image

NEWS & EVENTS

Past Events

2024

  • Metacomposition and Transmodality, a PhD dissertation defense by Diarmid Flatley.
  • Wednesday December 18, 2024
    1pm PST
    Eings Hall room 2615 and via Zoom

    Abstract

    Throughout history, composers and artists alike have constructed correspondences between sensory modalities. In contemporary media art, practitioners increasingly operate within a technological landscape that is inherently multimodal. As the current media environment evolves towards greater integration of sensory experience through multimodal technologies, so too must compositional practice evolve to holistically structure artworks across modalities. The fusion of senses and sensibilities through technology in contemporary media art suggests the need for a practice that organizes the ways in which modalities become linked in new media artworks. The task of establishing these linkages invites the artist to consider all modalities as aspects of a single compositional and perceptual unity. We call this approach transmodality. Transmodal artworks require compositional structures that are abstract enough to communicate essential formal ideas across the many expressive vectors of transmodal space. This dissertation addresses this challenge by applying an extended notion of music composition to the problem of formally structuring this space. Towards this end, the concept of metacompositon is developed, wherein generative abstract structures organize the formal characteristics of transmodal artworks. Through an extended series of experiments in the creation of metacompositional systems, this dissertation establishes transmodal metacomposition, a framework for producing dynamic, heterogeneous and unbounded families of transmodal artworks.

  • Aesthetics for a Philosophy of Scale: The Interconnectedness of Time, Space, and Body, a PhD dissertation defense by Xarene Eskandar.
  • Friday, December 13, 2024
    9am PST via Zoom

    Abstract

    Rooted in modern cognitive psychology and philosophy, this dissertation focuses on practice-based research on aesthetically derived knowledge from three body-to-image relationships. Through projects utilizing photography, video, virtual reality, and real-time computational practices utilizing AI, this research centers on the transformation of bodily perception, the body that creates the image, by means of altering temporal and spatial perception in various forms of media to scale the body and in turn to shift bodily self-perception beyond our embodied 1:1 scale to objective reality. My method of inquiry is inferential aesthetics where conclusions are not drawn but points of departure are given toward lines of new inquiry into the nature of time, space, and the body. My research contribution stems from delineating a different categorization and a redefinition of bodily self-perception as an active tool for scaling as opposed to a passing observation or a disorder as analyzed in cognitive psychology.

    On this path I have defined three body-to-image relationships with differing ontologies: the body observing the image [1] the body occupying the image [2], the body creating the image [3]. The ontology of these three bodies differs from one another. The body merely observing the image exists in the space outside of the image and external to any meaning. The body occupying the image is a necessary function for knowledge production because to derive any meaning, one must consider and then occupy the context of the image. The body creating the image is the realm of experiential media and technologies, the space where our bodies not only occupy the image but also continually create it and where bodily self-perception constantly shifts. In this third mode essentially, we also become technologically catalyzed shape shifters.

  • Microbial Mindscapes, an interactive audiovisual installation and performance, will be at SBCAST December 2 - 8 from 7 to 10pm, 2024.
  • The project will also be the topic of the MAT Seminar series on Monday, December 2nd, 2024 at 1pm in Elings Hall room 2611 and via Zoom.

    SBCAST, the Santa Barbara Center for Art, Science and Technology.

    Image

    Artist: Sabina Hyoju Ahn (KR/US)

    Lead Scientist: Yoojin Oh (KR/AT)

    Sound: Ryan Millett (US)

    Visual & Space Architects: Nefeli Manoudaki (US/GR), Iason Paterakis (US/GR)

    Fabrication: Junsoo Kim (KR)

    Scientists: Christina Watschinger (AT), Tobias Ruff(DE/AT), Rong Zhu(CN), Peter Hinterdorfer(AT)

    Abstract

    Microbial Mindscapes is an interactive audiovisual installation and performance exploring the impact of the human gut microbiota on emotions. Inspired by the artist’s struggles with panic disorder and depression, this project merges biophysics, gastroenterology, microbiome research, microbiology, pharmacology, and AI.

    Using scientific discoveries on molecular interactions and microscopic techniques, it links gut microbiota with mental health and cognitive functions, highlighting the influence of lifestyle on well-being. The project explores philosophical and scientific correlations between humans and microbes, prompting a reevaluation of consciousness and self-identity. Through an immersive visual and auditory experience, the project encourages reflection on the interplay between art, science and human emotion. It broadens understanding of mental and physical health, emphasizing gut microbiota’s role in shaping our emotional and cognitive states and advocating for a holistic approach to health.

    Bios

    Sabina Hyoju Ahn is an artist working with auditory perception, tactile sense, visual elements, and a mix of digital and analog technology. Her research explores hidden patterns in nature and the relationships between humans and non-humans by translating imperceptible data into different perceptual experiences. Using biological materials, she combines them with machines to create transformative works. Her recent research focuses on human perception through post-digital media concepts and contemporary scientific and artistic methods.

    Ryan is a composer, programmer, and PhD student in the Media Arts & Technology (MAT) program at the University of California, Santa Barbara. His work extends an ancient lineage of musical tradition through methods and models informed by contemporary theories of computation, mediated by the inherent abstraction of sound, and imbued with creative inspiration drawn from the natural world. As a member of the MAT transLAB, Ryan applies his research to collaborative multimedia systems and installations, integrating computational methods with collective artistic practices.

    Nefeli Manoudaki is an Architect-Engineer and a Ph.D. student at the University of California, Santa Barbara, in the Media Arts and Technology (MAT) program. Her bio-design works intersect nature and human senses, utilizing emerging technologies. Her research encompasses XR, AI, and generative architectural forms in both tangible and digital media. Her projects have been featured in exhibitions such as ACM SIGGRAPH, Erasmus XR Symposium, MIT Reality Hackathon, and more.

    Iason N. Paterakis is a California-based Architect-Engineer and Media Artist pursuing a Ph.D. in Media, Arts & Technology at the University of California, Santa Barbara. He is a member of the transLAB, where he researches, designs, and integrates generative AI, neurobiological data, and architectural mediated environments. He has exhibited and published work in international exhibitions and conferences, including SIGGRAPH's "Synaptic Time Tunnel," the International Astronautical Congress, "EcoRedux 02" at Disseny Hub Barcelona, and Ars Electronica.

    Microbial Mindscapes premiered at Ars Electronica 2024:

    ars.electronica.art/hope/en/microbial-mindscapes

    Ars Electronica 2024

    For more information about the MAT Seminar Series, go to: seminar.mat.ucsb.edu.

    For previous seminars, please visit our MAT Seminars Video Archive.

  • MAT Seminar Series: Dangerous Experiments in Art, Engineering and AI
  • Speaker:  Rama Karl Hoetzlein

    Monday, November 25th, 2024 at 1pm PST via Zoom

    Image

    Abstract

    A central theme in New Media arts is the notion of the unexpected, that we seek to explore the creative boundaries of experimentation in art, science and engineering where they contribute to making cross-disciplinary impacts. With the advent of A.I. those boundaries have shifted, transforming the rules of production. This talk examines the dramatic shifts in the notion of the unexpected in every field and what it means to innovate in light of these changes. Through examples of bricolage in multiple fields, with both ad hoc and in-depth projects, I will demonstrate that new cultural meanings of creativity challenge the practice of New Media artists to redefine experimentation both more broadly and more dangerously.

    Bio

    Rama Karl Hoetzlein is a media artist and computer scientist working in the areas of knowledge systems, artificial intelligence and computer graphics. He received a BFA in Fine Arts and a BA in Computer Science from Cornell University with work in robotic sculpture, and a M.Sc. and Ph.D in Media Arts & Technology from the University of California Santa Barbara. His doctoral work explored novel interfaces for a visual internet, Quanta, and tools for creative procedural modeling. Rama has exhibited media art works internationally in Beijing, Geneve, Seattle, New York and Copenhagen. From 2013 to 2019, he was a Senior Engineer with NVIDIA and lead architect of GVDB Voxels, an open source framework for volumetric data in motion pictures, additive manufacturing and scientific visualization. From 2019 to 2023, Dr. Hoetzlein was Assistant Professor in animation at Florida Gulf Coast University and co-founder of the new Digital Media Design major. He is currently a professor in Interaction design (IxD) at the California College of the Arts in San Francisco.

    For more information about the MAT Seminar Series, go to: seminar.mat.ucsb.edu.

    For previous seminars, please visit our MAT Seminars Video Archive.

  • MAT Seminar Series: Tradition and post-Modernity: Pre-Modern Japanese Aesthetics in My Contemporary Sound and Video Art
  • Speaker:  Daryl Jamieson

    Monday, November 18th, 2024 at 1pm PST via Zoom

    Image

    Abstract

    Against the background of a failing Modernity, I will show how my music theatre, sound art, and video works make use of aesthetic concepts from mediaeval Japan and East Asia. The focus will be on my works related to the non-human world, the interconnectedness of all things, and the meanings of ‘silence’. I will also talk about the fundamental rhythmic structure of nō theatre, how nō relates to aesthetics and philosophy, and how I have used nō structures in my contemporary practice. Throughout the talk I will illustrate with examples taken from my work, as well as selected contemporary composers and artists who have influenced my practice.

    Bio

    Daryl Jamieson (b.1980) is from Halifax, Nova Scotia. He studied at Wilfrid Laurier University with Glenn Buhr and Linda Catlin Smith, the Guildhall School of Music and Drama with Diana Burrell, and then with Nicola LeFanu at the University of York. He has lived in Japan since 2006, first studying under Jo Kondo at the Tokyo University of the Arts. He is currently an assistant professor of composition and aesthetics at Kyushu University, and his music is published by Da Vinci Edition, Osaka.

