cyberarts

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

 

DigiFest South Seeks Artists, Exhibitors, and Entrepreneurs

digifestlogoDigiFest South, a digital arts festival first held in Shreveport-Bossier, Louisiana in 2012, is seeking artists, exhibitors, and entrepreneurs to participate in its second annual digital technology exposé and arts festival September 20-21, 2013. DigiFest South celebrates how digital technology combines with artistic creativity to shape modern society.

DigiFest South seeks the most innovative and progressive artists, companies, organizations, and educational institutions to showcase their contribution to the digital age and inspire young minds to seek careers in the digital media industry. Registration forms can be found online at www.bossierarts.org.

DigiFest South 2013 will feature:

  • Technology Exposé Floor Show
  • Digital Industry Workshops and Panels
  • Video Game Design Competition
  • Phenom Film Festival
  • Digital Media Presentations
  • Digital Art Exhibition
  • Digital Music Concert

All entries for digital art, display booths, and entrepreneurial pitches must be submitted by June 29.

New for this year’s event, DigiFest South will host a variety of programs in downtown Shreveport. CoHabitat Shreveport, a collaborative workspace located in downtown Shreveport’s riverfront entertainment district, will host a digital economy symposium and other DigiFest South-affiliated events throughout the weekend.

Digifest2012Pic

Events at CoHabitat Shreveport will include several workshops, panels, and talks centered on digital media, including panels on how to continue building a digital media infrastructure in Louisiana, business planning, and an angel investor pitch event. Also new for the 2013 festival, DigiFest South will present a digital music concert underneath the Texas Street Bridge in downtown Shreveport.

LINKS

DigiFest South

Facebook: DigiFest South

 

Cyberart Exhibit Features Digital Projections and iPad Art

Visitors to The Boston Cybertarts Gallery this spring can experience “Poetic Codings,” a new-media art exhibition that juxtaposes wall-based flatscreen displays, projections, and interactive installations with iPad apps on mobile devices. The exhibition runs April 27 to June 2, 2013, with an opening  reception on Friday, April 26.

PoeticCodingsWallArt3Curated by new-media artist Jody Zellen, “Poetic Codings” first appeared at the Fellows of Contemporary Art gallery in Los Angeles.

The exhibition includes computer projections by John Carpenter, Jeremy Rotsztain, and Casey Reas and 20 original, interactive iPad artworks by eight artists (John Baldessari, Jason Lewis, Lia, Erik Loyer, Jeremy Rotsztain, Rafaël Rozendaal, Scott Snibbe, and Jody Zellen).

More information about the artists and their work can be found in the 68-page “Poetic Codings” catalog that can be ordered as print-on-demand book from Lulu.com or downloaded as a PDF from Jody Zellen’s website. Scanning the QR codes published next to the art will take you to a webpage where you can download the app the artist used.

In the catalog’s introduction, Zellen says interacting with a digital work in public isn’t the same experience as sitting back and navigating a work on a mobile device: “Apps are contained, and fill a small screen. Installations are often immersive environments. While the graphic elements and animations can be similar in both formats, how the viewer interacts with the artwork is very different.”

Computer Projections

“Dandelion Clock” by John Carpenter. In this interactive work, the seeds of a digitally created dandelion float away with the viewer’s proximity to the wall.

Jeremy Rotsztain’s Action Painting is a video projection transferred onto a large canvas in the style of Jackson Pollock. It is composed using data from action movies as material.

Casey Reas, one of the inventors of the Processing computer language for artists, presents Signal to Noise (Software 1). Using television signals as a raw material, this piece distorts contemporary information into new abstract data structures.

Art on Mobile Devices

Since the introduction of the iPhone, new-media artists have been using low-cost or free apps to produce a wealth of interactive art for both iOS and Android systems.

“These are some of the most inventive and interactive art works available today,” observes George Fifield of Boston Cyberarts Gallery. “Even though several of these apps have become wildly popular, it is clear that neither the art world nor the computer industry knows what to make of these art apps.”

For example, instead of using drawing and painting apps that appear in the “art” category of the iTunes store, the “Poetic Codings” artists created works with interactive digital-art apps that can be found in the Entertainment or Lifestyle categories on iTunes.

PoeticCodingsApps

Fifield hopes the art world will begin to take notice of what’s possible with some of these new apps. He believes the 20 apps used in “Poetic Codings” signal the beginning of a revolution that will bring interactive digital art to millions through the mobile devices. The apps also connect artists directly to an audience through an app store.

About The Cyberarts Gallery

Located in the Green Street station on the MBTA’s Orange line in Jamaica Plain, the Boston Cyberarts Gallery is an independent art organization that focuses on new and experimental “cyberart.” Cyberart encompasses any artistic endeavor in which computer technology is used to expand artistic possibilities.

