New Gifts: The Creative Technologies Exhibition by Sean Justice

NEW GIFTS The Creative Technologies Exhibition June 1, 2015 - June 26, 2015

New Gifts Richard Jochum (ed.) This publication accompanies the exhibition “New Gifts”, New York, June 1 26, 2015, celebrating the launch of a new certificate program in Creative Technologies. Art and Art Education Program Teachers College, Columbia University 525 West 120th Street New York, NY 10027 Copyright © 2016 Teachers College, Columbia University Ragged Sky Press, Annandale, New Jersey ISBN: 978-1-933974-22-4 Cover image: Pixel, Jamie Zigelbaum

Foreword • 5 Introduction • 6 Jeff Leonard • 10 Geva Patz • 12 Purring Tiger • 14 Sonja Hinrichsen • 16 Ali Schachtschneider • 18 Jamie Zigelbaum • 20 Jorge Pardo • 22 Amanda Wachob & Maxwell Bertolero • 24 Natalie Freed • 26 Gijs van Bon • 28 Erik Brunvand • 30 Barbara Layne • 32 Jie Qi • 34 Daniel Temkin • 36 Ebru Kurbak & Irene Posch • 38 Matthew Swarts • 40 Máximo and Valenta Flores • 42 LoVid • 44 Golan Levin & Shawn Sims • 46 Grayson Earle • 48 Christian McKay • 50 Jenna Frye • 52 Ji Lee • 54 Miscellaneous • 56 Biographies • 58 Acknowledgements • 63

Gallery A

Foreword Creative technologies have come to play an ever-increasing role in the work of our Art and Art Education Program at Teachers College. Our embrace of new media has offered new tools and materials that have advanced the work we do with our teacher education students and, in turn, the work they undertake with children and adolescents in schools. New media not only empowers imaginations but also equips neophyte educators with instructional possibilities mirroring significant cultural issues of our times. In the world of education, new media promotes finely meshed alliances between the arts, humanities and sciences (STEAM) just as digital fabrication interweaves the cognitive and aesthetic potential of hands-on interactive engagements with diverse ideas and communities in the real world. As we enter the networked possibilities of an ever-expanding profusion of technologies we recognize that this brave new world exists within the confluence of many old worlds shaped by values and practices that hark back in time. The interweaving of exploratory learning, constructionist thinking and critical pedagogy has shaped the emergence of the digitalfabrication world from its early years in algorithm and analog. This new world cannot be fully understood without its history for the idea of world-making linking hands-on exploration to the intellectual work of the classroom embraces and empowers student centered learning. Of course, placing new technologies in the context of the visual arts gives them a special mandate to open the world to new ways of thinking, imagining and dreaming. We see just how awesome this can be in the works included in our June 2015 Macy Art Gallery exhibition New Gifts (and included in this text) which invited viewers to serious physical engagements with games and other-to-self objects that challenged their intellectual and aesthetic resourcefulness. Reflected in robust pedagogy these technologies and ways of working open to new kinds of conversations, promote deep listening and empower richly endowed skills of reflection, creation communication that support learning. With this text we celebrate the opening of our digital fabrication laboratory or THINGSPACE at Teachers College. This we hope will become a space of provocative learning in which all who enter will be invited to become playful and push the boundaries of their own creativity and knowledge. Here, we celebrate a renewed respect for the past and for action-based learning as they challenge and revitalizes how the mind makes meaning within the context of its social, cultural, intellectual and aesthetic challenges. We also thank the many expert presenters who have participated in our two Creative Technology symposia and who have helped us acknowledge and inform our new endeavor. We celebrate, too, the expansion of our curriculum for teachers, educators and researchers with the addition of a Creative Technology Concentration to our Master of Education degree track along with a new freestanding Creative Technology Certification offering. We thank the Provost for his investment grant that supported our work and Professor Richard Jochum and his team without whom we would still be wanderers in the networked world of media and fabrication. Judith M. Burton Director, Program in Art and Art Education April 2016

Introduction: New Gifts “New Gifts. The Creative Technologies Exhibition” took place at Macy Gallery, Teachers College, Columbia University from June 1, 2015 through June 26, 2015, showcasing the work of contemporary artists who work at the intersection of the arts, sciences, and humanities and use digital and emerging technologies as catalysts for artistic expression, storytelling, or cultural exchange. Funded by the Provost Investment Fund, the exhibition was meant to inspire students to bring an expanded notion of materials into their own art making and art teaching. The Exhibition marked the end of an intense year of curriculum development at Teachers College. The Creative Technologies Curriculum (CTC), recently approved by the state, now offers a graduate-level certificate in technology-infused art education. The new curriculum explores the integration of a broad range of materials and technologies in diverse educational settings, with the goal of making students stewards – not just consumers – of available technology. CTC will give students the pedagogies and tools they need to engage creatively and effectively with the technology that surrounds them. Why This Show? The show had particular significance for us since it served as an apt illustration of where we would like to take the new curriculum. It indicated not only how artists are integrating increasingly sophisticated technology into their making but also where art educators need to go in order to stay in touch with the field, which finds itself at the center of a sea change: Emerging and new media technologies have changed the making, teaching, learning, and accessibility of art. These changes have influenced formal and informal learning environments such as universities, schools, libraries, community centers, after-school programs, and art studios. Consequently, the landscape of traditional art itself is changing as a new creative reality steeped in media, technology, and social experience emerges. The “New Gifts” exhibition served as both a celebration of the launch of CTC and a showcase of what is possible when talented artists use emerging, technology-based materials. The exhibition was the culmination of a year-long program of events devoted to the creative use of technology in art education, including round tables, workshops, and symposia. The title – “New Gifts” was inspired by the founder of Kindergarten, Friedrich Froebel, who created building blocks and other materials for educational play called “Froebel Gifts”. I was reminded of these Gifts when I came across Golan Levin and Shawn Sims’ Free Universal Construction Kit, an open-source, inter-operable set of popular toys ready to be printed on any 3D printer. Adding new gifts to the material repertoire of art education, the exhibition was meant to express our confidence that students will be inspired

