Bill Vorn

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Most Recent Affiliation(s):


  • University du Quebec, Composer and Editor

Other Affiliation(s):


  • Concordia University in Montreal, _Professor

ISEA Bio(s) Available:


  • ISEA2022

    Based in Montreal, Bill Vorn is working in the field of Robotic Art since almost 30 years. His installation and performance projects involve robotics and motion control, sound, lighting, video and cybernetic processes. Influenced by advances in Human-Robot Interaction, he pursues artistic work based on “Relational Robotics”. He holds a Ph.D. degree in Communication Studies from UQAM (Montreal) for his thesis on “Artificial Life as Media”. He teaches Electronic Arts in the Department of Studio Arts at Concordia University (Intermedia program) where he is Full Professor. His work has been presented in many international events, including Ars Electronica, ISEA, DEAF, Sonar, Art Futura, EMAF and Artec. He has been awarded the Vida 2.0 award (1999, Madrid) and the Prix Ars Electronica Distinction award (1996, Linz), among others. He was cofounder of the electronic pop music band Rational Youth with Tracy Howe in 1981.

    ISEA2019

    Based in Montreal, Canada, Bill Vorn is working in the field of Robotic Art since more than twenty-five years. His installation and performance projects involve robotics and motion control, sound, lighting, video and cybernetic processes. He pursues research and creation using Artificial Life and robotic technologies through artistic work based on anthropomorphism, projection and empathy, defining an “Aesthetics of Artificial Behaviors”. He holds a PhD degree in Communication Studies from UQAM (Montreal, 2001) for his thesis on “Artificial Life as Media”. He currently teaches Electronic Arts in the Department of Studio Arts at Concordia University (Intermedia program) where he is a full time professor. Since 1993, his theatrical work with robots and machines has been presented in numerous international events related to Digital, Visual and Media Arts. He was cofounder of the electronic pop music band Rational Youth with Tracy Howe in 1981.

    ISEA2015

    Bill Vorn & Louis-Philippe Demers are artists from Montreal, Canada

    ISEA1997

    Born in Montreal in 1959, Bill (William) Vorn is now a Ph.D. student in Communication & Media Studies at UQAM (University du Quebec a Montreal). His thesis is about interactive models in artificial social systems and multi-agent telem­atic networks. He also teaches audio related techniques at UQAM as he has been working as a music composer and sound designer for more than fifteen years. He was a founding member of the electro-beat group Rational Youth in the early 80s. He then worked closer to the film industry scene as a sound effects editor and film score composer for advertising, radio, and television. Bill Vorn now works in the electronic arts field on interactive robot­ic projects, making ‘real noise from artificial life’.

    ISEA1995

    Born in Montreal in 1959, Bill Vorn is now making music with noise using computers and digital processing. He is also working on a Communication Ph.D. thesis at University du Quebec a Montreal.

Last Known Location:


  • Montreal, Canada

Role(s) at the symposia over the years: