TESLA

Johannes Birringer - Mixed Reality: The Creation of Moveable Worlds

2010-09-14T18:16:00.011+01:00

Friday 22 October

6-7pm
Garwood Lecture Theatre
Univeristy College London

This film-lecture grounds its inquiry into augmented reality on an artistic research/production developed by DAP-Lab (Center for Contemporary and Digital Performance, Brunel University) during 2008-2010.

The mixed reality installation UKIYO, created with partners in Tokyo and deriving inspiration from Japanese drawings (ukiyo-e) and anime, presents scenographic practices that connect physical space to virtual worlds and explore how performers can move between material and immaterial spaces. The spatial design for UKIYO is inspired by Japanese hanamichi and western fashion runways, emphasizing the production company's cross-over experimentation with different movement languages, retro-futurist wearable design for interactive performance, acoustic and electronic sound processing and digital image objects that have a plastic as well as an immaterial/virtual dimension. The work integrates various forms of making art in order to
visualize things that are not in themselves visual, or which connect visual and kinaesthetic/tactile/auditory experiences, while expanding current collaborative convergences between arts and science/engineering. The “Moveable Worlds” of UKIYO are also reflections of the narrative spaces, subtexts and auditory relationships in the mutating matrix of an installation-space inviting the audience to move around and follow their sensorial experiences,
drawn near to the bodies of performers and to their avatars.

Bio
Johannes Birringer is a choreographer and media artist. As artistic director of the Houston-based AlienNation Co., he has created numerous dance-theatre works, video installations and digital projects in collaboration with artists in Europe, the Americas, China, Japan and Australia. His recent production, the digital oratorio Corpo, Carne e Espírito, premiered in Brasil at the FIT Theatre Festival in 2008, and the interactive dancework Suna no Onna was featured at festivals in London. His new mixed reality installation UKIYO went on European tour in June 2010. He is founder of Interaktionslabor Göttelborn in Germany (http://interaktionslabor.de) and director of DAP-Lab at Brunel University, West London, where he is a Professor of Performance Technologies in the School of Arts. His new book, Performance, Technology and Science, was released by PAJ Publications in 2009.

Getting to UCL:

The nearest Tube stations are Euston Square and Warren Street. For full details, see http://www.ucl.ac.uk/about-ucl/location/public-transport

How to find the Garwood Lecture Theatre:

Once you enter the main gate of UCL in Gower Street, you will face the Portico in the UCL quadrangle courtyard. Please take the right hand side diagonal and walk to the right corner of the building. You will see the brass tablet indicating South Wing. Enter the second entrance door at the South Wing, and you will find the Garwood Lecture Theatre on the first floor. There will be signs from the entrance that will help you to find the exact location easily.

You may also consult the UCL maps at:

http://www.ucl.ac.uk/about-ucl/location/maps

Entrance is free, all welcome

Pattern Completion, an audio-visual installation at UCL

2010-09-01T15:05:00.009+01:00

We are delighted to invite you to the second showing of Pattern Completion, an audio-visual installation exploring ways in which networks of brain cells recall memories.

Wilkins North Observatory, University College London

Gower Street, London WC1E 6BT

Thursday 23 September - Friday 1 October 2010

Monday - Friday 4.00-8.00pm | Saturday 12noon-6.00pm

Private View Wednesday 22 September 6.00-8.00pm

We look forward to seeing you there.

CHANGE VENUE FOR TODAY'S TESLA TALK!

2010-05-17T13:48:00.002+01:00

Please note that today's Tesla Talk will NOT be in the Garwood LT but in Pearson LT instead. It is the first entrance on the left hand side once you enter the Gower Street main gate, or ask the receptionists to assist.

location picture:

http://www.ucl.ac.uk/efd/roombooking/building-location/?id=003

Sincere apologies!!

Gordana

Artist Michaela Nettell, scientist Dr Hugo Spiers and sound designer Tom Simmons: Pattern Completion

2010-05-10T15:13:00.011+01:00

Monday, 17 May, 18:00 – 19:00
University College London
Gower Street, London, WC1E 6BT
Garwood Lecture Theatre, South Wing
(Details how to get there at the bottom of the page)
Pattern Completion

Pattern Completion is an installation created by an artist, a sound designer and a neuroscientist exploring ways in which networks of brain cells recall memories.

When a memory is created activity patterns in the neurons become inscribed in their connections, leaving a trace known as an engram. It is thought that during recall this trace is restored and the original activity pattern re-established. This process is known as 'pattern completion' and is believed to occur in a part of the brain called the hippocampus. During the pattern completion process the initial activity of the cells is incoherent, but via repeated reactivation the activity pattern is pieced together until the original pattern is complete. Sometimes it fails, leaving us unable to bring elements of the past to mind.

Our installation echoes this process using sound recordings and photographic sequences captured in forests. The sequences are fragmented, shuffled and projected into constellations of suspended glass spheres. The forest scenes, based on pathways, clearings and walking are purposefully empty of people and objects. The images and sounds provide cues for viewers to complete, or interpret, these landscapes with recollections of their own.

