Guest talk – Alan Price

On February 2nd we’ll be having animation artist Alan Price over for a colloquium session. During our time, we will be focusing on Alan’s documentation of projects that have driven his creative research in the area of “real time responsive animation”. The talk will be in room M3017 Lecture Theatre, and we’ll be starting at 5:00pm.

Date: 2 Feb 2016 (Tuesday)
Time: 17:00
Venue: M3017, Run Run Shaw Creative Media Centre, 18 Tat Hong Avenue, Kowloon Tong

 

Topic:
Works in Real Time Responsive Animation

Abstract:
I will be presenting documentation of projects that have driven my creative research in the area of “real time responsive animation”, a form of digital media that relies on my background as an animator and filmmaker. Placing an emphasis on narrative while simultaneously exploring the potential of interaction design and game-play, the work takes the various forms of interactive and immersive environment installations, real time computer animation integrated with live performance, and mobile or networked systems designed to engage multiple participants in a collective experience.

Enabled by computer game technology, these projects explore methods for human-computer interaction involving augmented and responsive environments designed for creative output, collaboration, and new forms of cinematic storytelling. Specific areas of focus include designing interfaces as thematic interpretation of narrative or subject matter to investigate how actions and their familiarity, such as taking a photograph, provide a sense of role-play and immersion, and development of autonomous, responsive virtual characters that respond to the actions or presence of participants. Recent projects explore the integration of mobile applications and visualization of aggregate results of user interaction in immersive installations.

 

About the artist:
Alan Price designs and creates real time responsive animation, virtual environments and networked interactive applications. His work is exhibited internationally and is on permanent display in museums of art, technology, science, and history, including an international MUSE award for technology in museums. His background as an animator and filmmaker emphasizes narrative and cinematic structure in his works with immersive and interactive storytelling. His animation and film work has been awarded and exhibited at numerous film festivals including Black Maria, Transmediale, Humboldt, Anima Mundi, and Ann Arbor, among others. His interactive and immersive environment installations have exhibited at venues including Prix Ars Electronica, Deep Space VR Theatre, SIGGRAPH Art Galleries, Baltimore Museum of Modern Art, and the New Mexico Museum of Science and Natural History. Recent projects include a collaboration with mobile sound artist Teri Rueb, commissioned by the Center for Contemporary Culture in Montpellier, France. Utilizing real time computer graphics technology and combinations of ready-made and custom hardware, he creates interactive performances, mobile apps and responsive spaces to explore alternative forms of personal expression in time-based digital media. He is currently an Associate Professor of Design at the Advanced Computing Center for the Arts and Design at The Ohio State University.

 

To find out more about the artist, you can check out his page here.

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Guest Talk – Bryan Chung

The next Tuesday (January 26th) we will have Assistant Professor of HKBU Bryan Chung to present the inter-disciplinary researches in media arts. We will be back to our usual time slot of 5:00pm in the M6094 Future Cinema.

Date: 26 Jan 2016 (Tuesday)
Time: 17:00
Venue: M6094, Run Run Shaw Creative Media Centre, 18 Tat Hong Avenue, Kowloon Tong

Topic:
To craft with data, to art with codes

Abstract:
The presentation will describe the inter-disciplinary researches in media arts, by showcasing a number of examples in creative arts, interactive media design, and art education by the presenter. The materials include references from subjects such as visual art, computer science, and media design. Similar to a sculptor using wood or metal to craft his/her sculpture, the presenter will demonstrate how he used data as raw material to produce visual and tangible forms. Software brings life to the hardware in the computing devices we use daily. Nevertheless, the codes, as artistic creation, can even be traced back to the late 60s in the conceptual art movement. The presenter will also explain the ideas with his recent award winning artwork in the 19^th Japan Media Art Festival.

 

About the speaker:
Dr. Chung Wai Ching, Bryan is an interactive media artist and design consultant. His artworks have been exhibited at the World Wide Video Festival, Multimedia Art Asia Pacific, Microwave International New Media Arts Festival and the China Media Art Festival.

