A hybrid lattice topography will be assembled at the California NanoSystems Institute, during the UCLA Art | Sci Center 2008 Symposium: Body Art Disease. The work will be composed of a lightweight sculptural field housing arrays of organic batteries. acting as a primitive 'geotextile' that might reinforce new growth. This system will support a dense series of very thin whiskers and low-power miniature lights, pulsing and vibrating in slight increments. Weak electrical charges are generated by copper and aluminum electrodes immersed in vinegar within latex bladders, working in concert with miniature microprocessors. The 'life' of the organic system will shift and erode during the symposium event. In installation workshops participants will work together in preparing the Endothelium sculpture. The work will include assembly of lightweight wood, paper and metal elements combined with miniature microprocessor and mechatronic components transported from the studio in Toronto. No prior experience is required.
Philip Beesley practices digital media art and experimental architecture in Toronto. His work in the last two decades has focused on field-oriented distributed sculpture and landscape installations.. In parallel with his sculpture practice he teaches architecture at the University of Waterloo School of Architecture in Cambridge, Ontario and is co-director of Waterloo’s Integrated Centre for Manufacturing, Visualization and Design, a facility combining high-performance computing, advanced visualization and digital fabrication. 2008-9 installations are slated for Montreal's Champ Libre, Pratt/Brooklyn, Linz Austria, CITA/Royal Academy Denmark and Surrey Gallery of Art, BC. His publications include North House (CDRN 2008), Maison Solaire (CDRN 2008), Mobile Nation (OCAD, 2007), Hylozoic Soil (Riverside, 2007), Ourtopias: Cities and the Role of Design (Riverside, 2007), Future Wood (CDRN, 2006), Responsive Architectures (Riverside, 2005), a chapter of Extreme Textiles (Smithsonian/Cooper Hewitt, 2005) and the cover feature AD Magazine Design through Making. (Wiley Academy 2005). Sculpture in upcoming publications include Interactive Art (Silver ed., Princeton, 2008), Digital Practice Now (Spiller, Wiley, 2008), Installations by Architects (Bonnemaison, Princeton, 2008), Persistent Modeling (Ayres, Architectural Design, Wiley, 2009). Beesley co-chaired the conferences Expanding Bodies: Art, Cities, Environment (ACADIA Halifax 2007), Responsive Architectures: Subtle Technologies (Toronto, 2006); Fabrication: Examining the Digital Practice of Architecture (Waterloo and Toronto, 2004), On Growth and Form: The Engineering of Nature (Cambridge, 2002). Distinctions for his work include the Prix de Rome in Architecture (Canada).
Hayley Isaacs is an associate of Philip Beesley Architect Inc. who has played key roles in conception and production of sculptures, books and buildings including Hylozoic Soil (Montreal, 2006), Ourtopias (Riverside, 2007), North House and Maison Solaire (CDRN, 2008). She holds a Master of Architecture from the University of Waterloo and her focus combines industrial design and exhibitry, graphic design and architecture.
The Blue Morph Exhibit (overnight camping optional)
The Integratron is an acoustically perfect tabernacle and energy machine sited on a powerful geomagnetic vortex m in the magical Mojave Desert
BLUE MORPH is an interactive installation that uses nanoscale images and sounds derived from the metamorphosis of a caterpillar into a butterfly. This is a fusion of sound, light and interactive art/science. The Integratron's sound chamber will be transformed into a place where you can experience the powerful beauty of nanotechnology and art created at UCLA by Victoria Vesna and James Gimzewski. This is an evening event with optional overnight camping under the stars or inside the Integratron.
Pre-registration is required! The cost is $20 for the event, plus $35/person for optional overnight camping (9:00pm to 11am; includes a 10am sound bath!. To register or for more info, please send us an email: integratron@gmail.com, or call 760-364-3126.
Victoria Vesna is a media artist, professor and chair at the department of Design | Media Arts at the UCLA School of the Arts. She is also director of the recently established UCLA Art|Sci center and the UC Digital Arts Research Network.
James Gimzewski, PhD, CPhys, FIoN, FInstP, FWIF, FREng, Distinguished Professor, UCLA Chemistry & Biochemistry Department; Director, UCLA CNSI Nano & Pico Characterization Core Facility; Scientific Director, UCLA Art|Sci Center