Art & Science Journal

In a photo lab far, far away… Ottawa-based artist Dante...

yalebuttons — Thu, 23 May 2013 15:21:32 -0400

In a photo lab far, far away…

Ottawa-based artist Dante Penman takes the traditional process of the photogram, and completely turns it around. With a bit of chemical manipulation, his photograms become chemigrams, a process invented in 1956 by Pierre Cordier. What this entails, is that the developing chemicals are not placed evenly on the photopaper. It is the Abstract Expressionism of photography (a connection which Penman made in his artists’ statement). Instead of just painting with developer, Penman adds three-dimensional botanical aspects, such as fern leaves, to mimic the effects of light from pictures in space.

Chemistry, botany and astronomy all play pivotal roles in his work.

Some of his works are even inspired by Science Fiction, the images alluding to lost worlds and alien wildlife. Not only does the viewer become lost in the multi-layers of leaves, debris and chemicals, but they can also become lost in the image, wondering how the artist put it together. The chemistry in it is like magic, and the images will surely put you under their spell.

If you would like to see these chemigrams for yourself, Dante Penman’s work is currently on display at Bubblicity, 730 Somerset St. W., as part of Chinatown Remixed, until the 18^th of June.

-Anna Paluch

Aniwaniwa at the National Gallery of Canada Aniwaniwa is a...

leejonez — Thu, 23 May 2013 10:20:20 -0400

Aniwaniwa at the National Gallery of Canada

Aniwaniwa is a collaborative multimedia artwork between artists Brett Graham and Rachael Rakena. Currently on display at the National Gallery of Canada for the exhibition of indigenous art, Sakahàn, the piece evokes a diverse range of powerful emotions within its viewers. In order to view the piece, which consists of five domed video projections that hang from the ceiling, the viewer has to lie down on one of the many beds provided. In this sense, Aniwaniwa has already challenged the typical relationship between artwork and viewer by altering the position and perspective of the body, but the issues and ideas that the work deals with are also palpable and fascinating.

As soon as you lie down to watch the screens, you feel as though you enter a dream-like state, which is helped along by the fact that you are on a bed. But the imagery that is displayed on the five screens is dream-like in the surreal quality of the scenarios that unfold. Brett Graham and Rachael Rakena have created a narrative of the lives of villagers that live in an underwater town. The use of water in Aniwaniwa represents both the importance of water in the culture and identity of the Maori people, but it also represents a historical event: the flooding of Horahora village to create a hydroelectric dam in 1947. Horahora was also the place where Graham’s father was born, which speaks to his tie to both the submersion of his culture, history and identity literally beneath the water. Having the villagers enact their daily lives underwater becomes a metaphor for cultural loss, as well as a reassertion of the importance that nature holds for Maori culture. Even the title of the piece, Aniwaniwa, refers to the rapids on the Waikato River that was closest to Horahora when the village still existed.

Not only does the content of the work deal with cultural loss and the retelling of history, but also the objects that suspend the work itself. The domed screens are each encased in a sculptural vessel that mimics wakahuia, a wooden box or object that are keepers of memories. It brings to mind that the actions of the villagers are being preserved despite having been submerged, for they have been remembered and retold over the course of history. The carved marks on the sides of the vessels also relate back to the origins of carving within the Maori culture; according to Tangaroan legend, ‘whakairo’ (to carve, to be like a maggot) is an art that has been retrieved from under the water.

To view the work or for more information about the exhibition, visit the National Gallery of Canada’s website for their hours and admission fees here.

- Lea Hamilton

Contingent Continents: The World Over Hundreds of ants...

leejonez — Tue, 21 May 2013 12:02:39 -0400

Donna Conlon, Coexistence (Italy), 2008. Courtesy the artist and Diablo Rosso (Panamá)

Contingent Continents: The World Over

Hundreds of ants industriously eat away at a map of the world in Rivane Neuenschwander’s video work, Contingent (2008) (below). Made of honey, the map slowly disintegrates into nothingness as the formidable continents shrink into smaller islands- mere specks of their former grandeur. This insect frenzy is a metaphor for the poignant and fraught relationship between consumption and the environment; it queries the consumptive habits of humankind and the detrimental consequences such consumption wreaks upon the natural world. While nourishment for ants is a necessity, the reasons for our environmental extortion might not always be deemed essential.

