image: All That is Solid, Matthew Gantt
The Arts Center of the Capital Region presents: An Artist Training Opportunity To Build Knowledge and Skills in Immersive Technology in the Arts
Dates: 11/4, 11/5
Location: 265 River St, Troy NY *no remote option*
The Arts Center of the Capital Region presents: An Artist Training Opportunity To Build Knowledge and Skills in Immersive Technology in the Arts A Two Day Workshop. Sponsored by the New York State Council on the Arts Immersive Art and Technology Initiative managed by Wave Farm. This program is free and registration is required.
ABOUT THE INITIATIVE
The power of storytelling through various forms of immersive technology, such as artificial intelligence, augmented, and extended reality, is increasingly evident in art and cultural sectors. This technology is a digital tool operating both as an art form and as a public utility.
Immersive Technologies have expanded opportunities for dialog about race, gender, aging, and more, toward a more equitable, diverse, and inclusive future. Access to information, education, training and expertise in this field has never been more important for historically excluded and underserved artists and communities.
This Initiative was developed to assist diverse participation and cultural representation in the creative and public use of Immersive Tech. The Initiative is targeted to support those individuals experiencing disproportionate barriers to engaging their creative voice in this new arena.
Priority was given to proposals that engage underrepresented members of local communities, rural or urban, with opportunities to learn and/or expand knowledge and dialog about Immersive Technology.
Overall, this Initiative encourages learning and information sharing for the purpose of empowering individuals in the creative sector as Immersive Tech increasingly becomes an integral part of our lives.
GOALS
- Deepen knowledge of and support for emerging and frontier technology as an art form across New York state with a focus on Immersive Technology.
- Diversify the Field of Immersive Technology through targeted support for artists and organizations within diverse and historically excluded communities.
- Engender Accessibility to the expertise, tools, and training of Immersive Technology through workshops, professional development, and hands-on opportunities for learning and creative storytelling.
This project is made possible with funds from the NYSCA in Partnership with Wave Farm: Immersive Art & Technology Initiative, with the support of the Office of the Governor and the New York State Legislature
About the Artists
Matthew D. Gantt is an artist, composer, and educator focused on sound in virtual
spaces, generative systems facilitated by idiosyncratic technology, and digital
production presets as sonic readymades. He worked as a studio assistant to electronic
music pioneer Morton Subotnick, and has been an active participant in the international
creative community, presenting or performing at spaces such as Pioneer Works, Issue
Project Room, Roulette, Babycastles, SVA Visible Futures Lab, Panoply Performance
Laboratory, EMPAC, the Wrong Biennale, and countless DIY venues across North
America. Gantt releases music with Orange Milk and Oxtail Recordings, and teaches
experimental music and media at both institutional and grassroots spaces, including
Harvestworks, CUNY Brooklyn, Bard College, Sarah Lawrence, and a variety of
community workshops aimed at creating equitable access to developing technologies.
Gantt’s work has been featured in The Wire magazine, Pop Matters, Exclaim!, Tiny Mix
Tapes, Bandcamp New and Notable, the Brooklyn Rail and similar.
Mike Bullock is a composer, performer, and environmental sound recordist based in
rural Massachusetts. He has been creating electroacoustic and improvised music since
the mid 90s, and has performed across the US and in Europe. Bullock has received
grants from the Pew Center for Arts & Heritage and the Foundation for Contemporary
Arts. As Ears In Space, he also designs and builds wave field synthesis and other
spatial audio arrays.
Bullock's work has been presented at ISSUE Project Room, Experimental Intermedia,
and the Park Avenue Armory in New York City; Fylkingen in Stockholm, Sweden;
Instants Chavirés in Paris; Café OTO in London; The Philadelphia Museum of Art; the
Goethe Institut Boston; and EMPAC in Troy, NY.
Michelle Jaffé is an interdisciplinary artist who creates immersive works that prompt
active listening. Her sculpture, sound and video installations present complex
experiential propositions. She has exhibited at The New Media Gallery, Vancouver,
Beall Center for Art + Technology, UC Irvine, Duke University Power Plant Gallery,
Urban Institute for Contemporary Arts, Grand Rapids, WhiteBox, New York,
Electroacoustic Music Festival, Milton Art Bank, PA, Transylvania University, Lexington,
KY and solo shows in New York City at 11 Rivington, Bosi Contemporary, Wald & Po
Kim Foundation, Susan Berko-Conde Gallery.
Jaffé was Artist-in-Residence to the Computer Music Department at Brooklyn College
and has been awarded residencies at the Exchange Museum and The Newlyn Gallery
in England, MacDowell Colony and Djerassi. She has received numerous Individual
Artist grants from NYSCA and QAF grants from Queens Council on the Arts. Her work
is in the museum collection of Listasafn Islands National Gallery of Iceland and her
design work is extensively collected by the Philadelphia Museum of Art, Museum at
Fashion Institute of Technology and Palais Galliera – Musée de la Mode de la Ville de
Paris.
Seth Cluett is a composer, visual artist, and writer. With work ranging from photography
and drawing to installation, performance, and critical writing, his
“subtle…seductive, immersive” (Artforum) sound work has been characterized as
“rigorously focused and full of detail” (e/i) and “dramatic, powerful, and at one with
nature” (The Wire). The recipient of grants from Foundation for Contemporary Arts
Emergency Fund and Meet the Composer, his work has been presented internationally
at venues such as The Whitney Museum, MoMA/PS1, Moving Image Art Fair,
CONTEXT Art Miami, GRM, and STEIM. Cluett is Artist-in-Residence at Nokia Bell Labs
and Director of the Computer Music Center at Columbia University where he is on the
faculty of music composition and serves as Assistant Director of the Sound Art
MFA Program.
Schedule of Events
Friday, November 4:
2:00-3:00
Welcomes & orientation with the participating artists
Refreshments served
3:00-4:45
Introduction and Dialogue: Immersive Technology and the Arts
Seth Cluett will provide an overview of the field including its history, general concepts,
and vocabularies, while Michelle Jaffé will elaborate on technologies used in the Visual
Arts and show examples.
4:45-5:00
break
5:00-6:00
Demonstration
Matthew D. Gantt will demonstrate a series of online WebVR projects focused on spatial
sound and virtual performance, as well as community-driven or 'DIY' approaches to
making art in digital space
6:00-7:00
Dinner in the Gallery
Vegan options will be available
7:00-8:00
Artist Mike Bullock will show his Model A wave field synthesis array, and discuss the emerging
potential for wave field synthesis technology as an accessible and flexible technology for spatial
sound creation."
8:30 good nights
Saturday, November 5
11AM – 3:00PM
Open working session with artists and equipment
Work with all four artists in an open format exploration of equipment, including
generating short sample studies.