    Jamieson's work explores time and place, and is heavily influenced by nō theatre and Japanese poetry. His earliest large-scale series is a trilogy of musical theatre pieces called Vanitas, which received the 2018 Toshi Ichiyanagi Contemporary Prize. In his citation, Ichiyanagi called the Vanitas Series 'an epic musical work of extraordinarily elegance and contemporary topical perspective'. Jamieson's other pieces include solo, chamber and orchestral works, and many songs. Since 2016 he has begun to incorporate field recordings into his work, particularly in his utamakura and Descants series. His music has been performed around the world by many artists, including the Quatuor Bozzini, the Thin Edge New Music Collective, Muromachi Ensemble, and Satoko Inoue.

    He founded the intercultural musical theatre company Atelier Jaku in 2013. He is also active as a researcher, writing on aesthetics of the Kyoto School and Japanese philosophy, as well as contemporary music and spirituality. He has received grants and awards from the Canada Council for the Arts, among others.

    For more information about the MAT Seminar Series, go to: seminar.mat.ucsb.edu.

    For previous seminars, please visit our MAT Seminars Video Archive.

  • Beyond Reality: Designing Personal Experiences and Interactive Narratives in AR Theater, a PhD dissertation defense by You-Jin Kim.
  • Friday November 8th, 2024
    2pm PST
    Eings Hall room 2003

    Abstract

    Focusing on interactive narratives and digital performance, this talk explores how augmented settings extend “Beyond Reality.” You-Jin Kim’s research utilizes user inputs such as EEG, natural movement, and eye gaze to make digital content interaction in augmented reality (AR) reflect human intent and expression. The discussion highlights how human expression—particularly delicate forms like dance and performance—can be communicated through emerging technologies and practices. He will present his works, including Dynamic Theater, Spatial Orchestra, and Reality Distortion Room, to illustrate how stories unfold through user interaction in AR.

    It becomes evident that audiences are not interested in digitally generated performances alone, as the human form of art has been explored for years, a point clearly demonstrated in his work Dynamic Theater 2023. However, You-Jin will discuss how AI agents, trained with user audience data captured from the Dynamic Theater project, could generate virtual audiences. These AI-driven virtual audiences could replace NPC (non-player character) audiences, enhancing the overall experience of watching live theater and presenting an immersive theater experience.

  • MAT Seminar Series: Today is a Sunny Day or Two
  • Speaker:  Andreas Schlegel

    Monday, November 4th, 2024 at 5pm PST via Zoom

    Image

    Abstract

    In this talk, I will look back at the different stages of my practice since graduating from the Media Art and Technology program, focusing on key artistic projects that involved collaboration and working across disciplines. Drawing on a series of inquiries into making with technology, I will provide insights into how these experiences have shaped my creative practice. I will further examine my role as an educator for the next generation of creatives, exploring how current technologies not only transform creative processes and imagination, but also guide future practitioners into new territories of artistic expression, application, and societal impact.

    Bio

    Andreas Schlegel is a Singapore-based artist and educator whose work explores the intersection of art, design, and technology. With a background in Media Arts and Technology from UCSB (2003), he has developed a practice rooted in creativity, experimentation, and computation. As a Senior Lecturer in the School of Design Communication at Lasalle College of the Arts, University of the Arts Singapore, Andreas has led the College's Media Lab, fostering an environment that blurs the lines between creative practice and current technologies. His emphasis on collaboration, interdisciplinarity, and practice-based approaches has shaped his research and teaching, guiding a new generation of artists and designers.

    Andreas's artistic practice is characterized by its multifaceted nature, spanning multiple mediums including generative art, installation, performance, and audio-visual work. Since the early 2000s, his individual and collaborative works have been showcased and presented in local and international conferences, contemporary art spaces and museums. His passion for coding and computational art has driven initiatives such as Syntfarm, contributions to the Processing community since the early 2000s, and audio-visual performances with duo Electromagnetic Objects and trio Black Zenith. As an artist-researcher, Andreas develops works that blend making, computation and human-computer interaction to create artefacts, interactive installations and experiences that engage with our relationship to see machines and the environment.

    sojamo.de

    For more information about the MAT Seminar Series, go to: seminar.mat.ucsb.edu.

    For previous seminars, please visit our MAT Seminars Video Archive.

  • MAT Seminar Series: Sound Beyond Sound
  • Speaker:  Lance Putnam

    Monday, October 28th, 2024 at 11am PST via Zoom

    Image

    Abstract

    In this talk, I will present my work in the area of graphical sound - the direct translation of sound into the visual domain. My specific area of interest is in curve generation. This domain of investigation has antecedent in early drawing machines, the geometric chuck, oscillography and, most recently, the computer which enables precise linking of sound and graphics. It is well-known that such systems are capable of producing an endless variety of highly complex and intriguing figures. However, the question of how to navigate this vast space is still pending. My interest in this area is one part exploration and one part organization. Specifically, I utilize harmonics as a building block as they are effective at describing symmetry, motion and visual complexity. From harmonics, higher-level constraints and organizing principles emerge. I will share my findings, both old and new, and speculate on possible future directions in this still nascent field.

    Bio

    Lance Putnam is a composer and researcher whose work crosses boundaries of sound, graphics, mathematics and computer science. He is currently a Lecturer in Computing at Goldsmiths, University of London where he teaches across the creative computing, computer science and games programs. He received his doctorate from the Media Art and Technology program at the University of California, Santa Barbara under the supervision of Dr. JoAnn Kuchera-Morin. His dissertation "The Harmonic Pattern Function: A Mathematical Model Integrating Synthesis of Sound Graphical Patterns" was selected for the Leonardo journal LABS 2016 top abstracts. While at UCSB, Lance was a member of the AlloSphere Research Group and played a key role in developing its software libraries and applications. He was named an Emerging Leader in Multimedia by the IBM Thomas J. Watson Research Center. Lance has presented his computer artworks at major international events such as Cyfest, New Scientist Live, ICMC, Ars Electronica, ISEA and ACM Siggraph.

    For more information about the MAT Seminar Series, go to: seminar.mat.ucsb.edu.

    For previous seminars, please visit our MAT Seminars Video Archive.

  • MAT Seminar Series: My Life as an INFJ
  • Speaker:  Shana Moulton

    Monday, October 21st, 2024 at 4pm PST via Zoom

    Image

    Abstract

    Shana will present her work in video and performance while trying to parse how technology has informed her practice and the work of other contemporary video artists.

    Bio

    Shana Moulton is a California-born-and-based artist who works in video, performance, and installation. In 2002, Moulton began the video series Whispering Pines, in which she performs as Cynthia, an alter-ego searching for purpose and fulfillment through home decor, self-help paraphernalia, and cosmetic rituals. Moulton has had solo exhibitions at international institutions including Palais De Tokyo, Yerba Buena Center for the Arts, Kunsthaus Glarus, Art in General, and the New Museum. Her work has been featured in Artforum, the New York Times, Art in America, Flash Art, Hyperallergic, and Frieze, among others. Her single-channel videos are distributed by Electronic Arts Intermix.

    As an INFJ (Introverted Intuitive Feeling Judging) (Myers-Briggs), Cynthia lives in a world of hidden meanings and is more interested in what is possible than what is actual. She prefers having a vivid imagination over having a strong hold on reality, and her supernormal intuition can take the form of visions or uncanny communications with certain individuals at a distance. Her ARTIST (Dominant Introvert Abstract Feeler) (Spark) aspect allows her to have a rich inner life that often turns the real world into a prison of foolishness and embarrassment. As a Type 4:Artist (Riso-Hudson), she enjoys probing topics like femininity, home decor, and spirituality with open-ended playfulness.

    www.shanamoulton.info

    For more information about the MAT Seminar Series, go to: seminar.mat.ucsb.edu.

    For previous seminars, please visit our MAT Seminars Video Archive.

  • MAT Seminar Series: Bridging the Gap between the Geometric Patterns of the Past and Media Arts of Today
  • Speaker:  Selçuk Artut

    Monday, October 7th, 2024 at 1pm PST via Zoom

    Image

    Abstract

    Geometric Patterns have a long tradition dating back to early antiquity. Each motif steeped in the annals of time is a cipher, unlocking the secrets of civilizations that once mapped the heavens into their architecture. These patterns are not mere ornamentation, but the mathematical heartbeat of cultures, echoing the fundamental truths of geometry, the circle, the triangle, and the square. The widespread use of everyday mathematics in the period also facilitated the increase of the competence of artists with high skills in abstracting visual content. Today, various methods are used to create such complex shapes faithful to their original representations. In this presentation, I wish to make the connections, shrouded in the mist between the past's geometric art and the present's generative art visible by utilizing creative coding methods.

    Bio

    Selçuk Artut’s artistic research and production focus on the theoretical and practical dimensions of human-technology relations. Artut’s artworks have been exhibited at Sonar Istanbul, ISEA, AKM Istanbul, Siggraph, Dystopie Sound Art Festival Berlin, Moving Image New York, Art London, ICA London, Art Hong Kong, Istanbul Biennale, and received coverage at Artsy, Creative Applications, CoDesign, Visual Complexity, and CNN GO. He holds a Ph.D. in Media and Communications from the European Graduate School, in Switzerland.

