Steve Bull is a mixed-media technology artist and entrepreneur whose practice includes extensive software engineering experience. For the last ten years he has created location-specific narratives and games that explore the social, technological, and creative possibilities of cell phones.
Augmented reality (AR) installations have been a focus since 2011. Bull was recently commissioned by Target to produce a multi-media event with live text messaging, and by the New-York Historical Society to produce a series of "Slavery in New York" cell phone tours on vodcast, podcast and VOIP, Bull is promoting Cellphonia, a locative-based karaoke opera cued and performed with the cell phone. It has been exhibited at the ISEA Zero One Festival, Eyebeam, Mobility Music in England, ICMC 2010, and E.A.T. Revisited at Stevens Institute in collaboration with Scot Gresham-Lancaster, and funded by NYSCA and Experimental TV. His locative based Treasure Hunt has been commissioned by college campuses nationwide; his locative games Hot-n-Cold and Gamepark were finalists for two years of the NAVTEQ Global LBS Challenge. His locative Hollywood USA was a finalist in TeleAtlas' Maps and Apps in 2007. Additional cell phone art was featured at the Gigantic Art Space and for the Peter Stuyvesant's Ghost project. He also wrote a manual on subversive uses of the cellphone for WITNESS, a human rights activist organization.
Bull distributes six applications for the cellphone with Orange, Verizon, Cellmania, Airtel, Singtel, iTunes, and recently launched two applications for the iPhone and iPad: AZZA, an art/entertainment app, and EZfollowups, a productivity tool. He also delivered a wireless tour feasibility study for Franklin D. Roosevelt Four Freedoms Park in 2010.
In 2005, he produced the still and video design for WET, a multi-media opera that premiered at the Roy and Edna Disney/CalArts Theater. His single channel videos have been exhibited at The Getty, MoMA, PBS New TV series, the Kitchen, American Film Institute, Mill Valley Film Festival, Berlin Video Festival, Columbus Film Festival, Bucks County Film Festival, Cork Film Festival, Cleveland Film Festival, a ten-city tour in Brazil, and Creative Time.
As a member of the Directors Guild of America (DGA), he worked as a 1st Assistant Director for Sam Peckinpah, Stephen Frears, Eric Red, and 2nd Unit Director with Lindsay Anderson on WHAM! In China. His commercial clients include RSA, R. Greenberg & Associates (RGA), and Industrial Light & Magic.
After completing NYU's Interactive Telecommunications Program in 1997, Bull worked as a senior information architect and prototype designer/developer for Paul Allen at Interval Research.
Blog: stevebull.blogspot.com Code skills [best]: PHP / MySQL E-mail: Steve.Bull [at] gmail.com Junaio (certified AR developer) Twitter: @steve_bull Twilio / Asterisk / VoIP Facebook: id=532959055 Android java / JavaME LinkedIn: id=1043678 iPad / iPhone C Music: Cellphonia HTML / XHTML Founder 2000: Cutlass Inc. Arduino / Processing Founder 2012: Home Care Reporter [least]: linux / css / js 2013
Tech Wizard/MC: Cutlass Treasure Hunt, Northern Arizona University, October Roundtable on Determining the Value of Healthcare – A Multi-Stakeholder Perspective, Fordham University, GHIMC, May Workshop: Annotating the World - - We Need Help! Faculty workshop on using web & social media to post urban observation/research that also serves communities. New School, NYC, April 30 AR installation Please Use Other Door, Swell Sound & Vision at The Firehouse Space, Williamsburg, Brooklyn, April 6 Pilot launch Cutter v. Smuggler, Castle Clinton, Battery Park, NYC, April 6 Cellphonia: OurVoice for Contemplative Practices for a Technological Society Conference, April Cellphonia: Toronto commissoned two month installation for New Adventures in Sound Art (NAISA), April - May Kara-boothie proposal with AR model for Reinventing Payphones Design Challenge NYC Cellphonia: HUB retool the 4'33 server in support of Scot's performance at Network Music Festival Birmingham UK Cutter v. Smuggler AR channel funded in part by The New York Council for the Humanities 2012
