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WAI by Te Hunga Wai Tapu

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The Pacific Ocean from space
Image credit: Detlev van Ravensway Science Photo Library

 

Te Hunga Wai Tapu roughly translates as the group of people for whom water is sacred. They are: Ian Clothier, Dr Te Huirangi Waikerepuru, Te Urutahi Waikerepuru, Jo Tito, Craig Macdonald, Julian Priest, Tom Greenbaum, Sharmila Samant, Leon Cmielewski, Josephine Starrs, Andrew Hornblow, Darren Robert Terama Ward, Johnson Dennison, Andrew Thomas, Gordon Bronitsky. Aerial imagery courtesy of Land Information New Zealand.

This group consists of people from Aotearoa New Zealand, the United States of America, Australia and India. A global community representing many cultures, including the indigenous.

The works presented consist of aspects of traditional Māori knowledge; five videos shown through two data projectors; a Pou Hihiri (which reflects the womb of the universe that holds unrealized potential ); and traditional Māori and Navajo/Dine audio generated live by data sensors in New Zealand.

 

Contributors and roles

Ian Clothier is the curator for the project and is project manager.

Wai rests on Mātauranga Māori provided by Dr Te Huirangi Waikerepuru. Mātauranga Māori refers to traditional knowledge, pre-colonisation in Aotearoa New Zealand, which means before 1840. At the SCANZ 2011:Eco sapiens hui-symposium, Dr Waikerepuru spoke about Wai as central to Maori world view. Wai connects air, atmosphere, mountains, rivers, beaches and humans via breath.

Te Urutahi Waikerepuru has contributed strategy, networking and core creative activity – the Pou Hihiri was created under her direction. Craig Macdonald made the Pou Hihiri graphics which involved  interpretation of traditional stars and concepts into contemporary form and materials. Julian Priest and Tom Greenbaum created the custom electronics LED control system.

Jo Tito is a Maori artist who exhibits internationally. Her contribution is a video concerning Maori notions of Wai.

Sink was created by Julian Priest and is a model of anthropogenic ocean acidification which is based on a scientific view of the interaction of humans and natural systems: a shell acidifies on exposure to greenhouse gases. Priest is well know for his work in open source, open networks and creative projects.

Sharmila Samant is a well known contemporary artist from India. She recently traveled to Taranaki in New Zealand to make a work for the exhibition Sub Tropical Heat: New Art from South Asia. Given her interest in water issues in India, she created a video work in which Te Huirangi spoke about water while standing on the banks of the Waiwakaiho river.

Sydney based Leon Cmielewski and Josephine Starrs are collaborators on an animated video and highly regarded for the work with text and landscape. Their video for features the words of Te Huirangi digitally etched into Taranaki maunga (Mount Taranaki_. Cmielewski and Starrs are fr0m Australia and met Te Huirangi Waikerepuru at the SCANZ 2011 Eco sapiens hui-symposium.

In Aotearoa New Zealand in the small Taranaki town of Opunake are situated three data sensors. The sensors are custom made by Andrew Hornblow. Data from the sensors runs to the project website, where each data reading is correlated to an audio file of either traditional Maori sounds or traditional Navajo sounds. This system was made by Julian Priest and Adrian Soundy for The Park Speaks. Julian Priest also provides server support.

Darren Robert Terama Ward is a contemporary Maori artist who also makes his own traditional musical instruments. He is contributing the traditional Maori audio. Andrew Thomas is a Navajo/Dine musician and is contributing the Navajo sounds, played on traditional instruments.

Johnson Dennison is Navajo/Dine Medicine Man and will contribute to the dawn opening ceremony led by Dr Te Huirangi Waikerepuru. Te Huirangi Waikerepuru considers it important to contact, respect and collaborate with local indigenous people.

Gordon Bronitsky is a cultural producer and has assisted us by providing connection points to local indigenous peoples and advice of a cultural nature.

wai exhibition

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Wai visualisation

Visualisation of the Wai installation

About Wai

Humanity and Earth are at an important juncture: the intersection of past unsustainable approaches to environment and the potential for a sustainable future. An important factor in these issues is listening to the voice of indigenous people on the subject of environment. It is quite clear that the West will not by its own means resolve climate change issues.

Dr Te Huirangi Waikerepuru, a highly respected Māori Kaumatua (elder) from Aotearoa New Zealand has provided the core concept and ideological underpinning for Wai (which means water or flow). The project is selected for exhibition at 516Arts during ISEA 2012 Albuquerque Machine Wilderness.

Wai is an integrating focus – embracing rain and snow in the mountains, rolling downward via rivers to the beach and into the human body via breath. Māori worldview involves seeing an integrated whole with humans in direct relationship with nature.

