Press Release – ID:ENTITY Self : Perception + Reality
By CAM Raleigh | September 13, 2011
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
SEPTEMBER 2011
409 West Martin Street
Raleigh, NC 27603
MEDIA CONTACT
Elysia Borowy-Reeder
elysia_borowy@camraleigh.ncsu.edu | 919.513.7200 | 312.972.4096
Carol Fountain Nix
Carol_nix@ncsu.edu | 919.515.8311 | 919.274.2090
Images, interviews, and technical information about the projects available upon request
CAM RALEIGH PRESENTS
ID:ENTITY SELF : PERCEPTION + REALITY
A GROUP EXHIBITION OF CUTTING-EDGE INTERACTIVE ART WORKS BY ARTISTS AND FACULTY AT NORTH CAROLINA STATE UNIVERSITY
OPENING RECEPTION ON FRIDAY, NOVEMBER 18, 2011
Raleigh, September, 2011 – On view at CAM Raleigh from November 18, 2011 through February 13, 2012, is the third installment of the Emerging Artists Series featuring a group exhibition by the following artists, faculty, and students affiliated with the North Carolina State University College of Design, Department of Art+Design, and the Communication, Rhetoric, and Digital Media Ph.D. program in the College of Humanities and Social Sciences: Kevin Brock, Lee Cherry, Patrick FitzGerald, McArthur Freeman, II, David Gruber, David Millsaps, Cecilia Mouat, Carol Fountain Nix, David M Rieder, and Marc Russo. An opening reception will be held on Friday, November 18 from 6:00–9:00 p.m. in conjunction with CAM Raleigh’s Third Friday events. The reception is open to the public and free with museum admission. ID:ENTITY is curated by Kate Shafer, Exhibitions Manager at CAM Raleigh.
ID:ENTITY is a group exhibition which explores the complex dichotomy between the public and private versions of “self.” Radical changes are emerging at the technical, cultural, and aesthetic intersections of contemporary life due to the speed and prevalence of digital media. ID:ENTITY investigates the vicissitudes which occur across the boundaries of self and world. “I am thrilled to support innovative thinking about art, technology, and design. Our new home for contemporary art and design, CAM Raleigh, aligns with both the College of Design’s curriculum and the ambitions of the many artists and designers that we showcase,” said North Carolina State’s College of Design Dean Marvin J. Malecha, FAIA.
Artists featured in ID:ENTITY use a wide range of cutting-edge software technologies (including Microsoft’s Kinect) to create dynamic, interactive imagery, inspiring environments, and to engage viewers with sensory experiences. Interactive, thematic videos will be projected on the walls of the gallery, creating internal and external views. Visitors will experience large-scale interactive installations, short experimental films and digital sculpture. The exhibition brings to the center the ways in which identity is augmented, multiplied, and mashed-up by digital technologies. Most of the projects require user interaction, and many are projected on large surfaces, some angled, others textured. Kate Shafer, Exhibitions Manager at CAM Raleigh, says, “The artists and designers in this exhibition are pioneers in new media arts. Thy repurpose familiar technologies to engage the visitor in unexpected ways. CAM Raleigh seeks to present the unexpected and to deliver on that mission- we are an ever changing experience like no museum."
Image from video installation: Marc E Russo, The 4 Horsemen of the Apocalypse, 2010.
One featured work in ID:ENTITY that exemplifies the experimental dynamic nature of the exhibition is a four-screen installation by Marc Russo depicting The Four Horsemen of the Apocalypse. In Russo’s re-imagining, the first horseman, Silence, prevents communication and censors thoughts and expression. Silence results in the second sign: Decay. The next sign is Consumption, relating to the mass consumption of our resources, which ultimately leads to our Death.
Image: David Gruber and David Rieder, Tunnel Vision, 2011. A cybertextual interpretation of Mark Strand's poem, The Tunnel, will be premiered at the exhibition.
Making its museum premiere is David Gruber and David Rieder’s Tunnel Vision, a cybertextual interpretation of Mark Strand's poem, The Tunnel. Strand's poem dramatizes the fear and loathing that we feel as we confront a sense of the outsider within us. Gruber and Rieder's interpretation of Strand's poem uses a webcam with motion-tracking software to extend and allegorize the connection that a user feels with the technologized and externalized projection of the self on the screen¬¬–a self that is inextricably linked to the words from Strand's poem. The work is a contribution to a type of experimental writing known as cybertext. Strand's poem and a scholarly essay about their work will be displayed alongside this interactive work.
A number of the ID:ENTITY projects are based on open-source hacks of the Microsoft Kinect. Due to the ways in which the Kinect can identify human movements in a three-dimensional space, these works will dramatize the extent to which the assumed boundaries dividing self and world are transgressed by digital technologies. Several new works by Patrick FitzGerald and Lee Cherry demonstrate the opportunities for experimentation introduced by the Kinect.
One more work making its museum debut is David Rieder and Kevin Brock’s Floating Signifiers, a Kinect-based exploration of embodied textuality. Rieder and Brock's project uses the sensor’s depth-tracking capabilities to allow users to engage with a dynamic, three-dimensional textual space on a projected screen.
