Over the past 40 years, innovations in digital technology have enabled the integration of technical accomplishment with artistic expression, thereby fostering art endeavors that explore new territories and cross traditional boundaries. To this end, the SIGGRAPH 2006 Art Gallery, titled Intersections, examines this merging of creativity, concept, and technique.
The Art Gallery is estimated to be the world’s largest, featuring works that combine innovative computer graphics and interactive techniques with artistic practice. Juried pieces from 150 artists, researchers, and technologists from 16 countries were selected for their ability to provoke thought, explore ideas in innovative ways, address contemporary issues, interactively engage the viewer in the unfolding of meaning, and captivate the viewer’s intellectual and creative self. “These are some of the most innovative digital artists in the world. The breadth and depth of the content is staggering,” says Bonnie Mitchell, SIGGRAPH 2006 Art Gallery chair from Bowling Green State University. “It is inspiring to see people creatively pushing the boundary of what can be done when art and technology collide.”
The range of content also includes artistic computer animations ranging from abstract art to experimental narrative to creative music videos. “Regardless of approach, the animations are expressively different from traditional animation and exemplify some of the most creative work being done in the fi eld of art animation today,” states Mitchell, who notes that the SIGGRAPH 2006 artists and performers are defi ning a brave new direction for art.
A selection of works from the gallery is presented on these pages. —Karen Moltenbrey
Murat Germen: Reading the Space as an Entity—
Galleria Vittorio Emanuele, Milan, Italy Using panoramic
photography, images such as this open the viewer’s eyes to a
wider view of what would have been a singular subject.
Gene Greger: Psychopharmacology This digital print
reflects the delicate mental state in which the artist once found
himself. To this end, he used an iterative process to overlay pills
atop a portrait of himself.
Philip George: Mnemonicon 23 The recent work in this
series (the original file is constantly updated) explores the idea
of memory floating in a constructed tide of mnemonic icons.
Øyvind Kolås: Nå av da (Now by Then) An interactive video
mirror installation, the image is constantly evolving; thus, the
present is always a product of the past.
Marte Newcombe: Soothsayers Born in the 3D world as a
sculpture and transferred into the 2D realm, this work unites the
physicality of machines with the intellectual aspect of the computer.
Terry Calen: 0512 The bold geometric lines of this 3D image
explore the artistic value of structure.
Sachiko Kodama: MorphoTower / Spiral Swirl This organic
tower responds dynamically to its magnetic environment.