The complex nature of memory, the ambiguities between remembered and imaged places, the ephemeral quality of our memories and the ways we use our memories to define ourselves are themes that underpin our installation and which we will discuss in our presentation.

www.pattern-completion.net

Michaela Nettell combines video and film projections with glass, water and mirrors to create short films and sculptural installations that describe fleeting experiences of memory and perception. Her work has been exhibited in galleries throughout Europe and is regularly screened at international festivals and events.

www.michaela-nettell.com

Tom Simmons collaborates with artists, musicians and scientists to create films, installations, performances and texts that explore ways in which we perceive and experience sounds and animated moving images. He is a Senior Lecturer and Research Coordinator at Norwich University College of the Arts.

www.tom-simmons.net

Dr Hugo Spiers is a neuroscientist at University College London. His research explores how we navigate space and remember the past. Currently his research group are examining how small constellations of brain cells contribute to mapping space and guiding behaviour.

http://www.psychol.ucl.ac.uk/hugo.spiers/

This talk coincides with the Pattern Completion exhibition:
Gimpel Fils Gallery, 30 Davies Street, WC1K 4NB, Thursday 20 – Saturday 22 May.
Private view: Wednesday 19 May 6pm – 8pm
Artist, scientist and Poet in conversation followed by food and drink on Saturday 22 May, 4pm – 6pm
Details about the project: http://www.pattern-completion.net/index.html
Getting to UCL:
The nearest Tube stations are Euston Square and Warren Street. For full details, seehttp://www.ucl.ac.uk/about-ucl/location/public-transport
How to find the Garwood Lecture Theatre:
Once you enter the main gate of UCL in Gower Street, you will face the Portico in the UCL quadrangle courtyard. Please take the right hand side diagonal and walk to the right corner of the building. You will see the brass tablet indicating South Wing. Enter the second entrance door at the South Wing, and you will find the Garwood Lecture Theatre on the first floor. There will be signs from the entrance that will help you to find the exact location easily.
You may also consult the UCL maps at:
http://www.ucl.ac.uk/about-ucl/location/maps
Entrance is free, all welcome.

Dr Brigitta Zics, artist, media philosopher and interaction designer: How to think about Art and Design in the Age of Consciousness

2010-04-11T16:18:00.007+01:00

Thursday, 29 April, 18:00 – 19:00

University College London

Gower Street, London, WC1E 6BT

Garwood Lecture Theatre, South Wing

(Details how to get there at the bottom of the page)

Abstract

This presentation provides an overview
of the critical thinking in some creative practices through the study of consciousness. It argues that technology has brought such qualities and capacities to aesthetical production and meaning creation which might only be extractable through the understanding of the human factor in these experiences. The presentation proceeds from the assumption that philosophical accounts of consciousness and recent multidisciplinary approaches to cognition have provided valuable perspectives in the understanding of human aspects in the man-computer interrelationship and will develop this position in order to understand consciousness research as an aesthetic inquiry.

To illustrate this, the model of Transparent Act will be introduced as a paradigm that detaches itself from previous aesthetic models and argues for a novel philosophical conceptualisation of technology mediated creation. A consequence of such an approach is to bring design and artistic strategies to the same platform and, as it is will be argued, introduces a radical approach to creative production. As a practical example the presentation will introduce a discussion of the large scale interactive installation of Mind Cupola which aims to apply the approaches represent in Transparent Act and suggest new ways of meaning production through biofeedback interface.

Biography

Brigitta Zics is an award winning artist, media philosopher and interaction designer with particular interest in emerging technologies and their impact on creative practices. She is Senior Lecturer in Design and programme leader in the MA Design by Practice course at the School of Art, Media and Design, University of Wales Newport. She is also Visiting Fellow at the Trasntechnology Research, University of Plymouth and regularly presents her research and artistic work on international conferences and festivals. She is also panel member for the Leonardo Reviews and working on post-doctoral methodologies, supervising research students and developing a major creative project entitled the Mind Cupola for international exhibitions.

She is focusing on emerging technologies of interaction and their aesthetics capacities through the human cognition. In her recently finished interdisciplinary thesis Transparency, Cognition and Interactivity: Toward a New Aesthetic for Media Art (2008) she introduced a new philosophical model of the Transparent Act which proposes a radical re-evaluation of how interaction can be understand in disciplines of art and design. Her latest art work the Mind Cupola applies a modality of passive interaction which is an affective environment in which the user's experience initiates a cognitive feedback loop with a potential for spiritual-like states in their consciousness. Besides this major focus her innovative interest is to look at the potentialities of cognitive-based interface design for enterprise and business applications. One of recent examination is how the Mind Cupola might be implemented by ageing people as a tool for improvement of well being.

Website:

http://www.zics.eu, http://www.trans-techresearch.net/?page_id=26

Getting to UCL:

The nearest Tube stations are Euston Square and Warren Street. For full details, see http://www.ucl.ac.uk/about-ucl/location/public-transport

How to find the Garwood Lecture Theatre:

You may also consult the UCL maps at:

http://www.ucl.ac.uk/about-ucl/location/maps

Entrance is free, all welcome.

