Archive for the ‘Inspiration’ Category

Collaborative Futures Book Launch

Thursday, March 4th, 2010

Upgrade! NY presents:
Collaborative Futures Book Launch & Talk
a book about free collaboration written collaboratively in 5 days

The event will take place in NYC (at Eyebeam – 540 W 21st Street) but you can watch the live video stream on March 4 at 7:30PM (EST) and participate in the discussion!

About the project:
Over 5 days in mid January 2010 the Transmediale festival locked 6 writers and 1 programmer in a Berlin hotel room to collaboratively write a book about the future of free collaboration; the authors started with only the title, and ended the week with a book.

Transmediale Artistic Director Stephen Kovats will be on hand to join Eyebeam Senior Fellow Michael Mandiberg and Eyebeam Honorary Resident Mushon Zer-Aviv, to talk about the process of writing the book, and some of their discoveries in the collaborative process. Stephen Kovatz will also talk about the ‘Futurity Now’ concept of TM10 in general and particularly in the context of the Collaborative Futures book sprint.

This will be your first chance to get your hands on a dead-tree version of the book. Books will be for sale for $15 at the event, but you can pre-order now for $12 and help make the print run possible. Click here to pre-order!

The “Collaborative Futures” book sprint was facilitated by Adam Hyde (FlossManuals.net) and authored by Mushon Zer-Aviv, Michael Mandiberg, Mike Linksvayer, Alan Toner and several additional collaborators using the Booki software (booki.cc) by Aleksandar Erkalovic.

Work of Women Artist: BArCuMT + Gray Area

Sunday, February 28th, 2010

BArCMuT Presents the Work of Women Artists Technologists:

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LOCATION:
Gray Area Foundation for the Arts
55 Taylor Street
Thursday, March 11th
7PM – 9:30PM

* Visda Goudarzi (Stanford CCRMA), will present Fosotomo/Gestonic/Neuroklang a video-based interface for the sonification of hand gesture for real-time timbre control. The goal of the system is to survey the space of musical possibilities and generating computer music using human movements. The system is build up on top of chuck and processing and uses simple frame difference as the metric.

* Julia Ogrydziak (Black Square, Capacitor, MIT) will present her recent work with the K-Bow

* Composer Cheryl E. Leonard will discuss how she creates music with natural objects, materials and sounds. She will demonstrate several of her unique natural-object instruments, including ones constructed with materials, such as penguin bones and limpet shells, that she collected in Antarctica last year.

*Surabhi Saraf will present on current works.

BIOS:

VISDA GOUDARZI is a computer musician interested in research in software for computer music, human-computer interaction, gesture-based interfaces, computer graphics, sonification, sound synthesis, and the application of new media in art. She is currently a researcher at Stanford working on an audio-visual feedback device in the Department of Oncology. She received her MA in Music, Science, and Technology at CCRMA in 2009. She also holds an MS in Computer Science from the Vienna University of Technology in Vienna, Austria, which she earned in 2008. Visda began her studies at the Sharif University of Technology in Tehran before relocating to Vienna in 1998.

CHERYL E. LEONARD is a composer, performer and instrument-builder whose music investigates sounds, structures and materials from the natural world. Her recent works cultivate stones, leaves, wood, water, ice, sand, shells, feathers and bones as musical instruments. Leonard uses microphones to explore the intricate worlds of sound hidden within these instruments and develops compositions that highlight the unique voices they contain. Many of her projects involve constructing one-of-a-kind sculptural instruments, which are played live onstage. Cheryl also enjoys creating site-specific works and collaborating across artistic disciplines. She has written numerous soundtracks for film, video, dance and theater, and designed sounds for exhibits at the Monterey Bay Aquarium. Cheryl holds a BA from Hampshire College and an MA from Mills College. Her music has been performed worldwide and featured on several television programs and in the video documentary Noisy People. She has received grants from the National Science Foundation’s Antarctic Artists and Writers Program, ASCAP, American Composers Forum and Meet the Composer. Leonard has been awarded residencies at the Djerassi Resident Artists Program, Oberpfälzer Künstlerhaus, Villa Montalvo and Engine 27. Recordings of her music are available from NEXMAP, Unusual Animals, Pax, Apraxia, 23 Five, Old Gold, the Lab and Great Hoary Marmot Music. www.allwaysnorth.com www.musicfromtheice.blogspot.com

SURABHI SARAF is a new media artist whose work brings together elements from experimental sound art, classical music, choreography and video art. She graduated from the School of the Art Institute of Chicago in 2009 with an MFA in Art and Technology. Prior to that, she obtained her BFA in Painting from MSU Baroda (India) in 2005. Surabhi is the winner of Art vs Design (2009) organized by Artists Wanted, New York and presented her work at the announcement reception at the New Museum, NY. Her work PEEL is the Winner of Celeste Prize (2009), Italy and was exhibited at Alte AEG Fabrik, Berlin. Surabhi’s collaborative work with Nadav Assor, was presented at the NETMAGE 10 International Live Media Festival, Bologna, Italy. Her video Peel was also shown at the 13 International Video Festival, at the Museum of Contemporary Art, Vojvodina, Serbia. Surabhi is the recipient of the International Graduate Student Scholarship at the School of the Art Institute of Chicago. Her solo and collaborative works have been presented at the Links Hall, Looptopia and Sullivan Galleries in Chicago. She has shown at the Vadehra Art Gallery in New Delhi and was a part of Peers student residency program at Khoj International Artist Association New Delhi in 2006. Surabhi currently lives and works in San Francisco.

