Nell Tenhaaf (born in 1951 in Oshawa, Ontario) is a Canadian artist, teacher, writer and feminist.
Nell received a B.F.A. in 1974 and a M.F.A. in 1989 both from Concordia University, Montreal, Quebec.
The bulk of Tenhaaf’s art was produced during the time that she lived in Montreal, Quebec (since 1969); however, her work has been exhibited not only in Canada, but also in the United States and Europe.
Today, Nell Tenhaaf lives in Trent Hills, Ontario and is Professor Emeritus in the Visual Arts and Computational Arts departments of York University.
Practice
Tenhaaf writes and makes art on subjects related to science, biotechnology and artificial life. Her practice also focuses on gender issues regarding electronic media and computer technologies as well as science exploration through art practice, keeping even the feminist works within the scientific realm in order to incorporate female origin stories while agitating the rational locus of science. Tenhaaf includes in her work aspects that may contradict each other such as mythology, genetics, biotechnology and even religious iconography, believing that the power of art lies in the interaction between the artist, who is present in a work, and an individual viewer. In order to help the viewer identify with the work, Tenhaaf often includes the material presence of a body in her pieces. In addition to this, Tenhaaf makes sure to keep the notion of agency present in her practice while also addressing ethics.
Notable works
The key connection between the artist’s current practice and her early database work is information. Despite originally being trained in painting, in the early 1980s Tenhaaf was determined to get permission from Canadian Department of Communications (DOC) to take part in the Telidon Vista field trials supported by Bell, in Toronto and Montreal. Artists were experimenting with the new "videotex" technology for creating computer graphics in the form of image and text, making content for testing the videotex protocol and the telecommunication networks that gave public access to the databases. It interested Tenhaaf to create alternative content for an emerging technology that was hoped to have a wide commercial appreciation. Given the opportunity, she created the database Us and/or Them (1983) which was a digital collection of text, maps, graphic design as well as images of Cold War found in various information sources such as magazines, newspapers and even United Nations reports, all of which were presented with manipulated digital graphics. This project introduced a correlation between Boolean concept of “and/or” and the harsh us vs them Cold War attitude. By combining information from both the United States and the Soviet Union origins, the controversial aspect of blame was opened. Later, Tenhaaf recreated the project as an independent show; however, until then initial Us and/or Them (1983) was accessible exclusively online at publicly available videotex terminals. This DOC-sponsored artist project was so significant due to its status as the first example of art about data realm.