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An on-going series of works / projects of different nature, each making use of texts of internet error messages, i.e. Web Server Result (HTML Error) Codes / HTML Error Codes / WWW Error Messages / HTTP Status Messages. Installed using plants and materials commonly used locally in municipal or other official plantings of the area.
To research Māori building and construction techniques, using the archives of Puke Ariki as well as via interviews with tangata whenua and visits to existing buildings and sites in Taranaki. Then with the material collected, we intend to build two structures, one intended to house a 5 screen video installation to be located inside (possibly Puke Ariki) and another that will function as a sculptural-shelter in Pukekura Park. We will combine what we learn from our research with other building techniques to create a hybrid work that straddles various worlds. Ecologically sound materials will be used either utilizing recycled materials, straw bales (perhaps the strawbale + clay building technique, a skill we have), or bales made from weeds or perhaps woven or bound flax. An aim in the choice of materials for the interior work will be to bring the outside (rural Taranaki) in and for the outdoor work we will be looking at reflecting something of the ‘inner’ world/s or make a play on inside/outside through a construction that functions as a sculptural intervention. If feasible, we will incorporate a natural process for the work to return to nature in the form of a compost-able work of art. Our goal while working on both projects would be to network and coordinate with others, either teaching skills as they help us or to make use of the knowledge or skills of others in the manner of workshops where the public can participate.
Sen McGlinn and Sonja van Kerkhoff, both born and raised in Aotearoa (New Zealand) have been based in the Netherlands since 1989 and have been making art works independently, together, or in collaboration with others since the mid 1980s. Most of their work, often in the form of a site specific installation, relates to the human condition as an interweaving of the spiritual, social and material. For example in 2009 they participated in the “Treetop Gallery” in Regents Park in London, U.K., where Sen delivered a lecture in a tree house on “Structuring Society in an age of globalisation” while Sonja’s contribution was the hanging of orange tinted translucent tulips.
This work will emerge out of a conversation between interested members of the Maori community and artists, Kate Genevieve and David Montgomery, and consider how members of this community situate themselves in the second decade of the 21st Century. Kate will bring to this conversation her research into experiments devised within contemporary neuroscience to explore the neural bases of time perception. The resultant installation will explore Maori notions through technology associated with contemporary neuroscience’s explorations.
Through Gather they intend to explore marginalised traditional ways of experiencing time as opposed to the West’s clock time, using the engaged bodily experience of participants. The immersive environment seeks to manipulate participant’s experience of subjective time by using animated visuals and soundscapes that respond to the audience’s real-time heart beat in the space. Through combining bio-sensor technology with multi-sensory and haptic exploration of the botanical gardens, the intention is to destablise the body’s normal experience of time and its sense of being separate from the environment.
The film footage will incorporate patterns from the plant life of the site and, drawing upon David Montgomery’s expertise as an experimental film maker working with natural specimens, create experimental animation from the Park’s vegetation. The visuals will incorporate leaves and plants from the Botanical Gardens, and draw on local knowledge of the gardens and the different plant species from across the globe that thrive together.
As Artist in Residence at the Sackler Centre for Consciousness Science at the University of Sussex, UK, Kate Genevieve has been collaborating with scientists investigating consciousness and the subjective feelings of presence and embodiment, and researching the methodologies and technologies science is using to approach subjectivity. Her work within the centre has used immersive visuals as a means of investigating presence through the bodily experience of participants, often incorporating particular experiments into narrative performances. An example of this is the interactive performance, NO PLACE, a walking meditation on presence within constructed environments that extended and pushed at the techniques of the “rubber-hand illusion”.
Recently Kate has been working with pulse-sensor technology to respond to the Centre’s work on how increased interoceptive awareness correlates with heightened feelings of presence. This work led her into a particular interest in considering how bodily experience effects temporal experience. With reference to experiments probing the neural correlates of time perception, as found in the research of neuroscientists Patrick Haggard and David Eagleman, Kate is now beginning to explore heart-beat responsive immersive environments to explore how heart beat feedback effects time perception.
The Gardens interestingly represent one instance of the blending of indigenous New Zealand culture and British culture, both in its history and its botanical life. Gather seeks to respond to this site through incorporating the plant life of the Botanical Gardens into the visual experience. Experimental film maker David Montgomery developed an animation technique using found objects, such as flowers, leaves, shells, and seed pods, while studying Digital Arts and Sciences at the University of Florida. As Artist in Residence at the Exploratorium he created animated loops from the flowers of the Pohutukawa tree and conducted initial research which he will develop through Gather into the links between particular flowers and trees and Maori folktales.
