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.
Thousands 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.
In 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.
In 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.
Interdisciplinary 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.
DigiFest 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.
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.
Art2pO has launched a way to buy and sell art in a digital format for display on high-resolution flat-screen TVs, tablets, and monitors. Buyers can browse the website www.Art2pO.com, searching for images by artist, price, color, country and genre (digital art, photography, or video art). Purchased images are delivered via secure download from the Art2pO website.
Each one-of-a kind or limited edition image is digitally watermarked by Digimarc and copy-protected using state of the art encryption. The image is assigned a unique registry number and is registered, along with the legal owner’s information, with the Digital Fine Art Association (DFAA). If the image is resold, the next purchaser is also registered with the DFAA and the image is re-watermarked.
The DFAA stores ownership information on every image sold to retain provenance and the ownership trail. Each image has a downloadable Certificate of Authenticity and a secure record verifying the artwork is authentic. Instructions on how to resell a piece of art are available in the website.
Artists who want to sell works through the site can upload their images to http://www.Art2pO.com along with a brief description of each piece. A commission on the selling price is charged to the artist on each sale. Artists may sell one of a kind images or a limited edition series. Galleries may buy and sell images and collections on behalf of artists as long as they have the artist’s written consent.
ARTISTS. Here is a brilliant example of an entrepreneurial artist who using today’s technology to create his own opportunities for greater exposure and sales.
The “Goldberg Lite” app created by artist Colin Goldberg lets art lovers use some of his original artworks as wallpaper for their iPhones, iPads, and iPod Touch devices. It is also the first app that combines wallpaper functionality with the ability to purchase signed limited-edition prints of each piece via the Etsy online marketplace.
Goldberg Lite app features works by artist Colin Goldberg
Goldberg’s artwork (some of which is currently on display at his “Paint and Pixels” solo exhibition at the Yes! Gallery in Brooklyn) explores the abstract imagery of the future. His influences include the New York School Abstract Expressionist painters of the 1950’s, graffiti art, and Shodo, the art of Japanese calligraphy.
The artwork images included in the app are based on works Goldberg has created over the past 12 years. The works featured in the “Mixed Media” section features Goldberg’s signature blend of painting and digital art. The pieces in the “Digital” section are abstract digital compositions drawn using a graphics tablet and vector-based imaging software.
Goldberg not only created the artwork for the app, but also designed the interface and functionality of the mobile application. The free app is now available in the Apple App Store. An ad-free version (simply called “Goldberg”) sells for $1.99 and includes 65 additional artwork images.
Paint and Pixels Exhibition at Yes! Gallery
The “Paint and Pixels” exhibition of Goldberg’s work at the Yes! Gallery opened December 17 and runs through January 13. At the exhibit, you can see the unique, multi-dimensional effects created when Goldberg superimposes computer-assisted strokes on traditionally painted surfaces. You may sense that we’re entering a new era, in which paint and pixels are merging to form a new visual language.
Over the past 20 years, Goldberg’s works have been exhibited across the United States, including shows at the Roberson Museum in Binghamton, New York, the Parrish Art Museum in Southampton, New York, and the Boston CyberArts Festival.
While living in Manhattan, the artist was commissioned by the Earth Day Network to create digital artworks which were projected 200 feet tall onto the Empire State Building during the Earth Day festival.
One of Goldberg’s canvasses resides in the permanent collection of the Pollock-Krasner House and Study Center in Springs, New York, the former home and studio of painters Jackson Pollock and Lee Krasner.
Audiovisual Art
In the Installations section of Goldberg’s website, you see several audiovisual pieces, including “Metavision,” which he created in collaboration with the German electronic musician Intersolar. For “Metavision,” Goldberg separated 12 of his abstract digital drawings into layers and used motion graphics software to create animation segments. These segments were then edited together in a video sequence. Intersolar created an original score for the piece, which was exhibited in 2011 on a projection-based video installation. Goldberg published the work as a limited-edition DVD.
ARTISTS. DESIGNERS. Have you heard about the Streaming Museum? I hadn’t, until I received a news release from Brazilian architect and urban planner Emanuel Dimas de Melo Pimenta. The news release describes his vision of a new approach to designing Earth-orbiting structures, such as hotels and observatories that would accommodate larger numbers of space tourists. His ideas are depicted in the “Kairos” exhibition which opened at the Streaming Museum earlier this month.