Part of The World Over, a group exhibition curated by Scott McLeod currently on view at Prefix Institute of Contemporary art in Toronto, Neuenscheander’s video thematically links the first work seen upon entering the exhibit, Cuban artist Glenda León’s photograph Between Air and Dreams (2003), with Donna Conlon’s video and photographs of ants, installed in the main space of the gallery. León’s work comprises an image of clouds, assembled into a map of the world while Conlon’s series Coexistence (2003/2008) depicts leaf-cutter ants carrying near-microscopic pieces of various national flags. León’s cloud continents, those fickle and ever changing bits of the atmosphere, speak to Earth’s future as contingent rather than immutable while the harsh borders of nationality are imagined as collapsed, again by the industry of ants, in Conlon’s film and photographs. In all cases, nature reigns supreme while the constructed borders humankind ironically fall prey to the whims of the natural.

These and other works on view in The World Over at Prefix Institute of Contemporary art in Toronto from May 2 through June 22, 2013.

- Natasha Chaykowski

World’s Smallest Animation Showcases IBM’s Research...

leejonez — Mon, 20 May 2013 16:03:45 -0400

World’s Smallest Animation Showcases IBM’s Research in Data Storage

Meet Adam. He is young, playful, and made completely out of carbon monoxide molecules.

Adam and his little pet atom are the stars of the world’s smallest animation titled, A Boy and His Atom.

Produced by researchers at IBM, this miniscule short film was made by moving carbon monoxide molecules frame by frame at a magnification level of 100,000,000 times.

The device responsible for moving each individual molecule is the scanning tunnelling microscope (STM). It is kept in a room at around -260 degrees Celsius in order to slow down the molecules. To position the slowed molecules, the needle-like STM drags individual molecules across a copper plate. At the molecular level, the atom at the tip of the small needle chemically reacts with the molecule of interest to move it to the desired position.

The ability to translocate atoms over surfaces is being investigated for its uses in data storage and computing. Currently, one bit of information can be stored on a magnet made of 1,000,000 atoms. However, in 2012, IBM’s researchers were able to store the same amount of information with merely 12 atoms. In an interview, principal investigator Andreas Heinrich stated that with this discovery, you could store all the movies that have ever existed on your iPod (IBM).

Although A Boy and His Atom is not directly related to IBM’s research in data storage, it showcases a scientific breakthrough in a fun, entertaining manner. It represents great technological advances in the digital age and introduces the ability to store colossal amounts of information beyond belief.

- Janine Truong

(Source: IBM / The Telegraph )

Amy Brener These latest sculptures by New York-based artist Amy...

easaunders — Fri, 17 May 2013 11:00:32 -0400

Amy Brener

These latest sculptures by New York-based artist Amy Brener are something magical. Made of a combination of materials like resin, pigment, and glass (Brener describes these as “totemic structures…of an imagined future,”) these objects combine natural and artificial aesthetics to create something familiar yet strangely distant from a what we know. As the artist describes:

“Some sculptures may be markers for an unknown border, while others hint at vehicular function. Some surfaces are ordered into compositions that allude to touch-screen platforms, energy cells and the digital logic of a different reality. Other surfaces are left to chance: to crystallize, crack under pressure and weather with time. Common sculpture materials such as resin and concrete shed their associations and morph into geological forms. I enforce approximations of natural processes onto my sculptures. Notions of sedimentation, erosion and fossilization come into play.”

See more of Brener’s work at her website here. And read more at her MoMA Studio Visit Page here.

- Erin Saunders

Illusions of Life Painting has always been used to mimic our...

yalebuttons — Thu, 16 May 2013 19:49:42 -0400

Illusions of Life

Painting has always been used to mimic our surroundings. Whether it was used be Ancient civilizations on wall frescoes, or whether it hung in the grand palaces of Renaissance nobles, natural motifs such as plants and wildlife were studied in order to paint the most lifelike rendition.

