Art Gallery

Art Systems: 1968 to 2018 Ernest Edmonds Ernest Edmonds De Montfort University, U.K. <www.ernestedmonds.com> In this note I describe my personal development of art systems over 50 years. In all of this work I have used computers and computational processes both to make the works and to advance my conception of art. This history is marked by a trace of publications in the journal Leonardo, itself being 50 years old. I will relate the story with specific reference to these publications. Each of the following sections relates to one Leonardo publication and includes quotations from that paper. In the earlier writing “he” or “him” is used sometimes to refer to a person who could well be female, as used to be the custom. The Creative Process Where the Artist Is Amplified or Superseded by the Computer— Leonardo 6 (1973) In 1970 Stroud Cornock and I presented a paper at a computer graphics conference, CG70, held at Brunel University in the U.K., in a session on computer art organized by the Computer Arts Society; other speakers included Manfred Mohr and Frieder Nake. Our paper looked at the potential of computing in art, but our vision was rather dependent on technological developments, such as the PC, that were still some way off. After the conference we submitted our paper to Leonardo and it was published in 1973 [1]. In it we said that the computer’s “function in the arts is seen as assisting in the specification of art systems and in their subsequent real-time management . . . It is pointed out that the inclusion of complex realtime responses in an interactive art system can frequently make use of a computer. In such work, the artist and the viewer play an integral part.” The original artwork that I made, using computer programming as part of the process, was the relief, Nineteen (Fig. 1). In the paper we used it as an example of a “static” work, one that did not change over time or interact with the audience. Fig. 1. Datapack Documents (Edmonds, 1970/2000) and Nineteen (Edmonds, 1968/1969) in the “Primary Codes” exhibition, Rio de Janeiro. (Photo: Thales Leite) 426 Burbano ︲ Original Narratives Art Gallery Downloaded from http://www.mitpressjournals.org/doi/pdf/10.1162/leon_a_01694 by guest on 23 April 2021 The paper explained that Nineteen (1968/1969) “is an example of a static work where a computer has been used as a problem solver. The arrangement of the twenty elements of the object was found by means of a computer within specified constraints without consideration for the particular relationships within the final layout, which was simply a four element (30 × 30 cm) by five element array. It was intended that the assembly in the array be such that a feeling of finality be avoided” [2]. CG70 included an exhibition in which Stroud Cornock and I showed an interactive artwork that illustrated some of the ideas of the paper. It was called Datapack and we described it as follows. . . . the participants are involved in three phases: (1) the initial contact . . . (2) the use of a computer terminal and (3) . . . a drawing . . . of the Vickers Building [(London) and an] . . . air space . . . determined by the interaction . . . [3]. Art Systems for Interactions Between Members of a Small Group of People—Leonardo 8 (1975) In the initial half of the 1970s I explored networks as art by building electronic “communication” systems, made with logic circuits [4]. They did not use computers as such, but I did write truth tables and used those to design the circuits. Much later, I was able to extend the work using computers, local area networks and the Internet [5]. I called the works that I made in the 1970s Communications Games. In each project participants are able to make contact with each other only through very restricted interfaces, i.e. with a very limited set of possible actions and responses. One might say that they try to make sense of the responses that they receive. The responses are such that the participants are likely to understand each other’s actions only partially and even that understanding may be transitory. . . . Experience with Communications Game has shown that, when there are more than three or four participants and several networks, the multiplicity of signals is beyond the comprehension of the participants. Hence, a simplified version of the game was developed with only one network and three participants, called Communications Game 2. It was installed at the Cognition and Control Exhibition at the Midland Group Gallery in Nottingham in 1972 [6]. Logic and Time-Based Art Practice—Leonardo Electronic Art (1988) The technology having advanced, from 1980 I started to develop time-based artworks by writing generative computer programs [7]. As I explained in 1988, The work described in this paper falls within a tradition that focuses on the underlying structure of the artwork. . . . [We] consider the structure to be an underlying logical structure [expressed in mathematical logic]. . . . A computer-generated video work, Jasper, can be taken as an example. . . . The images of the work may be thought of constructed on a grid in which locations may be specified in normal rectangular coordinates. They are in shades of grey . . . the rules were expressed in the logic programming language PROLOG. . . . As part of this strategy, the system tries different ways of satisfying its prime goal whenever an attempt fails. . . . Thus, the standard inferencing system of PROLOG is used to generate a time-based work that can perhaps be thought of as a relentless attempt to satisfy these very simple, but, in fact, unsatisfiable rules [8]. The fact that the rules are never satisfied means that the search goes on—and on. Structure in Art Practice: Technology