Initiative for Advanced Research in Technology and the Arts

Exploring emerging technologies and new media for novel interactions between the arts, engineering and sciences

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Technology and the arts come together in this innovative research cluster. Faculty across the arts, engineering and sciences explore new media applications based on shared expertise and evolving technologies. Concepts from diverse disciplines partner to create compelling expressions: dancers wired with sensors perform an interactive concert; media artists incorporate robotics and surveillance hardware in a social context; musicians compose complex scores based on math equations; computer-artists animate visual models from biological data. Experimental process and inquiry energize research and lead to new frontiers. The use of new technologies in art often acts as a laboratory for subsequent industrial and commercial applications. iARTA's affiliate journal, Moebius, gives critical insight to these emerging interdisciplinary practices in an international context.

Latest News

3D animation explores concepts of Iranian politics, cultural heritage and identity

Submitted by jkw0121 on Mon, 12/12/2011 - 9:20am

Over There Is Over Here is an animation by Morehshin Allahyari which explores the dialectics of time, space, real and unreal to define and critique the position of those who have left Iran in the last 4-5 years in relation to current political prisoners in Iran. The project uses 3D animation and data glitch as a way to illustrate presence-less presence and to show the passage and collapse of the time.

Through a self-reflexive narrator, Over There Is Over Here alternates between the literary definition of a third person narrator to Morehshin's actual, physical “third person” role outside Iran as narrator of the story. The narrator explores her relationship with imprisoned friends and classmates. Morehshin says, "In this relationship, I am the outsider who will always fail to understand the reality of a prisoner’s life. For these reasons, the animation is a deliberate mix of real and unreal, fake and genuine."

Since the creation of this piece (Dec 2010), Morehshin's animation has been successfully exhibited and screened in many international and national events:

2011- The 6th Streaming Festival, Netherlands.
2011-2012 The Taubman Museum of art, Juried, Roanoke, Virginia (December 2, 2011 to February 26, 2012).
2011- Thomas Erben gallery, invitational, NYC, NY.
2011- 24th Annual Dallas VideoFest, invitational, Angelika Film Center, Dallas, TX.
2011- Sun Flower Art Center, CologneoFF 2011, Beirut, Lebanon.
2011- Busan International Film Festival, invitational, Busan, South Korea.
2011 - FROZEN FILM FEST: Best Animated Shorts 2011, Roxie Theater, San Francisco, CA.
2011-Unlike Gallery, Juried Show, Berlin, Germany.
2011-Currents 2011, El Museo Cultural de Santa Fe, Santa Fe, New Mexico.
2011-Athens International Film and Video Festival, Athens, Ohio.
2011-Arad art museum, Cologne Off 2011, Romania.
2011-The 7th Berlin International Directors Lounge, Berlin, Germany.
2011-CologneOFF 2011, Juried and curated by Alysse Stepanian.
2011-Union gallery, Juried, University of North Texas.

Upcoming Exhibitions and Activities by Kenneth John Verdugo

Submitted by Morehshin Allahyari on Thu, 12/01/2011 - 6:23pm

Professor Kenneth John Verdugo is scheduled to install two solo exhibitions in 2012 – one in Dallas at the LuminArte Gallery in March/April; which has been specifically scheduled to coincide with the Dallas art walk. There will also be a follow up to that reconfigured for a new space in late April/May at UNT on the Square. At both venues, he will be performing with composer/collaborator Jeffrey Gascon Bello at the opening and closing of each show.

As Verdugo explains: “The installation is my response to Jeffery Gascon’s compositions. In turn, I will be performing on percussion – within an environment that is designed to serve as a percussion studio – meaning: in effect I will be playing the room. There will be multi-media to support the performance. And once the musical piece is finished, the residue of performance will remain and the installation will be a stand-alone work on its own. A portion of this will be funded by a UNT research supported REG grant. We are currently in the rehearsal process. I am currently beginning to design and construct the environment for the work in progress.”

Aside from this list of items, Verdugo will be showing in Los Angeles in Dec at LACDA. He is also continuing to teach a course in digital imaging within the department of Dance and Theatre (Photoshop for Theatre / THEA 1700) and is currently involved with the opening of a UNT theatrical/movement piece about the Poet Federico Garcia Lorca, Lorca in a Green Dress (by playwright Nilo Cruz). The play opens Nov 9 and runs through Nov 13, 2011. He is the scenic designer /scenic charge-painter of record.

 

Guest Artist Ivo Bol (NL)

Submitted by Morehshin Allahyari on Wed, 11/16/2011 - 12:08pm

Guest artist Ivo Bol (NL) joins the UNT Sound Art class for an evening of performance, installation and multi-channel sound works. Ivo Bol is from Amsterdam, where he is active as a composer, intermedia collaborator and performer. Ivo will present several works including a demonstration of live sampling and improvisation using live instruments responding to physical gestures. The event includes graduate and under-graduate artists and composers from both the College of Visual Arts and the College of Music. Presentations include interactive sound installations, sound sculpture, noise performance and multi-channel sound works.

< www.ivobol.nl/blog/category/uncategorized >

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