Now, art is freer, with many movements happening at once. Realism seems to have been pushed back, with artists now focusing on the expression of their work, and how it stirs emotions. This is why artists, who focus on realism in their art, are finding new ways of making it relevant to today’s tastes. Artists Riusuke Fukahori and Keng Lye use layers of resin to bring their aquatic creatures to life, in a visually stunning display of three-dimensional optical illusions. Instead of using a flat canvas, painting on water, and then the creatures, these artists pour resin into jars, bowls or boxes, and paint their fish and turtles, one layer at a time, with more resin poured in between each coat of paint. The process is like that of a 3-D printer, a new technology that many artists are using in their contemporary works.

Through the mimicking of this new art process, their realist style of art is able to join the ranks of contemporary artists.

-Anna Paluch

Candice Couse’s Personal Geographies It is easy to get...

leejonez — Wed, 15 May 2013 15:47:10 -0400

Candice Couse’s Personal Geographies

It is easy to get caught up in the whimsical nature of the video above due to the excellent stop-motion animation, the soft quality of the knitted body and the background music. But the video, Sick (2011) by Candace Couse, speaks to some very profound notions of the relationship between art and the body, as well as the relationship between art and biology. Couse has stated that her work “eagerly engages with the idea of personal geographies as intimate approaches to orientation and identity.” She fixates on the idea of body as the first territory we acquire as individuals. As Couse portrays it, the main conceptual focus of Sick would revolve around the invasion of personal systems and territory of the body by “subversive agents”; in this case, disease. She has also chosen a childish, playful way of representing the body through textiles; by knitting it together, the work mimicks the softer qualities of the human anatomy without being explicit. Even the representation of sickness as a black, spider-like figure takes the seriousness of anatomy and biology, and makes it fully accessible to any viewer.

Candace Couse is also an accomplished painter, exploring her idea of personal geographies by creating portraits that use the anatomy of the body as the basis for maps. Veins become roadways or rivers beneath the skin of the subjects, literally turning the body into a territory that has already been conquered and explored.

To view more of the artist’s works or read more about her, visit her website here.

- Lea Hamilton

Elena Radice’s Abstract Season Changes In her series...

leejonez — Mon, 13 May 2013 17:01:24 -0400

Elena Radice’s Abstract Season Changes

In her series Abstract Season Changes, Elena Radice captures glitches in Google maps. Her interest in glitches stems from the idea that glitches are visible evidence of the imperfection of machines. Google maps gives us the ability to see the world from above, but Radice questions the “truth” of the images. Even when looking at Google maps we must recognize that we are always looking at a representation of something rather than the real thing. The “reality” captured in the image might not be the reality of the present moment, as is evident by the glitches.

Another aspect of this project that stood out is how Radice is using tumblr as a platform for her project. She’s using tumblr as a “white room” for her work. As she describes this idea, tumblr’s “social implication is strictly devoted to this idea of archive as clay that users use and re-use, adding new shapes. I think that the point is to continue the research around the artwork statement that is floating with us into the time flow, and shouldn’t ever be just a definition.”

To view the rest of the project on tumblr, click here.

- Lee Jones

Mineral Microscopy Stephanie Bateman-Graham does mineral...

leejonez — Sun, 12 May 2013 22:37:35 -0400

Mineral Microscopy

Stephanie Bateman-Graham does mineral microscopy, or as she prefers to call it “using a low-powered digital toy microscope to take pictures of beautiful minerals”. In these works Bateman-Graham discovers the parts of nature that are weirdly similar to recognizable art styles — from Van Gogh impressionism to the fractured lines of Picasso. I’ve included her descriptions of the three works above:

Ecosystem (Moss Agate): Do you see a mixed population of microbes living together in a complete ecosystem? Actually it’s a microscope view of the mineral Stringy Moss Agate from Lake Bonneville. The material is translucent which gives a watery feel to the image, but it is entirely solid crystal.