The exhibition ID:ENTITY SELF : PERCEPTION + REALITY is generously supported by North Carolina State University's College of Design and NC State’s Art+Design Program. Additional supported is provided by the Communication, Rhetoric, and Digital Media Ph.D. program in the College of Humanities and Social Sciences.
About the Emerging Artists Series
CAM Raleigh is the only museum in the region with a dedicated gallery for emerging artists and designers. Through exhibiting emerging artists whose work is still in progress and fresh from the studio, CAM Raleigh celebrates the diversity of artistic expression and places the artist at the center of the community. The museum supports early career contemporary artists in an atmosphere where they are encouraged to foster a cross-fertilization of ideas and dynamic interaction with visitors. Visitors from all walks of life will often have a chance to meet and exchange ideas with the artists celebrated in this series. CAM Raleigh’s Independent Weekly Gallery features the Emerging Artist Series.
Artist Bios for ID:ENTITY, CAM Raleigh
Kevin Brock
Kevin Brock is a Ph.D. student in North Carolina State University's Communication, Rhetoric, and Digital Media Program. He studies humanities computing and the rhetoric of software development, and is particularly interested in how digital technologies are simultaneously made significant and ordinary in our lives.
Lee Cherry
Lee Cherry brings 10 years of interactive software development and project management experience as a technical producer, interactive designer and information architect. He has developed and managed large-scale interactive projects that leverage technology, user interface design and information graphics for such companies as American Express, Accipiter, Böwe Bell & Howell, GlaxoSmithKline, Grant Hill Ventures, IBM, NBC Sports, Nortel and The United States Tennis Association. Lee Cherry holds two degrees from North Carolina State University; a BA in Industrial Design from the College of Design and a MBA in Product Innovation Management from the College of Management. He currently helps direct the research efforts at the Advanced Media Lab in support of the Graduate Program in Art+Design and the Information Technology Lab at North Carolina State University. He is currently completing studies related to non-profit management and development through the Master of Public Administration program at North Carolina State University.
Patrick FitzGerald
Patrick FitzGerald has a BA from Southern Methodist University and an MFA from the Cranbrook Academy of Art. His work has been exhibited across the United States and Japan. FitzGerald has received national and international awards for his digital illustrations. Recent projects and interactive installations include the 2011 opening of CAM Raleigh with Advanced Media Lab, the 2010 opening of the new North Carolina Museum of Art with Advanced Media Lab, 2009 Zoom Raleigh with Advanced Media Lab in downtown Raleigh, 2007 The Consumer Culture Garden (with EAT at North Carolina Museum of Art , MINT and New Britain Museum of Art), and the 2005 GoMAP2.0 (interactive prototype for PDA).
McArthur Freeman, II
McArthur Freeman, II is an artist and designer whose work includes drawings, paintings, 3D modeling, and animation. McArthur earned his BFA from the University of Florida. He holds a Master of Fine Arts degree from Cornell University, with a concentration in painting and a Master of Art+Design from North Carolina State University in Animation, New Media and Digital Imaging. His work has been published in NKa Journal of Contemporary African Art and has been exhibited in several group and solo exhibitions within the United States. His paintings and 3D scenes explore constructed realities that weave together both fact and fantasy.
David Gruber
David Gruber moved to Raleigh from Los Angeles in 2008. He is currently a doctoral candidate in the Ph.D. Program in Communication, Rhetoric, and Digital Media at North Carolina State University. He is also a painter and digital artist. In both his scholarly and artistic pursuits, he studies human (co)development with technology as well as the rising influence of the brain sciences on a wide range of cultural conversations. His work can be found in the following academic journals: Media History, Visual Communication Quarterly, POROI. Links to other related projects can be found on his website, www.davidgruber.com.
David Millsaps
David Millsaps is a digital media consultant and interface designer working in Raleigh, North Carolina. Millsaps draws on an interest in the intersection of cartography, information graphics and interface experimentation. Previous works with the Advanced Media Lab include the experimental mobile interface GoMap, and the North Carolina Museum of Art, New Britain Museum of Art and Mint Museum exhibited a digital koi pond, the Consumer Culture Garden.
Cecilia Mouat
Cecilia Mouat has a degree in Architecture and a MA in Documentary Films from the University of Chile; currently she is Ph.D. candidate in the program of Design at North Carolina State University. Cecilia Mouat’s experience in Chile includes 20 years of professional practice on housing and corporate buildings’ design, heading positions in private sector of banking, real estate development, and advisory service industries; five years as instructor in three Chilean universities in the fields of architecture and documentary film, and the realization of several experimental films on topics related with the city, the artistic creation and the construction of identity as a self-portrait project, which is in permanent process of reinvention. In 2008, Mouat obtained in Chile a grant for a one year research project about the body experience of architecture and its representation through the video, as a way to demonstrate that audiovisual is the most vivid form of architectural representation, emphasizing the body motion and the experience of time related with space.