    An author of seven books and an editor of one, Artut is an Associate Professor at the Visual Arts and Visual Communication Design Program Sabanci University, Istanbul where he mainly teaches courses at the intersection of Art and Technology. He has been releasing several albums as a Post-Rock Avant-Garde music band Replikas member since 1998. In 2016, Artut founded an audio-visual performance duo named RAW which produces works through creative coding and live-coding techniques.

    www.instagram.com/selcukartut

    For more information about the MAT Seminar Series, go to: seminar.mat.ucsb.edu.

    For previous seminars, please visit our MAT Seminars Video Archive.

  • Kinematic User Profiling for Interface Design: Reachability and Motion Cost Analysis of Hands for Designing Personalized Grasp Proximate Interfaces, a Master's presentation by Alejandro Aponte.
  • Friday, October 4th, 2024
    5pm PDT.
    Elings Hall room 2003 and via Zoom

    Abstract

    Everyday objects and tools, such as power drills and game controllers, are typically designed with interfaces optimized for easy access by the grasping hand, allowing users to interact while maintaining a secure hold. Designing personalized, hand-reachable interfaces tailored to individual grasping conditions remains a significant challenge. Recent advancements in parametric and generative design technologies present new opportunities to reduce the workload of developing customized interfaces. Furthermore, as physical and virtual realities increasingly intersect, designers face complex challenges and opportunities to create hybrid interfaces seamlessly integrating physical and digital UI elements. Understanding and characterizing user-specific hand-object interactions is central to this endeavor. To address these challenges, this work introduces a novel empirical design approach that seeks to shift the design workflow to provide personalized interfaces and adapt the interface to the user instead of the user adapting to a generic interface. By leveraging hand-tracking technology, this approach generates kinematic profiles that capture individual finger reachability during object grasping. Additionally, the approach incorporates physiological signals, such as electromyography (EMG) and displacement costs, to explore how they can characterize physical effort within their reachable space. Building on previous work (Aponte and Caetano et al. 2024), we present a design framework that utilizes volumetric boundaries and trajectories derived from user data to create personalized interaction profiles. These profiles can be integrated into standard 3D modeling tools to assess user-specific hand-object interaction conditions and identify optimal regions of interest for UI element placement, providing a foundational baseline for the interface design process. The results and insights from an initial formative user study on reachability, motion cost, and guidelines for implementing the introduced design methodology are presented. This approach makes personalized interface development more feasible by enabling designers to create new interfaces from standard poses, refine existing designs, and evaluate scenarios involving limited mobility.

  • MAT Seminar Series: Design in the Age of Distributed Intelligence
  • Speaker:  Sandra Manninger

    Monday, September 30th, 2024 at 1pm PST via Zoom.

    Image

    Abstract

    This presentation will begin with an overview of artificial intelligence (AI), covering its fundamental concepts and evolution. The discussion will then explore how artists, designers, and architects have started to integrate AI into their respective fields.

    Bio

    Sandra Manninger is an Associate Professor at the School of Architecture + Design at the New York Institute of Technology and the Co-Founder | Director of the Architecture + Artificial Intelligence Laboratory (AR2ILab).

    Sandra Manninger's research focuses on exploring architecture as a representation of the social, cultural, political, mathematical, and physical forces that shape our environment. She engages with technologies not just as design tools but as instruments that uncover and reveal the underlying structures that constitute our world.

    Sandra Manninger has taught internationally, and her award-winning projects have been published and exhibited, for example, at La Biennale di Venezia 14/16/18/21, the MAK, the Autodesk Pier 1 and have been included in the permanent collections of the FRAC Centre-Val de Loire, The Design Museum/Die Neue Sammlung in Munich, or the Albertina in Vienna.

    SPAN, consisting of Dr. Matias del Campo and Dr Sandra Manninger is a team of architects from Vienna, Austria. Their architecture is characterized by a combination of advanced techniques and philosophical inquiry interrogating the ontological and epistemological framework that produces a paradigm concerned with advanced technology as an agent of culture. The work covers the range from text, installations, industrial design to buildings and urban concepts. The diverse oeuvre can be found in public collections as well as in private collections. In 2014, Matias del Campo and Sandra Manninger accepted the call from the University of Michigan to join the faculty of Taubman College. In close cooperation with the Faculties of Robotics and Computer Science at the University of Michigan, SPAN developed new design methods for architecture based on Artificial Intelligence. The Robot Garden for Michigan Robotics is the first built project using Generative Adversarial Networks (GAN’s) as a design method.

    site.nyit.edu/bio/smanning

    Architecture & AI Laboratory

    www.instagram.com/sandramanninger_studio

    span-arch.org

    For more information about the MAT Seminar Series, go to: seminar.mat.ucsb.edu.

    For previous seminars, please visit our MAT Seminars Video Archive.

  • Embodied Minds: Affective Computing In Virtual Reality through Ubiquitous Measures of The Body, a Master's presentation by Lu Yang.
  • Thursday, August 29th, 2024
    10am PDT
    Elings Hall room 2003 and via Zoom

    Abstract

    Embodied Minds presents a theoretical framework for affective computing that integrates ubiquitous body computing within VR environments. VR technologies enable detailed embodied interactions, where the human body serves as an active medium to acquire, process, and present information within a virtual setting. This framework not only tracks body actions to enhance interaction but also seeks to examine users' mental states by quantifying bodily signals.

    To assess the practicality of this framework and identify potential challenges, a pilot study was conducted to investigate how subtle hand and head gestures could reflect fear-related emotions during embodied interactions in VR. This presentation will present the design strategy used to elicit emotions through interaction, outline the data collection approach focused on emergent non-performative body actions, and discuss findings from the user study.

  • KLŌTHŌ: Graph-Oriented Computer-Assisted Metacomposition in Python, a Master's presentation by Ryan Millet.
  • Monday, August 26th, 2024
    4pm PDT
    transLAB (room 2615 Elings Hall) and via Zoom

    Abstract

    Building upon previous work in computer-assisted composition, Klōthō extends the capabilities of algorithmic composition by using graph-based data structures and algorithms to represent and manipulate musical materials and processes. By operating at higher orders of abstraction, the system's graph-oriented approach enables the creation of meta-structures that can generate a multitude of compositions while preserving essential proportions and relationships across instantiations. This presentation will examine the theoretical foundations of Klōthō's compositional methodology, discuss its technical implementation in Python and communication with the SuperCollider server, and feature demonstrations of compositions that integrate elements from New Complexity, microtonality, and algorithmic electronic dance music.

  • Silicone Dreams, a Master's presentation by Jenni Hutson.
  • Tuesday, June 11th, 2024
    10 -11:30am PDT
    Experimental Visualizaton Lab (room 2611 Elings Hall)

    Abstract

    The complexity of meshing physical design requirements with data-driven logic has long been the focus and vexation of artists and engineers wanting to build kinetic sculptural and data display artifacts. Traditional shape displays require high complexity, as previous models require a one to one ratio between actuator number and data resolution. We present SILICONE DREAMS, an open-source system for building soft shape display devices which can convey trends about continuous data as well as function in artistic installations. SILICONE DREAMS utilizes a silicone top layer over a grid of actuator controlled shafts in order to interpolate between data values without added design complexity. We have added programmable LED lighting underneath the silicone layer to extend the possibilities of data representation. Soft Shape Display also functions as a kinetic sculptural object which can be positioned either horizontally or vertically and has been designed for live collaboration with performing artists and as a self-contained system for generating changing 3D shapes. Because the SILICONE DREAMS system is modular, it can easily expand to incorporate other forms of media such as screen-based visuals and generative audio. Soft Shape Display is controlled by an embedded system with custom software, and contributes a generalizable system for future shape display design for both artistic and scientific use cases.

  • MAT Seminar Series: PIFcamp: an ever evolving art-tech platform
  • Speakers:  Tina Dolinšek and Uroš Veber

    Monday, June 3rd, 2024 at 1pm PST via Zoom.

    Image

    Abstract

    PIFcamp is a week-long international summer art, technology and hacking camp, located in the Trenta valley in the Slovenian Alps. At PIFcamp, art, technology, and knowledge converge in a maelstrom of intense activity. Camp participants take the lead in conducting workshops, practical field trips, lectures, fieldwork and on-sight briefings. They actively participate in the development of various DIY/DITO/DIWO projects while collaborating in a creative working environment.

    This summer, the 10th edition of the camp will take place in the picturesque Triglav National Park. Within the presentation Tina and Uroš from the Projekt Atol team, key organisers of the camp, will share its history, core principles, art and technology collaborations, community initiatives, and related networks.

    Bio

    Tina Dolinšek is Ljubljana based new-media art producer, education curator, and cultural facilitator, who has been working at Projekt Atol Institute since 2019 and collaborating with it since 2015. She has collaborated with numerous Slovenian cultural organisations, including LJUDMILA, Ljubljana Digital Media Lab and contributed articles to various Slovenian media. Since 2015 she has been the main engine behind PIFcamp and its success.

    Uroš Veber is a cultural organizer, producer, and editor who develops and leads projects and programmes that transcend the boundaries between art, technology and science. Most of his work involves international productions in contemporary art, international networking and informal education and in his role as the main producer at the non-profit Projekt Atol Institute, he has been involved in numerous productions of a large number of young slovenia based media and conceptual artists. He is an active advocate for NGOs and the self-employed in the cultural sector and also co-leads two small music labels, rx-tx and kafana.