Second talk in March - Artist, Curator and Lecturer Barbara Steveni:: Beyond the Acid Free:: Wednesday, 24 March, 18:00 – 19:00

2010-03-01T21:25:00.005Z

Barbara Steveni:: Beyond the Acid Free

Wednesday, 24 March, 18:00 – 19:00
University College London
Gower Street, London, WC1E 6BT
Garwood Lecture Theatre, South Wing

Barbara Steveni conceived and co-founded the Artist Placement Group (APG), in London in 1966. Steveni’s innovative concept, based on a more holistic and intuitive view of Art than was current at the time, would take another 20 years to enter the mainstream. APG, later renamed O+I, acted as the precursor to current notions of ‘Artist in Residence’ and Public Art programmes.

Steveni is currently active as artist, curator and lecturer, in particular addressing Art and the ‘new’ Economics, Art and Business and ‘Socially Engaged Art Practice’ from and on behalf of the artist voice. Additionally, Steveni is engaged in a personal work under the title: I AM AN ARCHIVE, tracing through a series of walks, revisits and interviews, her life and role within APG / O+ I, in relation to today’s circumstance, and to current and future art practice.

Website
http://www.tate.org.uk/learning/artistsinfocus/apg/chronology.htm

Tesla Talk: Scientist Dr Dolores Steinman - 9th March

2010-02-20T14:31:00.012Z

[TESLA@UCL] Scientist Dr. Dolores Steinman:
Investigating the body: Current Medical Visual Culture:

Tuesday 9th March; 6pm - 7pm
University College London
Gower Street, London, WC1E 6BT
Garwood Lecture Theatre, South Wing
(Details how to get there at the bottom of the page)

Abstract
The intricacies of flowing blood can, in principle, tell us much about the potential for, or how best to treat, the vascular diseases that cause most heart attacks and strokes. In practice, however, such "hemodynamics" are difficult to see directly, leading to the now-popular use of computer simulations of blood flow derived from medical images of the patient. Echoing historical developments in the representation of the body, our challenge is to represent these complex data in ways that are meaningful to the lab, to the clinic, and to the patient. In this talk, Dolores Steinman will discuss the Biomedical Simulation Laboratory's efforts to transcend disciplinary boundaries, placing them into their historical context, and emphasizing the key role that artists have, and could, play in creating visual meta languages for scientific visualization.

Biography

Dr. Dolores Steinman was trained as a Paediatrician and, upon relocating to Canada, obtained her PhD in Cell Biology. Currently she is a Research Associate in the Department of Mechanical Engineering at the University of Toronto and a volunteer Docent at the Art Gallery of Ontario. In her research she observes the rapport and the connection between medical imagery and its non-scientific counterparts. Her pursuit is driven by her keen interest in placing the ever increasingly technology-based medical research in the larger context of the humanities.

Website
http://www.mie.utoronto.ca/labs/bsl/

Getting to UCL:
The nearest Tube stations are Euston Square and Warren Street. For full details, see http://www.ucl.ac.uk/about-ucl/location/public-transport
How to find the Garwood Lecture Theatre:
Once you enter the main gate of UCL in Gower Street, you will face the Portico in the UCL quadrangle courtyard. Please take the right hand side diagonal and walk to the right corner of the building. You will see the brass tablet indicating South Wing. Enter the second entrance door at the South Wing, and you will find the Garwood Lecture Theatre on the first floor. There will be signs from the entrance that will help you to find the exact location easily.
You may also consult the UCL maps at:
http://www.ucl.ac.uk/about-ucl/location/maps

Entrance is free, all welcome!

Tesla Talk: Anna Dimitriu and Dave Lawrence: KryoLab

2010-01-31T18:25:00.028Z

Friday 19th February 2010
7pm - 8pm
Garwood Lecture Theatre
University College London
Gower Street

Dave Lawrence and Anna Dumitriu discuss their project 'KryoLab', made in collaboration with Antti Tenetz. The project brings together bioart, ice sculpture and sound, in an investigation of delicate relationships in the Arctic ecosystem. It traces their individual and collective journeys, in terms of investigative art/science research as well as in terms of being part of the experimental European/world wide collaborative e-MobiLArt project - designed to encourage collaboration with scientists, and with artists from other cultural backgrounds and geographic locations.

Anna Dumitriu:

Anna Dumitriu is a visual artist whose highly experimental work is involved with the nature of trans-disciplinary practice-based research. She has collaborated with scientists many major projects and often tends to go very deeply into her chosen area of research, taking on, or attempting to take on, the role of scientist in an almost performative sense, raising paradigmatic questions in her work. Her installations, interventions and performances use a range of digital, biological and traditional media including video projections, mobile phones and embroidery, working with diverse audiences often in non-traditional settings.

Her work has a strong international exhibition profile is held in several public collections. She is currently Artist in Residence at The Centre for Computational Neuroscience and Robotics and a Visiting Research Fellow in the Dept of Informatics at Sussex University, participating in the e-MobiLArt project (EU funded European Mobile Lab for Interactive Artists) and researching her practice-based Fine Art PhD part-time at The University of Brighton. She was recently invited to become a contributing editor to Leonardo Electronic Almanac.

