SIGGRAPH 2000: Art Gallery

• SIGGRAPH 2000: 27th Annual Conference on Computer Graphics and Interactive Techniques

• Diane Gromala -
  • Simon Frasier University

• Yacov Sharir -
  • University of Texas at Austin
• Saoirse Higgins -
  • ArtHouse Multimedia Centre
• David Okula
• Noah Wardrip-Fruin -
  • New York University
• Dena Elisabeth Eber -
  • Bowling Green State University (BGSU)
• Mirtha Ferrer -
  • Georgia Institute of Technology (Georgia Tech)

Just as the mechanically curious might take apart an engine to see?how it works, artists often dissect and reassemble culture in innovative and?enlightening ways. Ways that enable us to think, feel, and view our everyday?experiences again. Through new eyes. Beyond our ordinary bandwidth.

The SIGGRAPH 2000 Art Gallery presents a diversity of over 70 artworks?to the international computer graphics community. The work represents a?continuum of artworks that utilize technology in some way. Some pieces?represent traditional forms of art and design, such as painting, drawing,?photography, sculpture, artists’ books, and jewelry. Other artworks represent?forms of interactive art that are increasingly embraced by the mainstream?art world: interactive installations, Web-based and multimedia projects,?3D animation, and computer-mediated performances. The annual?SIGGRAPH Art Gallery attracts the most experimental work: mutant?forms that refuse easy artistic categorization. In these mutant forms,?powerful and hybrid imagery, concepts, sound, performances, and writing?are imperceptibly intertwined with innovative uses of emerging technology. The art and technology are inseparable.

Participants interact with each other, with digital beings, and with objects via?intriguing means: gesturing and talking to artificial life forms, manipulating?video “eyestalks,” moving toward “smart” and sassy robotic appliances, touching?seemingly huge but real microscopic insects. Approach some “paintings,”?and you will be transported into another world.

Some of the works utilize features unique to the Web to create a sense of?community, connectivity, and interactivity. Gaming is redefined, fostering?unique social interactions. Users navigate digital Web movies, and remix?sounds and texts to create original compositions, blurring the borders?between spoken, written, and sculpted artistic forms. Performers “squat”?on reflector sites, with audience members and with remote performers.?All are strong examples of electronic art delivered on the Web and extended?into the physical plane.

Each artist takes a unique approach to generating 2D artwork digitally. The show includes digitally inspired painting; collages; algorithmically generated image components; images created with X-rays, MRIs, CAT scans, in 3D software, or in virtual reality by petting actual human beings, head-to-toe. A wooden mirror responds with hundreds of tiny motors. The variety is tantalizing.

The Art Gallery is present in many areas of SIGGRAPH 2000: within the?gallery space, in nearby programs (The Studio, the Creative Applications?Lab, SIGGRAPH TV, and Emerging Technologies), and in art-related?presentations in Panels, Sketches & Applications, and Special Sessions.

Within the Art Gallery
Experienced docents guide tours through the gallery, providing insights?into the artists’ visions and methods. In gallery talks throughout the week,?the artists themselves offer further insight and opportunities for direct?interaction with attendees.

The Art Gallery Integrates With Its Surroundings: the Studio, the CAL, SIGGRAPH TV, Emerging Technologies
The Art Gallery space is surrounded by related programs that extend and?enhance its integration with the diversity of the SIGGRAPH community.?The Studio provides artists access to technologies that may otherwise lie?beyond their reach: from rapid-prototyping 3D machines to large-format?printers whose outputs are enormous canvases. Each day, the work produced?in The Studio is juried by artists, with the day’s selection exhibited in the?Art Gallery. Artists can demonstrate their processes and techniques in the?Creative Applications Lab. SIGGRAPH TV provides up-to-the-minute,?televised information about art that is, in and of itself, art. The boundaries?between the Art Gallery and Emerging Technologies are intentionally?indistinct, reflecting our attitude that what constitutes art is sometimes?radically innovative uses of technology.

The Art Gallery Extends to Panels and Special Sessions
Art Gallery talks culminate in two panels: No Art Jargon, where artists?engage the technical community in discussions of using or subverting?computer techniques, and Interactive Narrative. And two Special Sessions,?Fiction 2001 and Art & Culture Papers, complement and extend Art Gallery?discussions. The Art & Culture Papers published here will also appear in?the journal “Leonardo.”

The SIGGRAPH 2000 Art Gallery presents works that inspire, provoke,?and engage the wider SIGGRAPH community by exploring new connections?between mind and body, the human and the technological, the aesthetic and?the critical. Works that provoke, challenge, and enable us to re-experience,?re-examine, and make sense of our bodies, our technologies, and our culture. Works that enable us to replenish the spirit and heighten the sense of the?world outside of us.

Diane Gromala