    Projekt Atol Institute is a non-profit cultural and research organization, founded in 1992 by Marko Peljhan and formally established in 1994 in Ljubljana, Slovenia, as only the second cultural NGO in the country. Atol’s activities range from art and research art production, music events and exhibitions to technological development. Atol also started its music label rx:tx in 2002 and established a strong international network that enables its organization of transnational events, such as Changing Weathers, Resilients, Feral labs and Re-wilding culture. Over the past 10 years, Projekt Atol has primarily focused on developing new artworks and education setups with both local and international guest artists and developing a strong ecosystem of local creative communities. . Together with the Delak Institute and Ljudmila, ATOL runs an artist-led venue with studios, development laboratories, and workshops called osmo/za, located in Ljubljana.

    projekt-atol.si

    For more information about the MAT Seminar Series, go to: seminar.mat.ucsb.edu.

    For previous seminars, please visit our MAT Seminars Video Archive.

  • SketchPath: Using Digital Drawing to Integrate the Gestural Qualities of Craft in CAM-Based Clay 3D Printing, a Master's presentation by Devon Frost.
  • Thursday, May 30th, 2024
    1 - 2:30pm PST.
    Experimental Visualizaton Lab (room 2611 Elings Hall)

    Abstract

    This thesis presents the design and outcomes of SketchPath, a system that uses hand-drawn toolpaths to design for clay 3D printing. Drawing, as a direct manipulation technique, allows artists to design with the expressiveness of CAM-based tools without needing to work with a numerical system or constrained system. SketchPath works to provide artists with direct control over the outcomes of their form by not abstracting away machine operations or constraining the kinds of artifacts that can be produced. Artifacts produced with SketchPath emerge at a unique intersection of manual qualities and machine precision, creating works that blend handmade and machine aesthetics. In interactions with our system, ceramicists without a background in CAD/CAM were able to produce more complex forms with limited training, suggesting the future of CAM-based fabrication design can take on a wider range of modalities.

  • Understanding and Enabling Human-AI Teaming for Real-World Computer Vision Tasks, a PhD dissertation defense by Chengyuan (CY) Xu.
  • Wednesday, May 29, 2024
    9am PDT
    Experimental Visualizaton Lab (room 2611 Elings Hall)

    Abstract

    Recent machine learning research has demonstrated that many task-specific AI models now surpass human performance on static benchmarks. However, in real-world applications where human users collaborate with, or rely on AIs, key questions remain: Do these advancements in AI models inherently improve the user experience or augment users' capabilities? When and how should we partner users with AI to form effective human-AI teams? This dissertation explores new forms of human-AI collaboration in the context of real-world computer vision tasks. We shape a research space where users play different roles in diverse AI-assisted workflows -- from passive recipients of AI model outputs to active participants who steer the shaping of the model. 1) We developed intuitive user interfaces to help users, in this case astrophysicists, leverage deep-learning segmentation models in different scenarios. The end-to-end model enhances the accuracy of automated processing of daily space observations from 20+ telescopes globally. The AI-integrated GUI tool injects confidence into researchers' manual analysis of scientific imagery. 2) We proposed the concept of "restrained and zealous AIs" to harness the complementary strength in human-AI teams. Insights from a month-long user study involving 78 professional data annotators suggest that recommendations from ill-suited AI counterparts may detrimentally affect users' skills. 3) Finally, we brought a novel concept of "in-situ learning" to augmented reality, where the user interacts with physical objects to train spatially-aware AI models that can remember the personalized environment and objects for various tasks. Each project elevates the end user to a more active and engaged role in the inference, training, and evaluation processes of human-in-the-loop machine learning. In summary, this dissertation provides insights into the optimal times and methods for teaming humans with AI for real-world collaboration, informing the design of future AI-assisted systems.

  • MAT Seminar Series: Creative AI - From One to Many
  • Speaker:  Daniel Bolojan

    Monday, May 13th, 2024 at 1pm PST via Zoom.

    Image

    Abstract

    The lecture will explore the evolution of Creative AI, particularly in the context of design, creative industries, shifting from singular, general-purpose models to a diverse ecosystem of specialized, interconnected systems. This transition highlights Creative AI's transformative impact in various design domains, signaling a new era of innovation and creativity in design. The focus will be on forward-looking projects that illustrate this paradigm shift, demonstrating how AI is becoming an essential, collaborative partner in the design process. The discussion will address the unique challenges and strategies for integrating AI into the complexities of design, emphasizing the importance of a multimodal approach. Implications of this shift will be considered, exploring how Creative AI can be effectively tailored to the specific needs of design contexts.

    Bio

    Daniel Bolojan is the Director of the Creative AI Lab and an Assistant Professor of AI and Computational Design at FAU, a Ph.D. candidate at Die Angewandte Vienna and Creative AI and Computational Design Specialist at CoopHimmelblau. Recognized as a leading voice in Creative AI, Deep Learning, and computational design within architectural realms, his research delves into the creation of deep learning strategies tailored for architectural design. This research addresses the complexities of shared-agency, designer creativity, and augmentation of design potency.

    As a Creative AI and Computational Design Specialist at Coop Himmelb(l)au, Daniel pioneered the development of the award winning DeepHimmelblau Neural Network. This innovative project was developed with the aim of augmenting design processes and designers’ abilities. In 2013, he founded his own research studio Nonstandardstudio, a research studio that operates at the confluence of several crucial domains, including creative AI, deep learning, computation, multi-agent systems, generative design, and algorithmic techniques.

    Image

    nonstandardstudio.com

    For more information about the MAT Seminar Series, go to: seminar.mat.ucsb.edu.

    For previous seminars, please visit our MAT Seminars Video Archive.

  • MAT Seminar Series: Translating Music Composition Principles into Visual Music Composition
  • Speaker:  Deniz Çağlarcan

    Monday, May 6th, 2024 at 1pm PST. Elings Hall room 1605 and via Zoom.

    Image

    Abstract

    While multidisciplinarity, interdisciplinarity, and transdisciplinarity have become new trends in the artistic field, the methodology and creative process of artwork differ according to the artist's primary disciplinary background. As a composer, I am exploring how music compositional techniques can inform the visual compositional process across various art disciplines. Specifically, I aim to investigate how understanding the connection between sound and image can enhance our comprehension of visual art and the creation of visual music compositions, as well as how these techniques can be utilized for artistic creativity. By examining the similarities and differences in the structure and meaning of sound and image in visual music composition, I seek to gain a better understanding of how these elements interact and can be utilized to inform visual composition. Ultimately, this approach can inspire artists to establish connections among different artistic disciplines.

    In this research, my goal is to provide guidelines based on translating musical compositional techniques and concepts, such as tape music techniques, the relationship between syntactic structure and semantic discourse of the original material, and its role in gestural, textural, and formal structure, counterpoint, orchestration, spatialization, and music analysis methods such as Pierre Schaeffer’s “sound objects,” “TARTYP,” and reduced listening; R. Murray Schafer’s “signal,” “keynote,” “soundmark,” and “symbol”; François Bayle’s Image-Sound relation; and Simon Emmerson’s “language grid” scheme into visual arts, enabling the audience to apply the same principles to other artistic disciplines. I will investigate this relation into two main subjects; translation of the compositional techniques into visual arts in the concept of visual music and the relation of the meaning to the source material.

    Bio

    Deniz Çağlarcan is a Los Angeles-based composer, violist, conductor and transdisciplinary artist initially from Istanbul, Turkey. He investigates the sonic quality of "electronic music" by any means and realizes this idealized environment as a model for his musical language. Çağlarcan's works explore the interaction among acoustic instruments, electronic sounds, visuals, and other art disciplines within their morphological attributes. Besides, he is intrigued to create an environment by utilizing various immersive audio techniques as well as visuals and spatial elements that surround the audience. He performs interdisciplinary works collaborating with painters, media artists, computer graphics developers, and machine learning engineers.

    His works include solo instrumental pieces, chamber music, large ensembles, tape/electroacoustic works, live-electronic, mixed works, audio/visual compositions, and site-specific sound installations. Besides his composition career as a violist, he performs in solo concerts, chamber music, new music ensembles, and popular music. He is also co-founder of the ADE Duo ensemble. He studied orchestral conducting for over eight years, and the lastest at Central Michigan University, he continued very in- depth study with José-Luis Maúrtua. He holds a Master of Music in Viola Performance from Central Michigan University and a Master of Arts in Composition from Bilkent University.

    Çağlarcan is currently a Ph.D. student in Composition studying with João Pedro Oliveira and Master of Science in Media Arts and Technology with Curtis Roads at the University of California, Santa Barbara. He has studied with notable composers and performers; Mark Andre, Beat Furrer, Annette Vande Gorne, Tolga Yayalar, Bruno Mantovani, Ken Ueno, Pierluigi Billone, Clara Iannotta, Alberto Posadas, Isabel Mundry, Ulrich Kreppein, Laura San Martin, Jay C. Batzner, Alicia Valoti, Sheila Browne, Scott Woolweaver, Yuri Gandelsman, Tatjana Masurenko, Walter Küssner, Hartmut Rohde, Alexander Zemtsov, Ulrich Mertin, Christine Ruthledge.

    For more information about the MAT Seminar Series, go to: seminar.mat.ucsb.edu.

    For previous seminars, please visit our MAT Seminars Video Archive.

  • MAT Seminar Series: Planetary Imaginaries
  • Speaker:  Liam Young

    Monday, April 29th, 2024 at 1pm PST. Elings Hall room 1605 and via Zoom.

    Image

    Abstract

    Following centuries of colonization, globalization, and never-ending economic extraction, we have remade the world from the scale of the cell to the tectonic plate. The dystopias of science fiction that previously read as speculative cautionary tales are now the stage sets of the everyday as many of us live out our lives in a disaster film playing in real-time. In this seemingly futureless moment, the storytelling performance 'Planetary Imaginaries' will take us on a sci-fi safari through a screenscape of alternative and hopeful worlds. Slipping between fiction and documentary, the journey will be both an extraordinary image of tomorrow, and an urgent illumination of the environmental questions that are facing us today.