About Dave Lawrence:

Dave Lawrence (aka Sponde) is a sonic artist, composer, performer, and collaborative explorer. Special interests - time & place, analogue/digital worlds, sounds and science of life, forming instruments, exploring interaction, inside and outside. Composition adopts meticulous serendipity and often uses multiple layers of sounds - sampled (in ‘soundabout’ walks), generated, performed, synthesised, and/or digitally processed.
In addition to e-MobiLArt, projects include: “Secret Life” (Transmediale, Berlin 2009; collaboration with Joanna Hoffmann), “Somniloquy” (a sonic drama, Brighton 2008, Fiorenzo Palermo), ‘Stardust Ruins’ (Liliane Lijn, Riflemaker London Summer 08), ‘Laranjas’ (Portugal, June 08, Inês Amado), ‘Soundings from the Estuary’ (London, June 08, Frank Watson), ‘Sphere & Cross’ (NCCA, Moscow Dec 06, Sasha Frolova)

How to find the Garwood Lecture Theatre:

You may also consult the UCL maps at:

http://www.ucl.ac.uk/about-ucl/location/maps

Entrance is free, all welcome.

2010

2010-01-01T17:33:00.004Z

Happy New Year!

Rainbow, Niagara Falls (photo: G. Novakovic)

Dr Rob La Frenais, Curator of the The Arts Catalyst at Tesla@UCL | 11 November, 18:00 | Garwood Lecture Theatre

2009-10-28T11:43:00.008Z

Dr Rob La Frenais, Curator of the "The Arts Catalyst art science society" will talk on 'Experiments' and show 3 introduced videos followed by discussion.

http://www.artscatalyst.org/ More details soon.

2009-10-12T12:09:00.001+01:00

This is just to give you some idea of what we are working on now. Our invited speakers are all very busy this autumn, but we hope to fix dates very soon with Rob La Frenais, curator of the art and science company Arts Catalyst http://www.artscatalyst.org/ and Dr Frances Stracey of UCL History of Art Department http://www.ucl.ac.uk/art-history/staff/frances_stracey We also very much hope that we will be able to hear some views and reflections from the artist Barbara Steveni http://www.tate.org.uk/learning/artistsinfocus/apg/chronology.htm

We'll let you know as soon as the programme has been arranged.

Tesla Talk: Dr Simon Park, 25 June 2009, 6-7pm

2009-05-24T17:37:00.021+01:00

Dr Simon Park

Senior Lecturer, Faculty of Health and Medical Sciences, University of Surrey

Creative Collaborations with Superorganisms

Thursday 25 June, 2009

6pm - 7pm

University College London

Gower Street, London, WC1E 6BT

Garwood Lecture Theatre, South Wing

Abstract

Microorganisms are, and always have been, the dominant form of life on Earth and as such offer an unprecedented conceptual palette for artists. However, because of our innate prejudice towards the macroscopic, the sublime and aesthetic nature of the microbiological world is often overlooked. Cross-disciplinary projects involving both scientists and artists are becoming increasingly common and recently the microbe is being recognised as an important medium for art. In this talk Simon Park will discussing how collaborations between artists, scientists, and even the microorganisms themselves, are at last starting to reveal the sublime nature of the microbial world to a wider audience.

Biography

Dr Simon Park is a senior lecturer in the Faculty of Health and Medical Sciences at the University of Surrey and teaches Bacteriology and Molecular Biology. His activities, and practice beyond scientific research, are driven by the misconception that microbiological life is primitive and always detrimental and his conviction is that collaborations with artists can lead to powerful concepts through which the true and sublime nature of the microbial world can be communicated in ways that transcends the usual forums offered by newspaper headlines and popular science magazines.

Entrance is free, all welcome.

Gordana

Tesla Convener

www.gordananovakovic.com

Getting to UCL:

The nearest Tube stations are Euston Square and Warren Street. For full details, see http://www.ucl.ac.uk/maps/public-transport

How to find the Garwood Lecture Theatre:

You may also consult the UCL maps at:

http://www.ucl.ac.uk/about-ucl/location/maps

Gonçalo Furtado Tesla Talk 11 March 2009

2009-03-03T09:06:00.009Z

Gonçalo Furtado
(Professor Auxiliar, Faculdade de Arquitectura da Universidade do Porto):
Some Links between Infinite Scales and Primary Archival Research on Pask and Price

Wednesday 11 March 2009 UCL Gower Lecture Theatre 5 - 6pm All Welcome

Abstract Art, Design, and Architecture have all been affected and influenced by computer science and related fields, and this fact can act as the inspiration for a mutant generative environment. In this lecture, I will argue that the contemporary condition suggests the need for a dialogue between the infinitely large and small. The minute scale of the body-technology-space interface has become a critical question, and, on a larger scale, the dynamics of self-organizing systems has come to dominate our understanding of the meta-environment of the future. I will also provide a brief history of exchanges between architecture and the fields of computation and cybernetics, based on my books and primary archival research on the British mavericks Gordon Pask and Cedric Price. http://paskpricefrazer.blogspot.com

Biography

Gonçalo Furtado is Professor Auxiliar of Architecture at the Faculdade de Arquitectura da Universidade do Porto. He has written several books, including “Notes on the Space of Digital Technique” (2002), Type rest of the post here

“Marcos Cruz…Unpredictable Flesh” (2004), “The Construction of the Critical Project” (2005), and “Generator and Beyond: Encounters of Cedric Price and John Frazer” (2008). He has given lectures in the UK, USA, Portugal, Spain, Brazil, Colombia, Austria, Mexico, Poland and Germany. His PhD dissertation (UCL) provided a history of exchanges between architecture and the fields of cybernetics, systems research and computation. In particular, it focuses on the encounters of British professionals such as Gordon Pask and Cedric Price, and provides a complete account of the outstanding Generator and Japan Net projects

