FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
11 June 2009
For further information:
Brian Ban
+1.773.454.7423
+1.773.915.5050 fax
media@siggraph.org
SIGGRAPH Juried Art
Gallery Explores Nature and Technology Connections
(Chicago, IL) - From synthetic worlds and
post-apocalyptic futures to human labs and digitally stimulated
plants,
BioLogic: A Natural History of Digital Life takes both a
serious and playful look at what happens when nature and technology
combine. This juried exhibition showcases recent projects by eleven
artists representing ten countries. All of the projects are
kinetic, most are interactive, and many are large installations
that immerse the viewer in fantastic environments of quivering
tendrils, singing strands of hair, and fuzzy, cloud-like surfaces
that respond when stroked.
"The artworks chosen for this exhibition
explore what can happen when biological forms and life processes
encounter digital code and devices," stated Elona Van Gent,
SIGGRAPH 2009 Juried Art Chair from the University of Michigan.
"Tags associated with the exhibition include extinction,
landscape, fragile systems, growth, and augmentation. The complex
technologies and intriguing topics encountered in the exhibition
offer viewers a compelling survey of ideas and issues that
characterize contemporary life; a tangle of digital devices,
natural processes, and us."
Works exhibited in the BioLogic Art Gallery will
also be published in a special issue of MIT Press's Leonardo, The
Journal of the International Society of the Arts, Sciences, and
Technology. Also to be published in this special issue are the
peer-reviewed SIGGRAPH
2009 Art Papers. Printing of the journal will coincide with
SIGGRAPH 2009 in August.
The BioLogic jury was compromised of Marcia
Tanner (CA), Sabrina Raaf (IL), Suzanne Anker (NY), Cezanne Charles
(MI), Sascha Pohflepp (DE/UK), and John Marshall (UK/MI) - contact
media@siggraph.org for complete biographies.
Highlights of the SIGGRAPH 2009 BioLogic
Art Gallery Include:
Hylozoic Soil
Philip Beesley, University of Waterloo
Hylozoic Soil is a visually arresting and complex
installation. Quivering to life as viewers enter into its midst,
this beguiling piece is a network of micro-controllers, proximity
sensors, and shape-memory alloy actuators. Building upon simple
motions embedded within individual elements, turbulent wave-like
reactions are produced. Using its tendrils, fronds and bladders to
lure visitors into its seemingly fragile web of laser-cut acrylic
matrices, this work blurs the distinctions between organism and
environment. Operating at the intersections of architecture,
design, electronics, engineering, informatics, and art, this
installation is a visceral experience exploring the nuanced
relationship between the biological and the artificial.
Post Global Warming Survival
Kit
Petko Dourmana, Artist
Post Global Warming Survival Kit is a low-light,
infrared installation set in a post-apocalyptic world where a
nuclear winter condition has been created as a radical solution to
the problems of global warming and climate catastrophe. Viewers are
initially confronted with a space seemingly empty except for a lone
dwelling. Only after using the night vision devices are viewers
able to perceive the desolate coastal landscape displayed as an
infrared video projection. In this world the sun's life-giving rays
are unable to reach the surface of the Earth, resulting in
permanent twilight. Without the aid of technological augmentation,
we would be blind. Survival aids and communications technology have
been provided. The suggestion is that this coastal outpost is one
of many.
Electric Eigen-Portraits
Arthur Elsenaar, Nottingham Trent University
Remko Scha, Collaborator
Electric Eigen-Portraits shows the human face in
a state of externally triggered resonance. Eight facial muscles are
subjected to a simple on/off stimulation pattern with a repetition
period that varies gradually between 2 seconds and 100
milliseconds. This work turns a computer-controlled human face into
a medium for kinetic art, shown in a video projection. As the human
face is controlled by a digital computer instead of a neural brain,
it can be made to perform in ways that are often unusual and
surprising.
Growth Rendering Device
David Bowen, University of Minnesota
This is a kinetic installation that captures the
growth of a pea plant over a 24-hour period. Suspended in a
nutrient-rich hydroponic solution, the pea plant growth is recorded
during the length of the exhibition. After each new drawing is
produced, the system scrolls the roll of paper approximately four
inches to make way for the next drawing cycle to begin. As the name
suggests, the focus is on growth-a complete feedback system between
machine and plant-however, what the machine may also record is the
decay and demise of the plant. Drawing marked parallels to Gregor
Mendel's work on inheritance in peas, Growth Rendering Device seems
to ask whether both the machinic and the artistic parents will
leave their mark on their offspring.
One
Yoon Chung Han, Gautam Rangan, and Erick Oh, University of
California, Los Angeles
One is an interactive art installation that
immerses the viewer in an animated fantasy. This work blends 2D and
3D animation that is generated by input from sensors connected to a
micro-controller. The artwork resists the need to taxonomize
(associated closely with the practice of scientific
illustration/visualization) and instead offers an opportunity to
consider the reflexive condition between observer and observed. It
also provokes the viewer to experiment in order to get the results
they believe are positive and beneficial - those which are visually
pleasing. In the end the message is simple. It is not the tagging,
classification, or observation of life that will lead to greater
social responsibility, but an appreciation of the oneness of all
things.
Complete details on the SIGGRAPH 2009 Biologic
Art exhibit can be found at
http://www.siggraph.org/s2009/galleries_experiences/biologic_art/.
For detailed information on the SIGGRAPH 2009 dynamic program or to
download a copy of the SIGGRAPH 2009 Preview Video visit www.siggraph.org/s2009.
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About SIGGRAPH
SIGGRAPH 2009 will bring an anticipated 20,000 computer graphics
and interactive technology professionals from six continents to New
Orleans, Louisiana, USA for the industry's most respected technical
and creative programs focusing on research, science, art,
animation, music, gaming, interactivity, education, and the web
from Monday, 3 August through Friday, 7 August 2009 at the Ernest
N. Morial Convention Center. SIGGRAPH 2009 includes a three-day
exhibition of products and services from the computer graphics and
interactive marketplace from 4-6 August 2009. More than 200
international exhibiting companies are expected. More details are
available at www.siggraph.org/s2009.
About ACM
ACM, the Association for Computing Machinery www.acm.org, is the world's largest
educational and scientific computing society, uniting educators,
researchers and professionals to inspire dialogue, share resources
and address the field's challenges. ACM strengthens the computing
profession's collective voice through strong leadership, promotion
of the highest standards, and recognition of technical excellence.
ACM supports the professional growth of its members by providing
opportunities for life-long learning, career development, and
professional networking.
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