as an Agent for Concept Development— Leonardo 35 (2002) In the abstract of this paper [9], I said that the “computer provides a significant enhancement to our ability to handle and consider the underlying structures of artworks and art systems in the many forms that they may take. In the work discussed, whilst the conceptual developments are the key issues, the role Original Narratives Art Gallery Downloaded from http://www.mitpressjournals.org/doi/pdf/10.1162/leon_a_01694 by guest on 23 April 2021 ︲ Burbano 427 of the technology in encouraging, enabling and inspiring them has been central.” This refers to the idea originally mentioned in the 1973 paper, when we said that computers can have the function of “assisting in the specification of art systems” [10]. The 2002 paper details the approach over a wide range of works and points forward. From this time I concentrated on the structure of time, color, form and the interactive experience. My Shaping Form works (Fig. 2) are both generative time-based in nature and influenced over long periods of time by audience movement. Thus the concerns for structure, time and interaction are brought together. One aspect of the Shaping Form works that goes further than the vision of the 1973 paper is that the interactions influence the works over long periods of time. Each input, often the detection of movement by the analysis of images captured by a webcam, can change the generative rules and so influence future behaviors of the artwork. This, and much more, is explained in a recent book by Francesca Franco [11]. For 50 years I have been writing computer code and designing digital systems in making my art. But it is the connection to the concrete and constructivist traditions that characterizes it. The common factor in both digital method and artistic style is the role of structure. From the structure defined in code comes the visual power and the time-based interactive elements that are important to me. Fig. 2. Shaping Form (Edmonds, 2013) in the “Primary Codes” exhibition, Rio de Janeiro. (Photo: Thales Leite) References and Notes 1. S. Cornock and E.A. Edmonds, “The Creative Process Where the Artist is Amplified or Superseded by the Computer,” Leonardo 6, No. 1, 11–16 (1973). 2. Cornock and Edmonds [1], p. 14. 3. Cornock and Edmonds [1], p. 15. 4. E.A. Edmonds, “Art Systems for Interactions Between Members of a Small Group of People,” Leonardo 8, 225–227 (1975). 5. E.A. Edmonds, and F. Franco, “From Communications Game to Cities Tango,” International Journal of Creative Computing 1, No. 1, 120–132 (2013). 6. Edmonds [5], pp. 225–226. 7. E.A. Edmonds, “Logics for Constructing Generative Art Systems.” Digital Creativity 14 (1) pp. 23–38 (2003). 8. E.A. Edmonds, “Logic and Time-based Art Practice,” Leonardo 21, Electronic Art supplemental issue, 19–20 (1988). 9. E.A. Edmonds, “Structure in Art Practice: Technology as an Agent for Concept Development,” Leonardo 35, No. 1, 65–71 (2002). 10. Cornock and Edmonds [1], p. 11. 11. F. Franco, Generative Systems Art: The Work of Ernest Edmonds (London: Routledge, 2018). Ernest Edmonds is a pioneer computer artist and HCI innovator for whom combing creative arts practice with creative technologies has been a life-long pursuit. In 2017 he won both the ACM SIGCHI Lifetime Achievement Award for Practice in Human-Computer Interaction and the ACM SIGGRAPH Distinguished Artist Award for Lifetime Achievement in Digital Art. He is Chairman of the Board of ISEA International, whose main activity is the annual International Symposium on Electronic Art that began in 1988. He is an Honorary Editor of Leonardo. 428 Burbano ︲ Original Narratives Art Gallery Downloaded from http://www.mitpressjournals.org/doi/pdf/10.1162/leon_a_01694 by guest on 23 April 2021 Reconstructing “Sketchpad” and the “Coons Patch”: Toward an Archaeology of CAD Daniel Cardoso Llach “Archaeology of CAD” is an ongoing project that examines the origins of Computer-Aided Design by bringing to life some of its pioneering technologies, which were central to re-shape design practices in the image of computation during the second half of the twentieth century. On display at SIGGRAPH will be two interactive installations from this project: the reconstructions of Steven A. Coons’s “Coons Patch” and of Ivan Sutherland’s “Sketchpad.” Drawing from primary archives and oral sources, these interactive installations playfully revisit these transformative technologies from the 1960s, and enable visitors to approximate the experience of designing with the first Computer-Aided Design systems. Developed with computational design students at Carnegie Mellon University using present-day hardware and software languages, these reconstructions are inquisitive artifacts of historical inquiry. By evoking the embodied experience of interacting with these technologies, they shed light on the new forms of human-machine work that emerged with the rise of interactive computing during the Cold-War years, and highlight the sensual and gestural dimensions of the “computer revolution.” Along with the two reconstructions, a selection of rare handwritten notes and documents by Coons, and a selection of key contractual documents between the US Air Force and MIT, are displayed to offer glimpses of the institutional and intellectual context that motivated these foundational technologies of computational design. Daniel Cardoso Llach Carnegie Mellon University U.S.A. <dcardoso@andrew.cmu.edu> Described by its developer Ivan Sutherland as a “man-machine graphical communication system,” “Sketchpad” allowed users to draw on a nine-inch cathode ray tube monitor using a “light-pen”, a keypad, and a series of knobs. Remarkably, the system featured many of