Open MAKE: Exploratorium + Grace Kim

Friday, February 26th, 2010

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With the help of local Makers (artists, craftspeople, and inventors) and the Exploratorium, Open MAKE will introduce you to a variety of tinkering possibilities while encouraging a pilot group of Young Makers to realize their own inventions in time for this year’s Maker Faire. A collaboration between Pixar, TechShop, and the Exploratorium, the Young Makers program mentors middle and high school students in building projects that meld math and science with craft and creative inspiration.

Each public Saturday program will feature different Makers and focus on a particular theme, such as circuit-based critters or playing with sound. Sit in on an interview hosted by MAKE magazine’s founder and editor Dale Dougherty, then visit the Studio where guest speakers and other Makers will discuss and show their work. You can also roll up your sleeves and tinker with familiar and not-so-familiar materials to create a project of your own. Activities are intended for ages 12 and up.
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Public Schedule:
Meet the Makers: 11AM-Noon
In the Studio: 12:30PM-3PM

Tomorrow, Saturday, February 27th: Wearables and Soft Circuitry:
Featured Makers Grace Kim and Adrian Freed

Saturday, March 27: Make Your Own Kind of Music
Featured Makers will include Walter Kitundu, Krys Bobrowski, and Ge Wang

Saturday, April 24: Motors & Mechanisms
Featured Makers will be Brad Prether and Ernie Fosselius

Admission to Open MAKE is included in the price of general admission to the Exploratorium and is located in the landmark Palace of Fine Arts building in San Francisco’s Marina district, off of Highway 101 near the Golden Gate Bridge. Free parking is available.

Jasmin Zorlu: Hat Maker Extraordinaire

Monday, February 22nd, 2010

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Heavily inspired by the Art Deco Era, Jasmin Zorlu Millinery employs innovative materials such as fish skin (leather), abalone shells, reclaimed cashmere, and fruit bags to create futuristic headwear which transcend traditional notions of design and time. Eschewing employment of trims like flowers, ribbons, and feathers, her hats reveal their form simply and sculpturally. The ‘freeform blocked’ headwear can be worn in a variety of ways, so buying one hat gives the freedom of having at least 5 different hats.

Jasmin Zorlu Millinery aims to create exciting headwear for individuals and companies which will achieve heirloom status and be fresh in the 22nd century. In designing for major San Francisco hat company Goorin Brothers, she developed new silhouettes by taking existing headwear styles and hybridizing them. She also designed a line of bags for Goorin Brothers.

In October of 2002, she expanded her clientele to Europe, with the prestigious Chelsea Crafts Fair, put on by the Crafts Council of Britain. In fall of 2003, she sold to Barneys New York, nearly selling out. And this was the year that the beautiful and talented Erykah Badu, an R&B singer, commissioned three Molecular Mermaid Helmets. Musicians Tom Waits and Neil Young have also bought her hats. In May of 2007, Jasmin Zorlu debuted a special collection of cashmere dresses which were made to go with her hats for a fashion show entitled Kinetic at the deYoung Museum.

In 2009, four of Jasmin Zorlu’s cocktail hats (with one gracing the cover) appeared in ‘Hatwalk’, a calendar whose sales benefited the Asian American Cancer Support Network. Jasmin Zorlu was also voted ‘Best Hatmaker’ by SF Weekly’s ‘Best of San Francisco 2009′ and is a 2009 ‘Hatty Award’ recipient by Hat Life, the Headwear and Millinery Industry’s #1 resource.

Bicycle Built For Two Thousand by Aaron Koblin and Daniel Massey nominated for the Futureeverything award!

Saturday, January 30th, 2010

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Bicycle Built For Two Thousand by Aaron Koblin and Daniel Massey has been nominated for the Futureeverything award!

We have been delighted with the high calibre and diversity of artist submissions and nominated projects for the debut FutureEverything Award. Over 1000 people registered submissions to the FutureEverything Award or Festival by the 15th January deadline.

A long-list of nominations has now been sent to our International Jury, who are whittling to three outstanding projects. This final shortlist is then put to an open vote by the FutureEverything Community to decide the Winner. The Winner is presented with a £10,000 cash prize and the FutureEverything Troph at the Award Ceremony during FutureEverything 2010.

More info, including the rest of the nominees here:
http://www.futureeverything.org/news/awardnominations

YBCA + Kamau Patton

Sunday, January 24th, 2010

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Bay Area-based video and performance artist Kamau Patton.
presents the multi-media installation Icons of Attention. Modeled after 1930s science fiction broadcasts and underground 1980s music shows, the artist experiments with radio’s potential to bring the distant, fantastic or confusing into vivid, close proximity for audiences.