junaio certified developer Bogliasco Invisible Presence 50 bust commission for "Villa Dei Pini" augmented reality installation Albion AR Art Walk group, show, Reiger and Victory Parks - Albion, Michigan 2011
AZZA prints for sale in group juried show Art from the iPad Austin Details gallery WELL? Saturday, Oct. 15 in Show Me Justice Film Festival Cellphonia 9/11 opening composition in Music After, a marathon concert: 9.11.11 PreMinder selected for Fordham Accelerator for Business (FAB) pre-incubation practicum Bohemian Girl AR promotion with QR code at Jacob Javits at BEA Expo Athens Film Festival screens WELL? co-directed with Terese Svoboda After Delvaux AR 3D object in group show Decollage: Torn Exteriors Pro Android Media: Developing Graphics, Music, Video, and Rich Media Apps for Smartphones and Tablets Technical Reviewer Click History: Wherever, Whenever co-author chapter in Creativity and Technology: Social Media, Mobiles and Museums 2010
Sanctioned Array at WhiteBox presents WELL? aZza for iPhone/iPad in iTunes store. Franklin D. Roosevelt Four Freedoms Park wireless tour feasibility study. SanctionedArray presents WELL? co-directed with Terese Svoboda Cellphone Guides Museums, Mobile Devices and Social Media conference Cellphonia: Blues ICMC 2010: Analogous Interactions (AI) - Installation Opening and Performative Social Activities Where 2.0 Citizen FYI audience favorite SuperCollider! performance at ITP 2010 NAVTEQ Global LBS Challenge® Citizen FYI fnalist 2009
aZza - Playhouse animation plays exterior Liberty Hall, Dublin aZza - Airtel cellphone art release in India Cellphonia: 4'3" at NIME 2009 Harvestworks Deconstructing the TARGET performance Hollywood-USA GPS Version Launch chant4PEACE a social network for activists iTunes University distributes The New-York Historical Society podcast and vodcast series 2008
Teen Vogue Fashion University 2008 closing show sponsored by TARGET, cellphone interactive performance DRENCH video at Urban Screens Melbourne 08 festival, collaborator Frederick Douglass and Underground Railroad in New York Cellphone/iPhone GPS video series for New-York Historical Society NCPH 2008 Outstanding Public History Project Award for Slavery in New York series Cellphonia: Tempo Variabile installation/performance at Steven's Institute of Technology NAVTEQ LBS Global Challenge Game Park at CTIA Las Vegas IGDA-NYC: Game Park at Demo Night VII Treasure Hunt Performances: University of Dubuque, Lafayette College, Delta State University, Fashion Institute of Technology, Stevens Institute of Technology "Cellphonia: In The News" Creative Interactions The Mobile Music Workshops 2004-2008, University of Applied Arts Vienna, 2008, p. 89 2007
Hollywood USA - GPS Version TeleAtlas finalist CTIA San Francisco NIME Installation 2007 Cellphonia: WET, Eyebeam Finalist voting Cellphonia: Rhizome 2007-2008 commission Mobilized! Conference at Brooklyn Tech presenting Cellphonia Asterisk code Top Ten Best Museum and Cultural Podcast 2007 for Legacies: Contemporary Artists Reflect on Slavery, New-York Historical Society Cellphone tour engine for Cross/Walks: Weaving Fabric Row Treasure Hunt Performances: Jacksonville University, Stevens Institute of Technology, Lafayette College Neighborhood Narratives, Instructor at Temple University Cameraphone Activism Course and Workbook commissioned by Witness.org for Video Advocacy Institute in Montreal 2006
Cellphonia: San Jose, World premier of Cellphonia opera at ISEA - ZeroOne Festival Peter Stuyvesant's Ghost, Telephone tours in NYC festival HOT-n-COLD - Finalist locative game in NAVTEQ Global LBS Challenge Hidden Scenes of Slavery and Freedom - Locative multi-media wireless tour for New-York Historical Society Experimental Television Center, Finishing funds for Cellphonia Mobile Music International, Presents Cellphonia: In The News as Work-in-Progress in Brighton, England SLEUTH Cellphone GPS Game at Come Out & Play Festival, Eyebeam Neighborhood Narratives, Instructor at Temple University "Creating Interactive Fiction" guest lecture at Fordham University GeoCommunity SpatialNews, Innovative ArcIMS Application Wins LBS Award, April 26, 2006 NYArts Magazine, A Phone is a Phone is a... by Molly Kleiman, January / February 2007 Leonardo eJournal, Locative Media Issue, Volume 4, Issue 03, "Neighorhood Narratives" with Hana Iverson, edited by Drew Hemment, ISSN No: 1071-4391 New York Times, Art review "ISEA ZeroOne in San Jose" by Jori Finkel, August 6, 2006, about Cellphonia: In The News "This will pull people back into the community, as they sing the community story and hear their voice in the community chorus." 2005