the functions of modern Computer-Aided Design systems, such as constraint-based modeling and block instantiation. Using present-day hardware and software languages, our reconstruction approximates the experience of using “Sketchpad”. The image shows our interactive reconstruction of Ivan Sutherland’s “Sketchpad”. (Daniel Cardoso Llach in collaboration with Scott Donaldson, 2017. Photo credit: Hugh “Smokey” Dyar.) Original Narratives Art Gallery Downloaded from http://www.mitpressjournals.org/doi/pdf/10.1162/leon_a_01694 by guest on 23 April 2021 ︲ Burbano 429 The first reconstruction revisits the “Coons Patch,” a pioneering mathematical technique to calculate curved surfaces developed in the early 1960s by MIT professor of mechanical engineering—and computer graphics pioneer—Steven A. Coons. A direct ancestor of NURBS, Coons’s method was, in essence, a clever interpolation algorithm. It made it possible for early computer graphics researchers to create smooth surfaces between any four parametrically defined curves. Displayed in the phosphorescent light of CRT monitors, these “patches” were photographed, animated and circulated in both research and industry circles through books, films and research reports. They were key to demonstrate computers’ potential as modeling and visualization tools with applications in a variety of fields including aeronautic, automotive and architectural design. Further, they helped trigger a fledgling computer graphics community as it formed across dispersed university and industry laboratories on both sides of the Atlantic—many of whose members came to see Coons as an inspiring, founding figure. Through a custom software and hardware interface, including a large projection, our reconstruction allows visitors to design and transform their own “patches,” appreciate their geometric plasticity, and explore their underlying mathematical structure. The second reconstruction revisits “Sketchpad,” the original drawing tool of the computer age, developed by Ivan Sutherland at MIT as part of his doctoral research (which Coons advised) in 1963. “Sketchpad” was equipped with functions to save, transform and manipulate drawings in ways that extended beyond the capabilities of traditional drafting media. “Sketchpad” thus remains a milestone for both interactive computing and computer graphics almost 60 years after its development. The original “Sketchpad” featured a “light pen,” a keypad and control knobs with which a user could conduct a variety of drafting operations on a 7 × 7 inch CRT monitor. Our interactive reconstruction approximates the ergonomics of the TX-2 computer terminal that Sutherland used and offers access to many of “Sketchpad’s” original functions. These include drawing instantiation, scaling and the definition of geometric constraints. Our reconstruction also evokes the TX-2 interface, including a modern version of the “light pen,” keypad and knobs, which enable visitors to draw in ways that evoke Sutherland’s original system. Daniel Cardoso Llach is an architecture and computational design scholar and the author of Builders of the Vision: Software and the Imagination of Design (Routledge, 2015), an intellectual history of Computer-Aided Design that traces critically its repercussions in architecture and other design fields. He is a Graham Foundation grantee and the curator of a recent exhibition on the history and contemporary practice of computational design at the Miller Gallery at Carnegie Mellon entitled “Designing the Computational Image, Imagining Computational Design.” He is Assistant Professor in the School of Architecture at Carnegie Mellon, lectures frequently and internationally, and his writings have been published in several journals and edited collections. Cardoso Llach holds a Bachelor of Architecture from Universidad de los Andes, Bogotá, and a PhD and an MS (with honors) in Design and Computation from MIT. He has also been a research fellow at Leuphana (MECS), Germany, and a visiting scholar at the University of Cambridge, U.K. 430 Burbano ︲ Original Narratives Art Gallery Downloaded from http://www.mitpressjournals.org/doi/pdf/10.1162/leon_a_01694 by guest on 23 April 2021 She Falls For Ages Skawennati This sci-fi retelling of the Haudenosaunee (Iroquois) creation story reimagines Sky World as a futuristic utopia and Sky Woman as a brave astronaut and world-builder. When she learns that her planet is dying, Sky Woman volunteers to become the seed of the new world—an Earth yet covered in water. She Falls For Ages boldly mixes ancient storytelling with science fiction to connect the deep past with the far future. Skawennati Aboriginal Territories in Cyberspace Canada <skawennati@gmail.com> <www.skawennati.com> In creating this work, I used a new media technique known as “machinima”—making movies in virtual environments. Along with my team at Aboriginal Territories in Cyberpace, we built virtual sets, customized avatars and choreographed action in the massively multiplayer online 3D world Second Life. Skawennati, “Becoming Sky Woman” (production still from She Falls For Ages), machinimagraph, 2017. (© Skawennati) Skawennati makes art that addresses history, the future, and change from an Indigenous perspective. She is best known for her machinimas but also produces still images and sculpture. Her pioneering new media projects include the online gallery/chat-space and mixed-reality event CyberPowWow (1997–2004); a paper doll/time-travel journal, Imagining Indians in the 25th Century (2001); and the machinimas TimeTraveller™ (2007–2013), She Falls For Ages (2017) and The Peacemaker Returns (2017). These have been widely presented in major exhibitions across the globe, including “Uchronia | What If ?,” in