    Bio

    Liam Young is a designer, director and BAFTA nominated producer who operates in the spaces between design, fiction and futures. Described by the BBC as ‘the man designing our futures’, his visionary films and speculative worlds are both extraordinary images of tomorrow and urgent examinations of the environmental questions facing us today. As a worldbuilder he visualizes the cities, spaces and props of our imaginary futures for the film and television industry and with his own films he has premiered with platforms ranging from Channel 4, Apple+, SxSW, Tribeca, the New York Metropolitan Museum, The Royal Academy, Venice Biennale, the BBC and the Guardian. His films have been collected internationally by museums such as MoMA New York, the Art Institute of Chicago, the Victoria and Albert Museum, the National Gallery of Victoria and M Plus Hong Kong and has been acclaimed in both mainstream and design media including features with TED, Wired, New Scientist, Arte, Canal+, Time magazine and many more. His film work is informed by his academic research and has held guest professorships at Princeton University, MIT, and Cambridge and now runs the ground breaking Masters in Fiction and Entertainment at SCI Arc in Los Angeles. He has published several books including the recent Machine Landscapes: Architectures of the Post Anthropocene and Planet City, a story of a fictional city for the entire population of the earth.

    Image

    Planet City

    For more information about the MAT Seminar Series, go to: seminar.mat.ucsb.edu.

    For previous seminars, please visit our MAT Seminars Video Archive.

  • The AlloSphere Immersive Research Facility presents a performance featuring visiting artists Ted Moore and Kyle Hutchins, Saturday, April 27th from 5-8pm.
  • saccades (2002)

    by Ted Moore (saxophone, electronics, and video) and Kyle Hutchins (saxophone)

    Image

    April 27th, 5pm - 8pm

    CNSI AlloSphere, Elings Hall 2621

    There will be multiple performances of the work starting at 5pm.

    A "saccade" is a rapid movement of the eyeball between two fixed focal points.

    During this brief moment, the brain hides this blurry motion from our perception. Once a saccade motion has begun, the destination cannot change, meaning that if the target of focus disappears the viewer won’t know until the saccade completes. If the field of vision is changing too quickly, the saccades may never be able to arrive at and focus on a target, instead, the objects in view are only perceived through peripheral vision. This phenomenon is imitated by the sound and video presented in the piece. It also serves as a metaphor for the density of information and high entropy experiences we constantly face. A scroll on social media, smartphone alerts, big data, technological advancements and predictions, the abundance of choices in the grocery aisle.

    Ted Moore (he / him) is a composer, improviser, and intermedia artist whose work fuses sonic, visual, physical, and acoustic elements, often incorporating technology to create immersive, multidimensional experiences. After completing a PhD in Music Composition at the University of Chicago, Ted served as a postdoctoral Research Fellow in Creative Coding at the University of Huddersfield as part of the ERC-funded FluCoMa project, where he investigated the creative potential of machine learning algorithms and taught workshops on how artists can use machine learning in their creative music practice. Ted has continued offering workshops around the world on machine learning and creativity including at the University of Pennsylvania, Center for Computer Research in Music and Acoustics (CCRMA) at Stanford University, and Music Hackspace in London. Ted’s music has been presented by leading cultural institutions such as MassMoCA, South by Southwest, The Walker Art Center, and National Sawdust and presented by ensembles such as Talea Ensemble, International Contemporary Ensemble, the [Switch~ Ensemble], and the JACK Quartet. Ted has held artist residences with the Phonos Foundation in Barcelona, the Arts, Sciences, & Culture Initiative at the University of Chicago, and the Studio for Electro-Instrumental Music (STEIM) in Amsterdam. His sound art installations combine DIY electronics, embedded technologies, and spatial sound have been featured around the world including at the American Academy in Rome and New York University.

    Kyle Hutchins is an internationally acclaimed performing artist and improviser. He has performed concerts and taught masterclasses across five continents at major festivals and venues in Australia, Belgium, Canada, Chile, China, Croatia, the Czech Republic, England, France, Germany, Ireland, Latvia, Mexico, Scotland, South Korea, and across the United States including Carnegie Hall, The Walker Art Center, World Saxophone Congress, Internationales Musikinstitut Darmstadt, International Computer Music Conference, among many others. He has recorded over two dozen albums on labels such as Carrier, Klavier, GIA, farpoint, Mother Brain, and his work has been recognized by awards and grants from DOWNBEAT, New Music USA, The American Prize, American Protégé International Competition, Music Teachers National Association, Mu Phi Epsilon Foundation, and others. As a specialist in experimental performance practice and electroacoustic new music, Kyle has performed well over 200 world premieres of new works for the saxophone. He has worked with some of the leading composers and performers of our time including Pauline Oliveros, George Lewis, Chaya Czernowin, Georges Aperghis, Richard Barrett, Steven Takasugi, Claire Chase, Douglas Ewart, Duo Gelland, and Zeitgeist. Over the past fifteen years, Kyle has built long standing collaborations and championed the music of many close collaborators such as Ted Moore, Tiffany M. Skidmore, Joey Crane, Emily Lau, Elizabeth A. Baker, Charles Nichols, Eric Lyon, and many more wonderful artists and dear friends. Kyle has served on the faculty of Virginia Tech since 2016 where he is Assistant Professor of Practice and Director of the New Music + Technology Festival at the Institute for Creativity, Arts, and Technology. Kyle has a Doctor of Musical Arts and Master of Music degree from the University of Minnesota, and Bachelors of Music in performance and Bachelors of Music Education degrees from the University of North Texas. His teachers include Eugene Rousseau, Eric Nestler, Marcus Weiss, and James Dillon. Kyle is a Yamaha, Légère, and E. Rousseau Mouthpiece Performing Artist.

    www.tedmooremusic.com/works/saccades

    allosphere.ucsb.edu/collaborate/saccades.html

  • Anticipating the Architecture(s) of The Future – Speculative Arts & Design Research: Theory & Practice, an ACM SIGGRAPH Digital Arts Community April SPARKS online session. Friday, April 26, 2024.
  • Times

    04:00 pm EST Fri, Mar 26, 2024 (New York, USA)
    03:00 pm CDT Fri, Mar 26, 2024 (Chicago, USA)
    01:00 pm PST Fri, Mar 26, 2024 (Los Angeles, USA)
    08:00 pm UTC Fri, Mar 26, 2024 (Coordinated Universal Time)

    Moderated by: Bhavleek Kaur, Virginia Melnyk, and Gustavo Rincon (PhD MAT)

    Session Description

    This survey of AI, Computation, Fabrication, Information (Data) & Robotics – Speculating on future trends of built form – looking at how research practice and experimentation come together to blur the lines between the creative imagination and the real. An Aesthetic Challenge to existing formal languages of material form – redefining New Mediated Architectures. While humans have built environments inspired by nature, what new research practices have contributed to extending the potential of A.I. & Robotics – imagining new ways of thinking from physical to virtualized paradigms as well as mixed paradigms. Information is intertwined with our states of humanity. We ask our community of artists, scientists and researchers to share visions as “proposals” for a better world by revealing their research as a paradigm shift engaging current technologies. This session will explore the conceptual implications of the potentiality of new visions for change in contemporary research practice combining the Arts, Design, and Sciences in A.I., (AR/VR/XR/Real) Worlds & Verses, Robotics, and Speculative Design/Arts Futures.

    Presenters


    For more information about the event: Anticipating the Architecture(s) of The Future

    For more information about SPARKS: dac.siggraph.org

    DAC SPARKS - Architecture - April 2024 on Vimeo

  • MAT Seminar Series: Audiovisual/Abstraction Machines
  • Speaker:  Juan Escalante

    Monday, April 22nd, 2024 at 1pm PST. Elings Hall room 1605 and via Zoom.

    Image

    Abstract

    My work relies on diagrams to parse the inner and outside world. These maps become machines of abstraction. They enable the translation of one medium, domain, or dataset into another. I use sound, drawings, and code to complete a process where computer programming occupies a central role, serving as an orchestration mechanism. Throughout most of my practice, source material, both empirical and speculative, is reinterpreted through a process of stochastic computation.

    As a result, the work manifests through a wide range of outputs, such as performances, audiovisual work, graphic notation, print, and screen-based media. Over time, all of these forms rescript one another and keep the creative process in a state of flux. For the MAT Winter 2024 Seminar, I will discuss three recent software art projects using graphic scores, electronic sounds, and artificial intelligence.

    Bio

    Juan Manuel Escalante (b. Mexico City) is a Southern California-based artist and educator working with computer code, modular synthesizers, and analog drawings. His work has been shown in major festivals and exhibitions worldwide. He was a member of the National System of Art Creators (2017-2019 National Endowment for the Arts, MWX) and received the Corwin Award (1st prize) for Electronic-Acoustic Composition in 2016. Escalante holds an MFA in Architecture Design (UNAM) and a Ph.D. in Media Arts and Technology (University of California, Santa Barbara). He is currently an Assistant Professor in the Department of Art at the California State University, Fullerton.

    For more information about the MAT Seminar Series, go to: seminar.mat.ucsb.edu.

    For previous seminars, please visit our MAT Seminars Video Archive.

  • The Center for Research in Electronic Art Technology (CREATE) presents a concert at Lotte Lehmann Concert Hall
  • Friday, April 19th, 2024
    7:30pm

    The concert features works by Earl Howard (performing live on synthesizer and saxophone), Paris-based composer Horacio Vaggione, the late Corwin Chair Clarence Barlow, UCSB Music Composition graduate student Dariush Derekshani, and CREATE’s Associate Director Curtis Roads.

