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Mixing it Up

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Moderated by Cynthia Rubin and Sue Gollifer
Event Date/Time:

Los Angeles, USA Fri, Mar 31, 2023 at 1:00 pm PDT
Denver, USA Fri, Mar 31, 2023 at 2:00 pm MDT
Chicago, USA Fri, Mar 31, 2023 at 3:00 pm CDT
New York, USA Fri, Mar 31, 2023 at 4:00 pm EDT
London, United Kingdom Fri, Mar 31, 2023 at 9:00 pm BST
Paris, France Fri, Mar 31, 2023 at 10:00 pm CEST
Sydney, Australia Sat, Apr 1, 2023 at 7:00 am AEDT

Register Now for the Session: Click for Zoom Link
Session Description 

Digital Imaging has evolved to become the ultimate assemblage medium, providing the space for artists to move among various software and physical processes in creating innovative work.  Traditionally artworks are classified by medium. As Digital Artists, we uniquely positioned to break down these arbitrary barriers in our practice.  
 
Is it a “work on paper” if it is a print, or “new media” if the essential components are first digital, and the print is secondary, but also not wholly digital because the artist has drawn on it, or cut into it, or wrapped it around a physical object, or put something onto the surface?  Is it is a sculpture if the form was developed in 3D software, it was 3D printed, but then physically cut into, with a variety of substances added to the surface?  What if it is just one component in a grouping of elements in an installation? 
 
We are interested in a discussion of works that are both entirely digital in conception and works combining physical and electronic media. The “mixed media” aspect of the work can be seamless, or the very juxtaposition of methods can be jarring.  We are interested in all of it, all of the combining and reconfiguring, including using software in applications far different from those envisioned by their developers. The primary consideration is the very concept of Mixed Media, and the new aesthetic possibilities combining can bring.  

Presenters:
Hybridization, HipHop and iOS Apps
Renata Janiszewska

My present manner of working is to pass a digital file from one iOS app through multiple other apps.The elements of my art are initially computer-generated and then decorated with digital paintings drawn with a stylus on the screen of my device. These elements act as characters in the mise en scĂšne made using multiple apps. There is layering, cutting out, blending, pasting and doubling of material to produce still images or animated loops. I edit these like an early hip-hop artist: I connect the loops using simple mobile editing software. I compose and record my own soundtracks. The DIY quality of my working method frees me tremendously to express my emotions. Hybridization allows for multiple techniques to be used and the file travels through multiple formats instantaneously. I self-identify as a Techspressionist artist. All of this experimentation has allowed me to develop a distinct and recognizable style as an artist.

https://vimeo.com/renatajaniszewska

The Dialect of Digital Transformation
Deborah Cornell and Richard Cornell

Digital language is one of indeterminacy; it creates a space of possibility. In our collaborations, our process transforms between electronics and the physical, with form emerging as the project intensifies. This talk considers our collaborative work Aqua Alta. It was originally conceived in 2007 as an installation of nine layered digitally printed wall hangings with electronic sound, a preemptive elegy for the coming loss of cultural touchstones due to ocean rise and climate change. First presented in Buenos Aires, its assemblage of sounds, texts, and imagery was later revisited in 2019 for a concert setting. The  form of this work transformed to a disembodied experience, reactualizing its themes in a purely digital space. Many of our works have an intrinsic interdependence with varying physical components, such as the mural/projection/sound work Eclipse/Phase where digitally generated light, color, and sound collide with a printed surface to create an immaterial experience.

http://www.deborahcornell.com/aqua.html

Floral Design + CODE
Yeohyun Ahn

Floral design employs imagery from plant materials and flowers to create a visually appealing composition. The earliest known use of floral design dates back to ancient times. The Gutenberg Bible in the 1450s adopted illustrated flowers to add to the printed book’s high aesthetic quality. In the modern era, design professionals incorporate floral elements in creating rhythm, contrast and harmony. Floral Design + CODE reinterprets traditional floral design into computational visual design. It employs mathematical expressions, computer algorithms, and libraries, in a collection of generative floral arrangements, including illustration, textile design, type, typography, and augmented reality. Floral design + AR allows the audience to experience immersive floral images using projection and computer vision in Processing. 

http://www.typeandcode.com

Adventures in Mixing It Up
Cynthia DiDonato

Analog and digital art have always gone hand in hand in much of my artwork. Mixing different mediums excites me. The act of mixing and blending reinvents each medium in a unique way that opens up a world of artistic possibilities that lend themselves to a related body of artwork from which I can evaluate their success or failure. It is sometimes literally a trash to treasure experience. I have a world of media from which to choose. A choice that is critical for me. Successful or unsuccessful photographs, pencil or pastel drawings, paintings both analog and digital, and physical objects pepper my work. Experimental approaches using a number of software applications inspire me. I travel in and out of apps like Procreate, iColorama, Photoshop, Snapseed, and Percolator just to name a few. With the birth of a new piece of art, photograph, or software application I am off on another creative adventure.

http://cynthiadidonato.weebly.com/mixing-it-up.html

Deconstruction of Everyday Patterns
Miho Aoki

My talk will highlight the relationship between fine arts and textile design, and my own recent work with textile patterns. My work deconstructs patterns in everyday life and reconstructs them into textile pattern designs. I observe patterns I encounter, and then simplify them into geometric patterns that can be procedurally generated as 3D models. I also use other methods, such as traditional sketching and extracting patterns with neural style transfer. My work focuses on the ordinary elements of our lives. The world around us is filled with patterns, such as lines of cumulus clouds in the summer sky, various plants, and human-made patterns, including bathroom floor tiles and a gird of participants’ faces in online meetings. My textile patterns are a return to our daily life, creating a closed loop as they are applied to practical items such as bags and pillows.