Getting to UCL:

The nearest Tube stations are Euston Square and Warren Street. For full details, see http://www.ucl.ac.uk/about-ucl/location/public-transport

How to find the Garwood Lecture Theatre: Once you enter the main gate of UCL in Gower Street, you will face the Portico in the UCL quadrangle courtyard. Please take the right hand side diagonal and walk to the right corner of the building. You will see the brass tablet indicating South Wing. Enter the second entrance door at the South Wing, and you will find the Garwood Lecture Theatre on the first floor. There will be signs from the entrance that will help you to find the exact location easily.

You may also consult the UCL maps at:

http://www.ucl.ac.uk/about-ucl/location/maps

Tesla Talk: Nick Turvey, February 18 2009

2009-01-23T22:13:00.018Z

TESLA@UCL

Artist Nick Turvey: Nature’s Syntax

Wednesday

18 February

6pm– 7pm:

University College London

Gower Street,

London, WC1E 6BT

Garwood Lecture Theatre, South Wing

Abstract

A key aspect of Nick Turvey’s practice is the study of syntax in nature, the processes and patterns common to both consciousness and the organization of physical matter. The work is a form of proto-scientific inquiry, or experiments in natural philosophy; a dialogue between contemporary research and primitive, antiquated or heretical ideas. At a public scale, this translates into a desire to transform urban space with irruptions of musically ordered complexity, opportunities for daydreaming and playful interaction that reconnect us to the tangible world. Of particular concern to me currently is the nature of light and the phenomenon of transparency, resulting in works in which optics plays a major role.

Biography

After training as an architect, and 20 years working with film and video, Nick Turvey returned to study sculpture at the Royal College of Art, graduating with an MA in 2006. He has since won a number of public commissions, was awarded an International fellowship by the Arts Council England in 2007, and received a Royal British Society of Sculptors Bursary in 2008.

Website

www.nickturvey.com

Getting to UCL:

The nearest Tube stations are Euston Square and Warren Street. For full details, see here

How to find the Garwood Lecture Theatre:

You may also consult the UCL maps here.

2008-11-16T22:58:00.004Z

NEW video in Tesla archive

Dr Paul Thomas

Nanotechnology & Spatial Boundaries: The Midas Project

Anna Dumitriu Tesla Talk 5 November 2008

2008-10-09T13:01:00.010+01:00

Anna Dumitriu –

Talking to Bacteria, Unnecessary Research and the Sublime

Wednesday 5th November 2008

Garwood Lecture Theatre, UCL

6-7pm

In this talk Anna Dumitriu will explain her approach to transdisciplinary art practice, what working collaboratively means to her, why she ‘talks’ to bacteria and why unnecessary research is so important. As Einstein said: “If we knew what it was we were doing, it would not be called research, would it?

Chair and Bed Flora at Shunt Lounge

Cybernetic Bacteria

School Flora

Anna Dumitriu’s highly experimental work is involved with the nature of trans-disciplinary practice-based research.

She has collaborated with scientists on at least 10 major projects over the past eleven years and often tends to go very deeply into her chosen area of research, taking on, or attempting to take on the role of scientist, in an almost performative sense, raising paradigmatic questions in her work. Her installations, interventions and performances use a range of digital, biological and traditional media including video projections, mobile phones and embroidery, working with diverse audiences often in non-traditional settings. Her key research interests are normal flora microbiology, artificial life (and its links to microbiology), philosophical notions of the sublime, medicine and healthcare.

Her work has been exhibited internationally including USA, Brazil, France, Russia and Lithuania and is held in international public collections including the Science Museum, London. She is currently Artist in Residence at The Centre for Computational Neuroscience and Robotics at Sussex University, participating in the prestigious e-MobiLArt project (European Mobile Lab for Interactive Artists), a visiting lecturer at Brighton and Sussex Medical School and researching her practice-based Fine Art PhD part-time at The University of Brighton.

Getting to UCL:

The nearest Tube stations are Euston Square and Warren Street. For full details, see http://www.ucl.ac.uk/about-ucl/location/public-transport

How to find the Garwood Lecture Theatre:

You may also consult the UCL maps at:

http://www.ucl.ac.uk/about-ucl/location/maps

Entrance is free, all welcome.

Igloo talk at Tesla UCL

2008-09-10T17:03:00.027+01:00

Update
Igloo talk at Tesla
We are delighted to announce the start of the Tesla autumn season with the presentation by Ruth Gibson and Bruno Marteli, well known as the artistic duo Igloo.

Don’t miss the opportunity to hear about their work that challenges boundaries of arts, sciences, interactive and other technologies through imaginative and often playful projects.