Heart of Stony Glass (Opalite): Microscope view of the Australian mineral Rosella Opalite. The light bounces around this veined and fractured crystalline material to reveal a heart and vascular system inside the stone. The amazing brushstrokes and textures in this image are all natural.

Fire Mountain (Lace Agate): A mountain burns in this microscope view of the mineral Laguna Lace Agate from Mexico. Also known as Crazy Lace Agate.

To see more of Bateman-Graham’s works, click here.

- Lee Jones

Imagined Existence The artist Rui Pimenta has created a series...

yalebuttons — Thu, 09 May 2013 18:51:18 -0400

Imagined Existence

The artist Rui Pimenta has created a series of work that incredibly resembles various forms of cells and life. By using artistic tools, such as paint, he recreates his own ideas of life, or at least the beginning of it. This representation of biological cells can seem revolting to some, and fascinating to others. We don’t know what life these cells represent, because they are the creation of the artist.

It is like staring at the essence of art; an art piece is created by an artist, given life. One can only imagine what evolutionary track this piece would take, if it truly was a biological element.

Examples of some of Rui’s work can be viewed at the Galerie St-Laurent + Hill on 293 Dalhousie St.

-Anna Paluch

Enrico Dini and 3-D Printing Since 2006, the ease and...

leejonez — Sun, 05 May 2013 13:01:00 -0400

Enrico Dini and 3-D Printing

Since 2006, the ease and accessibility of 3-D printing to the general public has significantly increased. This quickly developing technology allows anyone with a basic knowledge of computer modeling programs to realize their own designs in the 3-dimensional world with little skill needed in manufacturing the finish project. Although the price tag of these machines can still cause a heart to stop, the price will continue to drop like all new technologies. Alternatives such as subscription based 3-D printer co-ops also have begun to form, allow paying members access to machines, as well as helpful workshops (check out Ottawa’s Artengine Open Workshops!). These household printers can be fitted to print a number of materials, primarily an assortments of plastics in varying colours and qualities. These are heated into a liquid and printed through a nozzle. The plastic dries very quickly and subsequent layers are printed one over the last, gradually building the form from the base up.

One architect has taken a special interest in the idea. Enrico Dini believes that the future of not only architecture, but also the very way we construct buildings will be based around 3-D printing. To put it simply, he has taken personal size 3-D printers and blown them up to a size capable of printing forms large enough to live in. Instead of heating up plastic to print small plastic jewelry or figures, he prints a specially made adhesive onto sand. Once a layer is printed he sweeps over the still wet compound another layer of sand. Repeat this process several thousand times and voila: you have a sedimentary settlement. The results of Dini’s hard work create an elegant structure evocative of the natural elements and processes that formed well-known settings like Manneport in France that so enthralled Monet. Dini gives his buildings an organic quality that is unrivalled, equally in part to the materials and process. If it were not for the placement of windows and doors you might think it was a natural formation made of limestone, battered by wind and air for centuries.

The technology remains far from perfect, as structures over two storeys have not fully been realized. No doubt the ideas of Dini have contributed greatly to the burgeoning field. Dini’s efforts have accelerated discussion on the materials and sustainability of human habitation, and perhaps he will be the immortalized as the first in a long line of 3-D print architects.

- Daniel Cairns

Cummulus, Art that Tackles Environmental Challenges In Le...

leejonez — Sat, 04 May 2013 16:19:21 -0400

Cummulus, Art that Tackles Environmental Challenges

In Le Laboratoire, Argentine architect and artist Ciro Najle and his team draw inspiration from the form and function of nature in their design of systems water uptake, Cummulus. An elaborate and moving sculpture, Cummulus is a bold engagement of both artistic and scientific dialogue.

Developed using computer-numerical technology and idealized using crochet and wool, Cummulus creatively tackles the challenges of global water distribution. Visually, in its elegant waves of extravagant crocheting, Cummulus is a sophisticated abstraction of the clouds. More technically, on the other hand, Cummulus is a “fog-collecting net” that captures moisture in the atmosphere from which it can be recycled into usable water, giving Cummulus a practical importance in the environmental concerns of water access.

