Member Profile: Everardo Reyes
1. What do you do, and how long have you been doing it?
I am a university professor. I teach and do research. I’ve been doing this for almost 25 years. I’ve been affiliated with several academic institutions, both public and private, mainly in Mexico and in France. Currently, I’m a full professor of Information and Communication Sciences at the Université Paris 8 Vincennes-Saint-Denis, in the Digital Humanities Department. I have always taught topics related to digital culture and technologies: from hypertext to multimedia, from semiotics to cultural analytics, from interface design to creative coding.
2. What was your first job?
Besides being a newspaper boy during high school, I was a volunteer sports journalist covering the best professional soccer team in Mexico: Toluca’s Red Devils. My first job after graduating with a BA was as a radio scriptwriter and host for a public special education program.
3. Where did you complete your formal education?
In 2007, I earned my PhD in Information and Communication Sciences at the Hypermedia Department of Université Paris 8 Vincennes-Saint-Denis. I completed a Master’s in Educational Technology from Tecnológico de Monterrey, in partnership with the University of British Columbia, Canada (in 2002). My BA is in Communication Sciences from Tecnológico de Monterrey, Campus Toluca (in 1998).
4. How did you first get involved with ACM SIGGRAPH?
I was invited to submit a volunteer application for the conference team in 2019. I was thrilled to be selected by Mikki Rose as the Art Papers Chair for the program she was designing: Thrive.
5. What is your favorite memory of a SIGGRAPH conference?
I have great memories of introducing a selection of Art Papers to more than 3k attendees of the Fast Forward session at SIGGRAPH 2019. I was delighted to present the Best Art Paper award to Ken Perlin and Kris Layng. More recently, among the many great memories from the fantastic SIGGRAPH 2024 conference was meeting the amazing David Em. We had a conversation that was featured as a podcast in the SIGGRAPH Spotlight series, episode 78 (June 2024). We discussed AI, pixels, art, and the preservation of artworks. It was a tremendous and wonderful surprise when Lauren Goode, senior writer at WIRED, mentioned our conversation to Jensen Huang, Nvidia CEO, during their fireside chat at the keynote. Of course, I was moderating a session in another room at the same time, so I had to watch the video later.
6. Describe a project that you would like to share with the ACM SIGGRAPH community.
I would like to share The Next 50 Years, a project specially designed for SIGGRAPH 2024, and to invite everybody to participate in it. The Next 50 Years is an experiment of collaborative interaction between the conference and its attendees. It explores new ways of capturing ideas about projecting possible yet attainable futures. The project is an open work in the sense that it aspires to attract new contributions from the community and to continue evolving its digital form. In its current version, it showcases 20 contributions that we assembled in an interactive website. The contributors include individuals identified by the SIGGRAPH community as potential keynote speakers, but also contacts suggested by our respondents and participants who have expressed freely a willingness to be involved. The website is: https://ereyes.github.io/s2024/the_next_50_years/
7. If you could have dinner with one living or non-living person, who would it be and why?
I would have dinner with my (great-(great-great))-grandchildren. I’d cook some dishes, tell family stories, and listen to how the new generations see the world. I hope I’ll still have the ingredients and energy to keep making my own pasta for pizza, my own kimchi, and my own guacamole.
8. What is something most people don’t know about you?
Some friends and colleagues might not know that I always carry an umbrella in my backpack, that I never check luggage on flights, that I usually don’t read menus at restaurants, and that I don’t have a microwave or a TV at home ;-)
9. From which single individual have you learned the most in your life? What did they teach you?
Of course, my parents have been the most important teachers in my life. I’ve been able to count on them in any situation, both good and bad. Beyond that, I’ve had the opportunity to meet many renowned figures in my research fields. I’ve learned a great deal from working closely with some of them, such as Lev Manovich (cultural analytics), Göran Sonesson (visual semiotics), and Jean-Pierre Balpe (hypertext). I am also deeply indebted to my BA program director, Luis Palacios, who introduced me to the fascinating world of academia.
10. Is there someone in particular who has influenced your decision to work with ACM SIGGRAPH?
Andrés Burbano is one of them; I’ve admired his dedication to SIGGRAPH and his precision in making changes that enhance the whole conference experience. In Mexico, dear colleagues at Tec de Monterrey, like Moraima Campbell, Isaac Rudomín, and Gildardo Sánchez, were always discussing SIGGRAPH and its impact on our field.
11. What can you point to in your career as your proudest moment?
I was proud to organize the Computer Art Congress 2008 in Mexico City and Toluca. I received tremendous support from my local community: students, colleagues, and superiors. The call for participation attracted an incredible number of speakers from around the world. I also managed to organize the first exhibition of digital art at the Museum of Modern Art in Toluca. My brother and father helped by building more than 100 meters of extension cords for the occasion.