Cellphonia: In The News grant from New York State Council for the Arts (NYSCA) Creative Capital Foundation Finalist, Cellphonia WET The Opera 2 hour performance video background for opera at REDCAT (Roy and Edna Disney/CalArts Theater), Los Angeles Monty Python's Spamalot Treasure Hunt author/coder of national first person performance game played on cell phone and cross platform Bellagio, Italy retreat of Rockefeller Foundation, artist opera team Institute For The Future Seminar, Future of Pervasive Gaming, Expert Panelist, Palo Alto Life After Graduation, Speaker, APCA Leadership Workshop Neighborhood Narratives, Instructor at Temple University CalArts, School of Film/Video, Visiting Artist / Guest Lecturer Parsons School of Design and Technology, Seminar Instructor Pace University, Dyson College of Arts and Sciences, Visiting Artist Digital Storytelling Conference presenting "Storytelling in Pervasive Game Space", San Francisco 2004
Pet-Pals, Cameraphone photo album for all animal lovers to share their pictures on cell phones as well as computer on Verizon Wireless Franklin Street Locative media real/virtual installation for "Personal Space" exhibition at Gigantic Art Space, New York Azza, Cellphone Modrian-inspired interactive art generated by algorithms distributed O2 Network in UK, and Handango, Sony Ericsson Farmwork, Videomaker of time-lapse video at Experimental Media Festival at Tonic, NYC. Cellphonia, Adjunct Professor, new media course at NYU's Interactive Telecommunications Program (ITP) "Bridging Digital Divide" Chinatown Technology Center, After school program for Asian Americans for Equality, Curriculum Designer and Instructor Building a Mobile Revolution, article, Finn Air BlueWings inflight magazine, February 2004 2003
Hollywood USA, 1st Edition, Cell phone location-based interactive tour of movie locations Margaret Sanger: A Public Nuisance, Co-Director, Experimental film screened at J. Paul Getty Museum as one of two best examples of experimental biography in the last decade. Video funded by ITVS and distributed by Women Make Movies and the MacArthur Foundation. Rat Race USA, 1st personalized traffic report sent to your cell phone or wireless PDA HP Bazaar, presenting Cutlass 1st person performance gaming Montreal Mirror, review, "Our world and others" CBS Market Watch, review, "Real-Time Traffic Reporting" IT, Location-based interactive first person performance game based on the classic Tag United States Patent No. 6,530,841 2002
TouchToneTours, Instant personal guide self-guided tour guide to connect a traveler via cellphone to the hidden world surrounding them. Adapted as Quirky World for Great Britain and Canada. New York Times "A Guided Audio Tour of Greenport via Cellphone" Sunday, July 28, 2002, Greenport Cellphone Tour with 88 sites Suffolk Times "In TouchTone with Greenport," article in weekly newspaper 2001
01.01.01 Cutlass Treasure Hunt, Extreme tech treasure hunt, internet-driven cellphone street theater for visitors to Times Square where teams hunt the hidden past to find treasure using multiple interactive interfaces. Expanded to college campuses across the U.S. 2000
CUTLASS Inc, Founder UBUBU, Creative Director for personalized browser interface taking the form of 3D avatars. 1999
Experience Museum, User Interaction Designer for Vulcan Northwest Story Island, Interaction/Prototype Design, interactive storybook developed and built as consultant for Interval Research Pocket Watch, Artist's personal repurposed watch exhibited as part of "Individual Technology" exhibit in Tech Museum, San Jose. 1998