In the Shanghai Expo 2010, he provided design consultancy to various industry partners in Hong Kong and China. Chung studied computer science in Hong Kong, interactive multimedia in London, and fine art in Melbourne.

He develops software libraries for the open source programming platform, Processing. He is the author of the book, Multimedia Programming with Pure Data (Packt Publishing, 2013). At the Academy of Visual Arts, Dr. Chung teaches subjects on interactive arts, computer graphics, and multimedia.

 

To find out more about our speaker, you can check out his page here.

Guest Lecture – Brett Steele

In our upcoming colloquium session on January 19th, we will have the director of the Architectural Association London Brett Steele come in to discuss in the area of media and architecture, mediated Architectures with us. We’ll go to 3rd floor, in the Lecture Theatre (M3017), and we’ll start at our usual time of 5:00pm.

Date: 19 Jan 2016 (Tuesday)
Time: 17:00 – 18:30
Venue: M3017, Run Run Shaw Creative Media Centre, 18 Tat Hong Avenue, Kowloon Tong

About the Speaker:
Brett directs the AA School of Architecture. This includes the AA public programme, publications, membership and fundraising activities. Current projects include multi-year master plans improving the AA’s historic Bedford Square home and the school’s rural campus in Hooke Park, where AA students and staff have designed and built five buildings since 2011. Brett has hired and brought to London more than 150 teachers from Europe, Asia & the Americas, who now teach at the AA School, lead seminars and direct design workshops in the Visiting School. Recent initiatives at the School include the AA’s Digital Prototyping Lab; dLab summer courses in computational architecture; new full-time MSc & MPhil graduate courses; and a new PhD by Design programme. Brett has created new departments supporting the work of the school, including a dedicated Digital Platforms and Social Media team; the AA Archive; and AACP Curatorial Practices, which includes a team of curators that have realised exhibitions and special events in London and at the Venice, Beijing, Sao Paolo and other architecture biennales.

The Architectural Association is Britain’s oldest and only remaining private school of architecture. For decades the school has been recognized as an influential worldwide leader in architectural education, and the school’s graduates are the recipients of the world’s leading prizes and awards in architecture, including three of the past ten Pritzker Prizes; 2010’s RIBA Gold Medal & Stirling Awards, AIA and UK Young Office of the Year awards. AA graduates have designed some of the world’s most iconic buildings, including all major venues of the 2012 Summer Olympics. AA alumni/ae are amongst the world’s leading educators and heads of schools. The AA is the world’s most international school of architecture, with 85% of its 750 full-time students originating from overseas. In January 2008 Brett launched the AA Visiting School, which now enrolls visiting students from throughout the world, in short courses and design workshops held in fifty cities on five continents every year. Recent Visiting Schools include  Dubai, Tel Aviv, Khazikstan & Tehran in the Middle East; Turin, Istanbul, Madrid, Berlin, Paris, Chernobyl and other cities in Europe; in Santiago, Sao Paulo, Rio and Mexico City in Latin America; and Bangalore, Singapore, Shanghai, Beijing, Dae Jon, Tokyo and other locations in Asia. New 2014-15 locaations include Broken Hill, Australia; Mecca; Mamori Lake, Brazil; Las Pozas, Mexico; Kuala Lampur, and others.

To find out more about our speaker, you can check out his Wikipedia page here.

Guest Talk – Victoria Vesna

The second colloquium sessions this semester will be on Thursday, the 14th of January. We will meet at 6:00pm on the 3/F in the Lecture Theatre (M3017). We will have artist Victoria Vesna presents the talk “BIRD SONG DIAMOND: Listen!”. In this talk the artist will describe the process of developing BIRD SONG DIAMOND, soon premiering in Japan at the largest VR space in the world.

 

Title:
BIRD SONG DIAMOND: Listen!