Whilst contemporary western brain science and philosophy is key to Gather, the aim of this art practice is to widen out neuroscience research from its focus on standard western experiences of time and subjectivity. Their attempt is to take neuroscience research into the world, into places not represented within science studies: outposts, islands, places and communities distant from the lab and the FMRI machine. We hope that this effort towards cross-cultural and cross-disciplinary dialogue might suggest directions for returning science, as Merleau-Ponty puts it, “to the site, the soil of the sensible and opened world such as it is in our life and for our body…”[Eye and Mind].
Gather will be installed within the Pukekura Park Bandstand, a constructed and symbolic site that represents the spread of a Victorian mode of formalising and containing nature and experience. Installing Gather within the bandstand, that curiously British ornamental construction scattered round the globe in the Victorian era, involves a serious attempt to broaden and perhaps undo a production focussed, urban, industrial understanding of time and space that the bandstand signifies.
Exhausted by identity politics that lead to fixed binaries – western/non-western, art/science, male/female, technology/nature – their working processes seek out common ground. This work is born from and results in communication and collaboration and will use digital technologies to create multi-sensory experiences that facilitate and suggest alternative (rather than new) ways of being in spaces. The exact set up of the performance must emerge out of specific meetings, conversations and exchanges between groups of people and sites during the residency.
The outcome of this project is to sonify environmental data through a series of small solar powered audio-visual devices. Each device will be roughly the shape and size of a brick, hence their name – Brickets.
The devices collectively create an ecology of cricket-like sounds in a outdoor setting. Each Bricket contains an electronic circuit that produces digitally generated chirps that resemble the sounds made by crickets or frogs. Each device also contains a series of LED lights that glow every time the device produces a chirp.
The devices are also capable of listening to their environment, communicating among themselves and receiving information every time another device chirps. The regularity of the chirping depends on the time of day (they become active at dusk) and the responses of the neighbouring Brickets. Different devices will tend to couple more strongly with their neighbours, producing pockets of synchrony as the population of Brickets moves between chaos and a common period of calling.
When a Bricket generates a sound, a ring of LEDs light up in sequence on the device’s face, visualising the duration of the playback of the chirp. While active, the Brickets have an interactive component as passing pedestrians will be able to influence the rhythm of the chirping by standing over the bricks or waving a limb over them. Brickets charge up their batteries using their in-built solar panel during the daylight hours, and then expend the energy as sound and light during the night.
One presentation opportunity for the Brickets would be to connect them to the daily water consumption of a building or area. Recent improvements in water and power data collection and measurement could enable this. Just as frogs call after prolonged rain, so too would the Brickets sing if the building’s water use fell below a daily threshold. The devices would begin to call after dusk, and would serve as positive reinforcement to encourage thrifty water usage.
Brickets – proposal image
Wai is an exhibition whose main theme comes from Dr Te Huirangi Waikerepuru. Wai means water or flow and occupies a central place for Māori. The first stage of this project will be exhibited at 516 Arts in Albuquerque as part of ISEA2012, the International Symposium on Electronic Art.
One of the works in the exhibition Wai is a work by Te Huirangi – Te Taiao Māori.
In 2011 for Istanbul ISEA, Te Huirangi had composed a chart of Te Taiao Māori, the Māori universe. This was presented as a 2.5metre x 3metre chart of words on the wall.
For presentation at Cultura Digital in Rio de Janeiro, the chart was formatted as an animation using After Effects. The background is photo astronomy by Paul Moss, who also took part in the Istanbul show.
The work will be also shown as part of SCANZ 2013: 3rd nature in Puke Ariki New Plymouth opening February 2nd 2013. This will be it’s first exhibition in Aotearoa New Zealand, an important moment for the local audience.
The image above is from a presentation at the Planetary Collegium’s Technoetic Telos on Kefalonia Island, Greece. Previously this detail of the chart had been presented on Waterwheel in Tunisia and had been translated into French.
It is intended that the ISEA Albuquerque version will contain Portuguese and Spanish translations. Part of Te Huirangi’s kaupapa (policy) is that of recognising local cultures.
Clearly there is world wide interest in the Māori worldview and particularly in the context of electronic art. As Steven Kovats observed after seeing the exhibition in Istanbul “the interconnections between the Māori concepts of flow, movement, space, time, collaboration say much about the ideals of open and critical digital culture and theory today.”