    Event Details (PDF):

    This event is free admission and open to the public.

  • MAT Seminar Series: Maquinas, Imaginarios y Visiones LatinoAmericanas: Un Panorama de Aportes Profundos
  • Speaker:  Andrés Burbano

    Monday, April 15th, 2024 at 1pm PST via Zoom.

    Image

    Abstract

    "Machines, Imagination and Latin American Visions: A Panorama of Profound Contributions" investigates the emergence of technologies in Latin America to create images, sounds, video games, and physical interactions. The book contributes to the construction of a historiographical and theoretical framework for understanding the work of creators who have been geographically and historically marginalized through the study of five exemplary and yet relatively unknown artifacts built by engineers, scientists, artists, and innovators. It offers a broad and detailed view of the complex and sometimes unlikely conditions under which technological innovation is possible and of the problematic logics under which these innovations may come to be devalued as historically irrelevant. Through its focus on media technologies, the book presents the interactions between technological and artistic creativity, working towards a wider understanding of the shifts in both fields that have shaped current perceptions, practices, and design principles while bringing into view the personal, social, and geopolitical singularities embodied by particular devices. It will be an engaging and insightful read for scholars, researchers, and students across a wide range of disciplines, such as media studies, art and design, architecture, cultural history, and the digital humanities.

    Bio

    Andrés Burbano is Professor in the Arts and Humanities School at the Open University of Catalunya (Barcelona, Spain) and Visiting Lecturer at Donau-Universität (Krems, Austria). He holds a Ph.D. in Media Arts and Technology from the University of California at Santa Barbara (California, EEUU) and has developed most of his academic career in the School of Architecture and Design at Universidad de los Andes (Bogotá, Colombia). Burbano works as a researcher, curator, and interdisciplinary artist. His research projects focus on media history and media archaeology in Latin America and the Global South, 3D modeling of archaeological sites, and computational technologies' historical and cultural impact. Burbano has been appointed as ACM SIGGRAPH 2024 Chair.

    Image

    Professor Burbano's latest book:

    Different Engines - Media Technologies From Latin America

    For more information about the MAT Seminar Series, go to: seminar.mat.ucsb.edu.

    For previous seminars, please visit our MAT Seminars Video Archive.

  • MAT Seminar Series: Biodigital Architecture: Natural Intelligence and Artificial Intelligence
  • Speaker:  Alberto Estevez

    Monday, April 8th, 2024 at 1pm PST. Elings Hall room 1605 and via Zoom.

    Image

    Abstract

    The Modern Movement of the 20th century worked to design "from the spoon to the city." We, the inhabitants of the 21st century, can transcend working only on the surface of things, as has been done for millennia. Now it is time to design "from the DNA to the planet". From the cell and the bit, to beyond, to the entire Solar System. Thus, is shown here, on some ideas, multi-scalar and transdisciplinary works, around the fusion of the biological world and the digital world apply to architecture & design, genetics and computation, natural intelligence and artificial intelligence, bio-learning and machine-learning, biological techniques and digital techniques, bio-manufacturing and digital-manufacturing.

    Bio

    Alberto T. Estévez, architect, with a professional office of architecture and design in Barcelona since 1983. Chairman-professor, founder (in 1996) and first director of ESARQ, the School of Architecture of UIC Barcelona (Universitat Internacional de Catalunya), as an avant-garde school during its first 9 years. Founder (in 1998) and first director of UIC Architecture PhD and Masters. Director of iBAG-UIC Barcelona (Institute for BioDigital Architecture & Genetics), that includes the Genetic Architectures Research Group and Office (since 2000), and the Master’s Degree in Biodigital Architecture (since 2000). He has written more than 300 publications, participated in a large number of exhibitions, congresses, committees, and invited lectures around the world, presenting his ideas, projects and works.

    albertoestevez.es

    geneticarchitectures.weebly.com

    www.biodigitalarchitecture.com

    For more information about the MAT Seminar Series, go to: seminar.mat.ucsb.edu.

    For previous seminars, please visit our MAT Seminars Video Archive.

  • MAT Seminar Series: Song Cycle
  • Speaker:  Chris Kallmyer

    Monday, March 11th, 2024 at 1pm PST. Elings Hall room 1605 and via Zoom.

    Image

    Abstract

    The lecture will explore how sound and context transform the way we use technology to inspire meaning and change in listeners. Through this talk we will outline the strategies employed by mid-century experimentalists, pre-enlightenment collectivists, and the prospect of a post-industrial revolution. Chris will expand upon the generative work currently installed in Elings Hall, Song Cycle, and the emerging relationships between audience and performer – artist and community – technology and environment.

    Bio

    Chris Kallmyer is an artist working at the intersection of music, architecture, and design. Through his work, he creates collective experiences driven by his interests in listening, landscape, and community. His multi-disciplinary works have been exhibited and performed at the San Francisco Museum of Modern Art, Walker Art Center, Pulitzer Arts Foundation, Los Angeles Philharmonic, and STUDIO TeatrGaleria in Warsaw among other spaces in America, Europe, and Asia. His studio is located on the Silver Penny Farm in Petaluma, CA.

    For more information about the MAT Seminar Series, go to: seminar.mat.ucsb.edu.

    For previous seminars, please visit our MAT Seminars Video Archive.

  • Realities Altered, Realities Emerging - a first Thursday event by Media Arts and Technology at SBCAST in downtown Santa Barbara.
  • Thursday, March 7, 2024
    6 - 10pm

    Image

    RARE_vol.02: Realities Altered Realities Emerging

    Works by:

    • Sabina Hyoju AHN
    • Samuelle Bourgault
    • Emma Brown
    • Stejara Iulia Dinulescu
    • Devon Frost
    • Nefeli Manoudaki
    • Ryan Millett
    • Erik Mondrian
    • Iason Paterakis
    • Marcel Rodriguez-Riccelli
    • Jazer Sibley-Schwartz

    Synthux Hackathon projects:

    "Vitrified Sounds"

    "MYS"

    "TouchPulse BitBox"

    Guest Artist:

    Professor George Legrady

    The Santa Barbara Center for Art, Science and Technology (SBCAST) is located at 513 Garden Street in downtown Santa Barbara.

    sbcast.org

    Image
  • MAT Seminar Series: Speculative Assemblage
  • Speaker:  Weidi Zhang

    Monday, March 4th, 2024 at 1pm PST. Elings Hall room 1605 and via Zoom.

    Image

    Abstract

    Weidi will present her practice-based research on Speculative Assemblage. She'll introduce her recent experimental visualization artworks, including 'ReCollection,' 'Cangjie's Poetry,' 'Wayfarer,' and 'Astro.' Her discussion will delve into her practices at the intersection of immersive art, AI system design, and experimental visualization.

    Bio

    Weidi Zhang is a new media artist/designer based in Los Angeles and Phoenix. She is a tenure-track Assistant Professor of immersive experience design at the Media and Immersive eXperience (MIX) center of Arizona State University. Her interdisciplinary art and design research investigates A Speculative Assemblage at the intersection of immersive media design, experimental data visualization, and interactive AI art.

    Her works are featured in international media art and design awards, such as the Best In Show Award in SIGGRAPH (2021,2022), Red Dot Design Award (2022), Honorary Mention in Prix Ars Electronica (2022), Juried Selection in Japan Media Arts Festival(2020), Lumen Prize shortlists (2020, 2021), and others. Her works have been exhibited internationally such as Times Art Museum (CN), Centre de Cultura Contemporània de Barcelona, Society For Arts and Technology (CA), SwissNex Gallery (USA), V2_Lab (NL), ISEA, CVPR, IEEE VISAP, Mutek (MX), Mira Fest (Spain), Zeiss Major Planetarium (GE), Planetarium 1 (RUS), and among others. She holds her Ph.D. degree in Media Arts and Technology at the University of California, Santa Barbara, an MFA degree in Art + Technology at the California Institute of the Arts, and a BFA degree in Photo/Media at the University of Washington, Seattle. She lectured at both UC Santa Barbara and The Ohio State University.

    For more information about the MAT Seminar Series, go to: seminar.mat.ucsb.edu.

    For previous seminars, please visit our MAT Seminars Video Archive.

  • CREATE and Media Arts & Technology present an Intro to Modular Synthesis Workshop by professor Curtis Roads and MAT Master's student Marcel Rodriguez-Riccelli.
  • Sunday, March 3rd, 2024
    2-6pm
    Modular Building 387 - 1015

    Intro to Modular Synthesis

    Hybrid In Person / Virtual Workshop

    Description

    CREATE and Media Arts & Technology present, an Intro to Modular Synthesis Workshop by Curtis Roads and Marcel Rodriguez-Riccelli. They'll be giving a retrospective of the history of synthesis and analog computing, before breaking down the basics with demonstration on a hardware eurorack system, and giving participants the foundational knowledge needed to delve further into creating music with modular synthesizers on their own. There will also be a practical portion, in which participants will be able to create their own eurorack synthesizers with the free virtual eurorack software VCV Rack 2.

    We encourage anybody who’s curious to join, regardless of experience or skill level. Modular synthesis is a fun and engaging way for both people with no musical background to begin to understand musical concepts and for studied musicians to expand their practice. Foreknowledge of certain basic musical concepts is assumed in the lesson plan, but more time can be taken to go further in depth as is necessary at participant’s request.

    The workshop will also be possible over Zoom.

