Lorna Mills

Early life

Lorna Mills was born in Yorkton, Saskatchewan. From 1993-1994 she studied Digital Media Studies at the Information Technology Design Center at the University of Toronto. Before doing digital works, she worked with analog with Super 8 film, video, painting and photography. Mills is self-taught in programming and video editing. Her previous occupations include waitressing, children’s game programmer. And is currently doing video editing for IPTV and tablet delivery. As a child, Mills would flip through novels quickly unable to retain the majority of the novel. This way of thinking or working has remained with Mills since then and has reflected in the content she creates. This is apparent through her often choppy and partial looking GIF work collages.

Career

In 1990, Mills was a founding member of the Red Head Gallery, an artist-run gallery, in Toronto. Around this time also, Mills began her career in solo and group exhibitions. Her work traditionally consists of four obsessive mediums such as; Cibachrome printing, painting, super 8 film and more newly, digital video animations combined in installation work.

In 1994, Mills began working as a game programmer for children's CD-ROMs and then for web programs. At the same time, she began making digital animations. In an interview with Triangulation, Mills talked about how around the time she started designing children’s games and web programs, she started her GIF animations. She emphasized on how most of her animations were interactive, but did not stimulate much interest to her during this part of her career. From 1998 to 2005, she began making her animations, by 2005, she had grown more interest into the video looping aspect. Earlier in her career, Mills met artist, writer and curator, Sally McKay. McKay asked Mills to join and post on her blog called Digital Media Tree. From this collaboration Mills realized there was opportunity for her to make her own graphics.

In 2013, her GIFs were projected at the Art Gallery of Ontario as a part of the David Bowie exhibition, David Bowie Is.... This exhibition showcased her reputation as a one of Toronto’s most experienced media artists. She also co-curated a GIF exhibition with Anthony Antonellis in Berlin titled When Analog Was Periodical. Mills mentions in an article with CanadianArt, that Antonellis had done a series of lenticular prints several years before. This series had heightened her interest in collecting them to creating her own lenticular print based GIF. Due to her interest in this process, she began to work with a company called GifPop in Brooklyn. They helped her develop her lenticular images, that soon became successful and visually appealing.

In 2014 Mills was also selected to curate a "pavilion" as a part of the Wrong Biennial, an online net.art biennial. She also curated a video series, entitled Ways of Something, based on art historian John Berger's 1971 documentary Ways of Seeing. For this video, Mills invited thirty different web-based artists per episode to create a single minute of footage about their contemporary practice. "Ways of Something" has included work by several key participants in the Net.Art and New Media fields including LaTurbo Avedon, Jeremy Bailey, Jacob Ciocci, Rollin Leonard, Systaime, Faith Holland, Nicole Killian, Rosa Menkman, Sara Ludy, Alfredo Salazar-Caro, Carla Gannis, Jenniffer Chan, Anthony Antonellis, Claudia Hart and Angela Washko Chiara Passa among others.

She also participated in The House in the Sky exhibition at the Hayward Gallery in London.

Mills often refers to her art process as "obsessive". She has stated that this is due to the fact that internet art like hers that can be based on images that she finds from surfing on the web can encourage lengthy production.

In 2016 Mills was the keynote speaker at the Pratt Institute's Pratt Upload (2016) patterns of the Mind.

In March 2016, Mills presented Mountain Light/Time in Times Square, NYC as part of the Midnight Moment Project.

Mills is represented by TRANSFER in Brooklyn, New York and DAM Gallery in Berlin.

Style and Work

Mill’s work portrays vulgar imagery that relates to contemporary living such as daily routines, stress and modern human behaviours. Her choice of images come from sources like Reddit, Google++, Porn Fail and Russian sites. Mill’s says in her interview with CanadianArt, that she is drawn to “free internet filth, inter-species romance, masturbating penguins and people wanking with plastic dolphins”. The style of her work breaks the boundaries of aesthetics from professionalized internet and traditional art institutes. Mills work shows intensity not just through the rapid pace of images, but also the strange system in which they moved.