https://pagubostudio.blogspot.com

Painting the Digital Water
James Faure Walker

I move between regular and digital paint. I am not too worried about media labels. I just want the pictures to work OK. I am happy keeping within boundaries. I don’t print on canvas; I don’t paste paper on anything. Technical constraints force me to improvise. Gouache doesn’t give the translucency of watercolour. Digital paint is versatile, but not sticky and obdurate like oil paint. Has paint software revolutionised painting? Yes. And a big No. Twenty years ago digital art was riding a wave of techno futurism. Little of that remains. Museums now look back at the pioneer work. In ‘Painting the Digital River’ of 2006, I wrote about this with a sceptical eye. During the 2020 lockdown I couldn’t get to my studio. I worked purely digitally, on the theme of vintage radios. The resulting ‘Wireless Set’ recalled pieces I had made thirty years before, on an Amiga.

https://www.jamesfaurewalker.com
https://instantloveland.com/wp/2020/07/17/james-faure-walker-speed-and-limits/

Digital Combines: A Metamodern genre for Contemporary Interdisciplinary Art Practice
Sue Beyer

Digital Combines are a new genre proposed by artist and educator Claudia Hart. While visual artists have long been fusing discordant objects as a conceptual tool, Digital Combines expand on this by joining the physical, digital and the virtual in space, through a blending of traditional, new media and blockchain smart contracts. The word ‘combine’ is borrowed from Rauschenberg’s combines in which he fused three dimensional objects onto his two dimensional paintings and questioned the establishment by challenging the traditional concept of  the picture plane. Digital Combines are very similar to Rauschenberg’s eclectic choice of mediums, as they too embrace non-traditional materials, like NFTs and the blockchain as a medium.
Sue Beyer explores this new genre using a metamodern framework and a combination of traditional and new media. The outcomes are contributing to a greater understanding of the present moment in contemporary culture.

https://www.suebeyer.com.au

Unlimited Materials in a Digital Artwork
Sahar Moussavi

A vast variety of apps and software gives us an endless source of creativity and ideas to make a digital art pieces. I have found these sources amazing and used them in my work. I mix my primary 3D renders with other digital materials such as digital photos and AI. The main concept is finding color and light in darkness: searching for hope in the most difficult times. 

https://www.instagram.com/p/Cd1DU2aILlT
https://linktr.ee/saharmoussavi

Art, Culture, and Meditation: The Birth of “Ch’an Mind, Zen Mind” 
Jing Zhou

Meditation is an ancient healing method in many cultures. Inspired by nature and Asian culture, the digital imaging series “Ch’an Mind Zen Mind: Visual Meditations on the Ultimate Reality and Absolute Calmness” reflects my experience in search of inner peace through one of the most widely held oriental philosophies—Ch’an, also known as Zen. This body of images are high-quality archival prints mixing traditional art media—such as photography, painting, printmaking, and drawing—with digital graphic production using 2D and 3D software such as Adobe Photoshop and Illustrator, Corel Painter, and Autodesk Maya. The process of creating this project has influenced my later works in interactive media.

http://www.jingzhoustudio.net/zen_mind_chan

Transforming Computational Visual Music into Fine Art Monotype Prints
Sean Zhai

This project is an experiment in transforming visual music into prints. The original music, a live saxophone performance mixed with Max/MSP feedback, was created in 2003. Through sound spectrum analysis, visual music was produced using the Processing programming language in 2015. The pandemic’s lasting impact sparked a desire for working with tangible media. This recent work was the result. Selected snapshots at various times served as the base layer for monotype printmaking. The toner transfer process bridges the gap between digital images and physical media. This hand-controlled method allows for creative maneuvers, such as masking or adding textures. Monotype’s flexibility enables the incorporation of objects from nature and daily life into the inking, stenciling, and embossing processes. This workflow opens up new possibilities for creating original artwork from digital images. The resulting prints are rich and nuanced, while the experience of undertaking this project is both therapeutic and refreshing.

http://seanzhai.com/depay

Moderator Bios:

Cynthia Beth Rubin is an early adopter of digital imaging, beginning her transition from paint to computer in 1984. She is currently artist in residence in the Menden-Deuer lab in the Graduate School of Oceanography at the University of Rhode Island, exploring imagery of the unseen marine microscopic life. An active member of ACM SIGGRAPH, she exhibited in numerous SIGGRAPH art gallery shows, served as Chair of of the Digital Arts Committee, and Chair of the Award for Lifetime Achievement in Digital Art, and is currently a member of the selection committee for the ACM SIGGRAPH Academy.

https://CBRubin.net


Sue Gollifer is an ‘Honorary Fellow’ of the School of Arts and Media, at the University of Brighton, and the ISEA International Board Counsellor. A pioneer of early computer art, she has continuously explored the relationship between technology and the arts and has written extensively on this subject. She is on a number of National and International Committees, including the Computer Arts Society and the ACM SIGGRAPH Digital Arts Community. She is also been a member of a number of SIGGRAPH Art Gallery subcommittees (from 1998 – current). 

https://collections.vam.ac.uk/search/?q=Sue%20Gollifer