Notions of integrated systems will be familiar to many, and the connection to electronic art is found in the words of Associate Professor of Zoology Mike Paulin “Scientists, artists and others are transforming the environment into an organism, as Māori and indigenous peoples have always known it to be.” Wai consists of data sensors in Aotearoa New Zealand, integrated with works by Maori, New Zealand, Australian, Indian and Navajo/Dine artists in an electronic art installation.

Te Taiao Māori – Dr Te Huirangi Waikerepuru

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Te Taiao Māori, 2011, Dr Te Huirangi Waikerepuru, (Iwi – Tribes: Taranaki, Whānui, Nga Puhi, Taitokerau), Mātauranga Maori



 

Mauri Wai Mauri Ora – Jo Tito

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Mauri Wai Mauri Ora, 2011, Jo Tito (Iwi – Tribes: Taranaki, Ngāti Pikiao, Tūhourangi-Ngāti Wāhiao), Taranaki stone & acrylic paint

Jo Tito Is a Māori artist, passionate about sharing the importance of connection and helping people reconnect to who they are.

A self-taught photographer, she is also a multi-media artist who combines storytelling, nature and technology to share her messages. Working at the grass roots level of community through health and education initiatives, has enabled her to use art as a tool for change and to see the positive affects that connection and storytelling can have on a community.

The work for ISEA presents a “mauri” stone and explores a Māori concept of “energy” or “mauri” bringing the physical stone as an art work into the space. The stone carries the energy of the land from which it comes, and the many stories and energies that have been gathered prior to it’s journey to ISEA. The stone also incorporates all the works that are presented in this exhibition.

The rock has been formed by water and shares stories of connection to who we are; wai being the Māori word for water and also used when one asks,  “ko wai au – who am I?” With the understanding of water as being part of who we are, we can perhaps better understand our connection to the environment and the importance of water as an essential element to the survival of our planet and people.

 

Jo Tito CV and bio

Jo Is a 37 year old creative entrepreneur and artist who is passionate about art and bringing about change in the world. An innate connection to the land and environment inspires her creativity and the stories she tells through her work. She has been a photographer for the past 16 years and is also a multi-media artist working in painting, sculpture and digital storytelling. She also has a background in health and education and has worked at the grass roots level of community using art as a tool for change.

Connections and relationships are important to her and are at the heart of everything she does. Over the past 10 years, she has have had the privilege of working with some of the most talented artists from around the world through overseas travel, exhibitions, festivals and gatherings.

 

RECENT EXHIBITIONS

2011 Floating Land and Dreaming Festival – Artist in residence with international artists – Brisbane, Australia

Documentary of stories for Puke Ariki Museum exhibition – What If?, Taranaki

He Iwi Karioi exhibition currently showing at Tairawhiti museum – moving image installation, Gisborne

SCANZ 2011: Eco sapiens art residency, Taranaki

2010 Nga Manukura Maori midwives photographic project – photography and creation of digital stories for Auckland District Health Board

Co-director, Photographer & Editor for A Fire Burning a feature documentary by Flair Films

2009 Director of documentary – Iwirakau at the Tairawhiti Museum, Gisborne

Dreaming Festival, Brisbane Australia – indigenous artists research

2008 Aotearoa delegation to the 10th International Festival of Pacific Arts, Pagopago- America Samoa for digital storytelling & photography

Creation of digital stories for Nga Rama e Whitu exhibition, Gisborne

Travel to the Dreaming festival, Brisbane Australia – indigenous artists research

Sponsored trip to Indonesia by EngageMedia Australia for a gathering of software developers and video activists conference

2007 Author, researcher and editor of Matarakau – healing stories of Taranaki

Solo exhibition at the Thinkspace Gallery in Downtown Phoenix, Arizona USA

Digital storytelling workshop at Scotsdale Community College Arizona USA

Invited artist to the Gisborne Garden Artfest 2007, Gisborne

2006 Curator, storyteller & photographer of Wahine exhibition a b & w photographic exhibition by eight Maori women living in Taranaki at Nga Manu Korero – Opunake, Taranaki; Patea, Taranaki; and Hauiti marae Tolaga Bay, East Coast

Parihaka International Peace festival – exhibitor

Invited artist to the Gisborne Garden Artfest 2006

Ono Pacific Arts festival – invited artist for an exhibition of paper works with Sheynne Tuffery, Christchurch art section

Sept Selected artist for Rotorua artists exhibition at the Rotorua Museum

July Nga Manukura exhibition, Rotorua – exhibitor

July “He Puna Korero” Taranaki arts festival – emerging Maori artists exhibition

 

Computational Visualization of the Electromagnetic Sensory World of Sharks – Mike Paulin

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Computational Visualization of the Electromagnetic Sensory World of Sharks, 2008, Michael G. Paulin, Computational physics simulation with 3D visualization

One strand of my current research is about how the shark’s electrosensory system evolved, from simple(r) creatures that drifted with the ocean currents, gathering small amounts of information that enabled them to alter the probability of where they ended up, to sophisticated creatures extracting every bit of information from every available channel in the environment and picking a path through it. Seems to me there’s a story there, about art and science and storytelling as ways of seeing and navigating.


