Art_x Projects

For a class or presentation to be considered Art_x…

  • There needs to be an element of art and an element of “x;” an element of a traditional disciplinary study.
  • It must be collaborative across the Schools of the Institute (inter-disciplinary or trans-disciplinary)

  • The relationships between disciplines and methodologies must be discussed critically and contextualized for the students.

Here is a sample of past Art_x projects: 

Accordion

Seminars

Sensibilities: Writing Across the Curriculum

“Sensibilities” — a special ART_x@Rensselaer (Art Across the Curriculum) seminar — draws from the tremendous resource of EMPAC to inspire students to cultivate writing skills through the cross-disciplinary theme of the senses/perception. During the semester, students will have opportunities to observe unique art/science presentations and performances in an intimate setting at EMPAC, providing rich experiences for discussions and writing. Classes include reading science and art texts, as well as writing workshops to develop authorial voice and experimentation.

Accordion

Student Work

Dance :: Field Studies Encounter 6

Art_x student work at EMPAC: Sponsored by EMPAC and HASS, graduate students explore Art_x research at EMPAC

Jeremy Stewart, (ARTS Ph.D. expected ‘20)

"Field Studies Encounter 6"

Three performers move while being influenced by each other at a distance through virtual connections and electrical stimulation. These virtual connections are drawn between performers, connecting movement on one to tactile feedback on another, which the performer responds to by altering the motivic content of his or her movement, or by altering his or her spatial orientation.

Created in collaboration with sound designer K. Michael Fox, and performers Meghan Anderson, Jacob Regan, and Haley Day. Performed at EMPAC Studio 2 on March 10, 2016.

Learn more about “Field Studies Encounter 6” performance

http://blindelephants.co/performance/2016/05/01/field_cuts_6.html

 

Sound :: 512 Voices with Amelia Watkins, Soprano

Zach Layton premieres a new work for voice and electronics featuring soprano Erin Flannery utilizing an innovative wavefield synthesis loudspeaker array in 512 discrete channels, currently in development at EMPAC.  Wavefield synthesis is a spatial audio reproduction technique enabling the perception of precise positioning and dynamic shaping of sound sources in virtual auditory space.  The concert will feature live voice, 512 channels of processed vocals and spatialized electronic sound, and the first public performance utilizing this incredible new sound system developed by the engineering team at EMPAC.

Learn more about the 512 Voices with Amelia Watkins Project

 

Accordion

Concerts

Concert presentations explore the connections between music, science, and technology. Often in conjunction with lectures, panels and live performances.

  • Trans-disciplinary
  • Cross-cultural presentations and discussions
School of Architecture: Mesitzo Robotics

SUMMARY

On Friday, April 15, 2016, EMPAC held the final presentation of Mestizo Robotics, an interdisciplinary project developed in collaboration with students from the schools of Architecture and Engineering as part of the "Art_x at Rensselaer" initiative.

Mestizo Robotics aimed to develop a community of interconnected spherical robots that explore the integration of high and low technology, materials, processes, and cultures. The overarching interest guiding the research is the exploration of the notion of the "technological mestizaje." Mestizaje is understood as a phenomenon with a non-harmonic resolution, but a "heterogeneous juxtaposition aiming toward hybridity" (G. Yudice). The term ‘mestizo technology’ is used to frame the discussion on how technology is embodied, appropriated, transformed and assimilated in unexpected forms in different development contexts. The project was proposed in link with the Nano Lab / Universidade Federal of Rio de Janeiro in Brazil and the Electronic and Media Arts/Universidad Tres de Febrero in Buenos Aires, Argentina who worked on parallel projects.

At RPI, the project was led by faculty Gustavo Crembil (ARCH), guest artist Paula Gaetano Adi (RISD), and Nao Bustamante (HASS/Arts). Production support and funding were provided by EMPAC, Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute, and the Jaffe Fund for Experimental Media and Performing Arts.

