SIGGRAPH Galleries Explore Architecture, Art, Design & Computation

CHICAGO--(Business Wire)--
In a dynamic change to the format of the traditional SIGGRAPH Art
Gallery, this year's art and design program will represent innovative
juried and curated installations across two complementary themes -
Slow Art and Design & Computation.

In Slow Art, new media artists re-imagine speed through the
paradigm of slowness.

SIGGRAPH 2008 Slow Art encompasses juried art from 41 artists
meditating on fast and slow living in a landscape of technology. The
goal of the collection is to investigate if the speed of our digital
culture creates an oasis for contemplation or a hunger for yet more
speed.

The artworks are categorized into four themes:

-- Erosion, exploring the wear of time and repetition

-- Hybrids, objects and interactions uniquely combining
contrasting elements of old and new

-- Rhythms, documenting patterns and play

-- Traversal, discovering paths that define humans' relationship
to time

"In our fast-paced society, we often get caught up with enhanced
productivity. We forget to stop, look, and listen to our surroundings.
What are the consequences of bigger, better, faster, more?" asks Lina
Yamaguchi, SIGGRAPH 2008 Juried Art Chair from Stanford University.
"Through the platform of new media, 41 artists share condensed
perceptions of time and interrogate the limits of performance,
distance, desire, and respite."

The SIGGRAPH 2008 Design & Computation exhibit presents curated
pieces that explore digital fabrication technologies as well as
analytical and generative design methods that connect the past and
future, bridging vernacular with contemporary examples.

"The emergence of digital tools and methods used by contemporary
architects and designers has been inextricably connected to
developments in computer graphics throughout time," stated Lira
Nikolovska, SIGGRAPH 2008 Chair of Curated Art from Autodesk, Inc.
"The digital information with which designers work has provided new
means for expression as well as a material that can be molded and
reshaped in a radically different way. The works in this exhibit weave
together the past and the present in many ways - whether through the
evolution of computer graphics or otherwise."

Highlights of the SIGGRAPH 2008 Slow Art Gallery Include:

RealSnailMail

Vicky Isley and Paul Smith, aka boredomresearch - Bournemouth
University, United Kingdom

RealSnailMail is a messaging service that uses real snails
equipped with RFID technology to deliver messages to email
recipients... or not.

Associative Audio Design

Dennis de Bel - Piet Zwart Institute, Willem de Kooning Academy,
Rotterdam University of Applied Science, Rotterdam, The Netherlands

This piece illuminates the creation of music and sound by
associated everyday objects such as sewing machines, vacuum cleaners,
and record players. The combinations draw on similarities in form and
function as well as wordplay.

Fold Loud

JooYoun Paek - Eyebeam Resident, USA

Fold Loud, a playful interactive interface, connects ancient and
modern through a combination of origami paper-folding, vocal
harmonies, and interactive technology.

Navigator

Jorn Ebner - Artist, United Kingdom

Paralleling the random nature of real-life decision-making,
Navigator is a Flash-based world incorporating digital photographs and
sound in animated sequences. Users amble through real and
representational environments without knowing exactly where they will
lead.

Phantasm

Takahiro Matsuo - Monoscape, Japan

Phantasm is an interactive installation in which participants take
hold of a glowing sphere that releases a pale blue light as white
butterflies appear from nowhere and a soft piano melody flows.

Skorpions: Kinetic Electronic Garments

Joanna Berzowska - Concordia University, Canada

Skorpions are kinetic electronic garments that integrate Nitinol,
a shape-memory alloy, and custom electronics to move and change on the
body in slow, organic motions.

Spacequatica

The Sancho Plan - Ed Cookson, Adam Hoyle, Lewis Sykes, Edd
Dawson-Taylor, Olly Venning, United Kingdom

Spacequatica is an interactive descent into a musical ocean. This
immersive installation fuses live performance, animation, sound,
music, interaction design and gaming.

The Life and Death of Energy-Autonomous Objects

Anab Jain, Alex Taylor - Microsoft Research, United Kingdom

This installation presents a collection of conceptual objects
designed to encourage questions around recent advances in microbial
fuel cell (MFC) technology. The objects, as well as video footage
simulating their use, demonstrate how MFCs have the potential to
provide what are called 'energy autonomous' solutions for powering
everyday objects.

Highlights of SIGGRAPH 2008 Curated Design & Computation Gallery
Include:

Continua

Erwin Hauer and Enrique Rosado, EHR Associates LLC, Bethany
Connecticut, USA

The concepts of continuity and potential infinity have been
central themes of Erwin Hauer's opus from very early on in his career
as a sculptor. In his native Vienna, he began to explore perforated
modular structures that evolved into infinite continuous surfaces that
lent themselves to architectural usage. In partnership with Enrique
Rosado, Hauer currently explores digital production of his Continua
series using digital means, specifically design transformations,
creation of custom tools, and CNC milling techniques.

