time-based work explores the implications of synesthesia, cymatics, and the geometry of R. Buckminster Fuller's Synergetics. These Electronic Visual Music (EVM) compositions seem to favor drone works, circuit bending, glitch, and or harmonic noise. Born in Los Angeles, Acevedo later studied studio art and art history at The University of New Mexico, Albuquerque, 1977-1978. He continued his undergraduate studies at ArtCenter College of Design, Pasadena, CA 1979-1981. He later taught as an adjunct professor at the School of Visual Arts in New York City, 1997-2008. His work is included in the Anne and Michael Spalter Digital Art Collection and the Patric Prince Computer Art Collection housed at the Victoria & Albert Museum in London. His work has been featured in many digital art history books; most notably Moving Innovation: A History of Computer Animation (Tom Sito, MIT Press, 2013); The World of Digital Art (Wolf Lieser, h.f. Ullman, 2010); From Technological to Virtual Art (Frank Popper, MIT Press 2007); and Art of the Digital Age (Bruce Wands, Thames and Hudson, 2006). In November 2022, he published a 400-page career survey monograph called ACEVEDO in Context: Analog media: 1977-1987 • Digital media: 1983-2020.