by these artists to consider technology-infused making in their practice — thereby creating many more new gifts. We want the next generation of art educators to feel empowered by technology, not just inundated by it. The imaginative, innovative artworks displayed during “New Gifts” exemplified the exciting possibilities open to CTC students in their roles as artists, creative technologists, and educators. “New Gifts” represented an exhilarating snapshot of the current state of technology-infused art practice. The twenty-two artists selected for the exhibition pushed technology beyond its functional capacity into the realm of the metaphor. While they employed diverse media and artistic approaches, they were united in their use of technology to create works of art that stand on their own. Together, their work reflected many of the most prominent strategies in today’s art making – such as hybridity, interactivity, and the renewed status of making and experience. In fact, interactivity was key to many of the featured works. For example, “Pixel,” a touchsensitive lightbox by Jamie Zigelbaum, which we chose as a poster-image of the exhibition for the cover page of this catalog, allowed audiences to interact with its plexiglass surface; this would trigger a range of colors to light up at varying levels of brightness depending on the amount of pressure applied. Purring Tiger’s work “Mizaru” provided a similar experience, albeit in a different type of “clothing”: visitors could become “painters” by pressing their hands or bodies against a canvas in order to put in motion an audioenhanced video sequence that would instantly appear and constantly change; depending on the force of their gestures, the brushstroke-like, colorful imprint would become bigger or smaller. Its large scale and accessibility made it one of the centerpieces for the audience, who was mesmerized by the cascade of colors and sound that leaning into the spandex canvas would cause. In a similar fashion, Jie Qi’s LED dandelion could be brightened (or made to move) by blowing against a paper canvas. In order to invite the audience to follow her example, the installation allowed viewers to sneak a peak behind its making, revealing a neatly arranged network of circuitstickers connected through conductive tape. Gijs van Bon’s installation, whimsical in its appearance and simple as can be, made the audience’s choices a form of input: when a viewer was silent, a device slowly lifted a regular sheet of paper into a state of suspension until the viewer broke the silence and began to speak. The effect astonished the audience, who blissfully watched the mechanism release its tension. In another iteration of interactive art, Barbara Layne presented dresses: pressure-sensitive iPad drawings made her fabrics light up. Wearable technology, now a growing business, has long been a corollary of the so-called Internet of Things and was explored by the maker-movement even before it became a commercial success. 7

Natalie Freed’s processor-enhanced notebook, while using a similar methodology as Jie Qi, interpreted interactivity in a different way by pulling live-data from the ocean to light up sections of an LED-enhanced sketchbook drawing of tidal waves. Here it was the environment, not the audience, that triggered modification. One of the rewards of digital technologies lies in its ability to facilitate communication and interplay. As such, interactivity has become a hallmark of media art since it so aptly turns audiences into participants, i.e. inputdevices in a sensor- and feed-based installation-setup. This in return presents the audience with an immersive experience, an offer they cannot (easily) refuse. Technology-infused art making is rarely the outcome of just replacing traditional materials with technologybased materials. It is most often based on the happy marriage of both, i.e. the blending of new and old media into new, hybrid forms. The coming together of proven and novel concepts was strikingly represented in the “Knitted Radio.” The product of a collaboration by a media-designer (Irene Posch) and an architect (Ebru Kurbak), this cross-media piece translated each part of a radio transmitter into a sweater through the traditional craft of knitting by using conductive thread and inventing patterns, thereby creating clothing that was receptive to its environment. Inspired by the squashed protests in Istanbul’s Taksim Square, “Knitted Radio” shrewdly restores the body to its political space. By combining gender-attributed activities – “female” knitting with “male” electronics – the gender barriers, too, are challenged. Embodying the type of crossdisciplinary intersections that I would like for our students to develop, “Knitted Radio” also serves as a prime example of artistic research. Computer-generated technology is imperative in today’s maker spaces. Computer-aided production processes are common in industrial design and architecture and are now entering the field of the fine arts at a fast speed. This speaks to a recent reconciliation of art and design – one that was reflected in Jorge Pardo’s candlestick. This piece might seem like an outlier in an exhibition that otherwise included coding or electronics in one way or another. Yet it shows another prominent aspect of technology in today’s art making: digital fabrication. In order to produce it, Pardo needed a CNC-router. And in addition to revealing the digitally enhanced fabrication process that went into the making of the candlestick, the piece also demonstrates that 3D can be seen as an incremental piling up of 2D layers that ultimately create a form or can be assembled as such. Another divergence, yet very deliberate, was the inclusion of bio-technology in the exhibition. We accomplished this by inviting two participants from the citizen-scientist lab Genspace in Brooklyn: Geva Patz, who presented a paramecium-driven video game that replaced the joystick with sheer mind-power; and Ali Schachtschneider, 8