Ways of Something

"Ways of Something", is a collection of 1 minute videos compiled and curated by Mills and released in March 2015. Commissioned by The One Minutes, at the Sandberg Instituut in Amsterdam, it was a contemporary remake of John Berger’s BBC documentary, "Ways of Seeing" (1972). The first episode consisted of one-minute videos by 113 web-based artists who commonly work with 3D rendering, gifs, film remix, webcam performances, and websites to describe the cacophonous conditions of artmaking after the internet. "Ways of Something" was created in four episodes. Each 1 minute frame has been closed captioned. Mills chose to do this in order to “magnify the discontinuity visually, yet also unite it.”

At Play in The Fields of the Lord

This work explores topics pertaining to “contemporary living, including subcultures, daily routines, stress, and modern human behaviors.” It was exhibited in the Brooklyn-based gallery Transfer Gallery and was her second solo show run by Kelani Nichole. The opening reception began at 7pm on October 3, 2015. The exhibition included a series of “looped visual animates” including past work and recent unseen pieces. The title of the show was taken from a book by Peter Matthiessen and was chosen to echo “the purposeful non-sense that aligns with the visual content of the show” This show for Mills was one she always wished to do at Transfer and finally having the right equipment she was able to do the show.

Sheroes #9: Dolly Parton

“Sheroes #9: Dolly Parton”, is a curated piece Mills was a part of with artists such as Rea McNamara. It consisted of monthly limited-run performance series that played with media fandom. Sheroes was invented by McNamara and it took her some convincing to get Mills to program the projections of the animated GIF’s. Mills was hesitant about doing this project due to the phrases “Sheroes” and “herstory”. These were phrases from earlier feminists which made Mills uncomfortable. Originally the collaboration consisted of 6 artists for the first GIF projections, but due to the excitement of it, Mills had gathered more artists. Overall “Sheroes” crew consisted of multiple net.art artists

Echo, Rise, Repeat

“Echo, Rise, Repeat”, is a piece that was exhibited at the Plug In Institute of Contemporary Art. This piece presented an endless rotation of animations that were installed in the gallery’s elevator. The audience then would experience a slow ride that went to one of the four floors of the building, where they would encounter her GIF’s being quickly repeated endlessly.

Canadian Art Foundation Features: Lorna Mills and Her Subversive GIF Art

Simon Lewson states Mills art as “exuberantly raunchy” during his interview with the artist in July 2015. He goes on to say that her work suggests “in a world of seemingly limitless porn, the notion of decency is anachronistic”. Therefore, Mills finds it hilarious to exhibit digital art and sensor it at the same time.

Hyperallergic Interviews: “Everything I Do Has the Smell of Digital”: Lorna Mills on Her Art

In Mira Dayal’s interview with Mills, she states how scrolling through her website, “LornaMillsImageDump”, was like experiencing a warped and nauseating version of the internet or Tumblr feed. She also mentions this is due to how Mills uses animations and GIFs in her work to create a constant motion all over the screen and how one piece tends to bleed into another.

Process

When creating a new art work Mills begins to search certain websites for source material. The sites chosen are predominantly on the dark web and include; Reddit, 4chan, pornfails, and Russian domains. When searching the content, her chooses tends to be “GIFs that are un-arty, made from real footage and, for the most part, disconnected from mainstream culture.” The favorite subjects of Mills tend to be anything outlandish. Mills then removes the subjects she has chosen from there surrounding backgrounds frame by frame. The cuts are rough and tend to leave edges of the original background attached giving the images a “grainy, pulsating aura”. She then collages her gathered imaged together using Adobe Flash Professional. The art is when she putting the images together: Mills aims to create a piece where the GIFs are moving independently but end up relating to one another.

