PROOF-OF-PROCESS

Gallery Gachet and DPrime Research present

PROOF-OF-PROCESS

Art, Technology, Research in Progress

Gallery Gachet – Wed., June 6th, 12 – 6 pm

Exhibition/Workshops/Open Lab Forum: June 6th – 10th, 2012, 12 – 6pm
Symposium and Exhibition Presentation: Sat June 9th, 8 – 10pm

Interact and contribute to science & tech based artworks.

Proof-of-Process is a prototype for a community research laboratory. It consists of a series of hybrid exhibitions, workshops and symposia where participants, along with artist-researchers, can interact with, and contribute to, the development of science and technology-based artworks and research projects in various stages of development – all within a publicly accessible laboratory and production workshop set-up in the gallery space. We seek to engender an atmosphere of critical engagement and experimentation where the experience of the work unfolds through its direct manipulation. Visitors are invited not only to view and interact with projects, they are also encouraged to directly manipulate components and actively change the configuration of systems. Unplug, rewire, and experiment.

Artist-Researchers will be on hand throughout to answer questions, provide technical assistance and participate in discussions. Proof-of-Process fuses research, DIY production workshop, educational seminar and a gallery exhibition into one event. Some of the projects that will be accessible include: intelligent drums that communicate via electrical stimulation, an interactive display of bioluminescent algae, and an electrochemical analog computer.

Born of several ideas and realizations, Proof-of-Process seeks to address certain (sometimes problematic) trends in interactive art and new media. First, we have noticed that contemporary new media and interactive art is increasingly (and needlessly) becoming a highly specialized discipline that is locking itself behind security and becoming like the science of the academy. Second, art works that incorporate technology often seem to espouse an aesthetic of consumer technology: the wires must be hidden and the components must be put into a black box. Third, much like a scientific research project, the average contemporary new media or interactive art piece is often a collaborative project that is never at a standstill. Works often exist as iterations or modified versions of previous works. Finally, the works presented challenge common notions of “new media” incorporating chemical processes and biological materials into active configuration with computing technologies. We believe the philosophy and goals of Proof-of-Process will address all of these issues and challenge the way that interactive art is practiced and thought about.
~ DPrime Research Team

This event is open to the general public. People of all ages and backgrounds are encouraged to attend.

Please go to http://dprime.org/projects/proof-of-process/ to sign up for workshops and for full information on each of the projects being presented.

DPrime is a nonprofit research institution specializing in cultural production informed by the intersection of technology, research and the arts, which includes Steven J. Barnes, Carlos Castellanos, Tyler Fox, Yin He, and Diego Maranan.

Artist Biographies

Steven J. Barnes holds a Ph.D. from the University of British Columbia (UBC). Trained as a behavioural neuroscientist, his neuroscientific expertise lies in the areas of learning and memory, psychiatric disorders, epilepsy, neuroplasticity and metaplasticity. He currently teaches neuroscience and psychology at UBC, does research in the areas of (non-traditional) virtual reality, bodily awareness and embodied cognition, and runs a consulting and programming business.

Carlos Castellanos is an interdisciplinary artist and researcher with a wide array of interests such as embodiment, cybernetics and systems theory, networks, phenomenology and artificial intelligence. He is exploring the aesthetics of information technologies and their effects on lived embodied human experience. This has taken a variety of forms and include scholarly writing, net art, interactive installation, sound, performance and techno-conceptual systems. Castellanos is currently pursuing a Ph.D. at the School of Interactive Arts and Technology (SIAT), Simon Fraser University and splits his time between Vancouver and San Francisco.

Tyler Fox is an artist and researcher with a broad interest in embodiment, technology, posthuman identities, and the discursive and material practices that produce categorical distinctions and differences, such as ‘art’ and ‘science’. Tyler received his MFA in Intermedia from the Elam School of Fine Arts in New Zealand in 2004, he is currently a PhD candidate at the School of Interactive Arts and Technology at Simon Fraser University.

Yin He is an engineer with interests in wearable computing, social networking and electronic design. She has a Bachelors degree in Electrical Engineering from Queen’s University and a Masters degree in Ubiquitous Computing from Simon Fraser University.

Diego Maranan is an artist, activist, and academic whose interests lie in the intersections of motion, bodies, and technologies. He is an MA candidate at the School of Interactive Arts and Technology at Simon Fraser University, where he previously studied computing science and contemporary dance. He has facilitated workshops both in new media art and in movement practices in Europe, Asia, and Canada. A recipient of an Honourable Mention for the 2006 Holy Body Tattoo Emerging Artist Award for British Columbia, he is an instructor at the University of the Philippines Open University, an affiliate of the Centre for International Studies at the University of the Philippines Diliman, and the Emerging Technologies Coordinator for WeDpro, a non-profit organization that promotes the protection of human rights of women, youth and communities in the Philippines.m