Wai or flow is central to Māori who also speak of “Ika Moana, Ika Whenua, Ika Tangata” – fish, fish land, fish people. The Māori expression for ‘Who am I?’ – “Ko wai au?” literally means “Whose water am I?”
3rd nature residency artists and Parihaka hosts outside Te Raanui, the whare kai (house for eating). The visit to Parihaka set the residency off to an excellent beginning.
This photo by Jo Tito shows the wananga- symposium attendees after the final session and clearing up. They are outside the whare kai Ko Tama Wahine at Owae Marae. The group had a wonderful spirit at this time.
3rd nature involved creativity and innovation at the intersection of three critical interfaces:
*Acknowledging the environmental crisis; *Engaging with Maori and indigenous peoples; *Engaging with Sciences and the Hybrid Arts
These three intersecting dialogues provided space for a Third Nature, a fresh space for engaging with new knowledge and approaches vital to a sustainable civilisation.
The SCANZ 2013 3rd nature residency is the basis for the entire project.
The residency commences with a visit to Parihaka on day one and two. Over the two week period of the residency, there will be a series of open labs in the WITT Art Space, where local people have been invited to take part in, and conduct sessions based on themed days. Interested people are welcome to attend and contribute.
The residency artists are:
Darko Fritz — darkofritz.net
Ilka Nelson — thelasttree.net
Sonja van Kerkhoff and Sen McGlinn — sonjavank.com/sensonja/index.html
Kate Genevieve and David C Montgomery — kategenevieve.com and silvefishcloset.com
Jo Tito — jotito-artist.com and handpaintedrocks.com
Pierre Proske and Damian Stewart — digitalstar.net, damianstewart.com
Jayce Salloum (screening) — tinyurl.com/jaycesalloum
Vicki Smith — sailingforsustainability.org
Dr Tracey M Benson — byte-time.com
Rulan Tangen — Dancing Earth
Nigel Helyer — Dr Sonique
Cecelia Cmielewski — Profile
Nina Czegledy — ninaczegledy.net
Trudy Lane and Halsey Burgund — thehouseofwonder.org, halseyburgund.com
Kura Puke — Profile
Brooke Sturtevant-Sealover — brookesturtevant-sealover.com
Deborah Lawler-Dormer — Academia.edu Profile
Josh Wodak — Project proposal
Terri Crawford — Profile
Guy van Belle — Profile
Shannon Novak — shannonnovak.com
Some of the project proposals accepted for the residency – see here»
The list of accepted abstracts is found here. Below is the list and grouping of presenters.
The exhibition in Puke Ariki and Pukekura Park opened on February 2nd at dawn. Click the exhibition link above or this link for images of the works.
The exhibition and symposium will be presented in the form of a special edition of Leonardo Electronic Almanac with a limited edition print run. We are also in discussion with Cambridge Scholars Publishing for publishing proceedings.
Wānanga-symposium dates: February 1-3 2013. Day one was at Owae Marae, day two at WITT, day three was at WITT and in Pukekura Park.
Residency dates: Friday 18 January to Monday 4 February 2013. Day one was at Parihaka, with the remainder at WITT. Several people arrived a day early so they could attend two days at Parihaka, which is world renowned as a site of peaceful resistance, under the leadership of Te Whiti and Tohu.
Exhibition opening: Dawn (6.28am) February 2 2013 at Puke Ariki. Pukekura Park projects were viewed on February 3rd. The exhibition closed on April 2nd 2013.
Integrating indigenous perspectives with creative, environmental, scientific and academic views on reality is essential to a sustainable future. At the same time, computing and digital media are changing our relationship to culture and the environment.
On the one hand digital technology allows us to analyse and display data in new ways, as when anthropologists use language databases to shed light on the movement of culture.
On the other hand digital technology adds to our senses, and extends them beyond the body to the forests and the land. Scientists, artists and others are transforming the environment into an organism, as Maori and indigenous peoples have always known it to be.
SCANZ 2013: 3rd nature will bring together diverse people to discuss how to approach working together across culture, discipline and media. We must work together to resolve the issues emerging at the boundary between fresh knowledge and deep knowledge, beginning with sharing knowledge and projects.
Presentations and projects which highlight cross cultural interchange and/or computing and electronics projects and/or the hybrid arts were sought. The ensuing discussion and presentations will be shared in a special edition of Leonardo Electronic Almanac, the online publication of Leonardo – the leading Massachusetts Institute of Technology journal.
The concept of a third space – a zone of hybridity – traverses the cultural landscape from the writing of Homi Bhabha in the mid 1990s, to Sony advertising (see hypertext.rmit.edu.au/dac/papers/mcguire.pdf). Hybridity is now embedded in creative and cultural production and consumption.
