Virtual Instruction Leaps Off the Screen with The LIVE Center

Arcadia Installation created by artist Sam Nester as viewed outside the Presidents Park Hydroponic Greenhouse

Arcadia Installation

Cultivates Green Consciousness

“ARCADIA REPRESENTS AN INSPIRING FUSION

Data from plants is sent to

a computer, producing music through MIDI instruments .

A groundbreaking exhibit featuring plants as musical composers and visual performers opened in November 2020 and ran through December 2021. Arcadia was created by artist Sam Nester and offered in partnership with the School of Art’s Murals at Mason and Mason Exhibitions initiatives. The exhibit was accessible via its dedicated Twitch livestream and in person from outside the Presidents Park Hydroponic Greenhouse on Mason’s Fairfax campus.

Arcadia uses modified biodata-sonification sensors to convert the natural, real-time biorhythms of Virginia native plants into Musical Instrument Digital Interface (MIDI) data. Data collected from the plants is processed via a computer that then outputs sound through a variety of MIDI instruments. Plant signals controlling the MIDI instruments also control an LED light display corresponding to the pitches of the instruments. The audiovisual experience creates a synesthetic art exhibition where the activation of one sense triggers other senses.

Arcadia applied contemporary artistic practice to engage cross-disciplinary research with collaborators throughout the year. Two of these partners were the Center for the Advancement of Well-Being and Mason Recreation, which hosted yoga classes with Arcadia in the spring and fall of 2021. Similarly,

Donielle Nolan, the Greenhouse and Gardens Program Manager and current Biosciences PhD student, is making use of the exhibit to conduct research on the propagation of American ginseng and soil microbiome health—both of which support her ongoing research about root rot in hydroponics and her development of an organic integrated pest management (IPM) program.

University Curator Don Russell supports Arcadia’s integration of research, “I would like to see contemporary artists collaborating in all types of research, not only by influencing the research process, but by creating an accessible and communicable result: a work of art.”

OF WORLDS—THE NATURAL

AND THE DIGITAL, THE

VISUAL AND THE MUSICAL.

THIS KIND OF BOUNDARY

BLURRING SPEAKS

DIRECTLY TO A VISION

Plant si gnals controlling the MIDI Instruments also control an LED light display. OF A BETTER FUTURE.”

RICK DAVIS,

Dean, CVPA

Robert K. Purks Faculty Enrichment Endowment

Established in 2018 by Robert Purks, a longtime Arts at Mason Board member and arts supporter, The Robert K. Purks Faculty Enrichment Endowment provides perpetual support to further the research and creative activity of CVPA faculty.

2020-2021 Grant Winners

Lisa Billingham, Music to study virtual choir synchronous rehearsal strategies and solutions

J. Carrier, Art Management to create a new photography project, Adraba: In Circles

Shanshan Cui, Art to produce multimedia cultural storytelling through artists’ books and interactive media narrating the political and cultural turmoil in China in the last century

Christopher d’Amboise, Dance

Moving Story Window Wall technology support for virtual education in dance supported by life-sized projections

Jena Hansen-Honeycutt, Dance

Fitness and Injury Epidemiology in University Dancers presentation to The Supporting Healthy Arts Research Consortium

Maria Karametou, Art

Exhibition publication: Katzen Museum of Art - mixed media works

Michael McDermott, Art

to offer public exhibition addressing data insecurity and identity theft, Undeleted

Kathleen Mulcahy, Music to find, perform, and record educational examples of BIPOC and LGBTQ+ composers for developing high school and college performers

Ted Prawat, Game Design to develop an education project using serious game, Inside Titanic’s Boiler Room - STEAM

William Wheeler, Art to develop a web-based collaborative drawing tool showcased through an art exhibition of faculty and student work

Pictured in circles:

SHANSHAN CUI CHRISTOPHER D’AMBOISE LISA BILLINGHAM JENA HANSEN-HONEYCUTT KATHLEEN MULCAHY TED PRAWAT

Research Grants

H O KAI Veterans and the Arts Initiative D

. S

I T A Y I N

James Robert Casey, Game Design

Innovative Methodologies in Gaming Technology for Outreach, Office of the Flood Insurance Advocate at FEMA Dewberry Engineers, Inc. U.S. Department of Homeland Security

Center for the Arts

Mason Artists-in-Residence engagement with SWING OUT National Endowment for the Arts

Mason Artists-in-Residence engagement with CARTOGRAPHY Mid-Atlantic Arts Foundation National Endowment for the Arts

Niyati S. Dhokai, Veterans and the Arts Initiative

Community Connections Project: Ukelele Workshops for Military Families Creative Forces: National Endowment for the Arts Military Healing Arts Network Community Connections Project: Effects of Ukulele Workshops on Sense of Community and Social Engagement for Veterans and Servicemembers Creative Forces: National Endowment for the Arts Military Healing Arts Network

Megan Lavengood, Music

A New Vision for Open Music Theory State Council of Higher Education for Virginia

Don Russell, Art

The Mural Project George Mason University State Council of Higher Education for Virginia

DON RUSSELL (LEFT) JAMES ROBERT CASEY

Justin Peter Sutters, Art

Research: How is Art Education Looking? National Art Education Foundation

Gail S. White, Art

White-tailed Deer Herbivory National Park Service

Michael Wilson McDermott, Art

Undeleted, a public exhibition addressing data insecurity and identity theft Virginia Research Investment Fund Commonwealth Cyber Initiative