Digital Arts Research Center

Apr

26

Fabiola Hanna and Andrew Pascoe

Artists on Art continues with the 2011 DANM MFA Graduate Interview Series. Permutations Exhibition begins Saturday April 30 – May 1st and May 5-8th at the DARC. Gallery hours are 10am-4pm.

Fabiola Hanna is a computer programmer video digital artist. Her Installation is entiteld, “We Are History: A People’s History of Lebanon” It is a nonlinear, narrative movie that changes through the application of an algorithm each time new content is inputted.

Some backstory on Fabiola’s piece, in 1997, the Lebanese government released new books and curriculum for all school subjects except one: History. In 1997, like all previous years, Lebanese students struggled to make copies of the old and only textbook available, last published in 1969. That history textbook only covers Lebanese history until 1946, so modern Lebanese history remains unknown, even to its own children. “We Are History: A People’s History of Lebanon” gathers oral histories from the Lebanese who lived through these times, and knits together complimentary or contradicting stories, depending on content and perspective, and presents them as a possible version of history.

Andrew Pascoe’s project is an opera he composed, “God: The Opera” (a chamber opera based on the Book of Job) in collaboration with librettist, Jacob Cribb. The world premiere of this opera will be May 6th at 8pm at the DARC following the DANM MFA reception.

The opera is comprised of a variety of musical styles and tonal practices, ranging from sixteenth century practice to algorithmic computer music. Exploring the meaning of music as a parallel to the meaning of suffering, the opera is replete with musical and literary allusions. Decontextualization and confusion abound as Job navigates a disrupted moral landscape. Performed as a reading, the score calls for: Soprano, Alto, Baritone, and Bass and instruments: Oboe, String Quartet, Piano and Electronics.

Artists on Art Guests Fabiola Hanna and Andrew Pascoe from Nada Ammann on Vimeo.

If you missed any part of the live broadcast, please click on the triangle below to hear the entire show.

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Apr

18

Inventing the Future of Games Michael Mateas – First of Three Keynotes

Artist Interviews

First keynote of the “Inventing the Future of Games” Symposium from Friday the 15th of April.

Inventing the Future of Video Games Keynote Michael Mateas from Nada Ammann on Vimeo.

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Apr

12

Soraya Murray – Guest for 4/11/11

Artist Interviews

UCSC Professor Soraya Murray is a scholar and critic of contemporary art, with particular interest in new media, theory and criticism, and globalization in the arts. Her writings have been published in quite a few art journals. In addition, she is a regular contributor to the international contemporary art journal ExitEXPRESS (Spain). Soraya holds an MFA in Studio Art (Painting) from the University of California, Irvine, and a MA and PhD in art history at Cornell University. She teaches in the Film and Digital Media Department as well as the Digital Arts and New Media MFA program.

Soraya came on to the show as part of the continuing Artists on Art Interview series for the upcoming UCSC DANM MFA graduate Exhibition, Permutations. This is the fourth year that Soraya has curated this Graduating MFA show. During our interview, we discussed her duties as curator, designing the placement of the various (10 pieces in total) installations and naming the show in collaboration with the students. Also, she oversees the writing and placement of the wall signs describing the pieces as well as writing the exhibition catalogue.

The Permutations Exhibition dates are April 30–May 1 & May 5–8. Gallery hours are 10AM-4PM.

The big party is Friday, May 6 at 4PM and beginning with a talk by Steve Dietz, organizer of the biennial 01 San Jose art festival. The Exhibition Reception is at 5:30–7:30PM, immediately followed by a free performance of a newly composed opera. The Exhibition will be in the Digital Arts Research Center (DARC) located off Meyer Drive near the Music Recital Hall and Theater Arts on the west side of campus.

We also spoke of Soraya’s involvement with Inventing the Future of Games Symposium taking place Friday, April 15 from 8:30AM-5:30PM in Silicon Valley. This symposium aims to explore the possibilities of the next decade of gaming innovation and technology. Sponsored by the UC Santa Cruz Center for Games and Playable Media, the symposium will gather some of the brightest minds of academia and industry to discuss the advancement of game design and technology.