whose cell-culture based clothing and lab furniture show us that we are only at the beginning of exploring new materials. Both artists reflect the inroads bio-art and life science have made into the broader assortment of creative technologies. “Bio is the new digital,” said Nicholas Negroponte a former director of the MIT Lab. In light of the never-ceasing, breathtaking rate at which contemporary practice renews itself, it seemed vital to include such works in addition to the digital technologies represented by other works in the exhibition. To emphasize emerging materials is of particular importance at a time when the discourse has lost its initial excitement about zeros and ones and pays closer attention to meaning-making and the world beyond it: the postdigital. Works like these challenge the stereotype that new media are cold media. They demonstrate that technology-infused art can allow for touch, smell, empathy, emotion. Perhaps even more importantly, they show us that when we let go of our stereotypes about technology, we can gain access to creative experiences that were, until now, hard to imagine. In order to educate the next generation of art educators, we must expose them to what is new and evolving in art making. The “New Gifts” exhibition was important because, by presenting groundbreaking, technology-infused artworks, it also furnished a picture of where art education is going. In the face of a field that continually outpaces itself with rapid changes, art education has arrived at a crossroads. Old gifts are indispensable. But the new gifts, too, are here to stay. The “New Gifts” audience, which was made up of people from both inside and outside the Teachers College community, enthusiastically embraced the exhibition. This success was due to the hard work of many. I would like to thank everyone who worked with me on this project: my co-curator Sean Justice, who did a terrific job communicating with the artists and public, arranging the installations, and tirelessly tending to a maintenanceintense exhibition; Meghana Karnik, who was invaluable during the initial phase of putting together the open call; and our gallery fellow Ashley Mask and her team. I am grateful for the continuous encouragement of Judith M. Burton, our program director, and for the generous support of the Provost Investment Fund, which made this exhibition possible. Last but not least, I want to thank all the artists who kindly have lent us their work and demonstrated in so many ways how technology can be used creatively. — Richard Jochum

Untitled A2 (Machine Painting), 2014, Acrylic on board

Jeff Leonard Jeff Leonard is a contemporary abstract painter living in Brooklyn, NY. By automating techniques and processes he is able to repeat and layer paint in an organized or random fashion, using simple code and algorithms to create spaces, shapes, and lines. Jeff used this technique to create this painting; he poured, dripped, and spread forms with code until a painting emerged. “Electrons move in circuits through code to create paintings. Today, the ability to paint something that could not be painted by hand is an element in my painting.” “I am always trying to make new tools to create a new technique. Recently I started working with microcontrollers that are control motors and sensors and other tools this led me to build a plotter-type machine that I could attach tools for applying paint.”

Paramecium Gymnasium, 2015, Electronics, Paramecium, Webcam, Computer

Geva Patz Fascinated by the parallels between engineered technological systems and evolved biological systems, “Paramecium Gymnasium” presents an interface between two relatively simple yet remarkable examples of such systems: the AVR microcontroller and the single-celled paramecium. The project originated in a workshop taught at Genspace, a citizen-science and bioart lab in Brooklyn. The original project introduced participants to the basic concepts of input, output and control using simple Arduino hardware. To learn more about “Paramecium Gymnasium” visit making.do/paramecium. “When re-imagining the project as a gallery piece, I was inspired by Saar Drimer’s explorations and use of circuit boards as visual design objects in their own right to develop a custom circuit board that represents an anatomically correct paramecium.”

Mizaru, 2013, Interactive installation: Projector, Screen, Speakers, Computer

Purring Tiger New York-based duo Purring Tiger’s key forces are new media artist/composer Aaron Sherwood and installation artist/performer Kiori Kawai. Together they collaborate on performances and interactive installations that bring people together in the context of art with a subtext of wonder. “MIZARU” is an interactive media installation that allows audiences to interact with a stretched sheet of spandex that acts as a touch-screen sensitive to depth sequences. Upon touching it, the screen-wall springs to life, creating 5 different worlds of visuals and sound. The 5 worlds represent conceptually, 1. illusions (desires), 2. chains (being “The title “MIZARU” is the name of one of the three wise monkeys in Japanese culture, Mizaru Kikazaru Iwazaru, better known in English as See no evil, Hear no evil, Speak no evil.”

Snow Drawings: Eychauda, France, 2014, Inkjet prints

Sonja Hinrichsen ‘‘Snow Drawings – Briancon, France” was created in February 2014 in the French Alps with the help of 70 volunteers. Clad in snowshoes, participants entered the “snow canvas” along a mountain road to start the extensive drawing from as many access points as possible. All participants adhered to a general pattern system based on spiral shapes. This ensured cohesiveness of the giant communal drawing, while leaving openness for interpretation. The outcome was photographed via helicopter, and drones were utilized to shoot video of the participants at work. Hinrichsen’s projects rely on technology to keep them alive and distribute them to the larger public after the effect. “In my artwork I examine environments – urban, industrial as well as natural environments. I am interested in the intersection between place – city or nature – and human perception and utilization thereof, throughout history. I like to unfold my work into large immersive experiences.”