David M Rieder
David M Rieder is Associate Professor of English at North Carolina State University and program faculty in the Communication, Rhetoric, and Digital Media PhD program. He has a PhD in Rhetoric, Writing, and Critical Theory from UT Arlington, where he studied with Victor J. Vitanza. His scholarly interests are at the intersections of rhetoric, writing, and computational media. Recent publications include Typographia: A Hybrid Exploration of Raleigh, NC, which was awarded the 2011 “Best Webtext” by the electronic journal Kairos, and a co-edited collection with University of Minnesota Press titled Small Tech: the Culture of Digital Tools.
Marc Russo
Marc Russo is an Assistant Professor of Art+Design at the North Carolina State University College of Design. Professor Russo has a BS and a M.Ed. from Rutgers University and a Master of Art+Design with a concentration in Animation and New Media from NC State. For over a decade, he has worked as a production artist and a freelance designer throughout North Carolina. The projects range from print collateral and art direction to interactive training websites and animation. As an independent artist and animator, his animations have been selected by international film festivals and have won several awards, including "Excellence in Animation" from the Carrboro Film Festival and the "Experimental Film Award" from the Indie Grits Film Festival. Most recently, Professor Russo has been the Lead Digital Artist for the IntelliMedia Group. A part of the Department of Computer Science at North Carolina State, the IntelliMedia Group creates educational video games for elementary and middle school students with funding from the National Science Foundation and The Gates Foundation.
Carol Fountain Nix
Carol Fountain Nix is the Associate Professor of the Practice and Brand Director for the North Carolina State University College of Design, where she developed and oversees the College’s on-campus design studio: CODE | Studio. Prior to joining the College of Design faculty, Carol founded and ran her own design firm, NIXdesign, an interactive media studio located in downtown Raleigh, North Carolina. NIXdesign has been recognized nationally for its exceptional cross-media brand development and has served a wide range of clients from Burt’s Bees, The Body Shop to Quintiles and Merck Pharmaceutical. Carol’s work spans from graphic/interactive media to videography, abstract painting and image-making. She also has a signature product line that she developed for the wine/gourmet market. Carol holds a B.A. in English Journalism from Elon University and a Master’s degree in graphic design from the North Carolina State University College of Design.
About North Carolina State University’s College of Design
The College of Design offers comprehensive undergraduate and graduate study in architecture, art+design, graphic design, industrial design and graduate studies in landscape architecture, through several degree programs, including the Ph.D. in Design. The college employs a selective admissions process that ensures a highly motivated and diverse design community. As a result, entering design students consistently rank at the top of academic achievement at the University, and their graduation rate is the highest at North Carolina State. More information at http://design.ncsu.edu
About the Advanced Media Lab at North Carolina State University’s College of Design
The Advanced Media Lab at the North Carolina State University College of Design leverages an array of technologies to create images, animation, and interactive projects. To address the needs of contemporary artists and designers, they offer students a foundation for working with a range of digital tools, an awareness of formal relationships, and strategies for generating and refining design solutions. Students in the program are individuals who synthesize both traditional and digital skills. While there are many ways to apply the knowledge gained in the program, it is geared toward those who are interested in sequential art, digital illustration, digital modeling, compositing, character animation, motion graphics, and multimedia interactive projects. For more information about the Advanced Media Lab please visit http://design.ncsu.edu.
CAM Raleigh Hours and Admission
CAM Raleigh hours are Monday, Wednesday, Thursday, Friday 11 a.m. – 6:30 p.m., Saturday and Sunday 12 p.m. to 5 p.m., and first and third Fridays of the month open until 9 p.m. CAM Raleigh is closed on Tuesday. General admission to the museum is $5. CAM Raleigh members, children 10 and under, members of active military, members of NARM and Mod/Co, and NC State students, staff, and faculty are admitted free.
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CAM Raleigh is a non-collecting museum that explores what’s now and presents an always-changing museum experience. CAM Raleigh is a partnership between the community of Raleigh and North Carolina State University’s College of Design. CAM Raleigh is generously supported by the Contemporary Art Foundation, North Carolina State University, individual and corporate members, private and corporate foundations, and government agencies. CAM Raleigh is located at 409 West Martin Street, Raleigh, NC 27603, between Harrington and West streets and in the heart of Raleigh’s Depot National Register Historic District and Warehouse District. CAM Raleigh has a parking lot; additional parking is available at metered spots on the street or at the Davie Street Parking Lot located at 201 W. Davie Street. Museum hours are Monday, Wednesday, Thursday, Friday 11 a.m. – 6:30 p.m., Saturday and Sunday 12 p.m. to 5 p.m., and first and third Fridays of the month open until 9 p.m. The museum is closed on Tuesday. General admission to the museum is $5. CAM Raleigh members, children 10 and under, members of the military, members of NARM and Mod/Co, and NC State students, staff, and faculty are admitted free. Information about CAM Raleigh’s exhibitions, programs, and special events is available on the CAM Raleigh website at http://camraleigh.org or by phone at 919.513.0946. Follow @camraleigh on twitter.
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