Tuesday 7 October 2008,
18:00 – 19:00
University College London
Garwood Lecture Theatre, South Wing

The talk coincides with their current exhibitions:
2008 SwanQuake:House - V22 Basement Project, 10-16 Ashwin Street, London UK
21/09/08 – 03/11/08 Open Thursday & Sundays 12- 6pm and by appointment (+44 (0)20 76134996
2008 Don’t Open this Door if you Can’t Close it - Wenlock Building, 50-60 Wharf Rd, London UK
04/10/08 -19/10/08 Open:Wednesdays – Sundays 12-7pm

About Igloo

Bruno Martelli graduated from Central Saint Martins with a first class degree in graphic art before setting up a multimedia platform for interactive design. He has since worked with artist John Latham, muf architects and co-curated Wired Worlds a computer games exhibition at the National Media Museum, Bradford. He is a recipient of a Wingate Scholarship through which he continues his research into technologies to abstract the human body, it’s movement, and it’s senses.

Ruth Gibson graduated from University of Kent Canterbury with a BA (Hons) in Performing Arts. She studied with the Marcel Marceau Group whilst on a scholarship at University of Michigan, Ann Arbor and Ypsilanti USA. She continued her education at the School for New Dance Development in Amsterdam. Nominated for a Paul Hamlyn Award for Visual Art in 2000, she has worked with many artists including Sandra Fisher, Gary Rowe, Leonard McComb and Gaby Agis.

Based in London, the artists work together and often as igloo with international artists, including John McCormick and Adam Nash. Their practice is multifaceted ranging through installation, intervention, virtualisation, film and performance drawing on the multiple layers of reality and unreality. Much of their work is in recreating environments and systems where coding joins hands with choreographies of the body. Their core concept is the intersection between technology and the human spirit, where our ambivalence to technology is explored with originality, humour and intellect.

Awards NESTA Invention and Innovation award 2004, Royal Opera House Commission 2004, Computer Space Prize XV nomination 2003, BAFTA nomination 2002, Travel Award Arizona State University IDAT 1999, Travel Award Dutch Electronic Arts Festival, Rotterdam, NL 1998 & Lisa Ullmann Scholarship 1998.

Artists in Residence londonprintstudio, Paddington, London, UK 2008, RMIT Associate Artists, Melbourne, Australia 2004 & 2006, Centre for Astrophysics & Super Computing, Swinburne University Melbourne, Australia 2004, Jerwood Space, London, UK 1998, Riverside Studios, London, UK 1997, Sadlers Wells, Software for Dancers, London, UK 2001, V2 Lab, Future Moves, Rotterdam, NL 1998

Visiting Tutor/Lectures Royal College of Art, Goldsmiths College, Bartlett School of Architecture, Huddersfield University, Brunel University School of Arts, CLEAR, The Centre for Landscape & Environmental Arts Research, Cumbria University, Pixel Raiders, Sheffield Hallam University, Women in Games, University of Wales Newport , Transistor 2 CIANT, Karlovy Vary, Czech Republic, Gametime, Australian Centre for the Moving Image, Melbourne, Australia.

Research Areas The use of animation tools and digital methods to explore and realise unique approaches in developing real-time screen based works. The creative expansion of interface development into new territories evolving science and new display technologies. Specific attention paid to the modification that nature undergoes as technology develops. Through re-purposing media tools and combining them with re-modeled objects, the work simulates and reconfigures representations of our environment. Ongoing development of sensory and interactive virtual environments for children with disabilities in special schools and hospitals.

More about Igloo

Getting to UCL:

The nearest Tube stations are Euston Square and Warren Street. For full details, see http://www.ucl.ac.uk/about-ucl/location/public-transport

How to find the Garwood Lecture Theatre:

You may also consult the UCL maps at:

http://www.ucl.ac.uk/about-ucl/location/maps

Entrance is free, all welcome.

Joint Tesla & CAS Event postponed

2008-08-14T17:37:00.017+01:00

We regret to announce that the planned
joint CAS/TESLA meeting on 2 September has been postponed.

However the CAS AGM followed by a talk by the New Zealand artist Murray McKeich will take place at System Simulation.
The talk is a free event and is open to the public.

5:45 for 6:00 prompt - CAS AGM (to 6:30)

6:30 for 7:00 - Murray McKeich: Computational Creativity
System Simulation Ltd
Bedford Chambers, The Piazza Covent Garden
London WC2E 8HA, England
http://www.ssl.co.uk/content/map.html

Soundings from the Estuary

2008-06-28T18:28:00.007+01:00

A chance to see the work of artist Dave Lawrence, who spoke at our most recent Tesla event.

Part of the London Festival of Architecture www.soundingsfromtheestuary.com
Artists: Frank Watson, Germander Speedwell, Dave Lawrence
Contemporary Urban Centre
73 – 81 Southwark Bridge Road, London SE1 0NQ
Tel: 020 7403 8495 / 020 7357 6469

www.novasscarman.org

20th June – 20th July 2008
Private view: Friday 20th June, 6 – 9pm
Gallery open: Mon – Sat, 10am – 6pm
Soundings from the Estuary
Photo © Frank Watson 2008
Talk at Tate Modern on 11th July at 6.30pm, entitled: The Thames Estuary (A Sense of Place).

www.lfa2008.org/events.php

Dogs' Ears An Online Art work from Julie Freeman

2008-06-28T17:59:00.006+01:00

Dog's Ears is a new online art work; an eyeful of pooches and bit of an experiment.

