The U Oregon Digital Arts BFA Exhibition, Watch Your Mouth, is composed of 12 artists completing their fifth year degree program experience. An entire year has been dedicated to the development of their creative process, their conceptual motivations and the production of a vast range of media in an art context. These artists seek to define meaning and purpose in a complicated world. They are invested in a critical inquiry into how humankind navigates a complex existence. This thesis exhibition is the result of mining the abstract space between humans and technology, researching cognitive behavior, dissecting language and information delivery systems, examining our poetic relationships to space and place, investigating material translations, process obsessions, and questioning personal philosophies, all with an often dark, twisted and cryptic sense of humor.
There is a diversity and consistency to the Digital Arts BFA artists’ work. The range of media and methodologies employed span hybrid digital output, computer programming, image capture, drawing, animation, sculpture and as always, evidence of the skilled hand. Clearly a mark of the UO Digital Arts experience, the ideas reign importance over the media. It is the ideas that appear consistent and substantial, for this unique BFA experience. Like barometers for culture and society-at-large, these artists ask important questions about how and why we live in a technologically fertile, swiftly moving world. Change, thought, story, space, inquiry, truth, translation, language, communication, digitization, these ideas are consistently mined and dissected from this critical, analytical group of young artists. It is with their work we attempt to find a better understanding to our place in the universe.
The artists are Brian Aebi, Amy Chan, Braeden Cox, Gage Hamilton, Matt Pfliiger, Andrew Pomeroy, Steven Robinson, Brad Saiki, Lauren Seiffert, Tanya Tracy, Chris Wilson and Zach Yarrington. The UOregon Digital Arts faculty is Colin Ives, Craig Hickman, John Park, Michael Salter, Ying Tan, and Kartz Ucci. The UOregon Digital Arts BFA Exhibition, Watch Your Mouth, will occupy the White Box exhibition space at the White Stag Building, opening June 2nd 2011.
Digital Arts and the Department of Art are proud to present HUNG Keung. HUNG graduated from the Swire School of Design, Hong Kong Polytechnic University, the Chinese University of Hong Kong, and the Central Saint Martins College of Art and Design (MA in Film + Video), UK. He was a visiting scholar at the Centre for Art and Media (ZKM), Germany (2001-02). Currently, he is a PhD candidate at The Planetary Collegium, the University of the Arts in Zurich, Switzerland.
In recognition of his international achievement in new media art, HUNG was awarded a prestigious President’s Award (2002); Deutscher Akademicscher Austausch Dienst Scholarship, Germany (2002) and Asian Cultural Council Fellowship, US (2005). In 2004, HUNG founded innov+media lab, focusing on new media art + design research in relation to Chinese philosophy and interactivity.
HUNG KEUNG BLOATED CITY | SKINNY LANGUAGE
In HUNG’s Bloated City | Skinny Language, the viewer appears on two screens surrounded by a myriad of fragmented brush strokes. Characters read the viewer’s outline and aggregate around their body. Responding to the slightest movement, the characters fly gradually from one screen to the next, from one image of the viewer to their mirror image. The artist prompts viewers to reflect on how they can locate themselves in their universe (Heaven + Earth) and relate to the notions of Dao 道.
PUBLIC TALKS + LECTURES
April 5 | Artist Lecture| Harrington Room (Jaqua Center) at 6 pm
Sponsors: Computer and Information Science, Arts Administration Program
April 6 | Gallery Talk| 240 JSMA at 6 pm. Sponsors: Cinema Pacific + JSMA
April 7 | White Box Opening
24 NW1st Avenue, UO White Stag Block, Portland
6–8 pm; remarks at 7pm
EXHIBITIONS
JSMA: Where To Come From? Where To Go?
Video Works by Hung Keung
Showing from April 5th to June 19th
White Box: Bloated City | Skinny Language
Showing from April 5th to May 14th
Sponsors: University of Oregon Portland Programs
Additional support from Ace Hotel
Members of the 3D Imaging and 3D Animation courses (ARTD 471 & 472) have a new tool at their fingertips. Starting this term, we have a motion capture system set up on our Eugene campus. The technology, most often used for 3D character animation and in the video gaming industry, works by recording 34 points on the human body from 8 different cameras, and at 100 frames per second per camera. Through careful data analysis, each captured segment of motion is then converted from millions of X/Y/Z data into a 3D skeleton. This moving skeleton can be attached to 3D characters that students in the class are making, so the real human motion-capture movement is carried out in a virtual 3D body.
3D student Brett Cicarello suits up for a motion capture session.