About the Streaming Museum
Launched January 29, 2008, Streaming Museum is a hybrid museum that presents multimedia exhibitions in cyberspace and public space on seven continents and live programming at partnering cultural centers. The exhibitions are generated in collaboration with international cultural, educational, and public centers and artists, curators and visionary creators.
Streaming Museum is produced in New York, and broadcast to sites such as the city’s Big Screen Plaza. The museum’s exhibitions have been seen on big, outdoor screens in cities such as Milan, Italy; Seoul, South Korea; Melbourne, Australia; Bucharest, Romania; Port Elizabeth, South Africa; and in multiple cities in England. Exhibitions have also been streamed to South Korea, Norway, Greece, and Argentina’s Jubany Scientific Base in Antarctica.
Screen in the Piazza Duomo, Milan, Italy
One goal of the museum is to emphasize the role of the arts and technology in global society. Art of all cultures is presented side-by-side symbolizing society’s global interconnectedness and the valuable contributions that all cultures provide.
The inaugural exhibition of the Streaming Museum honored pioneering video artist Nam June Paik and his 1970s-era prediction of an electronic superhighway as a free medium for imagination and the exchange of cultures. This first exhibition was viewed at one public-screen location on each of the seven continents at precisely the same time. Since then, Streaming Museum exhibitions have been viewed at over 45 locations worldwide.
According to Streaming Museum’s founder and creative director Nina Colosi, the idea for creating an ongoing international distribution network for art and culture originated in 2004 when she was working with media artist, curator, and professor Zhang Ga on his global public artwork: “People’s Portrait.” Zhang Ga installed picture-taking kiosks next to large screens in major international cities and connected them to a central server via the Internet. People could snap their pictures and view them on the adjacent screen, along with portraits of people from the other cities.
Colosi describes the Streaming Museum’s exhibitions as “a mash-up/sampling/remix of fine art and pop culture that make up a portrait of the contemporary world.”
She said the museum curates exhibitions of emerging and established artists. In addition to exhibitions similar to those you can see in the museum’s archives, the museum is planning new exhibitions of interactive work, augmented reality, gaming, and performing arts.
“We keep a file of work by artists who submit to us, with special consideration given to artists recommended by colleagues.” said Colosi.
Exhibitions can circulate for an indefinite period, and artworks can be exhibited across multiple platforms—online, in public spaces, and at partnering cultural and commercial centers.
“For example,” says Colosi. “Over the course of three years, Mark Amerika’s ‘Immobilite’ remixes and John Simon’s ‘HD Traffic’ and other artworks have been viewed throughout the global network and also presented in a live performance at Juilliard at Lincoln Center and exhibited at The Project Room for New Media at Chelsea Art Museum.
Colosi reports that artists whose work has been featured in the Streaming Museum have gained the attention of other curators and have been invited to participate in other projects. She considers one of the best benefits of exhibiting art through the Streaming Museum is “enriching a global demographic that may not have the opportunity to see art.”
Kairos represents a new approach to architecture that imagines a time when architects are asked to design buildings that don’t have to consider Earth’s gravity. As architect Emanuel Pimenta points out, “Until now, the entire history of architecture is based on the force of gravity.” But there may come a time when human expansion on Earth will no longer be possible. Thus, Pimenta says Kairos is “also a questioning about a new civilizational leap.”
“Until now, we have had no example of true architecture in space,” he explains. “Buildings related to satellites or space stations have been focused on tubular systems—a heritage from missile design.” The type or orbiting structure that Pimenta has envisioned is totally tensioned, with flexible, antiballistic fabrics and internal movable walls.
"Kairos" by Emanuel Pimenta
“We could call it a water building, because all walls are filled with water,” he points out. “It is completely deprogrammable, which means the original program, the functions of each internal space, can be easily and quickly changed at low cost.”
Pimenta views his architectural design as conceptual artwork. But the building design also takes into account technological challenges such as energy, water, exposure to space junk, and how the absence of Earth’s gravity will affect the spatial orientation of building occupants. To help others understand his vision, Pimenta has produced a series of drawings, digital images, a movie, and book.
After being launched at New York’s Streaming Museum, Kairos will continue on a year-long tour through the Streaming Museum’s global network of screens in public spaces. In October, the exhibition will also be shown at the Robotarium contemporary art and technology center in Lisbon, Portugal. The book, “Kairos: A Bird Orbiting Planet Earth” will debut on Amazon.com in November.
Thousands 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.
In 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.
In 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.
Interdisciplinary 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.
