Leonardo, Volume 38, Issue 4 | Leonardo/ISASTwith Arizona State University
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Contents

Editorial

Artists' Statements

Special Section: College Art Association Papers

  • Artists in Industry and the Academy: Interdisciplinary Research Collaborations
    Edward Shanken
  • Between Art, Science and Technology: Data Representation Architecture
    Julio Bermúdez, Jim Agutter, Stefano Foresti, Dwayne Westenskow, Noah Syroid, Frank Drews, Elizabeth Tashjian
    Get at MIT Press

    As our civilization continues to dive deeper into the information age, making sense of complex data becomes critical. This work takes on this challenge by means of a novel method based on complete inter disciplinarity, design process and built-in evaluations. The result is the design, construction, testing and deployment of data environments supporting real-time decision-making in such diverse domains as anesthesiology and live art performance. Fundraising success, technology licensing, market implementation and many live art performances provide evidence of the great potential of committed interdisciplinary work for advancing science, art and technology while benefiting society at large.

  • Both and Neither: in silico v1.0, Ecce Homology
    Ruth West, Jeff Burke, Cheryl Kerfeld, Eitan Mendelowitz, Thomas Holton, J.P. Lewis, Ethan Drucker, Weihong Yan, Ricard Solé, Cassidy Curtis
    Get at MIT Press

    Ecce Homology, a physically interactive new-media work, visualizes genetic data as calligraphic forms. A novel computer-vision user interface allows multiple participants, through their movement in the installation space, to select genes from the human genome for visualizing the Basic Local Alignment Search Tool (BLAST), a primary algorithm in comparative genomics. Ecce Homology was successfully installed in the UCLA Fowler Museum, 6 November 2003–4 January 2004.

  • Color Plates
  • New Ideas Emerge When Collaboration Occurs
    Dana Plautz
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    This paper provides some examples demonstrating the value for industry of funding and working with artists on research projects. It discusses how art research and industry can mutually benefit from working together at the research and development level. While artistic practice has long been recognized for its innovation and creativity, the potential of artistic research and the collaborative nature of artistic practice are currently underutilized by high-tech industry.

  • NANO: An Exhibition of Scale and Senses
    Victoria Vesna, James K. Gimzewski
  • PING: Poetic Charge and Technical Implementation
    Greg Niemeyer
  • The Emergence Project: The Bush Soul
    Rebecca Allen
  • The Hybrid Invention Generator
    Bill Seaman
  • Global Visual Music Jam Project
    Vibeke Sorensen

Special Section: ArtScience: The Essential Connection

  • Desmond Morris's Two Spheres
    Robert Root-Bernstein, Kris Paulsen
    Get at MIT Press

    What is the value of artistic practices, techniques, inventions, aesthetics and knowledge for the working scientist? What is the value of scientific practices, techniques, inventions, aesthetics and knowledge for the artist? When does art become science and science, art? Can an individual excel at both science and art, or is even a passing familiarity with one sufficient to influence the other significantly? Guest editor Robert Root-Bernstein continues the exploration of such questions in the second installment of the Leonardo special project “ArtScience: The Essential Connection.”

    Interested authors: please send proposals, queries and/or manuscripts to the Leonardo Editorial Office: isast@leonardo.info. Additional information available on the Leonardo web site: www.leonardo.info.

  • The Critical Collaboration between Art and Science: An Experiment on a Bird in the Air Pump and the Ramifications of Genomics for Society
    Tamar Schlick
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    Inspired by a famous 18th-century painting by Joseph Wright, the author discerns similarities between issues relevant then and the public's current reception of scientific ideas from modern biology in the wake of the Human Genome Project. She proposes educational and scientific initiatives and advocates more positive and balanced portrayals of scientific themes in the arts to help engage the public in a discourse about the ramifications of genomics science and technology for our lives.

General Article

  • Interfacing the Brain Directly with Musical Systems: On Developing Systems for Making Music with Brain Signals
    Eduardo R. Miranda
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    The authors discuss their work on developing technology to interface the brain directly with music systems, a field of research generally known as Brain-Computer Interfacing (BCI). The paper gives a brief background of BCI in general and surveys various attempts at musical BCI, or Brain-Computer Music Interface (BCMI) — systems designed to make music from brain signals, or brainwaves. The authors present a technical introduction to the electroencephalogram (EEG), which measures brainwaves detected by electrodes placed directly on the scalp. They introduce approaches to the design of BCI and BCMI systems and present two case study systems of their own design: the BCMI-Piano and the Inter-Harmonium.

General Note

  • Symbolic Pointillism: Computer Art Motivated by Human Brain Structures
    Norbert Krüger, Florentin Wörgötter
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    The authors introduce a new kind of computer art motivated by cortical structures in the human visual system. This type of computer art is related to the sub-group of the impressionist art movement called pointillism. However, while pointillism visualizes and makes use of processes that have been associated with the human eye, Symbolic Pointillism also makes cortical processes explicit. The visual representations underlying this art have been developed during a project that aims at the transfer of functional aspects of human vision to artificial systems. The authors have applied their findings in such an artificial vision system and in a sound/vision installation.

Theoretical Perspective

  • Metadesign as an Emergent Design Culture
    Elisa Giaccardi
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    The concept of metadesign was adopted in the 1980s regarding the use of information technologies in relation to art, cultural theories and design practices (from interactive art to biotechnological design). This article introduces theories and practices of metadesign and contributes to the unfolding of metadesign as an emergent design culture, calling for an expansion of the creative process in the new design space engendered by information technologies.

Leonardo Reviews

Commentary

Title: 

Leonardo, Volume 38, Issue 4

August 2005