Reflecting California Institute of the Arts (CalArts) experimental ethos, the Digital Arts Expo (DAE) showcases projects integrating cutting-edge engineering and computer science with visual and performing arts. The DAE is composed of interactive experience, digital performance, animation, and projection mapping, which explore the latest in software and hardware as a means of commenting on our rapidly evolving culture of interconnectivity. Highlighting new student and faculty projects made over the 2015 academic year, the DAE’s exhibitions and performances begin at 12:30 pm on May 5 and end at 2 am May 6. The DAE takes place in over 12 venues on CalArt’s campus including the ROD Concert Hall, MOD Theater, Main Gallery, Wild Beast, Machine Lab, Bijou, and Lund Dance Theater. Admission is free. See below for exhibition schedule.
More than ever before, the combination of arts and technological skills are activating innovation far beyond the gallery and concert hall. “The work is insane,” comments Associate Dean for Research and Development in Digital Arts, Ajay Kapur. “You can see how boundaries between artists and engineers are breaking down—with students originating new approaches to human computer interaction, wearable technology, augmented reality, machine learning and more.”
Visitors to the expo can explore, “Clutter Music,” by Carl Burgin aka Sahy Uhns is a musical project made from a collection of mechatronic instruments using recycled electro-magnetic components. The instruments will be performing compositions in real time by generative systems. Sahy Uhns’ project is a response to the ever-increasing rate at which consumer electronics are replaced and discarded because of technological development.
“Baby Aspirin DVD” by transmedia artist Cordey Lopez is a performance project, which focuses on the realizations of both sound as abstract, physical form and as an artifice of synthesis, thematically, in relation to contemporary dialogues and notions of the “authenticity of reality.”
Other highlights from the expo include “All the Dressing Rooms Were Full,” a short film/animation by Abbey Sacks, and a musical piece by Martin Velez created using a 3D printer.
CalArts has long been at the forefront of arts and technology practice, and is uniquely positioned to develop such a curriculum. The Institute’s Music Technology curriculum is unique in the world, engaging students in custom software design, circuit design for human-computer interfacing, and the use of robotic mechanical systems and artificial intelligence in musical and artistic practice. CalArts’ School of Film/Video, with its renowned animation program, has been a global leader in innovations in computer graphics and advanced digital media technologies. And the newer Digital Arts Minor program offers opportunity for inter-disciplinary collaboration between students of all the schools within CalArts and provides students with the skills and knowledge to create digitally driven works of art.
More Information:
Digital Arts Expo Schedule
12:30 pm
Opening talks and performances in the Main Gallery
2:00 - 9:30 pm
Exhibition venues open
3:00 pm
VIP guest event: A guided tour of student, faculty, and alumni installations on campus
5:00 - 6:30 pm
Exhibition in the Bijou Theater
8:00 pm
Reception in the Main Gallery
Exhibition and performance in the Wild Beast and Wild Beat Courtyard
9:30 pm (Galleries close)
Performances continue in Main Gallery until 2:00 am.
CalArts Digital Arts Expo Website:
http://expo16.calartsmusictech.com/about/DAE
Exhibition Map:
http://expo16.calartsmusictech.com/map/
CalArts Faculty, Ajay Kapur Bio:
https://directory.calarts.edu/node/295
Abbey Sacks, “All the Dressing Rooms were Full” Screening at 2016 Expo:
https://vimeo.com/144947510
Digital Arts Expo 2014 Video:
https://vimeo.com/106876684
CalArts Digital Arts Minor:
https://calarts.edu/academics/programs-degrees/digital-arts-minor