Funguseat (from Vivorium), 2015, Seat grown from celium in an organic wood-based substrate Wet garment, 2015, Edible Matter, 2015 Future garment grown from tissue culture

Ali Schachtschneider Ali Schachtschneider is an artist and designer interested in the body’s interaction with technology, which she explores through the growth of materials. She uses tools from a variety of disciplines, including fashion and biology, to extend the body. “Vivorium” is a speculative future lifestyle which suggests an alternative way of perceiving fashion and the body in relation to the materials, garments, objects and spaces all around it. The former dancer is an artist at Genspace Community Biotech Lab, where she experiments with a variety of materials and technologies. Her work is provocative, blurring the lines between body, material, objects and performance.

“I use my experience with the materials I grow as tools to understand what a future relationship between the body and things could look like and how this could impact lifestyle, experience, design, and sustainability.”

Pixel, 2013, Glass, Corian, LEDs, Electronics, Software

Jamie Zigelbaum Jamie Zigelbaum employs light, computation, and industrial design to create sensate sculptures in order to understand the relationship between information structures and the human organism. Pixel is an interactive light installation activated by human touch. “I work with what I call ‘contemporary materials’ — things like software, industrial design, circuits, light, digital logic, consumer electronics, networked services, and engineered materials. These are the materials that, simply put, make our world so fucking strange. They are the technologies that extend our bodies in new and to present and question the hidden edges and inchoate possibilities of human

Candlestick, 2012, Medium-Density Fiberboard, Laser cut, Courtesy of Robert Gero

Jorge Pardo Jorge Pardo stretches the boundary between art and design. Using common design processes, digital fabrication, he creates objects which are not just invested in the idea of high art, but also in daily life thus establishing a connection between the artwork and the public. Nicolas Bourriaud, co-founder of the Palais de Tokyo in Paris, associates the artist with an aesthetic of the inter-human, the encounter, of proximity and interaction. everyday-objects and art alike.

Y_Set 3, Skin Data, 2015, Pigmented ink jet print X_Set 3, Skin Data, 2015, Pigmented ink jet print E_Set 3, Skin Data, 2015, Pigmented ink jet print

Amanda Wachob & Maxwell Bertolero

hidden or overlooked. For this project, tattoo artist Amanda Wachob worked with neuroscientist Maxwell Bertolero to collect and analyze data produced by Wachobâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s tattoo equipment while she tattooed. Numerical information regarding the amount of time and voltage that went into the making of the tattoo was collected and then translated into visual representations. The designâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s color is based on voltage and a Set3 color scale, and was plotted by 1:1 mapping. The position of color is based on time, and

Tidal Notebook, 2014, Artist book (web enabled)

Natalie Freed Natalie Freed’s “Artist Book” is a physical notebook about tides and tidepools with a microprocessor inside to retrieve and display tide levels in the San Francisco Bay Area. She is interested in creative technologies for children that leave room for them to design and to imagine and to support their storytelling abilities. To learn more information about the Artist Book visit www.nexmap.org/blog/2014/4/1/meet-the-wi-

“I am obsessed with: making things, miniaturized things, repurposing found materials, color, home design, tactile materials and in general the sense of touch, symbolic meaning and coded communication between people, depaysement (that sense of disorientation when encountering something completely new), pockets, good stories, anthropomorphization and characters.”

Growth, 2015, Mixed media

Gijs van Bon Gijs van Bon researches and builds objects, installations and performances crossing art and technology. Schooled as an artist, together with the self-taught technical skills and the craving to learn and experiment with new and old technologies, he creates objects that are a balanced mix of conceptual, sometimes theatrical, content that is visually interesting and is aimed towards an audience. The objects behave as if they are instruments for the people experiencing them. â&#x20AC;&#x153;Growthâ&#x20AC;? takes place in concentrated silence. Any sound disturbs and disables the process of gathering focused energy. The omnipresent impatient, fast moving and loud mass of society needs to be shut out in order for Still to be able to pull up the little piece of paper. Still operates the best in the vicinity of the calm.â&#x20AC;?

Tube Screamer, 2014, Mixed Media (Relief and Screen Printing, Conductive ink, Electronics) Interactive Distortion, 2015, Mixed Media (Relief and Screen Printing, Conductive ink, Electronics)

Erik Brunvand Erik Brunvand works in a variety of printmaking processes and often includes mixedmedia and electronic elements in his prints. The outcome is based in traditional art making. The black portion of the print, however, is made with conductive ink, allowing the print to become an electronic circuit. Touching the print with the attached wire handles leaves audible traces of touch in the black areas. This results in a tangible record of the viewer’s interaction with the piece. “As an artist I am fascinated by connections between arts and technology. This interest has led me to explore and show a variety of kinetic mixed media artworks, many involving electronic control.”

Keyboard Dress, 2014, Linen, Silk organza, Silver ribbon, iPad, and Electronic components LED Dress, 2012, Rayon dress with silk organza, and Electronic components

Barbara Layne Barbara Layne uses natural materials alongside microcomputers, sensors and wireless resulting garments and wall hangings propose new possibilities for fabric and human interaction. The “Keyboard Dress” invites viewers to type their message into the attached iPad. “TouchpadDress” engages participants in drawing on the touchpad. Connected through a wireless signal, the image will be sent to the display in the dress in real time.