One Man is an Island – Rachael Rakena

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One Man is an Island, 2009, Rachael Rakena (Iwi – Ngai Tahu, Nga Puhi), High definition video, courtesy of Bartley and Company Art, Wellington

Kāinga a roto Home within – Sonja van Kerkhoff*Sen McGlinn*Toroa Pohatu

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Kāinga a roto Home within, 2010 Sonja van Kerkhoff, Sen McGlinn and Toroa Pohatu, Installation with five monitors, video and audio

Artist statement

A system, even an integrated system, is not a seamless continuum: what makes it a system is that it consists of distinct interrelated parts. A culture – a symbol system – is one integrated system. The human person too is an integrated system (memory, hopes, relationships, reason and spirituality), and so is an individual biography. A person, seen as a system, is the microcosm to the natural world’s macrocosm, which contains elemental systems – of water, wind and earth, and of the biosphere.

Kāinga a roto (Home Within) is an art-system, consisting of five distinct videos, soundscapes, music, lighting and shadows, and a physical space where visitors sit or lie close to the ground. This art-system is used to represent the complex system of a particular biography influenced by New Zealand Colonial and Māori cultural values.

psworld – Julian Oliver

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psworld 2010/11, Julian Oliver, Software and hardware

psworld is work of ‘philosoftware’. It began as a modification of the utility, ‘ps’, found on all UNIX and UNIX-like operating systems. ps is used by people and programs to quickly sort and print a table of processes that are running on a computer. psworld maps these processes onto visual features in the world, creating a perceptual dependence between a computer and the world around it. As the computer’s visible surroundings change, the instability of the operating system increases.

An example: a computer running psworld is in a park watching a bird in a tree. If the process ‘Firefox’ is attached to the bird’s head and the bird suddenly flies away, Firefox will be terminated on the computer. Similarly, a breakfast scene may include many processes attached to various edibles on the table. As breakfast is eaten, dependent processes on the computer will be terminated.


Please see the artist’s site for the full description of this project.

 

Julian Oliver CV and bio

Julian Oliver is a New Zealand artist based in Berlin. He has been active in the critical intersection of art and technology since 1998. His projects and the occassional paper have been presented at many museums, international electronic-art events and conferences, including the Tate Modern, Transmediale, Ars Electronica and the Japan Media Arts Festival. His work has received several awards, ranging from technical excellence to artistic invention and interaction design.

Julian has given numerous workshops and master classes in software art, augmented reality, creative hacking, data forensics, object-oriented programming for artists, virtual architecture, artistic game-development, information visualisation, UNIX/Linux and open source development practices worldwide. He is a long-time advocate of the use of free software in artistic production, distribution and education.

 

Recent Awards

2011                   Excellence Prize (Art category), Japan Media Art Festival

2010                  Award of Distinction (Hybrid Arts category), Prix Ars Electronica

Third Prize, Fundacion Telefonica, VIDA 13.0 Art and Artifical Life awards.

First Prize, Jeux Vidéo et Attractions, Laval Virtual.

2008                  Technical Innovation award, Indiecade

The New Zealand Open Source Award

Honorary Mention (Interactive Arts category), Prix Ars Electronica

Jury Reccommended Work (Entertainment Division), Japan Media Arts Festival

2004                  Honorary Mention, Transmediale

 

Recent exhibitions, talks, workshops

2010                  Improved Reality lecture, Stedelijk Museum, Amsterdam.

psworld at ‘moddr_*’, iMAL, Brussels (curated by moddr_).

ioq3aPaint at ‘Virtual Rebellion’, KOP, Breda, Netherlands.

The Artvertiser, Beeldfestival (augmented street exhibition and talk), Rotterdam

Improved Reality lecture, Migrating Art Academies conference, C.H.B, Berlin.