Najle’s work not only aesthetically engages, but also interestingly treads the overlap of art and science, design and technology. Such overlap, as we might have come to sense, is one that may be potentially productive today as we gear for the future.

- Carrie Chui

Paper Reefs Some artists use materials related to the subjects...

yalebuttons — Thu, 02 May 2013 12:02:30 -0400

Cove, 2013

Amaranthine Chartreuse, 2013

Paper Reefs

Some artists use materials related to the subjects they paint when creating art pieces, but artist Amy Eisenfeld Genser doesn’t pick up found object at her local beach when she creates her reef pieces. She takes pieces of coloured paper, rolls them up, and positions them in a way that the final outcome looks like a natural formation of barnacles or sea sponge.

Her pieces are visually mesmerizing, with a hint of something magical! It is like entering into a new world when you look at her work. The mosaic of shapes and colours created by the rolled paper, juxtaposed onto an already painted canvas, stimulates the senses. The artist herself claims her work is both irregular and ordered, using texture to mimic natural motifs.

It is amazing how paper, a material traditionally made from trees, can be manipulated to recreate the basic structures of a reef, which to some, may be considered a tree of the sea. Nature once again creates a connection within itself through art practices.

-Anna Paluch

Kyle Bean for Men’s Health Check out the most recent work...

easaunders — Fri, 26 Apr 2013 15:37:40 -0400

Kyle Bean for Men’s Health

Check out the most recent work by UK artist and designer Kyle Bean commissioned for Men’s Health Magazine. In his characteristically simple style, Bean poetically illustrates the mind-matter relationship by combining a common image and unconventional materials. At once visually pleasing and thematically meaningful, Bean’s work is able to incite big questions with only a little reworking of everyday images.

Follow Bean’s work at his website here.

- Erin Saunders

New Technology in Bill Viola's Art

rosykins — Sat, 20 Apr 2013 20:21:59 -0400

American artist Bill Viola (born 1951) has been on the forefront of video art since the 1970s. Raised in New York City, as a young child he nearly drowned, an experience he describes “…the most beautiful world I’ve ever seen in my life.” After studying and working as a video technician in Syracause Viola moved on to become a pioneering artist in his field. One of his most recent creations, Ocean Without A Shore, from 2007, installed in the small Church of San Gallo in Italy for the Venice Biennale, featured camera technology that allowed for a single string of video to change from low definition/grayscale into full colour/high definition. Viola’s themes often include his fascination (likely from his near-death experience) with water. Using again highly sophisticated technology (created just for Viola’s piece) to create a literal clear glass-like wall of water, his models walk through the feature in low-def and emerge into crystal clear colour. Three vertical screens were installed above three altars, signifying the passing of life into death, and the idea of rebirth. What better place to portray life and death than in the setting of a chapel? Viola’s work achieved high critical acclaim; in this tiny chapel nearly hidden in the Italian city, capable of holding less than 50 people at one time, Ocean Without A Shore gained over 60,000 visitors during its installation. Attached below is a “Tate Shots” interview with the artist about his inspiration and the amount of work required this particular piece.

YouTube Video - Ocean Without A Shore, 2007, Interview

See more of Viola’s works here

- Rose Ekins

Connections: The Tree of Life and Death Connections are...

yalebuttons — Fri, 19 Apr 2013 16:02:44 -0400

Connections: The Tree of Life and Death

Connections are everywhere, be they symbolic or literal. Every connection has its purpose, from the tiny fibers of an adult human fibroblast cell, which connects (or adheres) to extracellular matrixes, to trees, with their deep roots, connecting themselves to the ground. See, even these two seemingly different objects, with their own unique connections, can also find a way to be connected to each other. A photograph of a network of adult human fibroblast cells looks oddly similar to that of a pink tree (taken by Heather Champ) found in San Francisco, but, where the cells actually help produce more cells, more life, the pink tree is in fact, dead. It can no longer grow or blossom, like the cells in their own way. That does not mean this tree cannot still be admired aesthetically in some way.