Weaving Public and Private: Interior Wall Studies

Contact: Neil Katz, Skidmore Owings and Merrill, New York, USA

This sample interior wall panel was conceived as a 25-meter-long
and 15-meter-tall screen that consists of solid, repeating Corian
components that both hang together structurally and weave public and
private spaces. The resulting divider is a thickly layered and
textured screen that generates the project-appropriate degree of
visual transparency. The system functions as both surface and
structure thanks to the interplay between geometry and material.

One_Shot.MGX

Patrick Jouin and Materialise MGX

The One_Shot.MGX foldable stool, designed by Patrick Jouin, was
produced for the design collection of Materialise MGX. The project is
an investigation of using rapid prototyping and rapid manufacturing
technologies in the field of industrial design. The seating surface
and the legs of the stool emerge from the 3d printing machine at once
(in "one shot"), hence the name of the stool.

Tropism

Commonwealth and Joshua Davis, Brooklyn, New York, USA

Tropism is an attempt to bridge the techniques and visions of two
digitally oriented art and design studios, Commonwealth and Joshua
Davis. Davis is known for his generative, rule-driven graphic
compositions, while Commonwealth is known for their experimental
products and forms. The two came together to create a computational
design series of painted porcelain vases. The Tropism vase series is
not only a reflection of the complexity and mutability of the botanic
world, but also an application of algorithmic, code-driven art to
complex topology and material form.

Ice Rays

George Stiny, MIT Department of Architecture, Cambridge,
Massachusetts, USA

Ice-rays are a type of traditional Chinese lattice used in
ornamental window grilles. They form irregular patterns that suggest
cracking ice on still water. Shape grammar rules for ice-rays are
applied to make several examples of ice ray windows, fabricated with
CNC milling machine.

Fourier Carpet and Body Blanket

Jenny Sabin - CabinStudio, Department of Architecture, University
of Pennsylvania, USA

Fourier Carpet and Body Blanket combine architecture, weaving, and
computational systems. Sabin's work examines the contradictions of
tradition and innovation by recombining existing albeit disparate
systems.

Tensor Shades

Sawako Kaijima and Panagiotis Michalatos - Adams Kara Taylor,
London, United Kingdom

The Tensor Shades project explores a process that preconditions
the design space by combining two types of spatial information
(structural information and desired lighting information) to create a
design that maintains structural integrity and formal consistency.

Parametric Urbanism, Procedural Complexity

Nils Fischer and Shajay Bhooshan - Zaha Hadid Architects, London,
United Kingdom

Zaha Hadid Architects uncovers internal correlations and recursive
relationships in its design practice at multiple scales from the
detail to the urban. Parametric Urbanism and Procedural Complexity
demonstrate how ZHA's work challenges current thinking in design and
computation.

A Landscape of 3D Printed Skyscrapers

Multiple architectural studios

3D printed models of skyscrapers from number of architectural
offices represent a glimpse into the architects' design process, where
numerous variations are explored, and overall form and facade
articulation are developed while creating a skyscraper.

Complete details on the SIGGRAPH 2008 "Slow Art" exhibit can be
found at http://www.siggraph.org/s2008/attendees/slow/. Information
about the "Design & Computation" exhibit is available at
http://www.siggraph.org/s2008/attendees/design/.

About SIGGRAPH

SIGGRAPH 2008 will bring an estimated 30,000 computer graphics and
interactive technology professionals from six continents to Los
Angeles, California, USA for the industry's most respected technical
and creative programs focusing on research, science, art, animation,
gaming, interactivity, education, and the web from Monday, 11 August
through Friday, 15 August 2008 at the Los Angeles Convention Center.
Celebrating its 35th year, SIGGRAPH 2008 includes a three-day
exhibition of products and services from the computer graphics and
interactive marketplace from 12-14 August 2008. More than 250
international exhibiting companies are expected. Registration for the
conference and exhibition is open to the public. More details are
available at www.siggraph.org/s2008

About ACM

ACM, the Association for Computing Machinery www.acm.org, is the
world's largest educational and scientific computing society, uniting
educators, researchers and professionals to inspire dialogue, share
resources and address the field's challenges. ACM strengthens the
computing profession's collective voice through strong leadership,
promotion of the highest standards, and recognition of technical
excellence. ACM supports the professional growth of its members by
providing opportunities for life-long learning, career development,
and professional networking.

SIGGRAPH 2008
Brian Ban
+1.773.454.7423 cell
+1.773.915.5050 fax
media@siggraph.org

Copyright Business Wire 2008