The Artvertiser, Media Facades Festival Europe 2010 (workshop and augmented

street exhibition), Brussels

The Artvertiser, ‘Stadt am Rande’, Goethe Institut, Beijing

levelHead at The Lighthouse, Brighton

levelHead at Space Invaders, Netherlands Institut voor Mediakunst, Amsterdam

M.I.G at Worm Space, MuseumsQuartier, Vienna

‘Improved Reality’ paper and presentation, TEDx, Rotterdam

‘The Great Augmented Goldrush’: a Reality-check for Artists’. Presentation, V2, Rotterdam

ioq3aPaint at 26th edition of ‘Art Amsterdam’, Amsterdam

Six Composite Acts, MMX Gallery, Berlin

The Artvertiser (at the Murcia stand), ARCO, Madrid

The New Arena Paintings (solo show), Hannah Maclure Centre, Dundee, Scotland

The Artvertiser at Transmediale 2010, Berlin

‘The Not So Brief History of Sound Based Games’, artist talk, A-MAZE Festival, Berlin

2009                  levelHead at Space Invaders, FACT, Liverpool, U.K

levelHead at Over The Game, Zemos98, Seville, Spain

The Atocha 24 Insertions, HAMBRE (group show) Madrid

levelHead at TWEAKFEST, Zurich, Switzerland

levelHead, Award and exhibition, LAVAL VIRTUAL, Laval, France.

levelHead at Art Rock festival, St Brieuc, France

The Artvertiser workshop, Cartagena, Spain

Composite City, Paper presentation, See Festival, Wiesbaden, Germany

levelHead at Mois Multi, Quebec City, Canada.

levelHead at the Japan Media Art Festival, National Art Center, Tokyo, Japan

levelHead at the Ars Electronica Center, Linz, Austria (opening exhibition ofnew center).

 

Information Comes from the Sun – Julian Priest

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Information Comes from the Sun 2011, Julian Priest, Solar powered monitor, Video animation, Media player, Photovoltaic cells

 

Open System Closed 2011, Julian Priest, Assemblage (nine underwater camera cases, found objects)

Discussion

“Information comes from The Sun” is a video artwork consisting of an animation of The Sun that was first shown at ISEA 2011 in Istanbul Turkey.

The animation is made from Solar Observatory data images of the sun that have been rendered in zero’s and ones using ascii art software and a custom font.

The animation shows a single solar rotation (28 days) photographed twice a day by the SOHO orbital instrument EIT304.

The animation may be connected to a one pixel camera that measures light levels and adjusts the resolution of the animation accordingly.

In the dark a single zero is shown – as light levels increase the number of characters increases until in the brightest light a full image of the sun is shown with every pixel a character.

Information comes from the sun represents the sun as an information source rather than an energy source – an information service provider.

What is it that we get from the Sun that we use up on Earth to power life?

Most people would say energy.

While The Earth is bathed in an enormous flow of energy from The Sun, it is not the energy that we use up on Earth. Energy from The Sun falls on Earth as visible light yet if we look at The Earth from space as an energy emitter, we see that it radiates energy as infrared light. In fact the incoming visible light energy and the infrared outgoing energy are more or less equal. If they were not in equilibrium The Earth would quickly explode. As a whole The Earth maintains an energy balance and therefore in cannot be the ENERGY from The Sun that we use up.

If we look at the incoming and outgoing energy streams we can however see that there is a frequency drop. This is related to a quantity called entropy which is a measure of disorder or energy disspipation. Entropy can also be thought of as the opposite of information. A system with higher entropy has less information. The information we are talking about here is not digital information 1’s and 0’s but possible physical states.

The entropy of the outgoing energy from the earth is greater – there is less information in the global output stream, than in the input.

This entropy gradient is what we use to structure life on earth – all the biology, culture and technology that we see on earth is a result of the process of converting the more ordered energy stream from the sun, into a more disordered output stream. We take a high information source, convert it into a low information source, and the difference stays with us on earth – as biosphere, civilisation, culture and technology.

If we think about it in this way it is clear that it really is information that comes from the sun – it is carried by a massive energy flow, but what the earth uses from the sun is the potential to order – to create structure or information.

In the field of non-linear thermodynamics it is shown that it is precisely the fact that life is efficient at degrading the entropic gradient that makes it possible to exist as a meta stable state at all.

When we reframe our understanding of the relationship between us and the sun as an informatic one rather than an energetic one there are some consequences. If we understand that the life process is not about energy, but about transforming energy in a
way that maximises information capture, we may choose to do things differently.

Currently we foreground access to energy resources politically with much emphasis placed on securing access to fossil fuels. This is a kind of quantative view of the world as resource. If however we focus on the informatic, we look not at how much energy we can capture, but how much structure we can produce for a given amount of low entropy energy or information.

Looked at this way a tree is worth more alive than dead, as an ecosystem rather than firewood. As a complex living structure of information it is vastly richer informationally than an information poor ash pile. With informational eyes we foreground efficiency over power.

With this artwork I’d like to begin to propose a different language for re-framing what are currently energetic issues as informatic ones. With this as a starting point we will have more luck in designing a sustainable infrastructure as we slowly but surely out of the fossil fuel era.

Julian Priest
05.11.2011