Dandelion, 2015, Circuit stickers, Sound sensors, Ink, Paper

Jie Qi

yellows dandelions, but after a few moments bloom into responsive white seed pulls. The piece is a part of a series called Programmable Paintings which blend traditional elements of painting – such as color, texture, composition – with the intelligence and interactivity of electronics and computation. Beneath the interactive painting lies a circuitry made up of microcontrollers, LEDs and microphones. At each dandelion, a microphone listens for wind. Yellow and white LED lights, which can be coded to brighten or dim, act as dynamic programmable paint strokes that make up the petals and seeds. “I am interested in all things art, design, technology, DIY and love to make things that combine all four. My obsession is with paper and electronics, I recently launched a project called Circuit Stickers, which lets you craft circuits using electronic stickers.”

Light Pattern Machine, 2014, Arduino & camera

Daniel Temkin Daniel Temkin makes images, programming languages, and interactive pieces that explore systems of logic and language. Light Pattern is an installation set-up that presents itself as a programming language using photography as its data-input. The audience can communicates with the machine by entering the photographic data-set. Light Pattern is not a discrete artwork but an open ended system, a simple set of rules on combining photographs in ways which translate into machine instructions. “The “Recursive” series is built on self-referentiality: a photographer, either me in order to construct a program that calls itself endlessly until it crashes the computer.”

The Knitted Radio Project, 2014, Knitted sweater, Pattern pages

Ebru Kurbak & Irene Posch “The Knitted Radio” is a sweater that functions as a FM radio transmitter. The sweater combines conductive, non-conductive and resistive yarns to build electronic components that are being used in the creation of a simple radio transmitter. “The Knitted Radio” equips its wearer with the ability to occupy electronic space by sending invisible radio transmission waves. The work is inspired by recent protests on Taksim Square in Istanbul. It allows a multiplicity of voices in public space and inspires a local, free communication structure in environments where other means of communication are heavily controlled or restricted. “The publication of the knitting instructions in an ordinary knitting magazine, a medium often dismissed as of little intellectual value, would allow the uncensored distribution and potential replication of ‘The Knitted Radio.’

Untitled (all), 2014-2015, Archival pigmented, Ink jet prints

Matthew Swarts Matthew Swarts is a photographer who uses computers and printers to create multilayered images. For the series on display he has reutilized archival portraits underneath scans of optical test patterns and childrenâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s illustrations for visual illusions. While the initial portraits are documents of personal loss, the layers - erasing the history of a former relationship - show the artist taking control over his history and inserting authorship by re-creating them as visual artifacts. â&#x20AC;&#x153;My fascination has lodged itself around trying to create dense digital prints that simultaneously hide and reveal some aspect of identity.â&#x20AC;?

Máximo and Valenta Flores This brother and sister team from Bucaramanga, Colombia, works on projects that are related to the space and the context of education using different media (drawings, mockups, video) and tools from various disciplines such as design, and interacts with audiences through a set of “mobile modular devices” that serve as interfaces. Inside are scaled spaces that can be utilized by the participants, while different devices — camera, projector, and tablet — track the interactions and reproduce audiovisual content. The play between scale and materials (mockups museum acquire architectural scale. These new spaces become platforms that trigger the creation of new content, while at the same time they foster alternative spaces to gather for the exchange of ideas. “The malleable nature of digital technologies and its ways of capturing and

time-based connections. Furthermore, the use of light projection — a mechanism of illusion — as a medium bring images closer to the physical dimension of bodies.”

Network Woven, 2010, Woven electric wire

LoVid LoVid is the husband and wife team of Kyle Lapidus and Tali Hinkis. The work technology, music, and science. In NetWork, the ancient craft of weaving is combined with contemporary video engineering. The installation includes participatory weaving elements using electric wires. These same wires also conduct live video from LoVid’s handmade synthesizer. The combination of weaving and live electrical signal represents human touch and attention throughout the passage of time. To learn more about NetWork visit vimeo.com/37956563. “Many of our works develop organically as interdisciplinary projects, which include video, sound, textile, participatory events, book-art, and net-art. These often feature playful and tactile elements. We draw our audiences into immersive experiences via audiovisual environments in our performances and installations, or participatory and audience-led engagements that merge physical and virtual spaces.”

Free Universal Construction Kit, 2012, 3D printed materials

Golan Levin & Shawn Sims The “Free Universal Construction Kit” consists of a matrix of nearly 80 adapter bricks that enable complete interoperability between ten popular children’s construction toys. Open-source based, it is available for free download to be 3D printed. By allowing any piece to join to any other, the Kit encourages totally new forms of intercourse between otherwise closed systems—enabling radically hybrid constructive play, the creation of previously impossible designs, and ultimately, more creative opportunities for kids. To learn more about the kit visit http://fffff.at/free-universal-construction-kit.

“Opening doors to new creative worlds is one major reason we created the Free Universal Construction Kit. Another is that we believe expertise shouldn’t be disposable obsolete each Christmas. By allowing different toy systems to work together, the Free Universal Construction Kit makes possible new forms of “forward compatibility,” extending the value of these systems across the life of a child.… In producing the Free Universal Construction Kit, we hope to demonstrate a model of reverse engineering as a civic activity: a creative process in which anyone can develop the necessary pieces to bridge the limitations presented by mass-produced commercial artifacts.”

