PeopleofSuperintelligence

Researcher

David Rokeby

David Rokeby is a Toronto-based artist whose interactive installations explore how computers perceive movement, objects, and human speech. After studying experimental art at the Ontario College of Art from 1979 to 1984, he presented Very Nervous System at the 1986 Venice Biennale, translating movement into sound and winning the first Petro-Canada Award for Media Arts in 1988. His installation The Giver of Names used a camera and language database to describe objects between 1991 and 2003, while Watched and Measured won the first BAFTA award for interactive art in 2000. In 2002, he received a Governor General's Award in Visual and Media Arts and a Prix Ars Electronica Golden Nica for n-cha(n)t, followed by residencies at Le Fresnoy and the Ryerson Image Centre in 2010 and 2011. Enlisted in October 2019 as the first director of the University of Toronto's BMO Lab, he presented the real-time voice-to-panorama AI system Voice Scroll at NeurIPS in 2023 and at Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute in June 2025, and as of October 2026 he is an assistant professor and BMO Lab director at the University of Toronto and a Vector Institute Faculty Affiliate.

Now at
Centre for Drama, Theatre and Performance Studies and Vector Institute

Timeline

  1. 1979–1988

    Very Nervous System at Venice

    He studies experimental art at the Ontario College of Art from 1979 to 1984 and exhibits interactive installations internationally starting in 1982. In 1986, he presents Very Nervous System at the Venice Biennale; the installation uses video surveillance technology, synthesizers, a sound system, computers, and custom image-processing software to translate movement into music and sound. It wins the first Petro-Canada Award for Media Arts in 1988.

  2. 1991–2003

    The Giver of Names

    From 1991 to 2003, he develops The Giver of Names, an installation that uses a camera, computer, and language database to analyze objects set before it by viewers and pronounce descriptions. The work probes attitudes toward machine intelligence.

  3. 2000

    First BAFTA for interactive art

    His interactive work Watched and Measured wins the first BAFTA award for interactive art from the British Academy of Film and Television Arts in 2000.

  4. January 2001

    Watch at The Polygon

    In January 2001, The Polygon Gallery shows Watch, a surveillance work whose camera brings images from an outside intersection into the room and processes them according to specific visual codes. The installation engages its visitors physically and conceptually with technology.

  5. 2002

    Golden Nica and Governor General's Award

    In March 2002, Rokeby receives a Governor General's Award in Visual and Media Arts. For his installation n-cha(n)t, he wins the Prix Ars Electronica Golden Nica for Interactive Art in 2002.

  6. 2007–2011

    Science Centre commission and Le Fresnoy

    In 2007, he completes major art commissions for the Ontario Science Centre and the Daniel Langlois Foundation in Montreal. In 2010 and 2011, he serves as a guest artist at Le Fresnoy Studio National in Tourcoing, France, and as artist-in-residence at the Ryerson Image Centre at Ryerson University in Toronto.

  7. 2023–2025

    Voice Scroll at NeurIPS and RPI

    He presents the BMO Lab's real-time voice-to-panoramic-image system Voice Scroll at NeurIPS in 2023. In June 2025, he presents Surfing the Manifold: Adventures in Latent Space at Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute and demonstrates Voice Scroll, an AI system that transforms spoken voice into a continually evolving visual panorama in real time.

  8. As of October 2026

    Director of the BMO Lab

    In October 2019, he becomes the first director of the BMO Lab at the University of Toronto, and in April 2026 he serves as keynote speaker at Toronto Metropolitan University's Creative AI Symposium. As of October 2026, he directs the BMO Lab for Creative Research in the Arts, Performance, Emerging Technologies and AI, is an assistant professor in the University of Toronto's Centre for Drama, Theatre and Performance Studies, and is a Vector Institute Faculty Affiliate.

Career

  1. NowUniversity of TorontoAssistant Professor
  2. NowCentre for Drama, Theatre and Performance StudiesDirector
  3. NowVector InstituteFaculty Affiliate
  4. 2011Ryerson UniversityArtist-in-residence
  5. 2010–2011Le Fresnoy Studio NationalGuest artist

Education

  1. Ontario College of Art

From the biography.

  1. The median h-index is 48 at universities and 14 at frontier AI labsIncludes University of Toronto. The median h-index is 48 at universities and 14 at frontier AI labs. We compare publishing careers, recent citations, dual appointments and job moves across 2,420 university researchers and 308 frontier-lab researchers.
  2. Of 943 people shaping AI who worked at Google, 446 work there nowIncludes Vector Institute. Our estimates of where the 943 people shaping AI who worked at Google and Google DeepMind work now: 446 at Google and 452 across 278 other organizations.
  3. The Massachusetts Institute of Technology trained or employed 44 of the 187 AI major-prize winners, more than any other universityIncludes University of Toronto. The Massachusetts Institute of Technology trained or employed 44 of the 187 AI major-prize winners, more than any other university. We compare doctorate and 5+ year employment links, career timing and current workplaces for 187 major-prize and 1,111 best-paper winners.
  4. 84% of people shaping AI with recorded undergraduate and doctoral schools changed institutions for their doctorateIncludes University of Toronto. 84% of people shaping AI with recorded undergraduate and doctoral schools changed institutions for their doctorate. Across 2,116 people with both an undergraduate degree and a doctorate recorded, we trace which undergraduate schools feed which doctoral programs, how often students stay at the same school, and how paths differ by birth-country region.

Colleagues

People with dated positions at the same organization in the same years.

Sources and credits

Photo: We have no published photo of David Rokeby yet. Send us a free-licensed photo.

  1. David Rokeby - Daniel Langlois Foundation e-art fondation-langlois.org. Checked 22 October 2026.
  2. David Rokeby - Manif d'Art manifdart.org. Checked 22 October 2026.
  3. David Rokeby: Very Nervous System - The Robert McLaughlin Gallery rmg.on.ca. Checked 22 October 2026.
  4. Interview with David Rokeby – Video Pool Media Arts Centre videopool.org. Checked 22 October 2026.
  5. The Giver of Names - Agnes Etherington Art Centre agnes.queensu.ca. Checked 22 October 2026.
  6. David Rokeby - Wikipedia en.wikipedia.org. Checked 22 October 2026.
  7. David Rokeby - The Polygon Gallery thepolygon.ca. Checked 22 October 2026.
  8. Visual and media artists lauded ifacca.org. Checked 22 October 2026.
  9. David Rokeby - Vector Institute for Artificial Intelligence vectorinstitute.ai. Checked 22 October 2026.
  10. Experience AI Like Never Before: Digital Art Pioneer David Rokeby at RPI | News news.rpi.edu. Checked 22 October 2026.
  11. BMO invests in arts-focused AI lab at University of Toronto strategyonline.ca. Checked 22 October 2026.
  12. Creative AI Symposium 2026 - Toronto Metropolitan University torontomu.ca. Checked 22 October 2026.