An unknown artist, upon hearing of the death of the tree, decided to give it new life by transforming it into a small but significant urban art piece. Though it was taken down not long after, it shows that even when dead, natural objects such as trees can still be used to make beautiful art.

So artists go one step further, and create art long after a tree has been cut down and transformed into a new object; a piece of paper. Artist Emma Taylor creates a series of work called “From Within A Book” where she takes pages of a book and sculpts various scenes, such as a stork carrying a baby or a person reading a book. One work that particularly stands out is that of a large tree, coming out from between two pages. It reminded me of the pink tree, and even of the fibroblast cells. Like the pink tree, the tree used to make the pages is long dead, but the artist has taken the pages, connecting them together like cells, to create a new tree.

Though not truly living, it is an echo of its former self, and yet, still as beautiful. The tree seems to be one of few natural objects that can be beautiful and inspiring in both life and death.

-Anna Paluch

Interconnectivity of Ranjani Shettar’s Just a bit more,...

katlintrogers — Thu, 18 Apr 2013 10:56:49 -0400

Interconnectivity of Ranjani Shettar’s Just a bit more, 2005-2006

At my first meeting with Shettar’s expansive and delicate hanging sculpture, the art historian in me made the immediate connection to Eva Hesse’s similar hanging pieces created in the 1960’s. But then I thought, let’s move past just a simple theoretical comparative discussion of the two works and examine Just a bit more singularly. What I was surprised to discover was my own train of thought and the significance of my internal connections being made mirrored in the interconnectivity of the delicate coloured beeswax balls linked together by the fine tea-stained thread. As you read this article, you are making your own connections—perhaps also to Hesse’s work since I brought attention to it, or perhaps another artwork, or even the complexity of all the connections of the piece akin to DNA or our network of synaps in the brain. Also, there can be an argument made for the work’s representation of technology and its ability to be a vehicle to connect people around the world; not only in terms of social media and its ability to transmit and spread information quickly, but at a more basic level of pure communication from one to another. As Shettar is from Bangalore, India, an epicentre of technological education and innovation, it is interesting to also view this piece as a representation of the impact of technology on society and our incessant obsession to stay connected to each other.

It is this process of making our own connections and building an infinite train of thought as we experience the piece that I find rather poignant to the work. All of these connections work quite beautifully as our own unique thought processes are visually represented in the work we are pondering and experiencing. What is particularly interesting to note is how the artist leaves it up to the viewer to take away what they will from her piece rather than thrust upon the audience a set meaning or significance of the work. Rather than being concerned about deconstructing the piece by unravelling high level theory or peeling back the layers to get at the essence of the piece, Shettar allows the viewer to simply experience the piece and take what they will from their own unique journey and relation to the work. We can find similar theory in the modern untitled abstracted paintings that leave the viewer to find their own conclusions…but that is just a bit more contemplative connection to continue the train of thought…

-Katlin Rogers

You can find more information on Ranjani Shettar here on the MoMA library resources website.

Call for Interns

victorialn — Wed, 17 Apr 2013 23:45:00 -0400

Art & Science Journal is currently accepting applications for summer Content Interns in our new office space in Ottawa.

Driven by a talented team of Staff Writers and Contributors, Art & Science Journal is a biannual publication and website focused on art works concerned with science, nature, and technology. Our mission is to promote, explore, and inspire the wonder that occurs when art and science collide. We strive to be an informative and engaging resource for educators, students, and artscience enthusiasts alike.

Our 2 Content Interns will be crucial contributors to a very exciting Art & Science Journal project launching in September 2013.

Intern Responsibilities:
- Research and develop content for the aforementioned Art & Science Journal project.
- Fact check and proofread content for the Project.
- Participate in editorial development and attend regular Staff Meetings.
- Write a weekly column on artandsciencejournal.com
- Offer editorial support to the Editor-in-Chief and Project Manager.
- Text based social media participation.