Ai Wei Whoops!, 2014, HTML5 Canvas, 265 lines of code

Grayson Earle “Ai Wei Whoops!” is an interactive game. It allows an experience otherwise untenable to

deny the act of destruction, new comparisons are drawn between Ai’s famous triptych in which he is destroying a Han Dynasty urn and Maximo Caminero’s destruction of a painted Ai Weiwei urn in front of said triptych. With Ai Wei Whoops!, materiality is stripped away from the urn by replacing it with a plurality of digital surrogates, and thus the affect that accompanies the act of destroying the urn is mitigated. Learn more about Ai Wei Whoops! at aiweiwhoops.net “We know that Ai takes issue with the destruction of his art [property], but how does he feel about intellectual property? Would Ai take offense to the destruction of digital representations of his work, or is it the loss of material, valuable property that provoked his response?”

Dream Apparatus Beneath the Moon, 2015 Interactive zine: Paper, Copper tape, Capacitive sensing board (Makey Makey), Computer, Scratch

Christian McKay “Dream Appartus Beneath the Moon” is an interactive installation comprising of an interactive zine and a computer. His interactive book follows from the history of the ‘zine’ and serves as a platform for children to engage in story telling in a simple analog format. Watch “Dream Appartus Beneath the Moon” at https://youtu.be/pu_MSGZ1E4M “My work as an educational researcher and artist engages me directly in the space of technology integration in the classroom, and particularly the burgeoning technologies of maker spaces as they become integrated into formal classroom environments. My work weaves itself within the spaces of inquiry, education, technology, art, design, and engineering. I strive to locate the ways in which technology might be utilized in an educational setting that is generative toward becoming something more than the sum of its component elements.”

GIRIH, 2015, Magnetic board, iPad, Magnets

Jenna Frye “GIRIH” (Persian for “knot”) is an educational puzzle game based on the interlaced knotwork ornamentation that is commonly found in Islamic architecture. “GIRIH” has been designed as a playful but challenging way to experience the unique aperiodic patterning and non-translational symmetry found in GIRIH patterns. The game tiles are digitally

“GIRIH” can be played as a toy while introspectively exploring geometric tiling possibilities or competitively as a mind-bending puzzle game of reverse engineering. When technology is framed as a tool for solving problems, it becomes a tool for social justice and equality, which in my work are of paramount importance.

Word as Image, 2011, Video

Ji Lee The “Word as Image” video is created by a challenge: Create an image out of a word, using only the letters in the word itself. Rule: use only the graphic elements of the letters without adding outside parts. The challenge is to visualize the meaning of a word, using only the graphic elements of the letters forming the word, without adding any outside parts. Learn more about “Word as Image” at vimeo.com/30168074 “This project started nearly twenty years ago as an assignment in my typography class at art school. Students were encouraged to see letters beyond their dull, practical functionality. The challenge was very hard, but the reward of ‘cracking’ a word felt great. So this became a lifelong project for me. In 2011, I published a book called ‘Word as Image’ containing nearly 100 words.”

Artist Bios Jeff Leonard • Jeff Leonard is a contemporary abstract painter living in Brooklyn, NY. He was born in Kansas City Missouri in 1961 and grew up in Huntington Beach, California, and attended Orange Coast College. He has lived, worked and exhibited in

Geva Patz • Geva Patz has been abusing computers and electronics since the age of seven. More recently he has put them to

Lab. More Info: www.making.do Purring Tiger • Purring Tiger is a multi-cultural, multimedia, interactive installation/performance group dedicated to bringing people together in the context of Art. Led by choreographer/installation artist Kiori Kawai, and composer/new media artist Aaron Sherwood, Purring Tiger uses technology to intertwine the human body with sounds and visuals, as well as foster interaction. Many of their works take on the form of large scale audio/visual installations, sound sculptures, guerilla art interventions, and performance. More info: www.purringt.com and http://aaron-sherwood.com Ali Schachtschneider • Ali Schachtschneider is a dancer, artist, and designer using a variety of disciplines, including fashion and biology, to extend the body. She is receiving a BFA in Fashion Design from Parsons, the New School for Design. She works at Genspace Community Biotech Lab. More info: www.alischachtschneider.com Sonja Hinrichsen • Sonja Hinrichsen attended the Academy of Art in Stuttgart and the San Francisco Art Institute. She has taken part in multiple exhibitions worldwide. She was a visiting artist at the University of North Carolina-Charlotte and taught a course at the University of Northern Colorado and Platte Forum Denver exploring innovative ways to incorporate art into school curricula. More info: www.sonja-hinrichsen.com Jamie Zigelbaum • Jamie Zigelbaum was born in Cambridge, Massachusetts in 1978. He received a BS in HumanComputer Interaction from Tufts University in 2006, a Masters in Media Arts and Sciences from the Tangible Media Group at the MIT Media Lab in 2008, and was the recipient of the 2010 Designer of the Future Award from Design Miami. Jamie lives and works in New York. More info: www.jamiezigelbaum.com Jorge Pardo • Jorge Pardo is a Cuba-born artist who studied at the University of Illinois Chicago and received his BFA from Art Center College of Design in Pasadena, California. His artwork explores the intersection of contemporary painting, design,

