New York, April 18, 2012 — With the opening today of the dARTboard, a digital art space, the Vilcek Foundation expands its support of foreign-born artists, giving those specializing in the realm of digital art greater opportunity to exhibit their works. Irina Danilova, a native of Ukraine, was chosen as the first to showcase her net-based projects in the new electronic gallery.

Chosen from the many artists who answered the Foundation’s Call for Entries in Digital Art this past fall, Ms. Danilova’s creations were described as “charmingly idiosyncratic” by Mark Tribe, founder of Rhizome and juror for the dART Call for Entries. “Their deceptive simplicity,” he said, “reveals upon examination a rigorously conceptual approach to artistic practice. Danilova makes it look easy.”

Rick Kinsel, Executive Director of the Foundation, explained the decision to enter the digital art (dART) realm: “Our organization inhabits a relatively small niche, and digital is our primary channel for distributing cultural content beyond the New York City area. By opening the dARTboard, we intend to provide much-needed display space for this groundbreaking community of individuals who are shaping the digital arts, and in the process promote our mission to raise awareness of foreign-born artists who do so much to extend this country’s cultural horizons.”

“We also want to encourage new media artists to experiment, to innovate, and to have the freedom to create,” Mr. Kinsel added. To that end, the Vilcek Foundation awards a $5,000 honorarium to each artist selected to exhibit his or her digital creations on dARTboard.

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Ms. Danilova is a visual, media, and performance artist. Born in Kharkov, Ukraine, she is now a Brooklyn resident and an adjunct professor of art at Kingsborough Community College, and executive director of Project 59, Inc. in the borough. She holds a degree from the Kharkov Academy of Art and Design and an MFA from the School of Visual Arts in New York City. Ms. Danilova has exhibited her work internationally, at the Islip Art Museum, the Weisman Museum in Minneapolis, the Telephone Factory in Cleveland, and the Center for Contemporary Art in Moscow, among others. She is also the recipient of the Bronx Council of the Art’s BRIO Award.