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| PANDORA'S BOX An interactive encounter with art using remotely controlled robots. March 4—18, 2000 InterAccess, Toronto and Fylkingen, Stockholm Pandora’s Box artworks by Christian Bock, Joe Davis, Francis LeBouthillier, Dinka Pignon, Victoria Scott, and Kent Tankred Exhibition design by Amanda Ramos Curated by Graham Smith The story of Pandora is one of curiosity and risk, of choice and unforeseen consequences. The Pandora’s Box exhibition uses this familiar tale to explore some of its obvious parallels to our contemporary encounter with technology. Using a high-speed broadband Internet link, gallery visitors at InterAccess are able to transport themselves into a remote installation—six thousand miles away at the Royal College of Art in Stockholm—and observe it through the video eye of a small robot. They direct the robot and drive it through the piece, exploring the ways in which virtual presence transforms scale and perspective. In order to fully explore the space of the remote locale, the robot-operator must open the box and cross the threshold into each artist’s world. These small-scale environments—designed by six of Canada and Sweden’s most talented and accomplished artists working in electronic art—are autonomous worlds, their contents unknown until they are entered. The interface design of Pandora’s Box, not only provides access to a far-away place—it also draws attention to the way in which interactive artwork routinely subverts the notion that the experience of art is a private affair. By highlighting the collective experience of interactivity, Pandora’s Box transforms what is conventionally seen as a mute space for viewing into a conceptually articulate social environment. The exhibition builds on earlier versions of Graham Smith’s Cybercity project. Pandora’s Box is part of the InterAccess and Fylkingen Canada-Sweden Electronic Art Exchange InterAccess Electronic Media Arts Centre 401 Richmond St. West, Suite 444 Toronto ON, M5V 3A8 office@interaccess.org Opening Reception: Saturday, March 4 @ noon Gallery Hours: Tuesday—Saturday 12-3, or by appointment Artists’ Talk: Saturday, March 18 @ noon Fylkingen Box 170 44 104 62 Stockholm, Sweden www.fylkingen.se/fylkeng.html intermedia@fylkingen.se Opening Reception: Saturday, March 4 @ 6pm Exhibited at the Royal University College of Fine Arts Artists’ Talk: Saturday, March 18 @ 6pm For further information contact: Kathleen Pirrie Adams (416)599-7206 office@interaccess.org Pandora’s Box is sponsored by: Max Internet Communications www.maxic.com Live To Go Networks www.livetogo.net KSOCXS knowledge group www.ksocxs.se Ryerson Polytechnic University ryerson.ca/~clt/ Telbotics www.telbotics.com Jim Ruxton cinetron@passposrt.ca |
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