Visiting Artist: Brian Knep

The SMFA Film-Animation Area will be hosting Boston-based artist Brian Knep to present and discuss his work in the field of new media interactive installations. His work bridges the flow of science, biology and art, and is strongly attuned to the role of the human being as it's viewer and user. His subjects frequently fall into the category of microscopic living organisms, and his work is investigating their relationships to each other and the forces of change and struggle that are imposed upon them. Written into the code of these microorganisms' progress and change are most frequently the potential methods of healing. It is how these organisms deal with this struggle that most fascinates Knep, and marks a clear point of focus for the development of his works.

Brian frequently uses abstraction and most recently, cartooned drawings to render visible the presence of these imagined organisms. Animation is an essential aspect of the "life" that is expressed by these imaginary creatures and forms, even though it is animation derived from computer generated code.

Brian has had solo shows at the New Britain Museum of American Art, the University of Massachusetts, Lowell and Arizona State University and has been part of group shows at the Milwaukee Art Museum, Laval Virtual in France, MobileArt in Sweden, and the Insa Art Center in Korea, among others. His works have won awards from Ars Electronica, Americans for the Arts, AICA/New England and the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences. In 2005 Knep became the first artist-in-residence at Harvard Medical School in a program co-sponsored by Harvard's Office for the Arts. He lives and works in Boston and is represented by Ronald Feldman Fine Arts, NY and Judi Rotenberg Gallery, Boston.

• Visiting Artist: Brian Knep
• Time/Date: Thursday, Jan 27th, 12:30pm-2pm
• Location: Studio B113, Animation Studio, SMFA Main Bldg
• All SMFA related people are invited to attend.

AXIOM Presents: Jeffrey Jacobson: Virtual Reality Technology and The Virtual Egyptian Temple


Tuesday February 2, 2010 7-9pm Suggested Donation $8 general, $5 ATNE members

Above images
Left: Both students see this abstract shape,
a visualization of a mathematical formula.
Right: The Virtual Egyptian Temple in the Earth Theater,
Carnegie Museum of Pittsburgh

Axiom and ATNE (Art Technology new England) are proud to welcome Jeffrey Jacobson, Ph.D. who will talk about and demonstrate,Virtual Reality (VR) as a new artistic medium. Virtual Reality first captured the public imagination fifteen years ago, allowing us to extend our social spaces from the physical into the electronic creating dynamic mixed realities. Recently, the term has expanded from the old-fashioned flight simulators and three-dimensional optical displays to computer games and shared worlds on the internet. In this discussion, we will survey the existing technologies and their uses. We will discuss the human elements, how the sensory illusions work, and how they become "real" when imbued with meaning. In the second half Dr. Jacobson will demonstrate "CaveUT," a free open-source tool for creating a low-cost panoramic window into virtual worlds you can design www.publicvr.org. The demonstration will be a guided tour of the Virtual Egyptian Temple, and interactive 3D virtual space. The temple is an idealized, stylized, exemplar of a late period temple constructed from authentic source materials, including virtual duplicates of genuine artifacts. The current temple is showing at the Carnegie Museum of Natural History in Pittsburgh and is part of their K-12 educational programming. PublicVR's Interns from Boston areas colleges are currently working on a version for the web and dome theaters.


When/// Feb 2, 2010 7-9 pm

Where/// AXIOM Center for New and Experimental Media - 141 Green Street
located in the Green Street T Station on the Orange Line

More/// Become a fan of AXIOM on Facebook and Twitter

AXIOM is located on the ground floor level of the Green Street Subway ("T") station on the Orange line, at the corner of Amory and Green Streets in Jamaica Plain, MA
AXIOM Center for New and Experimental Media focuses on new and experimental media, with an interest in technology based, innovative combinations of sculpture, installation and live performance. AXIOM has had a history of success in bringing together members of the new media community as well as outreaching to the general public, along with emerging and established artists working within the realm of new media.

Encouraging and Supporting Experimentation in the Arts through Exhibition, Education, Resources and Collaboration

For more information, visit www.axiomart.org or call 617-676-5904

Axiom and ATNE are programs of Boston Cyberarts

Games of Culture | Art of Games

Emerson College and Turbulence.org are pleased to announce Floating Points 6: Game of Culture | Art of Games, a Film Screening, Symposium and Workshops with Asi Burak, Anita Fontaine, Jesper Juul, Friedrich Kirschner, Marcin Ramocki, Jason Rohrer, Adriana de Souza Silva, Mushon Zer-Aviv.

DATE: March 20-21, 2009

VENUE: Emerson College, Boston, Massachusetts

Video games extend beyond the gaming console into nearly every aspect of contemporary life. They are fun. They drive innovation, consumer engagement and employee productivity. Is our culture turning everything into a game?

Video Games have had a greater impact on narrative form than any medium since film. They are altering our experience of both virtual and physical space. Gamespace is everywhere and nowhere (McKenzie Wark, "Gamer Theory"). In "Video Game Spaces: Image, Play, and Structure in 3D Worlds," Michael Nitsche introduces five analytical layers — rule-based space, mediated space, fictional space, play space, and social space. How do artists and game designers use these spaces in their creative practice? How does structured play impact our engagement with other people, both online and in urban space? What are the political and cultural implications of gaming practices?

Please join us for a lively discussion. More information here.

Capturing Unusual Sounds For Movies & Video Games*

The Boston Audio Engineering Society, Women In Film & Video New England and The New England Institute of Art Presents:

Ann Kroeber
"Capturing Unusual Sounds For Movies & Video Games"

March 10, 2009 at 7:00pm

Brattle Theatre
40 Brattle Street
Cambridge, MA
Admission is $5.00

Please come to hear from Academy Award winner Anne Kroeber and learn the secrets behind the sound to some of the most famous movies of the past 30 years. Ann shares her techniques and philosophies of creating sound to support the visual medium.

Ann Kroeber has had a extensive career in world of Sound Effects. She has worked on many critically acclaimed films like The Elephant Man, Dune, The Unbearable Lightness of Being, Mountains of the Moon, Henry and June, The Mosquito Coast, and Dead Poets Society and Black Stallion which she won an Academy Award for Sound Effects Editing.

For more information, please go to www.BostonAES.org