Barbara Sykes

A Song of the River was shot and created during Sykes's sabbatical research trip throughout Asia and East Africa. While there, she visited various indigenous tribes and was interested in learning about their spiritual relationships, and how these relationships are evident in everyday life. In a statement about the film, Sykes describes that "from birth to death, special rights and ceremonies mark the important events of one’s existence, assuring a symbiosis of body and soul with the divine. This deep relationship between the people and their gods are reaffirmed through daily activity. At times, the person symbolically becomes god, strengthening their own sense of sacredness and self-respect." These themes are continued in Shiva Darson, another video in her series "In Celebration of Life... In Celebration of Death..." Shiva Darson discusses the Hindu god Shiva through a personal account of Sykes's visit to the Shivaratri Festival at the Pashupatinath Temple. In Celebration of Life... In Celebration of Death..." which was funded by Columbia College, won several awards throughout 1994 and 1995 including the CINE Golden Eagle Award and the First place Documentary Award at La Crosse Video Festival, among others. The series was also shown at a variety of video festivals, such as the Festival of Illinois Film and Video Artists in Chicago, and the Three Rivers Arts Festival.

In 2018 Sykes' work By The Crimson Bands of Cyttorak was included in the Chicago New Media 1973-1992 exhibition. The exhibition was curated by jonCates.

In 2016 Sykes took part in Celebrating Women in New Media Arts, a panel symposium held at the School of the Art Institute of Chicago. The symposium highlighted women who have paved the way in the male dominated field of new media. Joan Truckenbrod and Claudia Hart were among some of the participants who shared their experiences making technological artwork as women, and some of the challenges they faced. The symposium preceded the 2018 release of the book Women in New Media Arts: Perspectives on Innovative Collaboration published by the University of Illinois Press.

Sykes was a tenured experimental film and television professor at Columbia College Chicago from 1982-2005. While at Columbia College, she also served as director of the visiting lecturer series for the Department of Film & Television, organizing lectures by industry professionals and artists such as Rafael Franca, which occurred in conjunction with “Brazilian Video Art”, the first ever exhibition of Brazilian experimental video work in Chicago.

As a student of this new technology, Barbara Sykes used the Image Processor to create early work. She performed in EVE I and EVE II with Tom Defanti at a time when such real-time performances were the first of their kind. Real-time computer performances continue to be vitalized at the School of the Art Institute of Chicago, and the Electronic Visualization Laboratory at the University of Illinois at Chicago. Before earning an undergraduate degree, Sykes enrolled in the School of the Art Institute of Chicago emerging video program in 1979, and obtained her MFA in 1981.

From 1974 to 1979 Sykes studied at the University of Illinois at Chicago, during which experimental video art was developing in Chicago. The Electronic Visualization Laboratory was started by two UIC faculty, Tom Defanti (Computer Science) and Dan Sandin (Fine Art), and was influential in developing computer graphics with the goal of creating video art. The research lab known for developing the Sandin Image Processor, a video synthesizer similar to synthesizers used to create music. The Image Processor allows for abstract analogue visuals to be created using analogue computer graphics, a new technology at the time. The lab was known for its Electronic Visualization Events (EVE), where live performances combined music and video processing in real time.

Much of Sykes' work from the 1970s such as A Movement Within (1976) and By The Crimson Bands of Cyttorak (1978) utilized the Sandin Image Processor to create abstract compositions, psychedelic colors and shifting forms. The nature of the Image Processor allows for limited analogue control, with much of the process left up to chance and experimentation. While Sykes’s early works are montages of meditative, poetic abstractions, her later work demonstrates more personal and expressive narratives and themes. Shiva Darson (1994) and A Song of the River (1997) are among these works. Sykes began to directly create videos that "reflect her interests in female mythological figures, rituals, dance, art, and music of other cultures as well as depicting dream states and fantasized visions." While this later work is different in process, there are clear relationships to her earlier work, as is evident in Electronic Masks (1976), which demonstrates a blend of image processing with themes of spirituality.

Besides creating artwork, Barbara Sykes has had a notable presence in the Chicago new media scene. In the late 1970s she became involved with The Center for New Television (formerly The Chicago Editing Center) where she would host video workshops and screen her work. In 1981, Sykes curated Video: Chicago Style, which was exhibited at Global Village in New York City, and was additionally screened on Manhattan Cable. This exhibition eventually grew into Video and Computer Art: Chicago Style, which traveled throughout Japan, China, Australia and Spain during 1988 and 1989.

Barbara Sykes (Barbara Sykes-Dietze) (born 1953) is a Chicago based experimental video artist who explores themes of spirituality, ritual and indigeneity from a feminist perspective. Sykes is known for her pioneering experimentation with computer graphics in her video work, utilizing the Electronic Visualization Laboratory at the University of Illinois, Chicago, at a time when this technology was just emerging. Her early works broke new grounds in Chicago’s emerging New Media Art scene, and continue to inspire women to explore experimental realms. With a passion for community, she fostered significant collaborations with many institutions that include but are not limited to University of Illinois, School of the Art Institute of Chicago, Columbia College, Center for New Television, and (art)n laboratory. These collaborations became exemplary for the showcasing of new media work. The wave of video, new media and computer art that she pioneered alongside many other seminal early Chicago New Media artists persists as a major influence for artists and educators today Her work has been exhibited internationally, at institutions such as Moderna Museet (Stockholm), Ny Carlsberg Glyptotek (Copenhagen), Musée d'Art Moderne de la Ville de Paris, Museum of Contemporary Art San Diego, and The Metropolitan Museum of Art (New York), as well as being the first female video artist to present her work in China.