You-In-A-Movie, Movie-Booth/Story/Interaction Designer, built and designed prototype of arcade method to insert a visitor into a feature film, consultant for Interval Research. Venus - Game Designer of a digital game engine with reward structure based on human behavior research. 1997
Virtual Parlor "Yesterday's Parlor Tricks/Tomorrow's Technology" - 5 physical interface prototypes in a Victorian parlor with DSP network connectivity presenting an alternative computer mediated audio chat and "real" parlor tricks without traditional PC computer, monitor, keyboard and mouse as Thesis NYU:ITP SOS, Titanic biography on surviving crew member of the historical sea disaster with Shockwave interactive "Practice Morse Code" in which visitors use "dots" and "dash" mouse-click-downs to send "SOS" and other Morse code messages. Salome's Revenge, collaborator on a Palace (Warner) site and interactive multi-node narrative where Yorb TV viewers using their touch-tone phones and internet web surfers choose their avatar characters re-enact the classic Salome story in a contemporary setting. 1996
Interval Research, Senior User Experience Architect and prototype designer/developer until 1999 on network music project with Laurie Anderson and Peter Gabriel World, My Heart's Journey, Line Producer of 60 minute documentary on Seiji Ozawa in Tanglewood for Japanese TV. 1995
Sculpture Bones, Cinematographer for documentary on Mary Ann Unger's sculpture, described by NY Times as "visceral, chilling." 30 minutes EPA Poisons EPA, Cinematographer for independent documentary screened at MoMA, Free Speech TV, and Superfest. 1994
Margaret Sanger: A Public Nuisance - Co-Director and Cinematographer of documentary in ITVS first round production. MoMA, Berlin Film Fest, AFI, World Wide Video Fest, New TV/PBS, Getty, Distributed by Women Make Movies and MacArthur Fund. Rogue Transmissions, Cinematographer for experimental video on media dislocation. Selected for AFI, World Wide Video Festival, Long Beach Museum of Art, Ars Electronica, WNYC "Poetry Spot." 1993
Experimental Television Center - Artist In Residence Haiku Vision, Video Artist of 5 video haiku shot in northern Japan. Grand Prize winner, Bucks County Film Festival, experimental prize winner, Atlanta Film Festival. Screened at MoMA, Athens Film Fest, Cork Film Fest, Cleveland Film Fest, Humboldt Film Fest. National tour, tour of NY State and 10 city tour of Brazil. Also Creative Time 42nd St. feature for six months 1992
Kidnap, Mediamaker. Using found footage a documentary of mother stealing children from father at Xmas. Staten Island Museum and The Kitchen. C.A.G.E (1988). Cast Iron TV (1984). 1990
Hilo Fish Market, Filmmaker, Documentary. A lyrical examination of the daily acivity at the Suisan Fish Market in Hilo cut to the music of Raymond Kane. Hawaii International Film Festival. 1989
Edward Sylvester Morse, Producer for 90 minute special on American scientist who created the Peabody Museum in Salem. NHK Japanese TV. 1988
FARMWORK, Filmmaker. 28 min. Evanston Art Center and C.A.G.E. The Kitchen (1987). Cast Iron TV and Palladium (1985). Excavating Harlem in 2290, Co-Director with William Kelly. Sci-Fi Documentary. 28 min. Cast Iron TV. Horse Trailer UFO, Documentary. 7 min. Cast Iron TV. 1986
United States Patent No. 4,792,108, Single Launch Artificial Gravity Space Station WHAM! in China, 2nd unit Director/lst AD for Lindsay Anderson's five camera rockumentary feature of first rock concert in mainland China. Komodo, Cinematographer for video on survival of a lizard that eats people. Honorable Mention, American Film/Video Festival, VOICE CHOICE, World Wide Video Festival, L.A.C.E., Artists Space, "Meet the Maker" series at Donnell, Pasadena Art Center, L.A. Freewaves, Belgian Cultural Center and NC Film/Video Festival 1985
Three Cities in China, Filmmmaker. Pixilated doumentary of the new communist China, 15 min. Palladium. Cast Iron TV (1984) 1984
Dont' Believe Them, Anarachist video with Sleeping Dog band includes interview with Gary Gimore and post-nuclear bathroom, 28 min. Rouhg Trade, Dutch East and cast Iron TV.