Solo Exhibitions, Independent Video, Multimedia Productions Installations 2013

2013

The Axis of Something, Transfer Gallery, Brooklyn, New York.

2012

ROJA/NOVA Money 2, collaboration with Yoshi Sodeoka & Plink Flojd for Mitte, Barcelona, Spain.

ROJA/NOVA collaboration with Yoshi Sodeoka for BNDES Cinema inside Cinemateca Brasileira, São Paulo.

Polyester, Domaine Gallery, on-line, Spain.

2011

Operatic Narcoleptic, Widget Art Gallery iPhone project, Rome curated by Chiara Passa.

Super Art Modern Museum online project Paris curated by Thomas Cheneseau + SYSTAIME.

2010

Stimulus: Hallwalls' Artists & Models Night video projection Buffalo, New York.

2009

Reply All animated GIFS for Art Metropole and SAVAC - http://www.replyall.ca/grid.htm.

2008

La petite mort de l'art Video video and animated GIFS for Images Festival.

Shape Shifter Kittehs animated GIF on DVD for Hallwalls: Unhinged event in Buffalo, NY.

Animated GIFS specifically for Web delivery on http://www.digitalmediatree.com/sallymckay/LornaMillsImageDump/.

2007

Bletchingly, Infomint, Lucky Hubble from Racing Kiosks for Akau Gallery installation.

Honeytrap, Akau, Toronto, Ontario.

The Road West: Western and The Road West: Traffic animated GIFS on Video for Road North/Road South, at Harbourfront, Toronto.

Animated GIFS specifically for Web delivery on http://www.digitalmediatree.com/sallymckay/LornaMillsImageDump/.

2004

Reality Show, The Robert McLaughlin Gallery, Oshawa, Ontario.

2003

Reality Show, Tom Thomson Gallery, Owen Sound, Ontario.

1994

Literal, The Red Head Gallery, Toronto, Ontario.

1992

Retail, The Red Head Gallery, Toronto, Ontario.

1991

Space-Time-Colour, The Red Head Gallery, Toronto, Ontario.

Group Exhibitions

2013

Gordian Conviviality, Import Projects, Berlin, Germany.

Ivory Tower, FJORD Gallery, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania.

DVD DEAD DROP, Museum of Moving Image, New York, New York.

Parcel, Bronx Art Space, Bronx, New York.

Decenter, Abrams Art Center, New York, New York.

SPAMM: Sarfari, Sao Paulo, Brazil.

2012

RE: Arrange (group) curated by Patrick Macaulay, Harbourfront Centre, Toronto, ON

Born in 1987 (group) curated by Katrina Sluis, The Photographer's Gallery, London, UK

#D (group) curated by Giselle Zatonyl, Bronx Art Space, Bronx, NY

IRL SPAMM (group) Les Transnumériques #4, curated by Thomas Cheneseau + SYSTAIME, Galeries, Brussells

HELLO AMIGA (group) video commissioning project for Toronto Animated Image Society, TSV Gallery Toronto

Electric Picnic (group projection event) curated by Block T and Algorithm, Stradbally Hall, Ireland

Melodramz (group) curated by Rea McNamara, White House Studio Project, Toronto, ON

The Material Glitch: Technoscience Gone Wild (group) Quinary Art Projects, Vancouver, BC

Video Violence. optional commemoration and the future, (group) Kunsthaus Dresden, Germany

Sheroes #6 to #13 (group) Animated Gif projections for a performance series, The Beaver, Toronto

Speed Show: Extra Credit (group) curated by A. Bill Miller, Penn State Altoona

Speed Show: GIFS 4 LIFE (group) curated by Nora O Murchú & Lauro O Connell, Galway, Ireland

Evil is Interesting (group) at Antena, Chicago IL, curated by Michael Workman/Antidote Projects

2011

Graphics Interchange Format (group) Denison University, Granville, OH curated by Paddy Johnson.

5caaarr3d &anp PR0f4nee (group) Peake Island, Maine curated by Rollin Leonard.