A bit of background: This project stems from a want to analyse dogs' ear movements and rhythms and create a system that will make music from the data collected by the analysis - changing movement into sound. This web site is not only the height of online fashionable entertainment :) but a fundraising method to make this music (the Ear Music Extraction System), and a way for art lovers to become Patrons and co-owners of the next work.

You can dogin here: http://www.ica.org.uk/dogsears

So do art-loving internet users a) love dogs and b) agree to pay to patronise future art work? How successful this will be is questionable - so the ICA is going to hold a debate later on this year so we can evaluate what happened and answer some questions such as can the microfinancing model work for artists?. It'll be interesting to see what unfolds, and the statistics vs users vs money raised will be posted on the site over time so potential Patron's can see how much the work cost, how many people are looking at it and who is signing-up.

It's funny and multilingual - test your arabic with Ashur the distro agnostic techy from Damascus, or stick with Lady Rose English. If you know any dog lovers please forward the URL - there's 21 quality pooch's waiting to entertain :)

Joanna Hoffmann Tesla Talk

2008-06-19T13:16:00.015+01:00

TESLA@UCL:: Artists Joanna Hoffmann and Dave Lawrence:: 'Tones & Whispers' and 'Life Matters'::Wednesday, 25-Jun-2008, 18:00 – 19:00

Wednesday 25-Jun-2008, 18:00 – 19:00

University College London

Garwood Lecture Theatre, South Wing

(Details of how to get there are at the bottom of the page)

Abstract
The presentation will focus on two artistic collaborations between Joanna Hoffmann and Dave Lawrence: 'Tones & Whispers', which refers to the Pythagorean idea of World Harmony (realized with the support of the Institute for Cognitive Neuroscience in London); and 'Life Matters' (initiated last summer during the art & science residency at KHOJ – the International Centre for Genetic Engineering and Biotechnology in Delhi).

“Poet in a scientific landscape”: these words by Nick Turvey capture very well the way Joanna’s artistic practice merges micro and macro scales, inner and outer, computer modelling with physical environment, and scientific data with everyday experiences. In her work she recalls both ideas that have influenced our consciousness in important ways, and also recent discoveries that have revolutionized our contemporary world-view.

Dave has a background in soundscape composition, instrument invention, and performance – exploring ‘time, place, and deep emotion/immersion’, using the sounds of natural/man made objects, events, and environments. Dave will talk about his composition and sound sculpturing techniques in these two works, and will briefly touch on the process of nurturing a collaboration at both conceptual and creative levels.
Biographies
Joanna Hoffmann is a Polish media artist, with 25 solo shows to her credit. She has exhibited at numerous group exhibitions and festivals, including 'Lightness of Things', Center for Contemporary Art, Warsaw (2003); 'Temporary Cities', National Centre for Contemporary Arts, Moscow; WRO 07 International Media Biennale, Wroclaw; and 'VideoBrasil', Sao Paolo, Brazil (2007). Her awards include a fellowship at the Academy for Film and Television at Potsdam-Babelsberg in 2005/6, and the Polish Minister of Culture Fellowship in 2002, 2004 and 2008. Joanna received her PhD and postdoctoral degree from the Dept. of Multimedia Communication, Academy of Fine Arts, Poznan, where she is now Assistant Professor. She lives in Poznan and Berlin

http://free.art.pl/hoffmann

Dave Lawrence is a sonic artist based at Middlesex University. As well as 'Tones & Whispers' with Joanna Hoffmann (Cybersonica, London, and Posnan, Poland in 2005), Dave's collaborative projects include the forthcoming ‘Soundings from the Estuary’ with Frank Watson (Novas gallery, London, June 2008); Stardust with Liliane Lijn (Riflemaker gallery, London, 2008); ‘Mememe’ (Aarhus 2006 and Falmouth 2008); 'Larangas' with Ines Armado (Portugal 2008); ‘Sphere and Cross’ with Sasha Frolova (SAN Festival 2005, Scarborough and NCCA, Moscow 2006); and the interactive sculpture 'Pipes Have Ears' (Crystal Place Park, London, 2004, and Colourscape, Exeter, 2005).

Getting to UCL:

The nearest Tube stations are Euston Square and Warren Street. For full details, see http://www.ucl.ac.uk/about-ucl/location/public-transport

How to find the Garwood Lecture Theatre:

You may also consult the UCL maps at:

http://www.ucl.ac.uk/about-ucl/location/maps

Entrance is free, all welcome.

Some Images from Tones & Whispers, Life Matters and Secret Life

1. Tones & Whispers

2. Life Matters (Malaria)

3. Life Matters

4. Secret Life

5. Secret Life

Anna Valentina Murch talk at Tesla

2008-06-06T16:39:00.009+01:00

Artist Anna Valentina Murch:

Recent Large-Scale Public Artwork
in association with

Computer Arts Society (CAS)

University College London
Garwood Lecture Theatre, South Wing
(Details how to get there at the bottom of post)

Abstract
Anna Valentina Murch is an artist who works primarily with the medium
of light and whose work focuses on creating places that lead the
viewer on a sensory and psychological journey that measures time and
provokes memory. Since 1980, her work has been involved with
designing and building large public art projects, sometimes working
collaboratively with architects, engineers and other artists. These
large-scale public works incorporate ambient elements such as light,
water and sound, to create experiential places. This has allowed her
to take her personal creative investigations to another level by
widening the focus to explore the definition of place and venues for
community interaction.