Patton has invited local performance art personalities, musicians and intellectuals to participate in a dynamic workshop/studio environment and improvise with installed objects, print media and sound. The artist develops narratives and sound scripts in collaboration with invited guests, asking gallery visitors to perform various tasks which include voice dramatizations, sampling and special effects. A low-power radio transmitter at YBCA allows listeners within a two-mile radius to tune in to the installation, which is activated and broadcast by the audience’s interaction with the installation. Icons of Attention encourages a freedom of imagination, interpretation and emotional response in the viewer that is not based on the literal or the descriptive, but rather on the abstract qualities of sound and image.

Workshops:
Saturday:
January 30th — 2PM–4PM
February 6th — 2PM–4PM
February 13th — 2PM–4PM

Thursday:
February 11th — 6PM–8PM
February 18th — 6PM–8PM

All workshop studios are free with gallery admission.

Resident Artist Symposium

Friday, January 22nd, 2010

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Join us, this Thursday, January 28th, at 7PM, for our Resident Artist Symposium, where Gray Area’s first resident artists will share processes and concepts behind both personal and collaborative works. The evening will begin with individual artist presentations, followed by a short Q&A.

Gray Area Foundation For the Arts
55 Taylor
Thursday, January 28th
7PM – 9PM

ARTISTS:

Alphonzo Solorzano:
Recent mixed media works and wall installation titled The Future was Now uses iconography from early 1900’s auto ads. Vintage images, typoghrapghy, and slogans are used to create an alternate history to explore and challenge our interpretation of time and progress.

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Daniel Massey:
Light Speak is an installation that transmits images through the medium of light. Images are captured outside throughout the day, and relayed as morse code pulses through a series of distributed models. Pixel by pixel, the images are reconstructed.

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Gabriel Dunne:
Created with custom displays and original software, Gabriel’s works explore micro and macro systems of nature, technology, and perception.

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Miles Stemper:
Miles uses the digitization of brushstrokes to create a series of abstracted icon paintings. Geometry forms the structure of these works because it is dictated by the same criteria of function communication as technology: geometry is efficiency of form, an articulate representation of space

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Ryan Alexander:
Ryan’s work is a combination of ideas and systems created in the last two years. Laser fabrication and projection mapping are used to create a glowing gourd.

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PROTOTYPE Installation Timelapse from GAFFTA on Vimeo.

Mondays: Donation Yoga at GAFFTA

Sunday, January 17th, 2010

GAFFTA YOGA

Thank you to everyone who participated in Gray Area’s first donation-based yoga class! What an amazing turn out! Class will be held again this, and every Monday, from 6PM-7:30PM, unless further publicized. Seasoned and regularly practicing yoga students are encouraged to supply their own mats, however classes are open to the public and a limited number of mats will be supplied. Any one interested is encouraged to participate.

Recology Artist in Residence Show

Thursday, January 14th, 2010

Many people may not knot that the City’s Recycling department has an Artist in Residence Program. But the Artist In Residence Program at SF Recycling & Disposal, Inc. is an innovative program that inspires and educates people about recycling and resource conservation by providing local artists with access to materials, a work space, and other resources at their Solid Waste Transfer and Recycling Center.

On Friday, January 22nd from 5:00-9:00PM there will be a showcase exhibit featuring the work of two artists who have completed the program: Erik Otto and Christina Mazza. The show is at 503 Tunnel Avenue.

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about Christina Mazza:
Everything Christina Mazza collected during her residency offered a compelling opportunity to work with texture, form and line. Her precision and realistic drawing style demands that we take a closer look at everyday objects. By highlighting a rope, or a pile of shredded paper, Mazza focuses on fragility and the individual beauty of objects that often goes unnoticed.

about Erik Otto:
Working on a variety of surfaces created out of trash, Otto incorporates house paint, spray paint, stenciling, collage and screen-printing in his artwork. In his exhibition, The Last Shall Be The First, he calls attention to objects and materials that have been forgotten and disregarded. Through his creative process, Otto regenerates these materials, turning waste into art.

UCLA Art|Sci: Rubisco Stars, SETI Molecules and the Paradox of Scale

Sunday, January 10th, 2010

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January 15, 2010:
Noon to 2PM

UCLA Art|Sci center + lab presents:
“Rubisco Stars, SETI Molecules and the Paradox of Scale”
Joe Davis, MIT; Daniëlle Hofmans, Center for Art and Genomics, Amsterdam; Ashley Clark, Massachusetts College of Art

In the 1980s, poetic and philosophical implications of the serious, scientific search for extraterrestrial intelligence (SETI) helped to inspire pioneering work in a new field of molecular biology art. This presentation will draw together ideas about radio, lasers, genetics, sculpture, mathematics, natural language, history and the nature of discovery itself.

C(N)SI Auditorium:
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Parking is available in Lot 9, all day parking $10.
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