sculpture, and architecture and is part of numerous public collections including the Museum of Contemporary Art, Los Angeles; the Museum of Modern Art, New York; the Tate Modern, London. More info: www.jorgepardosculpture.com Amanda Wachob • Amanda Wachob is a Brooklyn-based artist who is internationally known for her innovative and progressive work with the tattoo medium. She has lectured at the Metropolitan Museum of Art and the Museum of Arts and Design in New York City and has been a contributor on NPR and the BBC. More info: amandawachob.com Maxwell Bertolero graduated from Columbia University in Philosophy and is currently pursuing his PhD in cognitive neuroscience at the University of California, Berkeley. His research is based on discovering how collections of atoms, mere stardust, can be intelligent. More info: www.despolab.berkeley.edu/bertolero Natalie Freed • Natalie Freed teaches robotics and computer science at Lick-Wilmerding High School. She graduated with an M.S. from the MIT Media Lab in 2012, where she worked in the Personal Robots Group. Natalie received her B.S. and M.S. in Computer Science with a concentration in Arts, Media, and Engineering from Arizona State University, in 2009/2010. She lives in San Francisco. More info: www.nataliefreed.com Gijs van Bon • Gijs van Bon is an installation artist, received his training from the Design Academy in Eindhoven and an advanced degree from the HKU in Utrecht, Department of Theatre Design. He initially became known for his abstract kinetic objects before he began designing and performing theatrical, autonomous events. He has exhibited regularly in galleries and art centers. Van Bon lives in the small village Nuenen, also known as one of the places where Vincent van Gogh lived. More info: www.gijsvanbon.nl Erik Brunvand • Erik Brunvand is a computer science professor at the University of Utah and co-founder of Saltgrass kinetics and has constructed machines that create drawings. Combining his interests in art and technology, he teaches a collaborative course in the art department called “Embedded Systems and Kinetic Art.” More info: www.cs.utah.edu/~elb Barbara Layne • Barbara Layne is a Professor of Fibers and Material Practices at Concordia University and a founding member of the Hexagram Institute in Montreal. She lectures and exhibits internationally, most recently at The Museo Textil de Oaxaca, Mexico, the Festival de la Imagen in Colombia, and the Kaunas Biennale of Textiles in Lithuania. Her work is supported by the Canadian Foundation for Innovation, Social Science and Humanities Research Council, the Canada Council on the Arts and the Conseil des arts et des lettres du Quebec. More info: www.subtela.hexagram.ca Jie Qi • Jie Qi is a doctoral candidate in the Responsive Environments group at the MIT Media Lab. She received her BS in mechanical engineering from Columbia University. She has recently been focused on creating custom tools for paper electronics–blending paper craft with building electronics. Her work explores materials and techniques by blending

electronics with traditional arts and crafts media to create personally meaningful technology. More info: www.technolojie.com Daniel Temkin • Daniel Temkin (b. 1973, Boston) makes images, programming languages, and interactive pieces that explore systems of logic and language. He was recently awarded the 2014 Creative Capital / Warhol Foundation Arts Writers Grant for the esoteric.codes blog, his exploration of programming languages as art. He has presented at SIGGRAPH, Media Art Histories, GLI.TC/H, ISEA, and hacker conferences such as NOTACON, with papers published by World Picture Journal,

Irene Posch & Ebru Kurbak • Irene Posch is a researcher and artist with a background in computer science and media and has worked for the Ars Electronica Futurelab and taught at the University of Art and Industrial Design Linz and at the University of Klagenfurt. Irene is a PhD student at the Institute for Design and Assessment of Technology, Vienna Technical University. She currently runs the collaborative artistic research project Stitching Worlds together with Ebru Kurbak at the University of Applied Arts in Vienna. Ebru Kurbak studied architecture at the Istanbul Technical University. She has lectured at the Departments of Visual Communication Design and Photography and Video at the Istanbul Bilgi University and the University of Arts and Industrial Design in Linz investigating the micro electronic space around the human body as an alternative space for artistic intervention and. More info: www.ireneposch.net and www.ebrukurbak.net Matthew Swarts • Matthew Swarts is a photographer who uses computers and printers to address questions arising from photography. He received a BA in philosophy from Princeton University, and an MFA in photography and digital imaging from Massachusetts College of Art and Design. Matthew has taught photography at various colleges in the U.S. He has had numerous exhibitions and is represented by Kopeikin Gallery in Los Angeles. He lives in Sommerville, Massachusetts. More info: www.matthewswarts.com Máximo Flórez López • Máximo Flórez López is a Colombian architect and artist (1979) who works on projects that are related to the space and the context of the exhibition using multiple media—drawings, mockups, video—and tools form different disciplines such as design, architecture, audiovisual media. In order to expand the possibilities for exploring the intersection of art, technology, and audience interaction he created the MURA—Museo Rodante Audiovisual—, a collaborative project that he co-leads with his sister Valentina. Máximo lives and works in Bucaramanga, Colombia. More info: www.murarodante.org LoVid • LoVid’s work includes immersive installations, handmade synthesizers, single channel videos, participatory projects, mobile media cinema, textile-based works, works on paper, and A/V performance. Collaborating since 2001, LoVid’s interdisciplinary projects have been presented widely and internationally and have received support from various organizations including: The Robert Rauschenberg Foundation, Graham Foundation, Eyebeam, Harvestworks, Wave Farm, Rhizome, Franklin Furnace, New York Foundation for the Arts, Lower Manhattan Cultural Center, turbulence.org, 60