Though this technique is heavily used in the entertainment industry, the powerful tool can also be used for creative experimentation and technological re-purposing. For example, can you image the human body as a digital synthesizer? Or could the motion of a body be tethered to something otherwise ephemeral, such as a cloud or a digital sculpture? There are many possibilities and we are ready to explore them.
The 3D skeleton imports into 3D Software (Blender 3D) as a skeleton.
Currently John Park (Digital Arts faculty) is also crating works with this tool on conjunction with dancers and electronic musicians as a way to press the tool usage out of industry and into creative practice. This work is being carried out by the art collective Harmonic Laboratory.
To get a sense of the fluid motion capture, here are some videos of capture sessions:
And another…
Bloom
This interactive piece encourages the viewer to identify unexpected grotesque qualities in video accompanied by audio, which otherwise could be described as beautiful. The tracking system is set up to recognize two figures within the space with infrared light values by the camera positioned above the gallery space. When participants enter the space, those who use their movement controls aspects of the video such as position, volume, and sharpness. Through the rich user experience contributed by visual presentation, the spectator will understand the function of the piece. This interactive video works at a unique intersection of narrative with film and video, music composition, and physical interaction. As a whole, our objective is to combine beautiful and grotesque elements to generate a surreal, interactive experience.
Tech: Interactive media installation using isadora and a IR camera for position tracking
Re:Member is an interactive multimedia installation that engages group-user experience. The piece explores the varying degree of perspective in shared memory through the vocabulary of classic home made movie footage and period sound material. This interactive media installation was created in ARTD 410 interactive Video, using the program Isadora and a IR camera for motion tracking. http://vimeo.com/20314038
A new addition to the University of Oregon Department of Art: the Cupcake CNC 3D Printer. Now students will have the opportunity to build forms and objects in 3D virtual space and have them “printed” into tangible 3-dimensional objects. Read More…
I like to keep the content of this blog for alumni, bfa’s and mfa’s, however sometimes I can’t help but celebrate the experiences and accomplishments of our Digital Arts under grads….like Kimberly Palmer, last years most appreciated large format printing tech who went to Amsterdam through a UO international program. Kimberly returns this summer to the digital arts program in eugene. Everyone knows I respect and admire the international experience, especially for artists/designers, and I have no doubt Ms. Palmer will return enlightened and inspired. -salter
She kept a blog of her travels:
thurs april 29th was a great day. The School of Journalism, Product Design and Digital Arts collaborated on a workshop headed by Glenn Cole from 72andSunny. A brain storming whirlwind thought-storm whipped throughout the day, ignited by a kinship of creatives that left us all amazed and rewarded. If there is a firm that exemplifies the Digital Arts philosophy it is 72andSunny. It appears to me, Director Salter, that their practice is dynamic and as inter-media as we consider ourselves. Students from all 3 areas collaborated seamlessly as they attacked Glenn’s project briefs. A major Texas salute of gratitude to Deb Morrison, Ad Professor, who corralled us all together knowing it would be a creativity rodeo. Thanks to all involved, and I speak for the whole of Digital Arts when I testify that there is no reason or argument left for not collaborating across schools and areas. The outcome never fails to be rich…from the monstrous success of 72andSunny’s practice to the simple and beautiful success of the experience in the workshop. This is hard data, proof, evidence that we think better when asked to share with like minded people.
students present their ideas to the group…
tools of the creative thinker; ipad, sketchbooks, sharpie, coffee
lunch + human connection
students present their 2nd session ideas...was this the paddle-boat surfing pitch?
Digital Arts senior B.A. student Karyn Fiebich is recognized and celebrated by City of Skies Blog for her intricate and organic drawings. A combination of hand drawn and digital methods result in an expressive understanding of the smallest of the small and the biggest of the big. Caught in the fluid middle of macro and micro, she seeks a deeper understanding to our position in the universe. At the Northsite, in proximity to the Mill Race buildings, we’ll soon all be able to experience her work on the Art Department picnic tables as she has taken fairly ubiquitous objects and made them unique and beautiful moments in our space and time. city of skies blog
UO Digital Arts student Chris Ralston (www.chrisrralston.com) has been selected as a winner in the Hugo Create global design contest from HUGO fragrances by HUGO BOSS. Ralston’s design (pictured above) was selected as one of ten global winners for round 12 of the design contest.
From the hugocreate.com website: “10 winners are selected each round. Each winner receives $500 cash. In each round, one winner gets published in i-D, a prestigious international urban magazine, and some designs will be selected to be painted on New York walls during the month of September.”
See the contest winners at: www.hugocreate.com/en/winners-round-12