the HyperPavilion at the 57th Venice Biennale; B3 Biennale of the Moving Image, Frankfurt, Germany; “Now? Now!” at the Biennale of the Americas; and “Looking Forward (L’Avenir)” at the Montreal Biennale. Her award-winning work is included in both public and private collections. Born in Kahnawà:ke Mohawk Territory, Skawennati holds a BFA from Concordia University in Montreal, where she resides. She is Co-Director, with Jason Edward Lewis, of Aboriginal Territories in Cyberspace (AbTeC), a research network of artists, academics and technologists investigating, creating and critiquing Indigenous virtual environments. She also codirects their Skins workshops for youth in Aboriginal Storytelling and Digital Media. In 2014, AbTeC launched IIF, the Initiative for Indigenous Futures. Original Narratives Art Gallery Downloaded from http://www.mitpressjournals.org/doi/pdf/10.1162/leon_a_01694 by guest on 23 April 2021 ︲ Burbano 431 He Ao Hou (A New World) Nā ‘Anae Mahiki Nā ‘Anae Mahiki Canada and Hawaii <http://abtec.org/iif/> He Ao Hou is a point-and-click adventure game set in the far future, when Native Hawaiians have attained the next level of navigation—space travel. The gameplay is based on kānaka maoli (Native Hawaiian) stories and knowledge, and focuses in particular on the uses of the kukui nut, itself a symbol of knowledge. As the player searches for their sister, they meet interesting individuals and learn about their relationships to their respective planets. On the water planet they are taught to use the kukui to clarify water that is cloudy, thus finding a helpful shark. On the lava planet, they see how hula dancing is used to make kukui plants grow. On the plant planet, they use the kukui as a projectile, hitting the boar-like, eight-eyed demigod, Kamapua’a, to wake him up. Finally, the player unlocks enough knowledge to find their sister— but she is now much more than she ever was before. Nā ‘Anae Mahiki with AbTeC/IIF, He Ao Hou (A New World), videogame, 2017. (© Nā ‘Anae Mahiki) Nā ‘Anae Mahiki is a collective of 16 young adults from Oahu who participated in the Skins 5.0 Workshop in Honolulu in July 2017. Skins 5.0 was hosted by the Kanaeokana Network, Kamehameha Schools and the Initiative for Indigenous Futures. The Skins Workshops in Aboriginal Storytelling and Digital Media aim to empower Indigenous youth to be producers—not just consumers—of new media. The program is one of four major components of the Initiative for Indigenous Future (IIF), a partnership of universities and community organizations led by AbTeC and dedicated to developing multiple visions of Indigenous peoples in the future. 432 Burbano ︲ Original Narratives Art Gallery Downloaded from http://www.mitpressjournals.org/doi/pdf/10.1162/leon_a_01694 by guest on 23 April 2021 Never Alone: The Art and the People of the Story E-Line Media Never Alone (Kisima Inŋitchuŋa) is the product of an uncommon partnership of an Alaska Native community and game developers. Through all stages of development, members of both communities met extensively to ensure that all creative and business decisions were appropriately considered and supported the goals of all stakeholders. Throughout the game and in supporting material, players will hear directly from members of both communities who were instrumental in shaping the game. Amy Fredeen Cook Inlet Tribal Council; E-Line Media U.S.A. <afredeen@citci.org> Dima Veryovka Oculus VR; E-Line Media U.S.A. <dveryovka@gmail.com> World-class game makers were paired with Alaska Native storytellers and elders to create a game that delves deeply into the traditional lore of the Iñupiat people to present an experience like no other. Never Alone is our original title in an exciting new genre of “World Games” that draw fully upon the richness of unique cultures to create complex and fascinating game worlds for a global audience. The characters and environments in Never Alone have been inspired by traditional Alaska Native art— painting, drawing, sculpture, clothing, masks, scrimshaw—and honed through collaboration with Alaska Native elders and artists. This ensures that the look and feel of the game stay faithful to the traditional styles and provide a unique and inspirational visual presentation for Never Alone. Never Alone, game, image from E-Line Media Press Kit. (© 2014) Original Narratives Art Gallery Downloaded from http://www.mitpressjournals.org/doi/pdf/10.1162/leon_a_01694 by guest on 23 April 2021 ︲ Burbano 433 Amy Fredeen is of shared Inupiaq and German descent. Most recently through CEI, Fredeen helped form a partnership with E-line Media, an industry leader educational games, that created the first video game made with an indigenous community called Never Alone. For this game Fredeen served as the lead cultural ambassador ensuring an inclusive development process that resulted in the sharing, celebrating of the Inupiaq culture and stories. With 26 mini-documentaries embedded in the game, Never Alone won a 2015 British Academy Award for Best Debut and has had 3 million downloads to date. Dima Veryovka is an award-winning Art Director, Concept Artist and Creative Lead with extensive experience in the development of video games. He built and led high-performing creative teams for various projects, including the BAFTA winning game Never Alone. Currently, Veryovka is an Art Director at Oculus, where he oversees visual concepts, design and implementation, and provides strategic leadership and artistic direction to creative teams. Prior to starting at Oculus, he served as an Art Director at ArenaNet, Colabee Studio, and E-Line Media, and was a key member of the design and art teams at Sony Computer Entertainment America. 