The inaugural symposium and coming out party for the UC Santa Cruz Center for Games and Playable Media starts at 8:30 a.m. at the India Community Center in Milpitas, Calif., will feature keynote speeches by Sims creator Will Wright, Linden Lab CEO Rod Humble (Second Life),and Michael Mateas, co-creator of Facade. Tickets purchase and more information is available at games.soe.ucsc.edu/future2011. The symposium is open to the public.

The symposium will include four sessions: exploring the relationship between games and cinema, making self-generating games, the future of games and culture, and creating new forms of character and dialogue. Soraya will be moderating the first session on games and cinema.

Below is a video we took right before the show:

If you missed any part of the live broadcast, please click on the triangle below to hear the show in its entirety.

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Apr

28

4/27/10 Guest Chris(Topher) Maraffi

Artist Interviews

The Artists on Art guest for April 27, 2010 was Topher Maraffi. He is the last in our series of Digital Arts and New Media pending graduates exhibiting at the new Digital Arts Research Center that is having its grand opening (ribbon-cutting ceremony) Thursday April 29, 2010 at 3:15. Since March, I’ve interviewed Kathleen Kralowec, Jessica Hayden and Chris Molla, and last week, Nick Lally.

Topher will perform at this event directly after (between 3:45 and 4:15pm) Chancellor Blumenthal and Dean of the Arts Yager speak at the UCSC Digital Arts & New Media MFA research.

The name of his overall performance is Mimesis & Mocap with two performances, the Avatar Dance and Magic Mirror Game (inspired by the Marx Brothers Mirror Scene). These performance are a cross-disciplinary study in creating believable real-time interaction between human performers and 3D characters within a theatrical environment. His two performances, and The Magic Mirror Game, envision future methods of re-creating classic dance and pantomime movements with a digital double. There will be at three more performances that he will do during the show DANM MFA 2010 Exhibition Everything is Possible (running April 30th-May 9th with the reception on May 7th at 5:30pm).

Here’s a list of his performances:

DANM Building Dedication, Thursday April 29th @ 3:45pm
Saturday May 1st @ 2:00pm
Tuesday May 4th @ 3:45pm
Show Reception Friday, May 7th @ 7:00pm

Additional evening and matinee times may be announced for the 8th & 9th. Check back on his website for details.

Topher came to the KZSC studio a few months ago (March 2, 2010) for only part of the Artists on Art show. I wanted him to come on the show to talk about the DANM and Theater Arts co-production Stop the Press, an audience-interactive production about the demise of print and the rise of digital media. I had already booked with the Queer Queen of Comedy Poppy Champlin when I heard about this successful and acclaimed. One person that has their finger on the pulse of Santa Cruz and has for decades said it was one of the best student productions in years.

I wanted him back for a full show and better explanation of his studies and work as a performance artist, technical animator, educator (dance SWANGO and 3d animation along with other subjects) and author. Prior to joining the DANM program in Fall of 2008, he taught on the topic of 3D character creation and wrote three books on the subject such as MEL Scripting a Character Rig in Maya.

We started the show with a quick download of all the upcoming exhibitors in Everything is Possible. The Artists are: Karl Baumann, Lyès Belhocine, Drew Detweiler, Christoph Girard, Nik Hanselmann, Jessica Faith Hayden, Antoine A. Jaoude, Kathleen M. Kralowec, Nick Lally, Chris(Topher) Maraffi, Kyle McKinley, Christopher Molla, Elizabeth Travelslight, and Alex Walter.

If you missed the live broadcast, you can listen to our show in entirety by clicking on the triangle below.

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This is a TwitVid we did right before the show on Tuesday of Topher dancing.

I’m hoping he’ll be back on the show sometime in the future. In the fall 2010, Topher will start as a PhD student in the UCSC Computer Science program. He plans to continue in collaboration with Theater Arts and to develop expressive and improvisational real-time synthespians.