Biography
Anna Valentina Murch received her MA in Environmental Media, Sculpture
from the Royal College of Art and a Graduate Diploma from the
Architectural Association in London, England. Through the Computer
Arts Society she exhibited an installation at the Edinburgh Festival
in 1973. In the late 1970's she moved to San Francisco and developed
many works in galleries and museums. Her recent permanent Public Art
installations include: St. Louis Metro System, and the Muni Metro
Extension, San Francisco California, Queens Civic Court House, New
York, Arroyo Suite, Century City, Los Angles, Waterscape, Civic Center
plaza in San Jose, California, Water Scores, for the Performing Arts
Center plaza in Miami, Florida. She is currently a Professor of Art at
Mills College, Oakland, California.

avmurch@earthlink.net
http://annavalentinamurch.com/

Getting to UCL:
The nearest Tube stations are Euston Square and Warren Street. For
full details, see
http://www.ucl.ac.uk/about-ucl/location/public-transport
How to find the Garwood Lecture Theatre:
Once you enter the main gate of UCL in Gower Street, you will face the
Portico in the UCL quadrangle courtyard. Please take the right hand
side diagonal and walk to the right corner of the building. You will
see the brass tablet indicating South Wing. Enter the second entrance
door at the South Wing, and you will find the Garwood Lecture Theatre
on the first floor. There will be signs from the entrance that will
help you to find the exact location easily.

You may also consult the UCL maps at:
http://www.ucl.ac.uk/about-ucl/location/maps
Entrance is free, all welcome.

Some pictures from previous Tesla talks

2008-06-06T13:54:00.014+01:00

Images from Tesla Talks:
Owen Holland
Towards a technology of consciousness
12 September 2007
Alex Zivanovic
Early Cybernetic Sculptures: Interaction and Elegant Motion
22 October 2007

Julie Freeman Tesla Talk

2008-06-02T13:15:00.005+01:00

Julie Freeman:
Inspiration Collaboration Confusion Diversion
- an artist working with science

Abstract

Inspiration Collaboration Confusion Diversion - an artist working with science.

Julie will show documentation of her work to discuss how science influences her art and the process of creating it, and how an artist can divert scientific rigours. She'll show different levels of collaboration, inspiration and often confusion that come from that same scientific world which ranges from American fish surgeon, an experimental psychologist to a Professor of nanotechnology.

Artist Statement

I've always been interested in how technology is seductive, how it can present truth and lies with equal gravitas. It can also help us to learn about the world in new ways, exposing hidden systems and beauties. My work uses digital technology to help people engage with and appreciate natural phenomena. In this sense the technology is a vehicle rather than an end in itself. I am interested in how biological systems can be represented as sound, animation or three-dimensional objects. My working practice dictates that outcomes are never predictable, so when I start projects I feel I am constructing open structures and frameworks which allow for the free flow of ideas and content into the work.'

Biography

Julie Freeman' work spans visual, audio and digital artforms and explores the relationship between science, nature and how humans interact with it. For the past twelve years her work has focused on using electronic technologies to 'translate nature' – whether it is through the sound of torrential rain dripping on a giant rhubarb leaf; a pair of mobile concrete speakers who lurk in galleries haranguing passersby with fractured sonic samples or by providing an interactive platform from which to view the flap, twitch and prick of dogs' ears.

In 2005 she launched her pioneering digital artwork The Lake, which used hydrophones, custom software and advanced technology to track electronically tagged fish and translate their movement into an audio-visual experience. The work was developed over three years and supported by Tingrith Coarse Fishery and a two year fellowship from NESTA (The National Endowment for Science, Technology and the Arts).

She is currently artist-in-residence at the Microsystems and Nanotechnology Centre at Cranfield University where she is creating works that aim to increase public understanding of self-assembly and organising processes at the nanoscale and their potential social impacts and consequences.

Julie is a graduate of the MA in Digital Arts at the Centre for Electronic Arts, Middlesex University, London, and Chair of FreqOUT! an innovative London based community arts programme, enabling young people to work with wireless technologies.

Tesla Talks in June

2008-05-21T13:00:00.005+01:00

Julie Freeman

Thursday 5 June 2008

University College London
Garwood Lecture Theatre, South Wing

Anna Valentina Murch
Thursday 12 June 2008

University College London
Garwood Lecture Theatre, South Wing

Joanna Hoffmann
Wednesday 25 June 2008
University College London
Garwood Lecture Theatre, South Wing

All Talks 6pm - 7 pm

Getting to UCL:
The nearest Tube stations are Euston Square and Warren Street. For full details, see http://www.ucl.ac.uk/about-ucl/location/public-transport
How to find the Garwood Lecture Theatre:
Once you enter the main gate of UCL in Gower Street, you will face the Portico in the UCL quadrangle courtyard. Please take the right hand side diagonal and walk to the right corner of the building. You will see the brass tablet indicating South Wing. Enter the second entrance door at the South Wing, and you will find the Garwood Lecture Theatre on the first floor. There will be signs from the entrance that will help you to find the exact location easily.
You may also consult the UCL maps at:
http://www.ucl.ac.uk/about-ucl/location/maps