434 Burbano ︲ Original Narratives Art Gallery Downloaded from http://www.mitpressjournals.org/doi/pdf/10.1162/leon_a_01694 by guest on 23 April 2021 Transformation Mask Microsoft Garage and Shawn Hunt The Raven, the ultimate trickster, has become a cyborg. In this collaboration with Microsoft Vancouver, Shawn Hunt moves away from engaging with the handmade, exploring authenticity and our expectations of what it means to be indigenous through the removal of the hand-carved surface. The mask appropriates the traditional aspects of metamorphosis with the transformation from bird mask to human, yet in this adaptation the human mask has been altered, upgraded and merged with the machine. Incorporating aspects of technology, sound and space, each part of the work reflects Hunt’s interest in how we understand and identify with the term indigenous. Microsoft Garage and Andy Klein Vancouver, Canada <anklei@microsoft.com> Shawn Hunt Independent Artist, Canada <shawn_b_hunt@yahoo.com> <http://www.shawnhunt.net/> Transformation Mask is a shared work created by Shawn Hunt and a team of artists, designers and engineers at Microsoft Vancouver. Developed in our in-house makerspace, The Garage, the Transformation Mask project brings art and technology together. Transformation Mask. (© Microsoft Vancouver. Photo: Pamela Saunders.) Original Narratives Art Gallery Downloaded from http://www.mitpressjournals.org/doi/pdf/10.1162/leon_a_01694 by guest on 23 April 2021 ︲ Burbano 435 The assembled mask is a meter long and made up of over 20 individually 3D-printed PLA and acrylic resin components. True to traditional form, there are no straight lines on the raven, a concept in direct competition with polygonal hard surface 3D modeling. From the ovoid shaped eyes to the gently sloping beak, each surface exhibits a sort of infinite tension. The holographic experience evolved organically, with the team taking a similar approach to their hardware development processes—the aim was to expose Hunt to the latest technologies available for artistic expression in emerging digital mediums. After several sessions, he generated a selection of traditional forms expressed gesturally as polygonal lines. Transformation Mask is an interactive installation that features HoloLens. It utilizes electronics and mechanical engineering to express a physical and digital transformation. Participants are immersed in spatial sounds and holographic visuals. The mask’s behavior is achieved through an array of electronics, sensors, processors and mechanical elements. Three linear actuators attached to an aluminum skeleton drive the primary phases of motion. Several microcontrollers work in unison to control individual addressable LEDs and behavior states for the raven’s eyes projected through Windows phones. Onboard ambient light sensors on the phones are used to control state-based animations. An ultrasonic range finder is aware of the presence of an attendee, and will trigger the experience. HoloLens orchestrates all these elements, synchronizing the software and hardware over a Bluetooth connection. Microsoft Vancouver and our in-house makerspace, The Garage, worked together on this creative collaboration with Heiltsuk artist Shawn Hunt. Transformation Mask is a shared work created by a team of artists, designers and engineers at Microsoft. Hunt led the team through a fluid creative process from idea to installed museum exhibit in just under 2 months, with everyone empowered to add their expertise and enthusiasm at every step of the way. Concept by Shawn Hunt. Mechatronics and physical component programming by Robert Butterworth. Display programming by Jonathon Cobb. 3D modeling and 3D printing by Jeremy Kersey. Holographic effects and experience design by Andy Klein. Project management by Stacey Mulcahy. Additional 3D printing by Brendan O’Rourke. Project facilitated by Pam Saunders. Audio by Brent Silk. Holographic application programming by Julia Taylor-Hell. 436 Burbano ︲ Original Narratives Art Gallery Downloaded from http://www.mitpressjournals.org/doi/pdf/10.1162/leon_a_01694 by guest on 23 April 2021 Somnium Danny Bazo, Marko Peljhan and Karl Yerkes Somnium is a robotic and audiovisual installation that provides visitors with the ability to contemplate and experience exoplanetary discoveries, their macro- and microdimensions and the potential for life in our galaxy. At the center of Somnium sits a round glass disc that has been laser etched with an image captured by the Kepler Space Telescope (KST). The image contains hundreds of thousands of stars. A robotic microscope slowly travels the surface of the disc, displaying the microscopic view to visitors using large-scale wall projections. The exact location of the microscope within the starfield is tracked and correlated with luminosity measurements taken by the KST. These measurements, called “light curves,” are converted into sounds that immerse visitors in an ever-changing wash of audio corresponding to the stars they see projected around them. Danny Bazo Meow Wolf University of California Santa Barbara, U.S.A. <dannybazo@gmail.com> Marko Peljhan University of California Santa Barbara, U.S.A. Projekt Atol Institute Slovenia and U.S.A. <systemics.mp@gmail.com> Karl Yerkes University of California Santa Barbara, U.S.A. <karl.yerkes@gmail.com> Somnium invites philosophical questions about the possibility of the existence of life beyond our planet. The work reveals the simplicity and beauty behind the extremely sophisticated technology and methods Somnium, exhibited from 8 June – 8 July 2017 at Kapelica Gallery in Ljubljana, Slovenia. The opening coincided with the international symposium “Earth Without Humans II” hosted by Kapelica Gallery. (Photo: © Miha Fras) Original