Rhode Island College

// lonely avatar is an exhibition which investigates the use, meaning, and expressive potential of avatars in the contemporary digital landscape. “Lucid Dreaming” ruminates on the emptiness of the virtual avatar whilst “Project H.E.A.R.T.” involves filling that empty avatar with your emotion through a specially designed biosensor. Both projects follow a trajectory of thought in regards to the metaphorical potential of avatars in the virtual space. Curated by Frank Yefeng Wang, this show features works by Alex M Lee commissioned by Trinity Square Video in Toronto, ON and a project made in collaboration with Canadian artist Erin Gee.

Opening reception: 5-8pm
Artist Lecture: 7-7:30pm

The Chazan Family Gallery
Alex & Ani Hall
Rhode Island College
600 Mt. Pleasant Ave
Providence, RI 02908

Ammerman Symposium Exhibition

Ammerman Center for Arts and Technology

05.01.2018

Project H.E.A.R.T. will be featured in an exhibition at Hygienic Gallery, New London, Connecticut, as part of the Ammerman Center for Arts and Technology 16th Biennial Symposium for Arts and Technology.

The Ammerman Center for Arts and Technology 16th Biennial Symposium

Intersections

February 15 – 17, 2018

The Ammerman Center for Arts and Technology at Connecticut College is pleased to present “Intersections: the 16th Biennial Symposium on Arts and Technology.”

The aim of the symposium, now in its thirty-second year, is to create a forum for multidisciplinary dialogue at the intersection of arts, technology and contemporary culture. The symposium brings artists and researchers from a wide range of fields together to engage, interact and share ideas as they present new works, research and performances in a variety of formats. Featured events include a keynote address by Krzysztof Wodiczko, Featured exhibition by Natalie Bookchin, several commissioned multi-disciplinary works, panel discussions and paper presentations, workshops, gallery exhibitions, music concerts, installations, screenings, public interventions and live media performances.

Click here for more information from the symposium website

Review in Canadian Art Magazine

Project H.E.A.R.T was featured in the Winter 2018 edition of Canadian Art magazine. The exhibition review for the Worldbuilding exhibition curated by John G Hampton and Maiko Tanaka at Trinity Square Video was written by Tatum Dooley. According to Dooley:

“The gamification of our bodies renders the physical form void, replaced by screens where our bodies and emotions can be morphed and manipulated. Perhaps the only way to create art with technology as advanced and recent as VR is to reckon with its potential consequences.

Gee’s project, the most realized out of the four artists in the exhibition, masters this reckoning. I spoke with Gee in the lead-up to the exhibition, and she explained the conceptual backbone of the piece. “I’m working through questions of emotional sincerity when it comes to self-help. In theory, if you can technologically master your emotions, if you can just make yourself excited, then you can make yourself a better, happier person. I don’t know how sincere that is…”

Click here for the full article: VR and the Failure of Self-Help Technology

Worldbuilding Exhibition

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Project H.E.A.R.T. was debuted on November 5th at Trinity Square Video, Toronto.

This project was commissioned by Trinity Square Video thanks to curators John Hampton and Maiko Tanaka, as well as the support of AMD computing and the Canada Council for the Arts. The commission also features works by Canadian artists Jeremy Bailey and Kristen Schaffer, Eshrat Erfanian, and Yam Lau.

The Worldbuilding exhibition took place November 3rd – December 9th 2017 at Trinity Square Video, 401 Richmond, Toronto Canada. From the curators:

“As new virtual technologies begin to flood the popular consciousness via gaming, experience design, journalism, and healthcare industries, they are accompanied by claims that immersive, 360° and 3D environments create more authentic experiences of “presence”. On the one hand they claim the technology can cultivate real empathy for the experiences of others, and on the other, they enhance the resolution of militaristic ways of seeing and “voyeurism without consequence.” The artists in Worldbuilding bring a critical eye to this rhetoric emerging alongside the technology. Through the building of alternate versions of the worlds in which popular VR experiences currently exist, the artists exaggerate, undermine, and push the limits, of the claims of VR’s empathetic and experiential potential, in subtle, hilarious and re-embodying ways.

Curated by John G. Hampton and Maiko Tanaka, Worldbuilding invites audiences to experience four virtual installations in an exhibition that plays with the rules of engagement that immersive technologies are designed from. Opening with a reception on November 3rd 2017 at 6pm, the exhibition provides opportunities to hear from the artists and curators themselves with panel presentations on November 4th and December 9th.”

Worldbuilding was declared a “must-see” show by Canadian Art magazine!

For more information, visit the Worldbuilding website by clicking here.

Technical Requirements

Project H.E.A.R.T. is an installation work that features a futuristic play station including a desk surface, chair, and biosensor interface.

TITLE
	Project H.E.A.R.T.
YEAR OF PRODUCTION
	2017
AVERAGE VIEWING TIME
	6-8 minutes
MATERIAL
	4k VR experience for Oculus Rift, LED-enhanced desk and seating, USB-powered biosensor interface
TECHNICAL REQUIREMENTS
	Oculus Rift CV-1 with IR tracker, large display monitor (at least 50″), Windows 10 VR-capable computer, access to power
DETAILS
	Recommended CPU: Intel Core i7 chipset GPU: AMD RX 480, GeForce GTX 1060 3GB, or Nvidia 1060 graphics card RAM: 8GB