Bio

Adrian Ward is a software artist, programmer, musician, systems administrator and lecturer. Since 1999, his London-based company Signwave UK has worked for a wide range of clients and customers, and has released a variety of software products, some of which question just how far one can stretch the definition of 'commercial software'.

He is most known for his auto-generative software artworks that articulate concerns over authenticity, authorship and authority by deploying parody software into the graphic design community. His first piece, Autoshop - a parody of Adobe Photoshop - earned him a modest following in the Macintosh design community, whilst his latest offering, Auto-Illustrator - a fully-blown vector graphic design application - continues to insult, offend and abuse graphic designers looking for an easy ride everywhere.

When performing music, Adrian works in collaboration with Alex McLean under the name of Slub. Together, they write generative software applications and perform them in realtime. Their gigs are chaotic and largely unpredictable: The software takes the music in whatever direction Alex and Ade feel appropriate. Together, they have played across the United Kingdom at numerous venues, have entertained club-goers in Amsterdam, Paris and Berlin, and have two releases available through Cipher (Lithuania) and Fallt (Ireland).

Adrian's other works include smaller desktop offerings and collaborative efforts with the likes of Stuart Brisley and Geoff Cox, with whom he has helped instigate the UK Museum of Ordure. He participated in the 2002 GENERATOR Exhibition at Spacex Gallery in Exeter, and has presented his work across the world at venues like Transmediale (Berlin), Lovebytes (Sheffield), Rhizome (New York) and Sonic Acts (Amsterdam).

He is also the proud owner of awards from Transmediale, D&AD and Real Software, and earned an honorary mention at the 2001 Prix Ars Electronica.