Narratives Art Gallery Downloaded from http://www.mitpressjournals.org/doi/pdf/10.1162/leon_a_01694 by guest on 23 April 2021 ︲ Burbano 437 of the Kepler Mission. Visitors can experience this beauty and understand the questions that arise on a human, aesthetic and accessible scale. Background Johannes Kepler (1571–1630) authored seminal texts on what we now know as his laws of planetary motion. These affirmed the Copernican heliocentric model of our solar system and, later, Newton’s laws of gravity. In one of these books, Somnium (English: A Dream), published posthumously in 1634, he explained with detailed precision how Earth would look if observed from the Moon. In 2009, NASA’s Discovery Mission No. 10, also known as the Kepler Mission, deployed the KST in search of exoplanets in or near “habitable zone” orbits. Over four years, the KST recorded the varying light intensities (known as “light curves”) of star systems located near the stars Deneb and Vega in the Cygnus and Lyra constellations in a 100-square-degree 3,000-light-year field of view. As of 2018, the KST has enabled the discovery of 2,327 confirmed exoplanets. Of these, 30 are less than twice Earth-sized and within their star’s habitable zone. Several are potential candidates for life as we know it. These discoveries challenge the notion that Earth alone is the center and extent of life in the Milky Way galaxy. The profound scientific and philosophical consequences of the Kepler Mission echo the effect of the work of Kepler, the man. Acknowledgment The creation of this work was supported by the Ministry of Culture, Republic of Slovenia, the Systemics Lab Public Programming Fund at MAT, UCSB, the University of California Institute for Research in the Arts Integrative Methodologies fund, the City of Ljubljana Cultural Department and kind contributions of the SETI Institute. The artist team of Danny Bazo, Marko Peljhan and Karl Yerkes, from the Systemics Lab in the Media Arts and Technology Program at UC Santa Barbara, collaborated with NASA and SETI Institute scientist Jon Jenkins on Somnium from 2013–2016. 438 Burbano ︲ Original Narratives Art Gallery Downloaded from http://www.mitpressjournals.org/doi/pdf/10.1162/leon_a_01694 by guest on 23 April 2021 INSTRUMENT | One Antarctic Night Ruth West, Violet Johnson, I Chen Yeh, Zach Thomas, Eitan Mendelowitz and Lars Berg INSTRUMENT | One Antarctic Night (IOAN) is a performative, multiparticipant reconfigurable artwork that engages open astronomical data in combination with data generated by robotic telescopes in Antarctica. IOAN places visitors inside a virtual star field of over 800,000 astronomical objects that form part of the Large Magellanic Cloud. This star field, created from observations in Antarctica and fused with additional data from multiple open astronomical repositories, is situated waist high within the virtual environment and stretches out beyond participants in all directions. Multiple participants can walk about the environment and collaboratively explore the star field by taking hold of the “fabric” of space, creating ripples and waves, and interacting with individual or sets of objects to create visual and auditory data remixes. The interaction places the astronomical data within a virtual reality visual and sonic remix engine that is a fundamental component of the artwork and is used to construct the virtual world. All graphics and spatialized ambisonic audio are procedurally generated from the data via real-time database queries. Our work incorporates machine learning approaches combined with granular and concatenative synthesis for generating the environment’s unique soundscape. INSTRUMENT | One Antarctic Night evolved from our ongoing work in developing aesthetic data remixing and immersive data-driven experiences. Dataremix proposes the creation of the “datamade,” a concept analogous to Duchamp’s “readymade.” IOAN is a meta-datamade in that it is a virtual instrument within which participants collaboratively create datamades through visual and auditory aesthetically driven remixes of astronomical data. Ruth West xREZ Art + Science Lab University of North Texas U.S.A. <ruth.west@unt.edu> Violet Johnson xREZ Art + Science Lab University of North Texas U.S.A. <violetijohnson89@gmail.com> I Chen Yeh xREZ Art + Science Lab University of North Texas U.S.A. <yeherics@gmail.com> Zach Thomas xREZ Art + Science Lab University of North Texas U.S.A. <zthomas.music@gmail.com> Eitan Mendelowitz Mount Holyoke College U.S.A. <emendelo@mtholyoke.edu> Lars Berg Independent Artist <lars@larsberg.net> Virtual star field of 817,373 objects created from multidimensional astronomical data captured by robotic telescopes during one Antarctic night. (© 2018 Ruth West) Original Narratives Art Gallery Downloaded from http://www.mitpressjournals.org/doi/pdf/10.1162/leon_a_01694 by guest on 23 April 2021 ︲ Burbano 439 Acknowledgments INSTRUMENT | One Antarctic Night is supported in part by an award from the U.S. National Endowment for the Arts (15-5400-7043) and by BenQ America Corporation. We thank Lifan Wang and Lingzhi Wang of Texas A&M and the Beijing Astronomical Observatory for their generous consultation and support of this art-science installation. We thank the Antarctic Survey Telescope array and PI Lifan Wang for making available AST3-1 data. We thank Roger Malina, University of Texas‒Dallas, for his generous consultation in astrophysics and art-science, and his support of this work. We thank astronomer Jason Young, Mount Holyoke College, for his generous consultation and assistance. We thank Stella Kafka, astronomer and director, American Association of Variable Star Observers, for her generous consultation. This artwork made use of the