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Ryan Page

Ph.D in Film and Digital Media, 2022
Noise, mediation, DIY electronics, semiotics of consumer media technologies, signal interference
Research Interests: 

Ryan Page is a composer and video artist who aims to develop a research praxis in tandem with the practice of experimental media art. His work focuses on human interaction with technology, particularly the limitations and biases of communications media and their relationship to human perception. It is interstitial work that draws upon research into psychology, computer science, media theory, and the phenomenology of sound. He is “drawn to the use of the particularities of media technology in art because the various forms of technological mediation impact a much greater portion of an object’s aesthetics than is consciously acknowledged.”

Ryan's Ph.D. emphasis is in media theory, and the history and theory of electronic music; in his time at Santa Cruz, he intends to continue his research involving the creative use of idiosyncratic media technologies in multimedia performance and installation. In particular, he plans to further previous experiments with hacked laserdisc and composition, and to explore ways to aesthetically alter video technology, and then to integrate these discoveries into new works.

Education and Training: 
M.F.A., Electronic Music , Mills College
B.A., New Media, University of Maine in Orona
Biography: 
Ryan Page is a composer, performer, and tinkerer. His work focuses on human interaction with technology, particularly the limitations and biases of communications media and their relation to human perception. His MFA thesis "Ideology As Material Force" received the Frog Peak Collective experimental music award, and has been performed at Mills College, Cal Arts, and numerous DIY venues. Recordings of his music have been released by The Path Less Traveled Records, Give Praise Records, The Electronic Music Foundation, Name Like His Master, Turmeric Magnitudes, Kydoimas, and Vestige Recordings. He has performed and/or collaborated with Alvin Lucier, David Behrman, Ikue Mori, Rhys Chatham, Laetitia Sonami, James Fei, and Trimpin. His music has been positively reviewed by Pitchfork Magazine, Decibel Magazine, National Public Radio, Maximum Rock N' Roll, SFAQ, and Aquarius Records. In 2015 he founded the live electronic music group Ctrl-Z with Daniel Steffey and Nicholas Wang. Ctrl-Z performs and commissions new electronic works, along with classic works of twentieth century experimental music.