Special Ellipse (group) The Front, New Orleans curated by Ryan Watkins-Hughes.

Operatic Narcoleptic, Widget Art Gallery iPhone project, Rome.

Super Art Modern Museum, Online project, Paris, France.

2010

Zen Dog Somewalls, Oakland, California.

Titles 7, The MacLaren Art Centre, Barrie, Ontario.

Titles 6, Musée d'art de Joliette, Quebec, Quebec.

2009

Reply All, Art Metropole and SAVAC.

Persona Volare: Expo, Tom Thomson Gallery, Owen Sound, Ontario.

Titles 5, Art Metropole, Toronto, Ontario.

2008

La petite mort de l'art, Images Festival, Harbourfront Centre, Toronto, Ontario.

Unhinged: Hallwalls', Artists & Models Night, Buffalo, New York.

Titles 4, City Gallery/Attic Books, London, Ontario.

Titles 3, Articule Gallery, Librairie L'écume des Jours, Montreal, Quebec.

2007

English (2007 video edition), The International Festival of Authors, Harbourfront Centre, Toronto, Ontario.

Stripes Group, Tang Museum, Saratoga Springs, New York.

Granite Club, Persona Volare, Tree Museum, Muskoka, Ontario.

Road North/Road South, Persona Volare, Harbourfront Centre, Toronto, Ontario.

Titles, Bookstore Intervention, Toronto, Ontario.

Titles 2, Art Gallery of University of Massachusetts.

2006

Mods & Rockers, Digifest, Harbourfront Centre, Toronto, Ontario.

Alpha Beta Data, Akau, Toronto, Ontario.

Placed, Harbourfront Centre, Toronto, Ontario.

2005

Canadian Club, Persona Volare, Canadian Cultural Centre, Paris,France.

Canadian Club, Persona Volare, Rodman Hall, St. Catherines, Ontario.

TAFFI Invitational, Drake Hotel, Toronto, Ontario.

Time Lag, Sonnet Projects, Basel, Switzerland.

2003

Persona Cantare, Site specific, Toronto, Ontario.

2002

Happy Valley, Walter Phillips Gallery, Banff, Alberta.

Swarm, Tom Thomson Art Gallery, Owen Sound, Ontario.

Shout at Eternity, Piscine Saint Michel, Montreal, Quebec.

2001

Great Lakes, Harbourfront Centre, Toronto, Ontario.

2000

Persona Volare, Site specific, Toronto, Ontario.

Meat/Viande, Gallery 418, Montreal, Quebec.

Redrospective, Red Head Gallery, Toronto, Ontario.

1999

Meat, Site specific, Toronto, Ontario.

She Speaks to Me, Video Archeology Festival, Sofia, Bulgaria.

"Mox Nox in Rem”, Leena KUUMULA, Helsinki, Finland.

1998

Crosseyed, Site Specific, Toronto, Ontario.

1996

Body and Soul, The Red Head Gallery, Toronto, Ontario.

Limousine, The Centre for Better Living, Toronto, Ontario.

Juicy Fruit, Art gallery Of Durham, Durham, Ontario.

1995

Juicy Fruit, Loggia Gallery, Koffler Centre, North York, Ontario.

Shades of Red, The Red Head Gallery, Toronto, Ontario.

The Law According to Red Head, Office of the Attorney General, Toronto, Ontario.

Away, The Red Head Gallery, Toronto, Ontario & OO Gallery, Halifax, Nova Scotia.

1993

Red Head Light, Grunt Gallery, Vancouver, British Columbia.

Will You Go Out With Me? Hall Walls, Buffalo, New York.

1991

Manifesto-Complaint-Prayer, The Red Head Gallery, Toronto, Ontario.

By Hand, Three Person Show, Gallery 44, Toronto, Ontario.

Unnatural Selection, Inaugural Installation, The Red Head Gallery Toronto, Ontario.