Abstract: This document describes the proposal to the Canada Council for the Arts for the SpaceProbe electronic media art production project of the Art and Robotics Group at InterAccess. © Jeff Mann May 1997.
Abstract: This document describes the proposal to the Canada Council for the Arts for the SpaceProbe electronic media art production project of the Art and Robotics Group at InterAccess. © Jeff Mann May 1997.
The Art & Robotics Group (ARG) was founded at InterAccess by Jeff Mann in 1996. Its first project is SpaceProbe, designed to encourage artists from diverse backgrounds to explore and develop new works in Electronic Media, with an emphasis on innovative applications in sculpture, installation, and performance. It reaches beyond screen-based "multimedia" and seeks to develop the artistic use of new technologies, including electronic sensor/actuator devices, signal processing, microprocessor systems, and artificial intelligence, for interactive works. SpaceProbe seeks to promote the production of artworks which are able to tap into and process the rich milieu of signals present in the natural and human environments - sound, light, touch, language, motion, and emotion - art which inhabits space. The project model is grass-roots and emphasizes knowledge-sharing and collaborative experimentation.
The project is currently underway, and is very active. Weekly open meetings began in April '97, with an enthusiastic and committed group of about twenty-five artists regularly attending. Please see the Appendix for a list of current participants and activities. The group represents a diverse range of backgrounds, from traditional-media artists with little or no electronics experience, to those recognized as experts and pioneers in this field. The initial phase of the project was implemented on a completely volunteer, unfunded basis, underscoring its necessity and value to the community. InterAccess will contribute a portion of its programming budget towards summer '97 activities. With this application, we are requesting funding to assist in fall/winter 97/98 activities.
While the Toronto region enjoys an international reputation as a wellspring of innovation in electronic media installation work, interaction within the community has been profoundly informal. Artists tend to be largely self-taught and to work in isolation. There is little opportunity for professional development or meaningful discourse and critique in a focussed context. This also tends to make it difficult for other artists to "break in" to this practise. In addition, there is the fear that current industry/commercial hype surrounding multimedia and the Web has an overly strong influence and tends to distract from the rich artistic opportunities available for sculpture, installation, and performance artworks utilizing a wide range of responsive electronic and new media technologies, and from the public audience awareness and appreciation of these works.
The SpaceProbe production project is an important part of InterAccess' strategy to develop a more vital community and environment which supports and fosters the full cycle of production from theory and concept - both artistic and technological - to creation, public exhibition and awareness, and returning through critical review and dialogue.
Artists working in the Toronto regional context have generally been disinclined to engage in the technological one-upmanship which requires ever greater and more expensive high-end equipment, preferring instead to focus on the use of readily-available or surplus electronic materials and systems. SpaceProbe continues in this tradition.
The community's primary production need has been identified as knowledge-sharing, and the development of technical and aesthetic knowledge resources. This includes the need for hands-on collaborative learning environments for artists of all levels of experience to experiment and to discover the capabilities of various technologies; to develop the necessary expertise to plan and produce artworks in new electronic media. There is a strong need to identify those technologies which would be most useful in artistic production; to locate sources and to weed out the most fruitful opportunities from the myriad of devices and systems available. The development of a common "toolbox" of specific technologies might allow artists to more easily utilize and build on the knowledge of others.
A publicly-accessible archive of the results of these investigations, as well as a collection of or pointers to literature, supply sources, and other information would be extremely valuable as a central resource for artists worldwide, now and in the future.
In addition to technical issues, there is an equally strong need for aesthetic, theoretical, and critical knowledge-sharing, and for raising public awareness of this art form. Strictly-technical production workshops, individual residencies, cash grants, etc., have proved to be less useful in stimulating production than projects which include group activities such as the presentation and critique of works-in-progress. These activities serve to give a context for new work, as well as the opportunity to gain technical and theoretical knowledge as directly related to actual artworks. Artists with varying levels of experience can gain necessary insights according to their own expertise and interest. Similar activities include critical writing and thematic discussions related to issues in contemporary art.