    Image
  • Cognitive and Affective Learning through Immersive Story Worlds: Designing Social Virtual Reality for Inclusive Attitudes and Behaviors, a PhD dissertation defense by Enrica Costello.
  • Friday March 1st, 2024
    3:30pm PST
    Experimental Visualizaton Lab (room 2611 Elings Hall)

    Abstract

    Virtual reality (VR) perspective-taking experiences focused on imagined intergroup contact with individuals from marginalized groups can increase prosocial behavior toward them (van Loon, Bailenson, Zaki, Bostick, Willer 2018). Intergroup contact theory hypothesizes that reducing anxiety, which is the cause of increased stereotyping against the outgroup, and permeating the social encounter with positive emotions (Miller, Smith, & Mackie, 2004) leads to prejudice mitigation (Pettigrew & Tropp, 2006). Beyond these insights from social psychology, sparse literature has explored how to design immersive story worlds to instill prosocial attitudes and behaviors, including the effectiveness of employing photorealistic techniques. This research fills this gap and challenges the assumption that human perceptions inside virtual and physical worlds are equal if digital assets are photorealistic.

    Through the creation of a taxonomy of design for inclusive VR, developed from playtesting six state-of-the-art VR experiences, it identifies which affordances and methodologies are significant to inducing prosocial attitudes in immersive social encounters and contributes a pragmatic approach to the design of VR for bias reduction while considering the craft, ethical and humanistic dimensions of the medium.

  • MAT Seminar Series: Why I Came
  • Speaker:  Dana Diminescu

    Monday, February 26th, 2024 at 1pm PST. Elings Hall room 1605 and via Zoom.

    Image

    Abstract

    In "Why I Came," which is also the title of her latest work, Prof. Dana Diminescu will showcase a series of "research / creation" projects she has undertaken. These projects involve experimental protocols, including surveys and prototypes, challenging the notion of a research world separate from the realms of art.

    The session will culminate with "Why I Welcome," an interactive installation utilizing data from a refugee reception platform. Since 2015, the SINGA association's program "J’accueille!” (I welcome) has connected French families with refugees, resulting in thousands of hosts by the end of 2022. "Why I Welcome" has become a part of the permanent collection at the National Museum of Immigration History | Palais de la Porte Dorée, in Paris. It was also presented exclusively at the Gaîté Lyrique – Factory of the Time, an interactive art installation venue in Paris during its opening weekend in May, 2023, highlighting Dana Diminescu's research on hospitality and connected migrants.

    Bio

    Dana Diminescu is a social science researcher and artist, currently holding the position of Senior Lecturer/Associate Professor at the Télécom Paris engineering school, and is a member of Spiral, the art & science chair of the Institut Polytechnique de Paris. She serves as the Coordinator of the DiasporasLab. She is renowned for her work on the "connected migrant" and for introducing various epistemological and methodological innovations. Notably, she spearheaded the e-Diasporas Atlas project, which received recognition for the 2012 Digital Humanities Awards. Recently, Diminescu developed the JokaJobs application for jobseekers from Generation Y, designed specifically for smartphones.

    For more information about the MAT Seminar Series, go to: seminar.mat.ucsb.edu.

    For previous seminars, please visit our MAT Seminars Video Archive.

  • Shared and Exchanged Agencies in Artistic Co-Production, a Master's presentation by Stejara Dinulescu.
  • Wednesday, February 21st, 2024
    12:30 - 2pm PST
    Room 2003 (MAT Conference Room)

    Image

    Abstract

    Our feelings of being in control over our actions and their consequences are broadly referred to as the sense of agency, which is of importance within the disciplines of neuroscience, haptics, and human-computer interaction. However, each field defines and contextualizes agency with unique perspectives, considerations, and applications. This report begins by examining our sense of agency when performing hand movements — referred to throughout as kinesthetic agency — and subsequent sensorimotor consequences affecting our perception of touch. It further explores and contextualizes our sense of agency at the intersection of human-computer interaction, aesthetics, and creative collaboration, highlighting the importance of a user’s perceived agency throughout their interactions with systems, tools, or iterative processes.

    While both perceived and kinesthetic agencies of interacting entities are important lenses through which we design and evaluate interactive systems, it is additionally useful to analyze how their intersections and couplings afford co-produced aesthetic outcomes. I distinguish between agency sharing, conceptualized as a continuous collaboration between two or more entities, and agency exchange, conceptualized as the hand-off of decision-making or control between entities. The nuances of – and degrees to which – perceived and/or kinesthetic agency is shared and/or exchanged between entities impact their interactions with the system as a whole, as well as the co-produced outcomes.

    Through the presentation and critical analysis of four co-productive systems, tools, or pipelines developed in my own studio and research practice between 2020 and 2023, I impart my perspective and considerations for designing interactions and systems for artistic co-production. Metrics of evaluation include 1) schematic representations of how agency is shared and/or exchanged between agentic entities and systems or processes, 2) aesthetic critique of the outcomes (i.e. drawings, sculptures, live installations, etc.) as artworks in their own right, and 3) developer, user, and audience feedback during iteration and exhibition. Such an analysis, performed during the design and iteration stages of system development, can aid artists, researchers, and developers in engaging with unique co-design and co-productive processes.

  • Wave-Mediated Haptics: Leveraging Wave Transport for Dynamic Tactile Feedback, a PhD dissertation defense by Greg Reardon.
  • Image
  • Tuesday, February 20, 2024
    10am PST
    Room 1601 Elings Hall and via Zoom

    Abstract

    A longstanding goal in haptics is to engineer high-fidelity displays for spatially distributed haptic feedback, specified as digital media. Such haptic displays would make it possible to touch, feel, and interact with dynamic scenes, objects, or information presented anywhere in a continuous display medium, such as an interactive surface or three-dimensional environment. They would thus represent the haptic analogs of two- or three-dimensional video displays. This dissertation advances knowledge in the design and operational principles of such haptic displays, focusing on emerging technologies that harness and control propagating mechanical waves to deliver spatiotemporally distributed haptic feedback. Central to the innovation of wave-mediated haptic display is that the spatial resolution of haptic feedback is governed by the control of wave transmission rather than by the number and density of actuators, as would be the case in conventional approaches. This wave-mediated strategy reduces complexity, enabling practical and scalable displays capable of reproducing dynamic haptic media. This Ph.D. dissertation contributes new display designs exploiting wave transmission, algorithms and methods for wave-mediated haptic display, experimental findings that mechanically and perceptually characterize the proposed display methods, and investigations of the influence of skin biomechanics on display fidelity.

  • MAT Seminar Series: The Nature of Things
  • Speaker:  Spencer Lowell

    Monday, February 12th, 2024 at 1pm PST. Elings Hall room 1605 and via Zoom.

    Image

    Abstract

    Join internationally renowned technology photographer Spencer Lowell as he presents his practice and discusses his (in production) book The Nature of Things - about the complex and evolving relationship between humans and technology.

    Bio

    Spencer Lowell is an award-winning Los Angeles-based photographer whose work blurs the line between art and science.

    His assignments for many of the world’s leading magazines have taken him from a research ship in the Mediterranean to a desalination plant in Dubai to Norway’s Global Seed Vault to the Fukushima Daiichi nuclear plant to Mark Zuckerberg’s office.

    Drawn into the field at age 16 by his first job in a one-hour photo lab, Spencer studied at Art Center College of Design in Pasadena. His graduation project, which included platinum palladium prints of images taken by the Hubble Space Telescope, caught the eye of officials from NASA’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory, who commissioned him to document their work. The resulting photos of the construction of the Mars rover “Curiosity” wound up published in Time and several other magazines.

    Since then, Spencer's images of scientific laboratories and industrial facilities, and portraits of leading researchers and corporate moguls, have appeared on the covers of the New York Times Magazine, Time, Wired, Fortune and Popular Science, as well as in the pages of GQ, The Atlantic, Esquire, Rolling Stone and many other publications. He has also created commercial work for clients ranging from IBM to Google to Budweiser to Christie’s to The San Francisco Symphony as well as companies he can’t name because of NDA's. He was named a “photographer to watch” by Photo District News in 2011, and his work has been honored by American Photographer, Communication Arts Photo Annual and PDN Photo Annual.

    A video recording of the talk is available on Vimeo.

    For more information about the MAT Seminar Series, go to: seminar.mat.ucsb.edu.

    For previous seminars, please visit our MAT Seminars Video Archive.

  • MAT Seminar Series: With the painter's eye, the scientist's brain and the poet's heart...
  • Speaker:  Márton Orosz

    Monday, January 29th, 2024 at 1pm PST. Elings Hall room 1605 and via Zoom.

    Image

    Abstract

    Márton Orosz's presentation explores the life and work of György Kepes, an early pioneer of new media art. Kepes, a painter, designer, photographer, impresario, and polymath, founded the Center for Advanced Visual Studies (CAVS) at MIT in 1967, serving as a precursor to contemporary media art institutions and educational programs.

    Kepes was among the first who suggested the intersection of art, science, and technology and the first one who established a program within the academic curriculum dedicated to this innovative pursuit. His significance lies in his cybernetic approach to crafting multisensory urban environments, exploration of novel theories on human perception evident in his 1944 textbook "Language of Vision," and the innovative repurposing of scientific images into aesthetic objects, showcased in his 1951 exhibition, "The New Landscape."

    Orosz explores Kepes's contributions to visual aesthetics, his creative process, and visionary concepts that provided prosthetics to mimic nature, offering an avant-garde perspective in Post-War art history for building a sustainable world. The lecture introduces Kepes's realized and unrealized artworks, illustrating his mission to humanize science and cultivate ecological awareness through the creative use of technology.

