Art Gallery at Computer Graphics Conference Merges Science and Art

ARTISTS. Some excellent examples of how art is merging with science and technology will be on display in the art gallery at the SIGGRAPH 2013 Conference, July 21-25 at the Anaheim Convention Center in Anaheim, California.

Siggraph2013Thousands of computer graphics and interactive technology professionals will attend the conference and exhibition to learn about emerging technologies and attend programs on research, science, art, animation, music, gaming, interactivity, education, and the web.

The theme of exhibition in the Art Gallery at SIGGRAPH 2013 is “XYZN: Scale.” The theme reminds us that a key advantage of computer-based art is the ability to iteratively scale digital representations at will –in-out-up-down, back and forth, + and -.

Exhibits in the SIGGRAPH 2013 art gallery will explore how artists take advantage of these capabilities in the construction or aesthetic effects of their work.

Here are just three of the exhibitions you can see in this year’s gallery.

InterweavingDigitalBasketsIn an exhibit of “Hybrid Basketry,” Amit Zoran of MIT Media Research Lab merges contemporary 3D printing and traditional craft. 3D printed structures are shaped to allow the growth and development of hand-woven patterns. While the 3D printed plastic elements contribute to the aesthetics of the digital curvatures and manifolds, the hand-woven reed, jute, and canvas fibers give the baskets a unique organic appeal.

VisualizingFederalSpendingIn the exhibit “Visualizing Federal Spending,” Rebecca Ruige Xu of Missouri State University and Sean Hongsheng Zhai of Red Dot Blue Square have created 3D photorealistic compositions that provide a more aesthetically interesting view of government spending. The project uses procedural modeling with Python programming and Maya API to form organic flows of intermingled geometrical units to represent the profile of federal spending for each state. Total expenditures are scaled to a per capita basis to make different states comparable, while the overall surface area or volume occupied by each type of geometrical pattern represents its associated spending data.

DrawingMachineInterdisciplinary artist and engineer Robert Twomey of the University of Washington will be showing a Drawing Machine.Laboring in place of the artist, the precision-controlled CNC device will work with unfaltering patience and inhuman precision to fill a sketchbook with images over the course of the exhibition.

On the SIGGRAPH website, you can find descriptions and links related to all 15 exhibits that will be featured in the Art Gallery. The creators of the works will be talking about the works during two “Art Talks” panel discussions on Wednesday, July 24. A reception for the artists, designers, and authors of the works selected for SIGGRAPH 2013 will be held Tuesday, July 23 from 2:00 to 3:30 pm in the art gallery.

LINKS

SIGGRAPH 2013 Art Gallery

SIGGRAPH 2013 Conference