Augmented Systems: Explorations in Complex, Emergent, and Generative Systems Workshop with Alexander Jones Gross (University of Main) :: March 25-26, 2010; 6:30 - 9:30 pm + March 27; 10:00 am - 6:00 pm :: CIANT - Art laboratory, Kubelíkova 27, 130 00 Praha 3, Czech Republic :: Zdarma / V angličtině / For free / In English — Please register at ivan.nemeth [at] ciant.cz.

Complex, indeterminate, and chaotic systems exist everywhere we look from the flight paths of birds to the growth patterns of plants to the formation of clouds. These systems are not simply random, they are complex systems bounded by discrete natural laws. Through study and investigation much can be learned about how these systems work. Continue reading

Changing Room by Michael Takeo Magruder — A mixed-reality installation exploring the mutability and reusability of artefacts, concepts and situations in the Digital Age.

Changing Room is an evolving artwork that considers the transitory nature of shared, virtual and mixed-reality environments and the creative potential of working within these liminal spaces. Blending the shared virtual environment of Second Life with the shared physical environment of Eastside Projects, the artwork facilitates the realisation, curation and documentation of distinct – yet interrelated – art projects arising from a common pool of virtual and physical resources. Over a seven-week period, a series of resident artists will be invited to use the spaces and materials to realise works of their own conceptual and aesthetic design. Each project will last for a single week, after which, it will be documented in situ and then be handed over to a new artist for repurposing. Continue reading

Vague Terrain 16: Architecture/Action :: The latest of edition of Vague Terrain presents a timely and nuanced consideration of ubiquitous computing. Guest curated by the American artist/programmer Joshua Noble, the issue provides a window into the practices of several leading researchers. Given the arrival of gestural interfaces and preliminary deployments of augmented reality technology and “intelligent” architecture, it is an important moment for thinking about the relationship between technology and the body. Noble on this current milieu: “All technologies reshape the body and the space around the body, from the bow and arrow to the steam engine to the telephone. It may be that we are beginning to truly see how computing and ubiquitous devices will once again reshape our bodies and our conceptions of ourselves in space.” Continue reading

Arrested Time by Nathaniel Stern with Jessica Meuninck-Ganger — An exhibition of works combining contemporary technologies with traditional drawing and printmaking methods curated by Jo-Anne Green :: February 27 - April 3, 2010 :: Opening Reception: February 27; 5:30 - 8:30 pm :: Greylock Arts, 93 Summer Street, Adams MA.

Nathaniel Stern’s Given Time simultaneously activates and performs two permanently logged-in Second Life avatars, each forever and only seen by and through the other. They hover in mid-air, almost completely still, gazing into one another’s interface. Viewers encounter this networked partnership as a diptych of large-scale (8 feet tall) and facing video projections in a real world gallery, both exhibiting a live view of one avatar, as perceived by the other. Continue reading

[Image: Handheld Histories as Hyper-Monuments by Carmin Karasic, Rolf van Gelder and Rob Coshow] The Next Wave of AR: Exploring Social Augmented Experiences with Tish Shute, whurley, Jeremy Hight, Joe Lamantia, Thomas Wrobel :: April 1, 2010; 3:15 pm :: Where 2.0 Conference, San Jose, California.

This panel will discuss shared augmented realities, considering some of the essential possibilities and challenges inherent in this new class of social augmented experiences. The format is presentation of a small set of scenarios (defined in advance, with audience input) describing likely future forms of shared augmented realities at differing scales of social engagement for discussion by a panel of leading practitioners in technology, experience design, networked urbanism, interface design, game design, and augmented reality. Continue reading

Cross_uniVerse by Mario GerosaPyramidOSIta ( Cyberlandia metaverso italiano 3D ) e in altre sim di Second Life e Open Sim :: DIRETTA STREAMING ed INTERAZIONE

VIRTUAL WORLDS, SOCIAL NETWORKS AND AUGMENTED REALITY: The topic of this conference is virtual worlds and augmented reality. More precisely, we will try to understand how we have gradually arrived at this generalise hypertrophy. Today is not enough to live a single life and we create another, virtual identity. In the same way, urban landscapes are multiplied through augmented reality, which adds an increasing number of scenarios to those perceived by our eyes. Art works too are to be ‘read’ taking into account the stratification of comments and meaning they are made of, while the post-kitsch trend, with a large number of allusions, is growing in strength. Continue reading

Agency Reconsidered by Noah Wardrip-Fruin Noah, Michael Mateas, Steven Dow, Serdar Sali [September 2009 Breaking New Ground: Innovation in Games, Play, Practice and Theory]:

The concept of “agency” in games and other playable media (also referred to as “intention”) has been discussed as a player experience and a structural property of works. We shift focus, considering agency, instead, as a phenomenon involving both player and game, one that occurs when the actions players desire are among those they can take (and vice versa) as supported by an underlying computational model. Continue reading

The Creative Data special issue features papers and artworks that deal with the emerging practice of data visualization as an immersive experience. Data has long been the property and domain of screen-based collection, archiving, processing and interaction. The emergence of new processes, functionality and ways of interacting with information is opening up several new areas of great possibility in which the data allows new found thematic and engaging forms of immersion, as well as innovative and perception-reshaping interaction. Consider a simple analogy; to swim in a pool is to understand three-dimensionality, interaction, spatial relationships and a macro-micro view, as well as contextual and embodied interaction. Can we swim with data? How do we build, debate and discuss the future and shape of immersivity in its relation to data? Continue reading

[Image from Volume Magazine (Hight/Wehby)] Modulated Mapping: Talking with Jeremy Hight about Layers, Channels and  Social Augmented Experience originally posted on UgoTrade:

Tish Shute: I know you have been involved in locative media from its early days. Perhaps we can talk about how AR continues the locative media journey?

Blair MacIntyre gave me this distinction, recently: “AR is about systems that put media out in the world, and immerse you in a mixed space. Even the current “not really registered” mobile phone AR systems are still “sort of” AR (e.g., Layar, etc).

Locative media/ubicomp/etc are very different, in that they tend to display media on a device (phone screen) that is relevant to your context, but does not attempt to merge it with the world. The difference is significant, and making it clear helps people think about what they do and what they want to do, with their work. The locative media space though points toward future AR systems (when the technology catches up!).” Continue reading

The 25th Annual CHArt Conference: Object and Identity in the Digital Age :: November 12-13, 2009 :: Birkbeck, University of London, Clore Lecture Theatre, Clore Management Centre, Torrington Square, London, WC1 7HX.

This year’s CHArt conference engages with the idea of object and identity in relation to art practice, production, consumption, representation and display. The conference will explore new notions of the identity of the artist, including those involving collaboration and anonymity; new conceptions and ontologies of the art object, as processual, virtual, or hybrid; new means of consumption and reception, whether in galleries and museums, in public spaces, or over networks of broadcast and narrowcast; and the challenges these transformations bring to the display of art and to its curation and access. Continue reading