Biography

Alan Labb was Director of the Department of Computer Resources and Information Technologies at the School of the Art Institute of Chicago (SAIC) for five years. Before being appointed to a hybrid position in 2001 that allowed him to continue as a technology planner for SAIC, while also serving as full-time faculty in the Photography Department. Promoted to Associate Dean of Technology in 2007, and Associate Provost of Educational Technology and Innovation in 2012, Labb endeavored to integrate his efforts as an administrator and instructor, to enhance the School's capacity for incorporating technological advancements into its diverse and transdisciplinary curriculum. He was primarily responsible for the successful collaboration between the City of Chicago, Jaume Plensa, and SAIC that made Millennium Park's Crown Fountain, one of the most prominent sculptures in Chicago. Also, Labb has served on the educational advisory boards for Adobe, Apple, Lynda.com, Iomega, Harold Washington City College of Chicago, and Chicago's Gallery 312. He has also consulted for numerous educational institutions, including Hexagram Institute Research Centres, the Glasgow School of Design; Ontario College of Art and Design; Columbus College of Art and Design; and the College for Creative Studies. In 2012, Labb proposed and co-organized the Association of Independent Colleges of Art and Design (AICAD) Technology Forum at SAIC. Labb received his BFA, Cum Laude, in Photography in 1988 from the University of New Mexico, and his MFA in Photography in 1990 from the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign. Labb had exhibited at the Setouchi Triennial, Kagawa Japan; Avu Academy of Fine Arts Gallery, Prague; SF Camerawork, San Francisco; Schneider Gallery, Chicago; Contemporary Art Gallery, University of Connecticut; University of Indiana; Temple Art Gallery, Tyler University; and the Bridge Center of Contemporary Art, El Paso, among others. Labb is featured in numerous publications, including SF Camerawork Quarterly, Luna Cornea Quarterly, AfterImage, Hyphen Magazine, Chicago Reader, The Albuquerque Journal, and many more. He received an Illinois Arts Council Fellowship in 2000 and was named an Apple Distinguished Educator in Higher Education in 2005. In July 2016 Labb returned to faculty as an associate professor in the Photography Department at SAIC.