VizieR catalog access tool, CDS, Strasbourg, France. The original description of the VizieR service was published in A&AS 143, 23. This work has made use of data from the European Space Agency (ESA) mission Gaia (<www.cosmos.esa.int/gaia>), processed by the Gaia Data Processing and Analysis Consortium (DPAC, <www.cosmos.esa.int/web/gaia/dpac/consortium>). Funding for the DPAC has been provided by national institutions, in particular the institutions participating in the Gaia Multilateral Agreement. INSTRUMENT | One Antarctic Night is being developed by an art + science collaboration bringing together interactive artists, composers, computer scientists and astrophysicists. Our team includes collaborators from University of North Texas, Mount Holyoke College, University of Texas at Dallas and Texas A&M: Ruth West, Violet Johnson, I Chen Yeh, Zach Thomas, Eitan Mendelowitz and Lars Berg. 440 Burbano ︲ Original Narratives Art Gallery Downloaded from http://www.mitpressjournals.org/doi/pdf/10.1162/leon_a_01694 by guest on 23 April 2021 Sopro and Toque (The Blow and Touch) Milton Sogabe, Fabio Oliveira Nunes, Carolina Peres, Soraya Braz, Rodrigo Dorta, Cleber Gazana, Mirian Steinberg, Melina Furquim, Daniel Malva and Fernando Luiz Fogliano Considering the paradox between energy production and the contamination of the environment and reduction of biodiversity, cAt research group develops its work considering the discussion on sustainable sources of energy. The group’s recent projects—Sopro (The Blow) and Toque (Touch)—have sought to aesthetically use the audience body’s energy to interact and to animate the artworks. Simple devices are used to seek, in a kind of technological minimalist and interactive-art way, to raise public awareness of the issue of sustainability. These concerns were embodied through the realization of Sopro (The Blow) (2015), an interactive work energized by the public through the vigor of a blow. The work was based on the use of a simple technological system, on the poetic dimension of the blow and on primordial scientific principles. The act of blowing is recurrently associated with the genesis of life. Sopro consists of a system of acrylic spheres, where a visitor can vivify the work in a large sphere by blowing in the propellers inside of smaller spheres. The energy current generated by the moving propellers activates small motors inside the main piece of the work, giving the public the experience of creating movement through their own energy. Toque (Touch) (2017), also developed by the cAt group, seeks to broaden the creative process while still keeping the perspective started in Sopro. The core of our aesthetic proposal is energy produced by the human body, specifically when the public interacts with our work. Through the Peltier effect, a type of thermoelectric effect that is observed in an electric circuit, visitors can bring Toque to life through the warmth of their hands. Milton Sogabe <miltonsogabe@gmail.com> Fabio Oliveira Nunes <fabiofon@gmail.com> Carolina Peres <cp.carolina@gmail.com> Soraya Braz São Paulo State University, Brazil <sorayabraz@gmail.com> Rodrigo Dorta São Paulo State University, Brazil <rodrigodorta@gmail.com> Cleber Gazana <clebergazana@gmail.com> Mirian Steinberg <miriansteinberg@gmail.com> Melina Furquim <meli.furka@gmail.com> Daniel Malva São Paulo State University, Brazil <malva77@gmail.com> Fernando Luiz Fogliano SENAC, Brazil <fernandofogliano@gmail.com> Sopro and Toque, cAt research group. (Photo: Carolina Peres, 2018. © cAt) The author of these works is cAt (science/Art/technology), a research group of the Art Institute, at São Paulo State University, accredited by CNPq (National Council for Scientific and Technological Development). The group consists of Prof. Dr. Milton Sogabe (UNESP) and Prof. Dr. Fernando Fogliano (SENAC) as leaders, Dr. Fabio Fon (UNESP), doctoral student Carolina Peres (UNESP), Masters Cleber Gazana (UNESP) and Sorya Braz (UNESP), and Masters students Rodrigo Dorta Marques (UNESP), Mirian Steinberg (UNESP), Melina Furquim (UNESP) and Daniel Malva (UNESP). Original Narratives Art Gallery Downloaded from http://www.mitpressjournals.org/doi/pdf/10.1162/leon_a_01694 by guest on 23 April 2021 ︲ Burbano 441 You Are the Ocean Özge Samanci and Gabriel Caniglia Özge Samanci Northwestern University U.S.A. <ozge@northwestern.edu> Gabriel Caniglia Northwestern University U.S.A. <gcan@u.northwestern.edu> This interactive installation allows participants to control a digitally simulated ocean using only their brainwaves. Calm seas and storms alike are powered by the viewer’s thoughts; the sheer act of concentration can conjure a squall or sunshine. Participants intentionally control their thinking while surrounded by the magnified consequence of their thoughts. Created in 2017, You Are the Ocean is about the theme of origins and one of the key concepts of Haudenosaunee and Anishnaabe cosmologies: “land is alive.” A participant wears an EEG (electroencephalography) headset that measures her approximate attention and meditation levels via brainwaves. Attention level affects storminess: with higher concentration, the waves get higher and the clouds thicken. By calming her mind, the subject can create a calm ocean. Humanity’s relationship with the natural world is complex. Humans have a nervous system and perceive an illusionary boundary between their bodies and the rest of the world. A sip of water we drink was once in the ocean, a cloud, a plant. An atom in our body is billions of years old, coming from dying stars, and each atom has been a part of so many things: stardust, soil, sea, clouds, air, single-cell life, fish, bugs, birds. This concept appears in different versions of indigenous