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Respond brings tomorrow's digital art to Cambridge |
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RESPOND Digital Arts Programme 2 – 5 April 2003
The people of Cambridge will have their eyes opened to the possibilities of an interactive future from 2-5 April when the Respond programme of events, talks and digital art demonstrations sets down in the city to provide a visionary, sensory experience of tomorrow’s world.
Respond aims to thrill, to educate, and provide an unprecedented opportunity for everyone to find out how human bodies, physical spaces and digital data will one day interact while you are shopping, netsurfing, clubbing, at your PC or searching for a new mate. Many of the artworks in Respond need you to activate them. So you are invited to face the digital future and get your hands on it here and now.
For anyone who has ever wondered how future entertainment places will look and feel, or how we will interact with smart buildings that can read our senses, Respond explores the potentials. The intense four-day programme of activities has been co-produced by Future Physical (London) and The Junction (Cambridge) in association with Cambridge University Moving Image Studio (CUMIS). Respond gives people a chance to try out the hi-tech wizardry for themselves, before it will arrive in our work, living and play spaces.
At Cambridge Drama Centre, artists Thecla Schiphorst and Suzan Kozel invite the public into a sensitive environment, Whisper, where they can try on clothing with built-in electronic sensory devices. These respond to your pulse-rate and other data from the body, which in turn trigger sounds, colour and projections around the wearer. Whisper then reveals what is really going on under someone’s cool exterior. As such it could easily become the next innovation in speed dating – just wait for the fireworks!
Eight other close encounters of the futuristic kind can be experienced across the city at venues including CB2, The Playroom, Sedgwick Museum of Earth Sciences and Mumford Theatre. There is no charge and the artists that have created the exhibits will be on hand to show how to try them out and to explain how they brought their ideas to life.
Respond draws upon many creative themes within the emerging digital arts movement. This pioneering art is being developed by performers and visual artists inspired by the creative possibilities of new technology. Working in collaboration with researchers, designers, architects, computer engineers and scientists, digital artists are harnessing an exciting synergy between the arts and sciences to stimulate lateral thinking and exploration of new creative potential.
Andrea Stark, Executive Director of Arts Council England East, commented:
"Respond gives international artists and technologists an unprecedented opportunity to work together to shape the future. It seems completely fitting that it is taking place in Cambridge which is already a world leader in technical innovation."
For more information about Respond events scroll to the footer bar, click on ' archives' and check out ‘digital’ under 'what’s on'.
Editor’s Notes
Respond
RESPOND is co-produced by Future Physical (shinkansen/Arts Council England East) and The Junction.
Future Physical: Stretching technology - a human adventure
Future Physical is a major cultural programme exploring the changing boundaries between the body and technology. Future Physical places the human body at the centre of digital interaction through commissioning and presenting regional, national and international projects and events specially designed to creatively push forward the scope and scale of our physical interactions with everyday technologies: within the four research areas of Future Physical: Wearable Computing and Smart Textiles, Biotechnology, Eco-Technology and Responsive Environments.
Future Physical supports internationally established artists to relative newcomers, all with the imagination to envisage a remarkable path into the future, pushing the boundaries of technology while blending it with art.
The programme of projects and events takes place between December 2002 and April 2003.
The Junction
Since it opened in 1990, The Junction has been committed to supporting new artists and new art forms. Regionally, nationally and internationally, The Junction is at the very forefront of a new artistic movement – digital art. Its programme explores the possibilities integrating new technologies into art and performance. With funding support from Arts Council England East, the digital programme has nurtured artists via commissions and bursaries and also by promoting collaborative work involving artists and scientists. In November 2002 digital arts formed a part of the New Technology Arts Fellowship exhibition co-organised by The Junction, Kettle’s Yard and Crucible.
shinkansen
shinkansen is an artist-led cultural research and production unit specialising in the performative use of digital technologies. The unit has specialist skills in collaboration, interauthorship, networked production processes, intelligent stage and telematic performance creation. shinkansen deliver a year round programme integrating professional development and public events at a local to global level. The unit creates performance for live to digital distribution, generating projects that enhance creativity and learning for public and professionals alike. Established producers of art, performance, media, club culture events and web technology, shinkansen conceived Future Physical. Backed by Arts Council England, East, Future Physical is exploring future interaction of the human body and technology through a series of pioneering events and art commissions.
Arts Council England, East
Arts Council England, East is the Government development agency for the arts in Bedfordshire, Cambridgeshire, Essex, Hertfordshire, Norfolk, Suffolk and the unitary authorities of Luton, Peterborough, Southend-on-Sea and Thurrock. Its mission is to increase the impact of the arts in East England. It does this by making strategic investments in the arts, by providing advice and expertise, and by working in partnership with other agencies and stakeholders, especially Local Authorities. During the life of its current Corporate Plan 2000-2004 Arts Council England, East is investing £30 million of public funds in the region’s arts.
Background Material
Intelligent spaces and responsive environments are increasingly part of our everyday life, here are just a few examples from the world around you;
Albert Square is somewhere in the East End of London, it has a pub called the Queen Victoria, a launderette and a café. Of course, you already know this area as well as you know the people who live there. The only problem is that this environment doesn’t actually exist beyond our TV sets. The influence of technology on our day-to-day lives has reached a point of no return. The boundaries between what is real and what is fabricated are slipping and Virtual and physical spaces are merging into one concept.
In the age of online shopping, retail centres and high-street stores are having to create new ways to appeal to shoppers. The movie Minority Report features a shopping mall where the animated advertising knows exactly who is walking past and tailor’s it’s messages directly at passers by.
Ever played a video game? In-game graphics have become so sophisticated that computer-generated environments look like the real things. The reason why the value of the games industry is on a par with the film industry is because it provides a similar kind of escapism. The difference being, that a video games allows you to interact with and change the environment. Already virtual games worlds like Everquest or Ultima Online are proving to be increasingly addictive and popular destinations for people to spend their leisure time. In these complex and beautifully rendered 3D games worlds hundreds of thousands of people every day meet to play out fantasy adventures in return for a small monthly fee.
In the real world in Seoul, South Korea, one of the most technologically advanced cities in the world, office workers are welcomed by working areas ready lit and heated to their individual requirements. Asia has had intelligent buildings for years and they’re already exporting those ideas to the West.
Essex University is currently working on the iDorm, a study bedroom that is fitted with sensors that can detect and learn the occupant’s behaviour with the aim of providing an environment best suited to their needs. The sensors monitor and alter the room’s environmental conditions, such as light and temperature. The room also has intelligent security in the form of a door lock that can recognise the identity of the occupant.
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