Tommy Becker

Tommy Becker attended the San Francisco Art Institute as an undergraduate before receiving his MFA in Film, Video, Performance from California College of Arts in 2001 where he was awarded, The All College Honor Award”. A poet trapped in a camcorder, Becker continues to feed video poems into his never-ending saga, “TAPE NUMBER ONE”. Often Becker’s work is translated to live spoken word/video performances. In 2005, he was awarded an artist in residency at Headlands Center for The Arts and included in the Bay Area Now at the Yerba Buena Center for The Arts. His work has been presented at White Columns, New York; Aurora Picture Show, Houston; PDX Film Festival, Portland; Other Cinema and Artist Television Access, SF and Hallwalls Contemporary Arts Center, Buffalo, NY.

SELECTED EXHIBITION HISTORY

2012

2012 Crossroads Film Festival - San Francisco Cinematheque, Victoria Theater, SF, CA | curated by Steve Polta | video poem reading

The 31st Black Maria Film Festival | “Song for Hellos and Goodbyes” - Jury’s Citation | touring experimental film festival

Royal Nonesuch Gallery, Oakland, CA | “Pages of Video, TAPE NUMBER ONE: side one” | print work, single channel video & live performance (solo show)

2011

AMP art micro patronage | Material Motion | online exhibition | curated by Sarah Klein presented by The Present Group artmicropatronage.org

ATA Film and Video Festival 2011, SF CA | video poem reading

Basement Media Fest, Spectacle Theater, Brooklyn, New York | TAPE NUMBER ONE side one | screening

Krowswork, Oakland CA | “2011 Summer of Video Art” | video poem reading | curated by Jasmine Moorhead

Other Cinema, SF CA | Avant to Live, New Experimental Works | video poem reading | curated by Craig Baldwin

Temescal Street Cinema, Oakland CA | “Experimentation + Animation” | screening | curated by Kathleen Quillian

Milwaukee Underground Film Festival, Milwaukee WI | TAPE NUMBER ONE side one | screening

E6 Gallery, SF CA | “Say Something!” curated by Ashley Lauren Saks  | video poem reading

Roxie Theater, SF CA | “Playback 2006-2010” A five year retrospective of ATA’s Film & Video Festival curated by Isabel Fondevilla & Shae Green | video reading

MICROWAVEFEST, Hong Kong Space Museum, China | Selected Shorts From ATA’s 4th Film & Video Festival | screening

2008-2010

ATA FIlm and Video Festival 2009, SF CA | “Stories We Tell Ourselves” | screening

Manresa Gallery, University of San Francisco, CA | “The Icon & The Iconic” curated by James Blaettler & Lynn Kirby | video installation

Climate Theater, SF CA | “TAPE NUMBER ONE” - Night Visions Series curated by Kaliisa Conlon, & Brendan Leonard | video poem reading

HALLWALLS Contemporary Arts Center, Buffalo, NY | “TAPE NUMBER ONE” | solo installation / video poem reading

San Francisco Arts Commission Gallery | “Poems to be Read With Small Stones” part of the series, “A Grass Mound” curated by Anthony Marcellini | instructional poetry reading

Electric Works Gallery, SF CA | Stop & Go Film Festival, traveling festival curated by Sarah Klein

2006-2007

Patricia Sweetow Gallery, SF, CA | “Inchoate”, a multifaceted show celebrating the California College of the Arts Centennial | installation

Pacific Film Archive, Berkeley, CA | Film and Video at California College of the Arts: Performative, Gestural, Collaborative Work -

celebrating the CCA Centennial | video poem reading

Artists’ Television Access Second Annual Film & Video Festival, SF CA | screening

De Fabriek, Eindhoven, Netherlands | screening

The Portland Documentary & Experimental Film Festival | screening

Freewaves’ 10th Biennial Film, Video & New Media Art Festival, UCLA Hammer Museum of Art, Los Angeles | “Too Much Freedom?” | installation

Aurora Picture Show, Houston TX | Media Archeology Festival: Software Cinema | video poem reading

Best of Aurora Picture Show, Volume 3, touring show U.S. | screening

Artists’ Television Access First Annual Film & Video Festival, SF CA | screening

TART, San Francisco CA | “The Lords, Notes on Vision” | installation & video poem reading

Ninth Annual Antimatter Underground Film Festival, Victoria, BC, Canada | screening

Ampersand International Arts, SF, CA | “Interior Life” | installation

2004-2005

Yerba Buena Center For The Arts, SF CA | “Bay Area Now 4” | installation & video poem reading

Headlands Center for the Arts, Marin, CA | Artist in Residence

Art in General, New York, NY | “Audio in the Elevator” | installation

PlaySpace Gallery, SF CA | “Evidence Is Everywhere”, curated by Tanya Zimbardo, | installation

Invisible Venue | “You Don’t Know San Francisco”, curated by Christian L. Frock | on-line video

Oliver Art Center, Oakland CA | “Advance To Go” selected works from recent CCA alumni | installation

San Francisco Museum of Modern Art, SF CA | “DEFUNCT” curated by SF Media Arts Council | installation

White Columns Gallery, NY NY | “Score: Action Drawing” curated by Marisa Olson | installation

