about me

Billie Pate lives and breathes art & technology. She is an experimental creative technologist, and one of the first women to appear on the art & technology stage.

She’s currently a technical director producing cutting-edge, interdisciplinary projects for high profile events like the London 2012 Olympics Opening Ceremony, Sónar, Barcelona’s International Festival of Advanced Music and New Media Art and the MTV Music Awards.

She’s the founder of The Multimedia Lab, a multimedia studio producing New Media Art New Media Art is a genre that encompasses artworks created with new media technologies, including digital art, computer graphics, computer animation, virtual art, Internet art, interactive art, computer robotics, and art as biotechnology. New Media Art often involves interaction between artist and observer or between observers and the artwork, which responds to them. works for both physical space (e.g., installations, projections) and virtual space (e.g., web, mobile). The Multimedia Lab is also an international pop-up gallery exhibiting emerging art and artists from Los Angeles.

lives and works

Los Angeles, CA, USA

education

BS, Computing and Information Systems (CIS) Computing and Information Systems (CIS) is the study of hardware and software used to collect, filter, process, create, and distribute information. It is a field studying computers, algorithmic processes, computational theory, software development, software and hardware design, human-computer interaction and the impact of technology on society. It emphasizes functionality and design., Northwestern University Northwestern University is a private institution founded in 1851 near Chicago, IL, USA. Northwestern is recognized both nationally and internationally for the quality of its educational programs at all levels. U.S. News & World Report consistently ranks the University’s undergraduate programs among the best in the USA., Magna Cum Laude Latin honors are Latin phrases used to indicate the level of distinction with which an academic degree was earned. Many universities confer three levels of Latin honors:

 • cum laude, meaning “with honor”
 • magna cum laude, meaning “with great honor”
 • summa cum laude, meaning “with highest honor”

professional experience

Founder/Owner, The Multimedia Lab, Los Angeles, CA, USA
Programmer Analyst, University of Southern California (USC) The University of Southern California is one of the world’s leading private research universities, an anchor institution in Los Angeles, CA, USA and a global center for arts, technology and international trade. USC was founded in 1880, making it California’s oldest private university, and it has the largest number of international students of any university in the USA., Los Angeles, CA, USA

research experience

Interactive Cinema Interactive Cinema is a discipline concerned with creating narrative, interactive audiovisual experiences., University of Southern California (USC) The University of Southern California is one of the world’s leading private research universities, an anchor institution in Los Angeles, CA, USA and a global center for arts, technology and international trade. USC was founded in 1880, making it California’s oldest private university, and it has the largest number of international students of any university in the USA., Los Angeles, CA, USA
Interactive Art Interactive art is a form of installation-based art that involves the spectator in a way that allows the art to achieve its purpose. Works of this kind of art frequently feature computers and sensors to respond to motion, heat, meteorological changes or other types of input their makers programmed them to respond to., Mediamatic Since 1983 Mediamatic has been active as a cultural institution in Amsterdam, Netherlands. They are interested in cultural developments that go hand in hand with new technologies, and new technologies that cause cultural developments. Mediamatic is redeveloping itself as an open house for art & technology. , Amsterdam, Netherlands
Computer Science Intern, University of Zürich (ETHZ) The University of Zürich was founded in 1833 in the heart of Zürich, Switzerland, and is Switzerland’s largest university. It is one of Europe’s most prestigious research institutions, and the university is consistently ranked among the best in the German-speaking world. Albert Einstein is one of their most notable alumni and Nobel Prize laureates., Zürich, Switzerland
Research Programmer, ArticuLab The ArticuLab studies how people communicate with and through technology. They use technology as a way of better studying human-human communication, and use the study of human-human communication to design better technology. They are interested in how technology can be used for positive educational and developmental initiatives., Northwestern University Northwestern University is a private institution founded in 1851 near Chicago, IL, USA. Northwestern is recognized both nationally and internationally for the quality of its educational programs at all levels. U.S. News & World Report consistently ranks the University’s undergraduate programs among the best in the USA., Evanston, IL, USA

teaching experience

openFrameworks openFrameworks is an open source C++ toolkit designed to assist the creative process by providing a simple and intuitive framework for experimentation. It is a cross-platform toolkit that allows you to leverage advanced libraries like OpenCV, use hardware like your graphics card efficiently, and connect peripherals like cameras and other devices. It is often used as a tool for teaching C++ and OpenGL for audio-visual projects., The Public School The Public School is a school with no curriculum. It is a self-organizing educational program for which the curriculum is proposed by the general public. The project was initiated in New York by Telic Arts Exchange. It is supported in part with grants from the Andy Warhol Foundation for the Visual Arts and the Annenberg Foundation., Los Angeles, CA, USA
openFrameworks openFrameworks is an open source C++ toolkit designed to assist the creative process by providing a simple and intuitive framework for experimentation. It is a cross-platform toolkit that allows you to leverage advanced libraries like OpenCV, use hardware like your graphics card efficiently, and connect peripherals like cameras and other devices. It is often used as a tool for teaching C++ and OpenGL for audio-visual projects., Cultural Center of Spain (CCE) in Lima The main objective of the Cultural Center of Spain (CCE) in Lima is to foster cultural exchange between artists and intellectuals. The center supports the creative work of Peruvian artists, and provides a space for Peruvian artists to realize their projects. The center offers numerous cultural workshops and seminars to facilitate free access to culture., Lima, Peru
Intro to Computer Science, University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign (UIUC) Since it’s founding in 1867, the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign has earned a reputation as a world-class leader in research, teaching, and public engagement. The highly respected faculty is recognized for exceptional scholarship and have been awarded Nobel Prizes and Pulitzer Prizes. The University is also home to the National Center for Supercomputing Applications (NCSA)., Urbana, IL, USA