    The central question addressed is how to develop an agenda that bridges aesthetics and engineering, not merely as a gap-filling exercise but as a means to forge a human-centered ecology using cutting-edge technology. What were the chances in Kepes's time and what are the chances today to democratize our vision through the power of the (thinking) eye?

    Bio

    Dr. Márton Orosz serves as the founder and Curator of the Collection of Photography and Media Arts at the Museum of Fine Arts – Hungarian National Gallery in Budapest. Since 2014, he has held the position of Director at the museum dedicated to Victor Vasarely, which is part of the same institution. Dr. Orosz also holds the role of scientific advisor to the Kepes Institute in Eger and the Michèle Vasarely Foundation in Puerto Rico. He has curated numerous exhibitions across the globe, written books and articles on various art-related subjects, and delivered lectures in several locations, including Europe, the United States, and Asia. His research and publications encompass a wide range of fields, including light-based media, photography, avant-garde collecting, abstract geometric and kinetic art, computer art, motion picture, and animated film. His first documentary film, titled György Kepes – Interthinking Art + Science was completed in 2023 and garnered recognition and accolades at many international film festivals.

    A video recording of the talk is available on Vimeo.

    For more information about the MAT Seminar Series, go to: seminar.mat.ucsb.edu.

    For previous seminars, please visit our MAT Seminars Video Archive.

  • MAT Seminar Series: AI and Artificial Life
  • Speaker:   Leslie Garcia

    Monday, January 22nd, 2024 at 1pm PST via Zoom

    Image

    Abstract

    In this seminar we will analyze the relationship and origins of cybernetics and its technological intersections. We will also address the evolution of AI from a historical context and some of its practitioners from artistic research.

    Bio

    Interspecifics is an international Independent artistic research bureau founded in Mexico City in 2013. We have focused our research on the use of sound and A.I., to explore patterns emerging from biosignals and the morphology of different living organisms as a potential form of non-human communication. With this aim, we have developed a collection of experimental research and education tools we call Ontological Machines. Our work is deeply shaped by the Latin American context where precarity enables creative action and ancient technologies meet cutting-edge forms of production. Our current lines of research are shifting towards exploring the hard problem of consciousness and the close relationship between mind and matter, where magic appears to be fundamental. Sound remains our interface to the universe.

    A video recording of the talk is available on Vimeo.

    For more information about the MAT Seminar Series, go to:  seminar.mat.ucsb.edu.

    For previous seminars, please visit our MAT Seminars Video Archive.

  • The MAT Seminar Series presents a panel discussion titled "Feminist/Queer/Trans* Research-Creation Methodologies".
  • Sunday, January 21st from 5-6pm at SBCAST (531 Garden St, Santa Barbara) and via Zoom

    The panelists for this presentation are Raphaël Bessette, T Braun, Amanda Gutierrez, Laura Magnusson.

    Abstract

    A research-creation panel with four Montréal-based PhD researchers (Concordia University) who will share their research-creation on the topics of Feminist/Queer/Trans* Research-Creation Methodologies. This will be an intimate setting with some light refreshments and snacks provided.

    Bios

    Raphaël Bessette

    Raphaël was born and raised in Gatineau, on the unceded territory of the Algonquin-Anishinabeg Nation and is currently pursuing their PhD on the unceded lands of the Kanien’kehá:ka Nation in Tio'tiá:ke/Montreal. They hold a BA in political science (Université de Montréal), MA in Gender Studies (Université de Genève), an MA in Visual Anthropology (Université Paris Nanterre), and a DIU in research-creation (Université Paris-8/Université Paris Nanterre). Working across documentary and experimental film, their work has been shown at festivals such as Premier Regards - Festival International Jean Rouch (Paris), Festival International du Film Ethnographique du Québec and Festival de la Poésie de Montréal/Tio'tiá:ke.

    Their current PhD research is situated at the intersections of trans* studies, critical disability studies, science and technology studies and research-creation and focuses on the parallel and connected practices of trans* embodiment and experimental filmmaking. They explore the relations between materials and bodies in their engagements with prosthetics (binders, breast forms, tucking underwear, packing, stand-to-pee devices, sex-toys, etc.) and in filmmaking techniques of frame-by-frame animation and process cinema.

    T Braun

    T Braun is an interdisciplinary artist who creates virtual worlds, drag performances, and interactive installations that challenge binary notions of gender. They are currently based in Tiohtià:ke (Montreal) and are pursuing a Ph.D. in Humanities at Concordia University. Their Ph.D. work explores how queer VR enthusiasts envision the metaverse, create gender-affirming content, and form virtual communities. They are currently conducting interviews and co-creating virtual worlds with trans* artists in the social VR platform VRChat.

    Amanda Gutierrez

    Amanda Gutierrez (b. 1978, Mexico City) explores the experience of political listening and gender studies by bringing into focus soundwalking practices. Trained and graduated initially as a stage designer from The National School of Theater, Gutiérrez uses a range of digital media tools to investigate everyday life aural agencies and collective identities. Approaching these questions from aural perspectives continues to be of particular interest to Gutiérrez, who completed her MFA in Media and Performance Studies at the School of the Art Institute of Chicago. She is currently elaborating on the academic dimension of her work as a Ph.D. candidate in Arts and Humanities at Concordia University in the Arts and Humanities Doctoral program. Gutiérrez has held numerous international art residencies such as FACT, Liverpool in the UK, ZKM in Germany, TAV in Taiwan, Bolit Art Center in Spain, and her artwork has been exhibited internationally in venues such as The Liverpool Biennale in 2012, Lower Manhattan Cultural Council, Harvestworks in NYC, SBC Gallery, Undefined Radio in Montreal, Errant Bodies Studio Press in Berlin, among other.

    Laura Magnusson

    Laura Magnusson is a Canadian interdisciplinary artist and filmmaker based in Tiohtià:ke/ (Montreal). Her current research-creation explores and elucidates felt experiences of violence and trauma through installation, sculpture, drawing, performance, and video. She is a trained scuba diver who has filmed underwater in Iceland and Mexico, using the medium water as a site for healing and reconnecting to the body. Magnusson holds an MFA in Interdisciplinary Art from the University of Michigan (2019), and is currently pursuing a PhD in Interdisciplinary Humanities at Concordia University.

    For more information about the MAT Seminar Series, go to:  seminar.mat.ucsb.edu.

    For previous seminars, please visit our MAT Seminars Video Archive.

  • MAT Seminar Series: Encounter
  • Speaker:   Danielle Garrison

    Monday, January 8th, 2024 at 1pm PST in room 1605 Elings Hall and via Zoom

    Image

    Abstract

    In this gathering, you are invited to interact with my heart tethering research. We will sense our heartbeats somatically through sensorial guiding and biometrically (pulse oximeters that translate into sound, lights and haptics) in collaboration with Ryan McCullough. We will practice tethering with a horizontal aerial fabric loop, which acts as a touch conduit between our bodies. We will engage the heart as a gateway to sense our nervous system states, determining how we co-sense our spatial relation. Please wear comfortable clothes, socks, and bring a pen.

    Danielle creates interactive aerial dance experiences to re-ignite embodied interaction in a post-touch era questioning what aerial arts can do. She has been creating an emergent aerial dance technique called tethering, which consists of a horizontal fabric that mediates touch to develop practices and guidelines around consent in artistic collaborations. Materializing as a research-creation project, heart tethering engages polyvagal theory as a language to co-sense and identify nervous system states in relational encounters by tuning into heart-based dynamics. This process hones awareness of the heartbeat by sensing the heart somatically (scanning layers from external proprioception to internal interoception called heartception) and biometrically (pulse oximeters that translate into sound, lights and haptics) in collaboration with Ryan McCullough. The event centers around the three phases of the heartbeat—contract, rest, release—as a guiding framework to explore movement, adapt spacing, slow timing, and experiment with a spectrum of response-abilities. This research asks what happens when we become more aware of our heart in each moment and how does it change our relation with another? What emerges when we prioritize co-sensing and communicating with creative methodologies that honor complexities and critically engage with the ever-evolving practice of consent within encounters? Danielle is an interdisciplinary humanities PhD student in research-creation at Concordia University (Montréal) directed by Angélique Willkie, Erin Manning, and VK Preston and the University of Montpellier (France) supervised by Alix de Morant, as well as a 4-year Fulbright Specialist (2021-2025).

    Bio

    While pursuing her MFA in Dance (somatics/aerial arts) from the University of Colorado-Boulder, Danielle was a Fulbright Scholar to France (2017-2018) where she created an interdisciplinary project weaving contemporary dance, circus, visual arts and film exploring the topic of grief in news media. Recent aerial residencies include SenseLab (Montréal), Milieux (Montréal), Nils Obstrat (Paris), Ecole Media Art du Grand Chalon (Chalon- sur- Saône), La Grainerie (Toulouse), the Circus Dialogues Project’s 4th encounter (Avallon), and SBCAST (Santa Barbara Center for Arts, Science and Technology). Danielle has performed and/or taught for Aerial Dance Chicago, Frequent Flyers Productions, Les Rencontres de Danse Aérienne, the Berlin Circus Festival, Frequent Flyers Aerial Dance Festival, Santa Barbara Floor to Air Festival, Aerial Greece, and the San Francisco Aerial Dance Festival. In 2020, she co-created Aerial Reflexionando (virtual aerial arts colloque) with Ana Prada to support critical exchange on contemporary aerial arts in the Americas.

    A video recording of the talk is available on Vimeo.

    For more information about the MAT Seminar Series, go to:  seminar.mat.ucsb.edu.

    For previous seminars, please visit our MAT Seminars Video Archive.