Christopher Dooks (born in 1971) is a Scotland-based artist, primarily working in the fields of photography, film and audio-art.

Education and television work

Dooks was born in 1971 in

Middlesbrough Middlesbrough ( ) is a town on the southern bank of the River Tees in North Yorkshire, England. It is near the North York Moors national park. It is the namesake and main town of its local borough council area. Until the early 1800s, the a ...

. He studied

sound design Sound design is the art and practice of creating sound tracks for a variety of needs. It involves specifying, acquiring or creating auditory elements using audio production techniques and tools. It is employed in a variety of disciplines including ...

and film at the Cleveland College of Art and Design from 1989–1991, and from 1991–1994 film and

video art Video art is an art form which relies on using video technology as a visual and audio medium. Video art emerged during the late 1960s as new consumer video technology such as video tape recorders became available outside corporate broadcasting ...

at the

Edinburgh College of Art Edinburgh College of Art (ECA) is one of eleven schools in the College of Arts, Humanities and Social Sciences at the University of Edinburgh. Tracing its history back to 1760, it provides higher education in art and design, architecture, histor ...

. In 1994

ITV ITV or iTV may refer to: ITV *Independent Television (ITV), a British television network, consisting of: ** ITV (TV network), a free-to-air national commercial television network covering the United Kingdom, the Isle of Man, and the Channel Islan ...

screened his degree film ''The Sound of Taransay''. Between 1994-1998 he directed several works for broadcast television, including

The South Bank Show ''The South Bank Show'' is a British television arts magazine series originally produced by London Weekend Television and broadcast on ITV between 1978 and 2010. A new version of the series began 27 May 2012 on Sky Arts. Conceived, written, ...

. In 1998 while working on a program for

PBS The Public Broadcasting Service (PBS) is an American public broadcasting, public broadcaster and Non-commercial activity, non-commercial, Terrestrial television, free-to-air television network based in Arlington, Virginia. PBS is a publicly fu ...

in the

United States The United States of America (U.S.A. or USA), commonly known as the United States (U.S. or US) or America, is a country primarily located in North America. It consists of 50 states, a federal district, five major unincorporated territorie ...

Dooks became ill with

Myalgic Encephalomyelitis Chronic fatigue syndrome (CFS), also called myalgic encephalomyelitis (ME) or ME/CFS, is a complex, debilitating, long-term medical condition. The causes and mechanisms of the disease are not fully understood. Distinguishing core symptoms are ...

which puts an end to his television career.

Idioholism

After a break, Dooks was able to continue creating his audio-visual art. Researching ways how to work while suffering from ''Chronic Fatigue Syndrome'' he began developing creative strategies, he labeled ''Idioholism'' (a combination of

holism Holism () is the idea that various systems (e.g. physical, biological, social) should be viewed as wholes, not merely as a collection of parts. The term "holism" was coined by Jan Smuts in his 1926 book ''Holism and Evolution''."holism, n." OED Onl ...

and

idiosyncrasy An idiosyncrasy is an unusual feature of a person (though there are also other uses, see below). It can also mean an odd habit. The term is often used to express eccentricity or peculiarity. A synonym may be "quirk". Etymology The term "idiosyncra ...

). His extensive research eventually lead to a PhD at the

University of the West of Scotland The University of the West of Scotland ( gd, Oilthigh na h-Alba an Iar), formerly the University of Paisley, is a public university with four campuses in south-western Scotland, in the towns of Paisley, Renfrewshire, Paisley, Blantyre, South Lanar ...

. The central part of his work was a vinyl record trilogy.

Audio work

Dooks has released several

electronica Electronica is both a broad group of electronic-based music styles intended for listening rather than strictly for dancing and a music scene that started in the early 1990s in the United Kingdom. In the United States, the term is mostly used to r ...

and

folktronica Folktronica is a genre of music comprising various elements of folk music and electronica, often featuring uses of acoustic instruments – especially stringed instruments – and incorporating hip hop, electronic or dance rhythms, although ...

albums for record labels such as Bip-Hop, Highpoint Lowlife and Benbecula Records. He has co-operated with artists like Francis Cazal, Future Pilot, Hibernate, or Rutger Zuydervelt. Dooks also uses the moniker ''Bovine Life'' for audio works.

Visual art

Dooks has produced work for the

Millennium Experience The Millennium Dome was the original name of the large dome-shaped building on the Greenwich Peninsula in South East London, England, which housed a major exhibition celebrating the beginning of the third millennium. As of 2022, it is the nin ...

and created installations and art works, among other for Market Gallery Glasgow, Teesside University, Middlesbrough venue, Gallery Edinburgh, Isis Arts Newcastle, Sandberg Institute Amsterdam, or the Edinburgh College of Art. In 2003 for Stills Gallery Edinburgh, Dooks coined the term ''Polymash'' to describe his "chaotic multi-disciplinary practice" and in 2007, Dooks founded "Polymash Digital Art Projects" which creates bespoke

Psychogeography Psychogeography is the exploration of urban environments that emphasizes interpersonal connections to places and arbitrary routes. It was developed by members of the Letterist International and Situationist International, which were revolutiona ...

tours, most notably 2009's ''Surreal Steyning''. Dooks had screenings and talks at art spaces like Another Roadside Attraction Gallery, London,

National Museum of Scotland The National Museum of Scotland in Edinburgh, Scotland, was formed in 2006 with the merger of the new Museum of Scotland, with collections relating to Scottish antiquities, culture and history, and the adjacent Royal Scottish Museum (opened in ...

, Furtherfield, London, or Image Movement, at festivals like

International Documentary Film Festival Amsterdam The International Documentary Film Festival Amsterdam (IDFA) is the world's largest documentary film festival held annually since 1988 in Amsterdam. Over a period of twelve days, it has screened more than 300 films and sold more than 250,000 tic ...

International Short Film Festival Oberhausen The International Short Film Festival Oberhausen, founded in 1954, is one of the oldest short film festivals in the world. Held in Oberhausen, it is one of the major international platforms for the short form. The festival holds an International C ...

Personal life

He lives with his wife and two children in

Edinburgh Edinburgh ( ; gd, Dùn Èideann ) is the capital city of Scotland and one of its 32 Council areas of Scotland, council areas. Historically part of the county of Midlothian (interchangeably Edinburghshire before 1921), it is located in Lothian ...

References

External links

Artist Chris Dooks
Dooks' homepage
Chris Dooks
Dooks on

Vimeo Vimeo, Inc. () is an American video hosting, sharing, and services platform provider headquartered in New York City. Vimeo focuses on the delivery of high-definition video across a range of devices. Vimeo's business model is through software as ...

Seven Million Images
Photo Blog of Dooks on Tumblr.
Chris Dooks
Dooks on

Bandcamp Bandcamp is an American online audio distribution platform founded in 2007 by Oddpost co-founder Ethan Diamond and programmers Shawn Grunberger, Joe Holt and Neal Tucker, with headquarters in Oakland, California, US. On March 2, 2022, Bandcamp ...

Chris Dooks
on furtherfield.org {{DEFAULTSORT:Dooks, Chris 1971 births Living people 20th-century Scottish male artists 21st-century Scottish male artists Electronica musicians Folktronica musicians 20th-century Scottish male musicians 21st-century Scottish male musicians British techno musicians Alumni of the Edinburgh College of Art