Emile Zile

Emile Zile is an Australian-Latvian media artist based in Melbourne. His practice consists of single-channel video, performance, live video and photography.

In 2004, Emile completed a Bachelor of Arts (Media Arts, Honours) from the Royal Melbourne Institute of Technology (RMIT).

Over the years he has also collaborated on numerous projects utilising photography, music performance, graffiti, public intervention and net art.

Emile’s recent solo exhibitions include Steve Irwin, DVD-Video and the stink of the future at Het Wilde Weten Studios Rotterdam, The Netherlands, Springer Audiences exhibited during Next Wave Festival 2006 at Kings A.R.I. in Melbourne, Emile Zile video works 1999-2005 exhibited April 2005 at Footscray Community Arts Centre, Melbourne, and Photo Deceased exhibited May 2004 at Bus Gallery, Melbourne.

Other venues and festivals that have hosted his work include TENT Rotterdam 2007, Park 19 Guangzhou China 2006, Perth Institute of Contemporary Arts 2006, Multimedia Art Asia Pacific 2003 and New Zealand Film Archive, Wellington 2001.

In addition to being a professional artist, Emile is the creative producer of Footscray Audio Visual Social Club (FAV-SC), a vital meeting place for artists at Footscray Community Arts Centre in Melbourne’s West. FAV-SC events are free to the public and are held fortnightly, consisting of artist talks, screening programs, audiovisual performances and open mix sessions. Emile’s internship at FAV-SC is supported by the Australia Council of the Art’s Emerging Producer in Community initiative (EPIC).

Emile has contributed to the Australian Network for Art and Technology’s (ANAT) journal Filter as a guest editor and curated numerous screening programs of emerging Australian video, animation and film artists. Most recently his Sun Stroked program toured multiple venues in Europe and China during 2007, and Pirate Satellite presented at Spacement Gallery Melbourne in 2005.

How he did it

During the early stages of his career Emile took on additional work in workshop tutoring, freelance video production, concert lighting, crowd control, arts event production, street casting for television production and event documentation. His early ‘character-building’ odd-jobs have included such diverse roles as a chestnut roasting street vendor to supermarket shelf stacking.

Emile gained funding for his work from a variety of sources including the City of Melbourne, Australia Council for the Arts, ANAT and Next Wave Festival Melbourne 2006. In partnership with other artists, Emile also received funding from the National Association of Visual Arts (NAVA), Australia-China Council and the Melbourne Fashion Festival 2005.

Emile has also secured in-kind support from local community arts organisations, commercial imaging businesses and film production companies.

Emile’s advice for emerging artists:

• Trust your obsessions. Don’t censor yourself.
• Approach anyone with your work regardless of their 'status' or 'position'.
• Personal relationships are more fruitful than email accounts.
• Seek in-kind support for a project before you seek financial income - having other stakeholders on-board can be very attractive for potential funders.
• Be lateral in your thinking about support - consider all avenues.
• A proposal to create a project that is backed up by clear research is more attractive to a potential funder. Be tenacious and document everything.