We share with great sadness that former DU faculty member Daniel Jolliffe passed away in October. A prominent artist and member of the Emergent Digital Practices program as a Visiting Teaching Assistant Professor from 2018-2019, Professor Jolliffe will be greatly missed by his family, friends, and former colleagues at the University of Denver and beyond.
Professor Jolliffe held a B.A. in Philosophy from the University of Victoria and an M.F.A. in Art and Technology from The Ohio State University and was above all an accomplished and working artist. In his time at DU, Daniel taught several of the Emergent Digital Practices foundation classes as well as upper-level courses. He was a collegial and friendly colleague and a rigorous instructor providing playful and topical assignments. He shared his experiences as an international artist with his students to help them understand a broader view of creativity in the world. He also taught at multiple institutions, including University of British Columbia, Concordia, and the University of Ottawa.
Professor Jolliffe’s visual and media artworks traversed many disciplines and interests, including sculpture, installation, sound, public intervention, performance, interactive art, video, and open-source culture. The goal of his artistic practice was to challenge and query how embodied conscious experience is changed by the intervention of technology. His artwork has been shown across Canada and internationally, and has been covered by Wired News, the Dow Jones News Wire, Rhizome and the Australian Broadcasting Corporation, among others. His interactive sculpture, One Free Minute, was performed across America and the DIY version (instructions to ‘Throw Your Voice’) was included in Design Life Now and exhibited at the Cooper-Hewitt National Design Museum in 2006. Donations in his memory can be made to Eastern Bloc or other organizations supporting artists.
We were very fortunate to have Professor Jolliffe as our colleague, and we extend our warmest wishes and condolences to Daniel’s family, friends, fellow artists, and colleagues.