Our Interns will be expected to devote a minimum of 10 hours per week to the Project, 5 of which will be completed in the office in collaboration with the Project Manager and Editor-in-Chief. The internship will run from June 3 - August 30, 2013.

This is an excellent opportunity for university and college students and recent graduates in the Ottawa-Gatineau region to gain valuable editorial and research experience and be part of an exciting new project at Art & Science Journal. Our internships are unpaid, but students may arrange to complete the internship for course credit at their respected university or college.

To apply, please send your C.V. and two samples of written work (short articles, article pitches for Art & Science Journal, or class essays) to the Project Manager at victorianolte@artandsciencejournal.com. Samples should not exceed 1,000 words in length.

All applications are due by midnight on Tuesday May 7, 2013. Qualified applicants will be contacted for an interview, to be held the week of May 13 - 17.

Thank you for your interest in Art & Science Journal! Good luck!

- Victoria Nolte

ART + COM: Manta Rhei Founded in 1988 by a group of designers,...

victorialn — Mon, 15 Apr 2013 16:02:32 -0400

ART + COM: Manta Rhei

Founded in 1988 by a group of designers, scientists, artists, and technicians, ART + COM is a company committed to the exploration of new media and technology. The company designs and executes commissioned projects for clients such as the German Salt Museum, the BMW Museum, and Autostadt Wolfsburg. Based in Berlin, ART + COM relies on both the content of their projects and cutting edge technology to produce commissions that establish new innovative boundaries between the fields of art, design, science, and technology.

Manta Rhei (2012) is ART + COM’s newest completed project. A collaboration between ART + COM and light fixture manufacturer Selux, “Manta Rhei merges physical movement and light choreography for a new kind of luminaire, the first to be based in OLED technology.”

More than a simple light installation, Manta Rhei is a performance of impressive choreography and machinery. Composed of sets of ten OLEDs which are attached to fourteen 1.2m flexible metal “lamellae,” the installation shifts with the aid of motors hidden in the ceiling. Each motor can be controlled individually, allowing each set of lamellae to perform patterns of prescribed motion.

Suspended from the ceiling, Manta Rhei looks like a large-scale Minimalist sculpture, a testament to its design aesthetic. However, the individual movements of each metal lamel allow the entire installation to appear as if it is moving though the air. This important design feature provides the added element of functionality that blurs the line between art, design, and technology. Manta Rhei is as functional as a light source as it is a breathtaking art/tech installation.

For more information about Manta Rhei and other projects by ART + COM, please visit their website here.

- Victoria Nolte

Penelope Umbrico’s ‘Suns from Flickr’ Upon searching the word...

lartpourlascience — Mon, 15 Apr 2013 14:11:17 -0400

Penelope Umbrico’s ‘Suns from Flickr’

Upon searching the word ‘sunsets’ on flickr Penelope Umbrico discovered more than half a million photos of sunsets that had been shared by people from all around the world. Selecting a few hundred from this vast collection she created the ‘suns from Flickr’ installation in which the selected photos were placed side-by-side forming a huge wall of suns.

What I find most interesting about this piece are the questions it raises about technology as an artefact and our use of it (in all its varying forms) for the representation of natural phenomena. The sun in all its ubiquity has and continues to be photographed via the many different types of photograph technology; many of these photographs are then shared on the internet on websites like flickr, facebook and of course tumblr. Umbrico, whether intentionally or inadvertedly, lays emphasis on the underlying veneer of irony that characterises nature photography. Photography as a medium of artistic expression has indeed impressed upon us many of the often-fleeting splendours of the natural world, splendours that are sufficiently ephemeral to render the capturing of them in time, through photography, more of a worthwhile pursuit. The sun however is and will, to the best of my scientific knowledge, always be here – the giver of life and warmth so completely eternal, it begs the question: why are there so many photos of it?

‘Suns from Flickr’ is currently on display as part of the ‘Landmark: the Fields of Photography’ exhibition now on at Somerset House in London: http://www.somersethouse.org.uk/about/press/press-releases/landmark-the-fields-of-photography

- Adrian Deen