San Francisco Art Institute, SF CA | The 11th SFAI Film & Video Festival | screening

2001-2003

Yerba Buena Center for the Arts, SF CA | “Adventures in Video” curated by Total Mobile Home | video poem reading

Catherine Clark Gallery, SF CA | “Introductions 2003” | installation

Pacific Film Archive, Berkeley CA | Recent Revelations, “New Social Modeling” | screening

Video 825, Los Angeles Art Association, Los Angeles, CA | “Video Shorts by Tommy Becker” | solo screening

Southern Exposure, SF CA | Temporary Services “Audio Relay” | recorded spoken/music

Center for Digital Arts and Experimental Media, UW Seattle WA | “Signal 2 Noise” | screening

It Can Change, www.itcanchange.com | “Free Record Label”/“Clothing Project” | recorded spoken/music

Ampersand International Arts, SF CA | “Daily Docudrama” | solo installation

SF Camerawork, SF CA | “Same/Difference” | installation

WORKS, San Jose CA | “What Is Now” - Performance Art Festival | installation

SF Cinematheque @ Fine Arts Cinema, Berkeley CA | “The Short & Shorter of It” | screening

Boston Underground Film Festival | “A Celebration of Alternative Visions” | screening

Film Fest New Haven | “7th Annual Film Fest New Haven” | screening

ATA @ Echo Park Film Center, Los Angeles CA | “2002 Best of Open Screening” | screening

San Francisco Independent Film Festival | “Digital Underground” | screening

Pacific Film Archive, Berkeley CA | “Alternative Requirements” | screening

WORKS, San Jose CA | “Viva la Video” a showcase of emerging Bay Area video artists | installation

Refusalon, SF CA | “Introductions 2001” | installation

GenArtSF, Herbst Int’l Exhibition Hall, SF CA | “New Fangle 2001” | installation & performance

Pond, SF CA | “Face II Face To Face”, curated by It Can Change | installation

ART RELATED SERVICE | AWARD & HONORS

San Francisco Cinematheque | Board of Directors (2002-2005)

Headlands Center for the Arts, Marin, CA | Artist in Residence | 2005

“All College Honor Award” | California College of the Arts | Graduate Program Scholarship

Jurors’ Citation | The 11th San Francisco Art Institute Film & Video Festival

2001 MFA Commencement Speaker | California College of the Arts

GUEST ARTIST | TEACHING

Gateway High School, San Francisco, CA | visual arts/video instructor (2004-continuing)

JFK University, Berkeley, CA | Introduction to Video Art - MFA Studio Arts | adjunct professor (2006-2009)

Writing For the Moving Image, California College of the Arts, SF CA - Jeanne Finely | visiting artist (2012)

4D: Image, Motion & Process, California College of the Arts, SF CA - Aaron Gach | visiting artist (2012)

Beginning Video Production Class, UC Berkeley, Berkeley, CA - Lydia Greer | visiting artist (2009)

Senior Seminar, California College of the Arts, SF CA | visiting artist (2007)

Intro to Video, UC Berkeley, Berkeley, CA - Desiree Holman | visiting artist

Headlands Center For the Arts | “Inquisitive Machines & Melodramatic Scenes” | lecture (2005)

Reading and Writing About Visual Experience, UC Berkeley, Berkeley, CA - Marisa Olson | visiting artist (2005)

Writing For the Moving Image, California College of the Arts, SF CA | visiting artist (2005)

Media Arts, California College of the Arts, SF CA | visiting artist (2005)

New Genres, San Francisco Art Institute, SF CA - Jon Rubin | visiting artist (2005)

Momentary Academy, Yerba Buena Center for the Arts curated by Ted Purves | visiting artist (2005)

Intro to Film/Video/Performance, California College of the Arts, SF CA - Jeanne Finely | visiting artist (2004)

San Francisco Media Arts Council, SF CA | visiting artist (2003)

Graduate Seminar, California College of the Arts, SF CA | visiting artist (2003)

Intro to Film/Video/Performance, California College of the Arts, SF CA - Jeanne Finely | visiting artist (2003)

Color Theory, California College of the Arts, SF CA - Lynn Kirby | visiting artist (2003)

REVIEWS | ARTICLES

Artvoice | “Artshorts Mixed Colors” by Lucy Yau - 2008

NY ARTS | ArtLA by Fette - 2006

Artweek | “Bay Area Now 4” by Marisa Olson - 2005

Rhizome, Net Art News | “Lovin’ an Elevator” by Marisa Olson - 2005

LA Weekly | Pick of the Week “Signal to Noise” by Holly Willis - 2003

Stretcher.org | “Introductions 2003” by Olaniyan Adams - 2003

SF Gate | Epicks – “Shocking Social Graces” by Alison Bing - 2003

Artweek | “Off Site” by Alison Bing - 2002

Bay Area Guardian | "Critic's Choice" by Lindsey Westbrook - 2002

Digital City | “Same/Difference Art Without Reservation” by Julie Ross - 2002

San Francisco Art Magazine.com | “Register This” by DeWitt Cheng - 2002

SF Station.com | Art Reviews by Sarah Lidgus - 2001

The Golden Gate [X] Press On-Line | "Less Is More Even With Films" by Sonia Weiland - 2001