A space of hybridity can assimilate potentially any set of concepts. SCANZ 2013 3rd nature sought to develop a fresh space, carrying memes from previous SCANZ events (which have all had an emphasis on environment) and other Intercreate projects that have involved scientists, indigenous peoples and artists working together. We are aiming to build new knowledge and establish legacies around this work, unencumbered by old perspectives and now distant categories.
We ignore the environmental crisis at our peril. Integrating the indigenous perspective, creative, environmental and scientific views on the environment is essential for continued human habitation of the planet. From these trajectories, it is possible to conceive of a fresh hybrid space, composed of overlapping elements.
We asked tangata whenua, artists, technologists, teachers, environmentalists, scientists, philosophers, educationalists, indigenous peoples, technologists and lecturers to contact us with ideas for talks, discussions, presentations, residency projects, exhibition ideas for gallery space and a botanic garden.
From the Bottom of an Ocean of Air, 2011 from Tega Brain on Vimeo.
Artist and scientist Ramon Guardans traces pollutants and their effect on local and global populations, health and environments and examines the relevance of different ways of life in understanding exposure. He has been involved for 20 years in international action on atmospheric and marine pollution including the Stockholm Convention on Persistent Organic Pollutants (POPs) and the Arctic Monitoring and Assessment Program (AMAP). Ramon was joined by roboticist Kirsty Boyle and environmental engineer and media artist Tega Brain in conducting experiments within the atmospheric environments of New Plymouth, Taranaki during the SCANZ 2011: Eco sapiens creative residency.
The intrepid team is currently undergoing further investigations in Noosa on Australia’s Sunshine coast, as part of the Floating Land event.
Leah Barclay (AU) and Keith Armstrong (AU) (as part of Remnant/Emergency Artlab/SCANZ 2011: Eco sapiens) invite you to an immersive sound walk on the Te Henui Walkway this Wednesday 26th January.
The work invites an acute sensitisation to this place solely through the often ignored senses of sound. The 20 minute experience reveals remnant sonic layers of this environment and explores stories of water, breath, place and environmental action.
‘Remnant Breath’ is the first showing of a work in progress. The project will evolve into an interactive garden of ephemeral sound growing and conversing with the natural environment.
Walks start at either 9pm or 10pm and last around 20 minutes – please arrive on time as it will not be possible to join the walk late.
Enter the Te Henui Walkway from the Lemon Street Entrance (close to Watson Street) – right next to the entrance to the Te Henui Graveyard on Lemon Street.
Presented as part of the SCANZ 2011: Eco sapiens events which have brought over 20 local national and international artists to Taranaki.
MAPS
View Remnant Breath in a larger map
downstream installation: Australian Embassy Gallery, Washington DC, USA, September, 2009
The failure of nations to reach an agreement at the Climate Change Conference in Copenhagen last year has highlighted a huge gap between scientific consensus and public perceptions of climate change.
Downstream is a media art installation, which explores ways of representing the relationship between nature and culture. Employing poetic texts embedded into animated satellite images of landscapes at particular risk, it responds to the effects of climate change in ways that are mythical, biblical and chemical.
The work involves large screen installations which combine satellite imagery with local imagery and views of river systems threatened by global warming.
Downstream documentation
Leon Cmielewski and Josephine Starrs are Australian artists whose video and new media works have been shown extensively in Australia and internationally. They have created numerous projects including Seeker an installation that explores issues of migration, territorial boundaries, conflict commodities and human displacement. Seeker won an Award of Distinction in Interactive Art from the 2007 Prix Ars Electronica, Austria. Other work includes a.k.a. a video about universal surveillance, the Trace interactive installation, Bio-Tek Kitchen a computer game patch, Dream Kitchen an interactive stop-motion animation and Floating Territories a game art installation. They have been invited to participate in several international residency programs including Banff, Canada 1998, Sarai, New Delhi, India, 2006 and the Future Lab, Linz, Austria, 2009.
Ecotones (Image of installation detail of Cascade)
The bar-tailed godwit, the longest non-stop migrator of any species, is dependent on a global network of estuaries or ‘ecotones’, where terrestrial and marine ecosystems meet. These environments are under pressure due to being seen as transitional, unwanted, hybrid spaces. Janine’s project employs information from satellite telemetry and sonification to create a visual and acoustic reconception of the journey of these migratory birds. In this way the installation works to undermine the atomisation of North/South, human/non-human, air, sea and earthly relations.