Abstract:
In this talk the artist will describe the process of developing BIRD SONG DIAMOND, soon premiering in Japan at the largest VR space in the world. The project is a collaboration with evolutionary biologist (Dr. Charles Taylor), physicst (Dr. Takashi Ikegami) and engineer (Dr. Hiroo Iwata), allowing multifaceted, interdisciplinary perspectives — uniquely connecting the nodes of evolutionary biology, artificial intelligence, spatial sound, mechatronic art and interactive technologies.

The diamond as a crystal lattice of connected nodes reflects the commitment of each node to its disciplinary rigor held together in balance through shared interests. The immersive sound and image installation is an effort to include multiple new facets of the larger public — from children to art lovers and from academics to theoreticians. The intent of this project is to permit humans to understand the grammar and meaning of bird songs. Recent advances in sensor arrays, computation, and computational linguistics finally make this long-sought goal achievable.

About the Artist:
Victoria Vesna, Ph.D., is an Artist and Professor at the UCLA Department of Design | Media Arts and Director of the Art|Sci center at the School of the Arts and California Nanosystems Institute (CNSI). Although she was trained early on as a painter (Academy of Fine arts, Belgrade, 1984), her curious mind took her on an exploratory path that resulted in work can be defined as experimental creative research residing between disciplines and technologies. With her installations she investigates how communication technologies affect collective behavior and perceptions of identity shift in relation to scientific innovation (PhD, University of Wales, 2000).

Her work involves long-term collaborations with composers, nano-scientists, neuroscientists, evolutionary biologists and she brings this experience to students. Victoria has exhibited her work in 20+ solo exhibitions, 70+ group shows, has been published in 20+ papers and gave 100+ invited talks in the last decade. She is the North American editor of AI & Society and in 2007 published an edited volume – Database Aesthetics: Art in the Age of Information Overflow (Minnesota Press) and another in 2011 — Context Providers: Conditions of Meaning in Media Arts. (co-edited with Christiane Paul and Margot Lovejoy). Intellect Press, 2011.

To find out more about our speaker, you can check out his Wikipedia page here.

Michael Wolf – Guest Lecture

We’re psyched to have photographer Michael Wolf coming in on January 12th to talk about his work of capturing and documenting life in mega cities. The lecture will begin at the usual time of 5:00pm, and it will be on the 3rd floor in room M3017 Lecture Theatre.

 

About the Artist:
Wolf grew up in Canada, Europe and the United States, studying at UC Berkeley and at the Folkwang School with Otto Steinert in Essen, Germany. He moved to Hong Kong in 1994 where he worked for 8 years as contract photographer for Stern magazine. He then withdrew from editorial photography in order to pursue his own projects.

Wolf’s work has been exhibited in numerous locations, including the Venice Bienniale for Architecture, Aperture Gallery, New York; Museum Centre Vapriikki, Tampere; Museum for Work, Hamburg, and the Museum of Contemporary Photography, Chicago. His work is held in permanent collections across the USA and Germany, including the Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York, the Brooklyn Museum, the San Jose Museum of Art, California; the Museum of Contemporary Photography, Chicago; Museum Folkwang, Essen and the German Museum for Architecture, Frankfurt.

He has won first prize in the World Press Photo Award Competition on two occasions (2005 & 2010) and an honorable mention (2011.)   In 2010, Wolf was shortlisted for the Prix Pictet photography prize. He has also published more than 20 photo books to date including Hong Kong Corner Houses (Hong Kong University Press, 2011) Tokyo Compression Revisited (Peperoni Press/Asia One 2011,) Real Fake Art (Peperoni Press/Asia One 2011,) A Series Of Unfortunate Events (Peperoni Books, 2010) Tokyo Compression (Peperoni Press/Asia One 2010,) Hongkong Inside Outside (Asia One/Peperoni Press 2009,) The Transparent City (Aperture 2008) and Sitting in China (Steidl 2002).

To find out more about our speaker, you can check out his Wikipedia page here.