Experimental TV Center, Alfred University, RPI, NYSCA, and Greenwall Foundation. More info: www.lovid.org Golan Levin & Shawn Sims • Golan Levin is an artist, composer, performer and engineer who develops artifacts and events which explore new modes of reactive expression. Golan received his degree from the MIT Media Laboratory. Golan is currently the Director of the Frank-Ratchye STUDIO for Creative Inquiry and Associate Professor of Electronic Time-Based Shawn Sims is an artist and designer who works across various disciplines including interactive and industrial design, architecture, robotics, and fabrication. Shawn received a Bachelor’s of Architecture degree from Pratt Institute and a Master’s of Tangible Interaction Design from Carnegie Mellon University’s Computational Design Lab. Shawn is Director of NOTlabs at NOTCOT Inc. More info: www.sy-lab.net Grayson Earle • Grayson Earle is a Brooklyn-based new media artist. Using the Internet as a gallery, he exhibits cultural critiques in the form of video games such as with Ai Wei Whoops! and Terrorist Threat or Harmless Phrase? which implicate the player in radical dialogue. He is a member of The Illuminator Art Collective, a guerrilla projection project created during Occupy Wall Street. More info: www.graysonearle.com Christian McKay • Christian McKay is an educational researcher with an MFA in sculpture from California College of the Arts. His PhD in Inquiry Methodology engaged him in research with teachers and young students. Christian is particularly focused on integrating technology and design processes of maker technologies such as 3D printers, laser cutters, and circuitry into problem, project, and placed based curriculum. More info: www.functionmachine.org Jenna Frye • Jenna Frye holds a Bachelor of Science in Psychology as well as an MA in Digital Art and an MFA in Sculpture. Her work as a maker, thinker and teacher has been showcased across the US and at several academic conferences. Frye is a member of the full-time faculty at the Maryland Institute College of Art where she also serves as Coordinator of the Electronic Media and Culture program. More info: www.jennafrye.com Ji Lee • Ji Lee was born in Korea, raised in Brazil, and lives and works in New York as a creative lead at Facebook Creative Shop in New York. In the past, Ji has worked as a creative director at Google and Droga5. In 2011, he was listed as one of the Guardian, Wired, Time Magazine among many others. Ji is a frequent editorial art contributor for the New York Times. More info: www.pleaseenjoy.com

Opening Reception

Acknowledgments Steve Ackerman, Ama Acquah, Paul Acquaro, Ravi Ahmad, Beatriz Albuquerque, Carianna Arredondo, Bill Baldwin, John Black, Colin Brooks, Maureen Brooks, John Broughton, Brian Bulfer, Warner Burke, Judith M. Burton, Marta Cabral, Andrew Corpuz, Carie Donnelson, Chris Doucet, Steven Dubin, Julie Duong, Geraldine Fabris, Greenstein, Erol Gunduz, Mary Hafeli, Lynda Hallmark, Nathan Holbert, Stepanka Horalkova, Brian Hughes, Suzanne Jablonski, Jessica Jagtiani, Thomas James, Sean Justice, Meghana Karnik, Brian Kassell, Charles Kinzer, Sohee Koo, Patricia Lamiell, Joseph Levine, Ellen Livingston, Ashley Mask, Diana Maul, Ellen Meier, Ernest Morrell, Urania Mylonas, Jon Olsen, Kelly Olshan, Danielle Parillo, Kwan Taeck Park, Jennifer Patten, Mitzi Pelle, Brianna Pitts, Drew Ralph, Kristine Roome, Laura Scherling, Sandra Schmidt, George Schuessler, Dianne Shumway, Robert Schwarz, Shakira Soderstrom, Harvey Spector, Jeanne Tao, Georgette Thompson, Iraida Torres-Irizarry, Andrea Vasquez, Lalitha Vasudevan, Matthew Vincent, Ruth Vinz, Wayguard Wong, Jamie Zigelbaum, and the Provost Investment Fund. Photography by Margaret Ferrec, Sean Justice, et al. Catalog designed by Eric Alberto Garcia.

Acknowledgment Page Ama Acquah, Ravi Ahmad, Beatriz Albuquerque, Bill Baldwin, John Black, Maureen Brooks, John Broughton, Brian Bulfer, Warner Burke, Judith M. Burton, Marta Cabral, Andrew Corpuz, Chris Doucet, Steven Dubin, Geraldine Fabris, Margaret Ferrec, Susan H. Fuhrman, Bill Gaudelli, Steven Goss, Erol Gunduz, Mary Hafeli, Lynda Hallmark, Nathan Holbert, Stepanka Horalkova, Brian Hughes, Suzanne Jablonski, Jessica Jagtiani, Thomas James, Sean Justice, Meghana Karnik, Brian Kassell, Charles Kinzer, Sohee Koo, Patricia Lamiell, Golan Levin & Shawn Sims, Joseph Levine, Diana Maul, Ellen Meier, Ernest Morrell, Jon Olsen, Jennifer Patten, Mitzi Pelle, Brianna Pitts, Kristine Roome, Laura Scherling, Sandra Schmidt, George Schuessler, Robert Schwarz, Harvey Spector, Jeanne Tao, Georgette Thompson, Iraida Torres-Irizarry, Lalitha Vasudevan, Matthew Vincent, Ruth Vinz, Erik Zakrzewski, Shakira Soderstrom and the Provost Investment Fund. Curators Assistant Program Director Gallery Fellow and Team Provost Investment Fund, Catalog Design: Eric A. Garcia, Images: Margaret Ferrec