The computer’s unique capabilities are integral elements of the creative process in the same way that paint, photographic film, musical instruments, and other materials have always been used to express an artist’s vision. The Boston Cyberarts Gallery brings together members of the new media community, reaches out to the general public, and supports emerging and established artists alike.

LINKS

Boston Cyberarts

Poetic Codings

Exhibition Essay and Catalog: Poetic Codings

 

 

See New Forms of Art at Boston Cyberarts Festival

Logo for Boston Cybertarts FestivalDozens of events at the Boston Cyberarts Festival scheduled for April 22 through May 8 will challenge the public to look at art in whole new ways. For example, events include: an interactive, virtual-reality visit with an Egyptian oracle; an exhibition of dynamic digital paintings; and two demonstrations of how augmented reality can be used for public art projects.

Virtual Reality Exhibit
Commonly used in gaming, virtual reality refers to computer-simulated environments in which a physical presence is simulated in a real or imaginary world. The Egyptian Oracle event at the Boston Cyberarts Festival will use a virtual-reality, interactive narrative based on the Egyptian tradition of the public oracle to help audiences develop a deeper understanding of Egyptian culture.

Vitural Reality
Courtyard of the virtual Temple of Horus

Scheduled from 2 to 4 pm on Sunday, May 1 at the Cyberarts Central headquarters at Atlantic Wharf, the event will focus on an important religious event from the Ptolemic Period.  An expert puppeteer will virtually control an avatar of an Egyptian high priest, who will collaborate with live educators, other figures in the virtual Temple of Horus, and the audience. The event will be filmed for a general discussion afterward.

Augmented Reality Art Projects
Augmented Reality provides rich, interactive experiences to smartphone users by overlaying images, information, and graphics on top of our real-time view of the world around us. During the CyberArts festival, augmented-reality art projects will be demonstrated to smartphone users at two popular sites in Boston.

See Aliens Invade Boston’s Greenway Park: Mark Swarek and Joseph Hocking will present an augmented reality-experience at Boston’s Rose Fitzgerald Kennedy Greenway Park. Entitled “Occupation Forces,” the art project enables people who have downloaded a special “alien detection app” to see invading aliens that will go undetected by the unsuspecting public. App users will encounter the invaders at multiple locations and watch the occupation intensify as they near the center of the park.

Occupation Forces Augmented Reality Project at Greenway Park

See Virtual Public Art at the Institute of Contemporary Art: The artists’ collective Manifest.AR has produced an augmented reality app that uses geolocation software to superimpose a virtual exhibition of computer-generated art objects in and around Boston’s Institute of Contemporary Art. From 3 to 5 pm on Friday, April 22, the artists will be on hand at the ICA to demonstrate how to access the work and talk about individual projects.

Image of iPad showing virutal art at Institute of Contemporary Art
“Parade to Hope” is one of the virtual art projects that will be installed by Manifest.AR and viewed through a Layar augmented-reality app at the Institute of Contemporary Art.

Participating artists include Mark Skwarek, John Craig Freeman, Will Pappenheimer, Tamiko Thiel, Sander Veenhof, Virta-Flaneurazine, Patrick Lichty, Lily & Honglei, Christopher Marnzione, Arthur Peters, Geoffrey Alan Rhodes, Nathan Shafer, Joseph Hocking, 4 Gentlemen, and Damon Baker.

Dynamic Digital Imagery
In the “Fluid Perimeters” exhibition of dynamic digital imagery, festival-goers can see examples of dynamic digital painting, digital animations, and algorithmically generated software that explores digital and artificial life.

A dynamic digital painting is one in which a static digital painting slowly, but continuously morphs into something slightly different. (For a demonstration of a dynamic digital painting, watch the YouTube video on the website of the artist San Base: www.sanbase.com)

At the Boston CyberArts Festival, the “Fluid Perimeters” exhibition will feature works by Brian Knep, Robert Arnold, Dennis Miller, Andrew Neumann, Mark Stock, and Dan Hermes.

About The Boston CyberArts Festival
The biennial Boston Cyberarts Festival showcases the rich and vibrant world of art and high technology in New England. Cyberart encompasses any artistic endeavor in which computer technology is used to expand artistic possibilities.

LINKS

The Boston Cyberarts Festival

Egyptian Oracle Virtual-Reality Interactive Narrative

Occupation Forces: an Augmented Reality Experience

Manifest.AR: Interventionist Public Art

Fluid Perimeters: An Exhibition of Dynamic Digital Imagery

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