A gallery exhibition of highly interactive art from around the world will be a special feature of SIGGRAPH 2016, taking place July 24-28 at the Anaheim Convention Center in Southern California and taglined “Render the Possibilities.” This year’s Art Gallery, “Data Materialities,” represents a unique collection of 10 installations created between 2003-2016.
“We have made a special effort to bring back large-scale, highly immersive displays for the ArtGallery. Our title, ‘Data Materialities,’ illustrates the fact that in 2016, we are all constantly surrounded by networks, information, and data,” said SIGGRAPH 2016 Art Gallery Chair Jonah Brucker-Cohen.
“Whether these stimuli consist of electromagnetic frequencies or physical wired connections, networks are everywhere, consuming and permeating our offices, homes, schools, and public indoor and outdoor spaces. ‘Data Materialities’ exposes this plethora of data and transforms it to incarnations of tangibility that not only showcase their complexity, but also allow us to relate to them on a human scale. By injecting humor and kinetic energy to this year’s exposition, the Art Gallery will make light of these data platforms and present them on a grand scale to reveal their ubiquity.”
Highlights of the exhibition include:
Submergence
(Chris Bennewith, Liam Birtles, Oliver Brown, Gaz Bushell, and Anthony Rowe; Squidsoup)
A large, immersive, walkthrough experience that uses up to 8,064 individual points of suspended light to create feelings of presence and movement within physical space. This video from YouTube user Nick Hunter shows the installation at the Geneva Mapping Festival.
Pixelbots
(Paul Beardsley, Disney Research Zürich)
A new kind of display in which pixels are represented as small colorful mobile robots called “Pixelbots,” which create cartoon-like images or animations. Pixelbots can be seen on the Disney Research YouTube channel, where they present a “Story of the Universe” animation, including a fish, a dinosaur, and a human.
The Kinetic Story Teller
(Tine Bech, Independent Artist)
An installation investigating how art, technology, and playfulness can create new systems of communication by materializing data through kinetic interaction – and offer people new ways of connecting with each other in public spaces. Two beautiful swings light up and display people’s social media messages on screens, encouraging participants to connect while they play.
Plinko Poetry
(Peiqui Su and Deqing Sun, New York University)
A playful, interactive installation with roots in both the famous TV game show “The Price Is Right” and experimental blackout poetry. Every player can be both a winner and a poet. Drawing source text from current @nytimes and @FoxNews tweets, players can absurdly re-contextualize news headlines that are often overloaded with meaning.