cosmologies, Sufi mysticism, Big Bang theory and the history of evolution. Distinguished professor Donna Haraway postulates that humans are not superior to any ecosystem and they exist in the intertwined web of all ecosystems as an extension of the planet. You Are the Ocean is a reminder that our presence and thinking have a direct impact on the planet. Scene from You are the Ocean. (© Özge Samanci. Photo: Deborah Libby.) Özge Samanci, a media artist and graphic novelist, is an associate professor in Northwestern University’s School of Communication. Her interactive installations have been exhibited internationally, including FILE festival, The Tech Museum of Innovation in San Jose, WRO Media Art Biennial, Athens International Festival of Digital Arts and New Media, ISEA. Samanci’s installation You Are the Ocean will be exhibited at Currents New Media, FILE festival, and SIGGRAPH 2018 Art Gallery. Gabriel Caniglia studies cognitive science and computer science at Northwestern University. His interests lie broadly in humancomputer interaction and immersive technologies. He is the programming and implementation lead for You Are the Ocean. 442 Burbano ︲ Original Narratives Art Gallery Downloaded from http://www.mitpressjournals.org/doi/pdf/10.1162/leon_a_01694 by guest on 23 April 2021 Haven Alex Beim Haven is a place of security and tranquility. Reminiscent of a mother’s womb, it recalls our origins, where it all begins. The installation allows guests to leave their phones and all other technology at the door so they can be fully present without any of the prevailing modern distractions. They go in, spend some time, find themselves and maybe come out and start their day again. Fresh. A new beginning. Alex Beim Tangible Interaction Design, Inc. Vancouver, British Columbia Canada <alex@tangibleinteraction.com> Founded in 2008, Tangible Interaction Design is a Vancouver-based art and design studio focused on creating artworks that are to be felt and experienced live. For Haven, Tangible constructed two organicshaped inflatables that allow people to go inside and be present at an event while also having a personal, meditative experience. Designed as meta balls, spheres that blend together in a natural configuration, each inflatable maintains its form with an electric fan. To enter, guests simply go through a zippered doorway. Haven is a new installation, conceived as a way to change how people perceive a space. By giving guests the opportunity to step into a meditative environment in the midst of a busy event, it opens up the possibility for them to stop and examine themselves and everything around them. Maybe it’s just a time for a short rest or perhaps they come out with a whole new perspective, a new introduction to their day. Concept design of Haven, January 2018. (© Tangible Interaction Design) Original Narratives Art Gallery Downloaded from http://www.mitpressjournals.org/doi/pdf/10.1162/leon_a_01694 by guest on 23 April 2021 ︲ Burbano 443 Concept design of Haven, January 2018. (© Tangible Interaction Design) Alex Beim is CEO, Lead Artist, Creative Director at Tangible Interaction Design Inc. From graphic designer to digital creative to interactive artist, Alex Beim’s career has been a diverse journey. His interest in moving interactivity away from the screen and into the physical world led to the launch of Tangible Interaction Design Inc. in 2006 in the Strathcona neighborhood of Vancouver, British Columbia. Since then, he has focused on developing interactive experiences that engage people in public and commercial spaces. His artworks have been seen by millions worldwide and include installations for CODE Live (2010 Winter Olympic Games), City of Richmond, City of Vancouver, City of Turin, the Vancouver Aquarium, Vancouver Public Library, SIGGRAPH, Toronto International Film Festival’s digiPlaySpace, Cine Kid and Illuminate Yaletown. 444 Burbano ︲ Original Narratives Art Gallery Downloaded from http://www.mitpressjournals.org/doi/pdf/10.1162/leon_a_01694 by guest on 23 April 2021 Diastrophisms Nicole L’Huillier, Thomas Sanchez Lengeling and Yasushi Sakai Diastrophisms is a sound installation with a modular system that sends images through rhythmic patterns. It is built on a set of debris from the Alto Río building that was destroyed by the 27F earthquake in 2010 in Chile. With Diastrophisms we were looking for a poetical, critical and political crossing between technology and matter, in order to raise questions about the relationship between human beings and nature, and to consider the construction of memory in a community by questioning the notion of monument, as well as to imagine new forms of communication in times of crisis. This piece has a full paper in the Art Papers section on page 356 of this journal. Nicole L’Huillier MIT Media Lab, U.S.A. <nicolelh@media.mit.edu> Thomas Sanchez Lengeling MIT Media Lab, U.S.A. <thomassl@mit.edu> Yasushi Sakai MIT Media Lab, U.S.A. <yasushis@media.mit.edu> Diastrophisms, detail of devices actuating the debris of Alto Rio building, Centro Nacional de Arte Contemporaneo Cerrillos, Chile, 2017. (© and Photo: Yasushi Sakai) Nicole L’Huillier (Chile), Thomas Sanchez Lengeling (Mexico) and Yasushi Sakai (Japan) are researchers, artists, students, architects, musicians, technologists and scientists. They are currently based at the MIT Media Lab, Boston, MA, where their work scales from creating micro-chip universes to sentient megastructures, converting tangible artifacts to intangible experiences, and creating synthesized reality tools to speculative futuring actions. Original Narratives Art Gallery Downloaded from http://www.mitpressjournals.org/doi/pdf/10.1162/leon_a_01694 by guest on 23 April 2021 ︲ Burbano 445