Refraction Exhibition: exploring facets of science, technology, perception, and gameplay April 21 - 28 atGray Area
The works in the Refraction Exhibition encompass diverse mediums, including mechanical sculpture, virtual reality, projection mapping, computer games, and machine assisted drawing. Visitors will walk through a curated group of installations drawing on kinetic light, digital cinema, algorithmically-derived abstraction, alternate worlds, and biologic musical compostion, providing a cross-section of work dealing intimately with the relationship between art and technology.
Exhibition Hours
4/21 7pm-11pm – Opening $5-$20 sliding-scale entry
4/22 12pm-6pm – Free and Open to Public (Quiet viewing during conference, no VVVR) (closed during night performances)
4/23 12pm-6pm – Free and Open to Public (Quiet viewing during conference, no VVVR)
4/23 9pm-1am – For ticket holders during night performances (no VVVR)
4/24 11am-6pm – Free and Open to Public (Quiet viewing during workshops, no VVVR)
4/24 7:30pm-11pm – For ticket holders during night performances (no VVVR)
4/25 10am-6pm – Free and Open to Public
4/27 10am-6pm – Free and Open to Public
4/28 10am-6pm – Free and Open to Public
Revolve
Joris Strijbos, Daan Johan
Revolve is a kinetic machine designed to scatter abstract light-patterns into its surrounding space. Hundreds of LEDs are mounted on a fast spinning rectangle performing an algorithmic generative composition consisting of stroboscopic pulses and lines of light. Complex patterns emerge between the fast flashing lights, and the spinning of the object. Resulting in some kind of entity which can be seen as a data flow, a morse signal or even an abstract visual language spoken by the machine itself. ‘Revolve’ is looking for the boundaries of human visual perception. Due to a sensory overload, produced by the stroboscopic light, the after image effect occurs. As a result, the imaginary negative light patterns produced by the retina, become an integral part of the experience, as they mix-up with the light produced by the machine.
Moiré Studies
Moiré Studies is the project name under which Nicky Assmann and Joris Strijbos create kinetic light installations based on the principles of the moiré effect. In their ongoing research the qualities of moiré patterns are investigated in an analogue manner using moving light sources and static grids.
HyperTerra
Hyper Terra is a digital light sculpture that depicts an abstract landscape created utilizing parametric fabrication techniques. The sculpture is illuminated by projection-mapped real-time generative light and shadows calculated from solar and lunar positions, derived from a celestial ephemeris. Along with other dynamic settings that change as the piece is observed, such as color, speed, and movement, the piece has the ability to be virtually placed at any long/lat on Earth, at any time in the future or past.
Liquid Solid
Liquid Solid is a collaborative project between Nicky Assmann and Joris Strijbos in which they research the cinematic qualities of a freezing soap film.
In December 2014 the duo attended the Ars BioArctica residency at the Biological Research Center in the Arctic Region of Finland. During this residency they shot footage of the freezing process of soap films. The footage functioned as the basis for a single channel video and a video installation.
Undulator
Undulator is an immersive kinetic installation that explores both the color and reflective properties of light. In similar fashion to Thomas Wilfred’s Lumia machines Undulator is a cinematic display that celebrates light in its purest form. A pulsating pattern of colors and gradients is projected onto a reflective surface, its undulating movement distorts the rays of light. Upon hitting the screen the light has been transformed from a straight beam into a shape that hints at processes that happen at the micro level and the universal scale.
The Drawing Machine
The Drawing Machine project is an ongoing performative collaboration between the machine and its programmer. As a partnership, the programmer is architect to the generative algorithms played out by the machine. In the Sinew Series, radio frequency waves are analyzed and drawn. These waves are our wifi, our phone signals, our microwaves and gps as well as thousands of others we don’t or shouldn’t know about. We depend on these invisible connections without ever seeing them. In this series a software defined radio peers into this invisible world, anonymously gathering the wireless chatter that runs our lives. These transmissions are interpreted visually with a drawing. Each drawing takes a separate frequency and uses data unique to that time and place.
VVVR
VVVR is an ongoing experiment that seeks to unlock the power of group meditation and abstract communication. The system combines the voices of two participants in a shared virtual experience. Avatars are seated in an intimate setting that intuitively facilitates meditative droning. Vocal effects are utilized, disguising and augmenting participant’s voices to enhance vocal experimentation.
SUPERHYPERCUBE
SUPERHYPERCUBE is a VR “first person puzzler” with classic controls and intuitive shape-matching gameplay. You control a group of cubes and rotate it to fit through a hole in a wall that is constantly moving toward you. Each time you fit through another wall without crashing, more cubes are added to your cluster. Head tracking is critical in the game – as your cluster of cubes gets bigger, you will need to lean around it to see the hole and quickly determine what rotations to make. Stay alive as long as possible, and add your high scores to the ranks of players around the world!
Seaquence
Gabriel Dunne, Ryan Alexander, Daniel Massey
Seaquence is an experiment in musical composition. Adopting a biological metaphor, you can create and combine musical lifeforms resulting in an organic, dynamic composition.
Exhibiting Artists
This program is supported as part of the Dutch Culture USA program by the Consulate General of the Netherlands in New York, as well as the Creative Industries Fund NL.