 

COLLABORATIVE PARTICIPANTS

School of Engineering students - (7, different departments): Jonathan Haase, Fan Rong, Jon Silvestri, Gregory Stankiewicz, Jiequan Zhang, and Judy Zhang.

School of Architecture students - (14): Sarah Bertis, Carolyn Chalfant, Carlos Felix, Kendall Grapes, Jessica Krajewski, Claire Liu, Rushdan Majumder, Faith Marro, Christoper Muscari, Cara Porto, Tom Roland (URP), Lauren Ruskauff, Emily Sun, and Wang Zhe.

RPI faculty - As a complement to the main required coursework, a weekly series of seminars, lectures and reviews where RPI faculty from different departments participated, were offered including: John Hurst (ENG/MANE); Bram Van Heuveln and Mei Si (HASS/CogSci); Ron Eglash and Jim Malazita (HASS/STS); Tamar Gordon and Audrey Bennett (HASS/C&M); Demetrios Comodromos, Adam Dayem, Mae-Ling Lokko, Ted Kruger, Ted Ngai, and Michael Oatman (ARCH); Paolo Cardini and Alejandro Borsani (RISD, guest critics).

Technical Advisor - Mengyu Chen, independent media artist

 

AFFILIATED INTERNATIONAL EVENTS

The outcomes of the project were also shared in conferences in Latin America, such as:

2015 Hiperorganicos 6: Overflow Symposium, Rio de Janeiro Brazil (workshop)

2016 Balance UnBalance Conference, Manizales Colombia (dedicated panel)

2016 ACSA International Conference, Santiago Chile (paper presentation)

 

Learn more about Mesito Robotics

Navigating and Negotiating Sound Architectures of the Night

On May 17, 2016, in EMPAC’s Goodman Studio, an evocative multi-media black box theatre work was presented that engaged the poetics of night. Ninety-two abstract architectural models interact on a luminous glass-surfaced interface-table to produce a computer-generated visual and sonic environment in seven movements to the live accompaniment by ten improvisational musicians. The audience freely interacts with the objects and thereby participates in the production of the performance while experiencing it. The purpose-built technical system supporting the performance tracks the presence, location, orientation and movement of the objects, producing four large-scale projections as well as musical scores that move in the space with the movement of objects.

The Production, Installation, and Performance (PIP) Projects are funded by the Chris ’49 and Marcia Paris Jaffe Program in Art, Music and Architecture.

Participants: The 2016 PIP Studio was a collaboration between Ted Krueger (Associate Professor of Architecture), Pauline Oliveros (Distinguished Research Professor of Music), invited artist Bill Seaman (Professor of Art, Art History and Visual Studies at Duke University), Jim Hendler (Tetherless World Professor of Computer, Web and Cognitive Sciences and Director, Rensselaer Institute for Data Exploration and Applications), Jonas Braasch (Associate Professor of Architecture (architectural acoustics), Director of the Center for Cognition, Communication and Culture and Director of the CRAIVE lab (Collaborative Research Augmented Immersive Virtual Environment) .

Learn more about "Navigating and Negotiating Sound Architectures of the Night"

 

"Within" EMPAC Resident Tarek Atoui

EMPAC resident Tarek Atoui, and Arts Professor Pauline Oliveros presented WITHIN, the culmination of Atoui's multi-year research and performance project to develop tools and techniques for performing sound to a hearing-impaired audience.

Atoui collaborated with Rensselaer students of Oliveros' "New Instrumentation for Performance" seminar, where the students were challenged to develop new musical instruments for the hearing impaired.

In the presentation, participants were encouraged to explore the public spaces of EMPAC, where a number of the group’s creations were on display for performance and interaction.  Sounds of the various instruments were then broadcast into the concert halls. 

The audience was encouraged to explore the acoustic relationships between individual instruments and the architectures that they inhabit. Atoui says the act of inventing new instruments isn’t just about creating new artifacts, but about expanding the language of music and performance.

More about the "Within" Project

Live(r) Clear

Amanda Harrold, Kathleen McDermott, Jacob Steiner and Perrine Papillaud.

Learn more about the Live(r) Clear Project