In the darkly comic and critical re-use and re-encoding of media broadcasts, communication protocols and online platforms his work reflects a distributed humanity, a yearning for transcendence and the limits of language. Building on a background of live and single-channel video, his work utilises site-specific performance, portraiture and filmmaking to capture the traces of humanity within an accelerating digital culture.
Emile received a Bachelor of Fine Arts degree from RMIT Media Arts Melbourne before relocating to Amsterdam in 2007 to commence an MFA degree at the Sandberg Institute. In 2012 he began a two year studio residency at the Rijksakademie van beeldende kunsten, Amsterdam. He is now enrolled in full-time practice-based doctoral research at Digital Ethnography Research Centre, Department of Media and Communication RMIT Melbourne.
Exhibitions, screenings and performances in 2019/20 have included LIMA Amsterdam, Modern Art Oxford, BUS Projects Collingwood, ArtsHouse Melbourne.
In Community Media Literacy and skills training he has worked extensively in communities across the world. Working for The One Minutes Foundation Amsterdam from 2007-2010 he was assigned to Africa, Eastern Europe, Russia and Asia to conduct youth media training short courses under the auspices of UNICEF and European Cultural Fund. In Australia he has had a long association with Footscray Community Arts Centre developing and implementing media training programs. In 2015 he was lead workshop facilitator for the Emerging Indigenous E-Media Mentorship program hosted at Mildura Biennale.
He has worked on peer assessment panels for cultural development funding rounds at a City, State and Federal level. His work is profiled in Australiana to Zeitgeist: an A to Z of Australian Contemporary Art 2017 published by Thames and Hudson and is included in Routledge Companion to Mobile Media Art 2020.
Emile Zile
b. 1979, Melbourne, Australia
– abridged CV –
Education and research
- 2018-2021 P.h.D. research, Digital Ethnography Research Centre. RMIT Melbourne, Australia
- 2012-2014 Rijksakademie van beeldende kunsten. Amsterdam, The Netherlands
- 2007-2009 M.F.A. Sandberg Institute. Amsterdam, The Netherlands
- 2004 B.F.A. Honours Media Arts. Royal Melbourne Institute of Technology. Melbourne, Australia
- 1999-2001 B.F.A. Media Arts. Royal Melbourne Institute of Technology. Melbourne, Australia
Selected Solo Performance
- ‘Performer/Audience/Lens after Dan Graham’ LIMA Amsterdam, January 15 2020
- ‘Liquid Cooled’ Modern Art Oxford, April 27 2019
- ‘Liquid Cooled’ LIMA Amsterdam, April 26 2017
- ‘Desktops’ Fort Delta, Melbourne November 21 2015
- ‘James Cameron’s Avatar’ Mes56 Jogjakarta November 21 2014
- ‘DVD Burner’ Netherlands Institute for Media Art, Amsterdam October 19 2012
- ‘Subtitle Kino’ Fargfabriken, Stockholm Sweden August 18-19 2012
- ‘*Best*RapidEssayNSFW!!’ Video Vortex, Amsterdam March 12 2011
- ‘Post-It Kino’ Today’s Art Festival, Den Haag September 26 2009
- ‘One million Paradiso Guitar Solos’ Palais Paradiso, Paradiso Amsterdam September 18 2009
- ‘Post-it Kino’ Bandit Mage Fesival, Bourges France May 7 2009
- ‘0 Views. 0 Comments. 0 Responses.’ Mediamatic Amsterdam March 25 2009
- ‘Phantom Mass’ multi-channel sound performance, Melbourne Arts Festival October 2008
Selected Screenings
- ‘Western Digital’ Sydney Contemporary, curated by ACMI Melbourne. 2015
- ‘Jack’ screening at Contemporary Art Singapore 2015
- Boo Australia, Matucana 100, Santiago, Chile April 24 – May 27 2012
- Rojo Nova Audiovisual Sessions, Sao Paulo Brazil July 1 – August 15 2010
Artist Talks
- Art+Film, Artist talk and interview with Philip Brophy, ACMI Melbourne 2018
- Liquid Cooled, Artist talk and interview with Sven Lütticken, LIMA Amsterdam 2017
- Writing and Concepts, RMIT Melbourne 2016
Residencies, Masterclasses
- Saas-Fee Summer Institute of Art, L.A. ‘Art and Politics in the age of Cognitive Capitalism’ 2018
- May 2010 Mike Figgis Masterclass, Cinema Rialto Amsterdam May 2009