Finally, we have found that the opportunity for public presentation and exhibition must be considered an integral part of production. Not only does it provide the occassion for an intense production period and an impetus for the completion of finished artworks, but it enables the production cycle to begin anew by providing the inspiration and critical review necessary for professional development and progress into new areas of investigation. Public presentation also serves as an outreach activity to other artists who may be encouraged to work in this area.
The research findings that led to the original development of the SpaceProbe project were based on direct consultations at numerous community meetings, artist talks, and experiences with other production/exhibition projects and events held at InterAccess over the past several years. In addition, the project coordinators have identified needs through many years of personal experience and discussion with artists and educators in the community.
Since the project got underway in April 1997, we have had a large number of very enthusiastic participants, which confirms the accuracy of our needs assessment. Since then, we have had many direct discussions at our weekly meetings to further focus and specify the needs of this community and the project participants. This application builds on those decisions.
Participation in the project is open to all practising artists interested in exploring or further developing their use of electronic media for installation and performance. There is currently an active group of about twenty-five artists participating (see attached list). While the group is already quite diverse, we have discussed plans for further outreach activities. We have initiated a publicity and mailout campaign specifically targeting local organizations representing artists of various ethnocultural backgrounds, as well as women artists, to help overcome the barriers associated with access to electronics technology and techniques.
The research, reference, and documentation materials created through this project will be published via the Internet. We expect this to represent a significant knowledge resource which can be easily accessed by artists across Canada and internationally. Furthermore, we will continue to operate an open discussion forum wherein artists in remote regions could participate and share knowledge.
The SpaceProbe project began regular weekly meetings in April 1997; please see the Appendix for a list of current participants and past activities. With this application, we are seeking funding to assist with ongoing activities for the fall and winter of 1997/98.
The direct results of this grant will include:
Weekly meetings: By combining thematic and technical discussions with "show & tell" and experimentation, artists learn holistically through engagement with real artworks:
Thematic and theoretical discussions: Themes suggested by the SpaceProbe concept include remoteness, autonomy, signals & language, extensions of the senses and the role of the body, perception and internal modelsof known or unknown environments, social spaces, thought and intelligence, qualities of movement, signal vs. noise, telepresence, encoding nature (signal, form, and psyche), information hoarding, the human in the machine, "body building", etc. Participants are encouraged to relate these themes to concrete production ideas.
Technical presentations offering instruction and opportunities for hands-on experimentation and development. InterAccess and the SpaceProbe project provide necessary tools, equipment, parts, and materials. The weekly presentations are led by volunteers from the group in the spirit of mentorship and knowledge-sharing; see below for monthly in-depth seminars. We have identified the following priorities for technical investigation:
Show & Tell: Participants' presentations of their works to promote critical understanding, and aesthetic and technical discussions as related to actual productions and works-in-progress. Also viewing of videotapes etc. of other relevant works and projects from outside the group; we also plan to bring in two or three visiting artists this year. One candidate is Mark Coniglio, a New York City based artist who uses microcontrollers and electronics in performance; he would be brought in via the videoconferencing capabilities of InterAccess' Electronic Cafe.
Monthly Seminars: workshops on the most crucial issues identified during the weekly meetings, with background research and reference material development; for which the instructors are paid. Eight workshops will be held during the purview of this grant (September 97 - April 98). The workshops are open to the public at a nominal charge.
Collaborative and Individual Production work will take place during and outside of meetings. For example, a collaborative project is currently under development which will create a serial network and protocol to allow individual artworks to communicate and interact with each other and their environments. The network will be designed to operate with the BASIC Stamp microcontroller chip, which has been defined as a core technology in our common toolbox. Detailed plans for this project have been developed largely using our Internet-based discussion forum. The materials budget for SpaceProbe will support this and other productions through the purchase of small parts and devices such as microchips, surplus motors and sensors, etc. This has been identified as a top priority by the group. Materials will be distributed according to group consensus. Presentation and critique of works-in-progress is an important part of weekly meetings.
Common Toolbox: promotes knowledge-sharing by agreeing to focus attention on certain technologies. More experienced members of the group are already working to identify the most promising technologies for in-depth research and hands-on work. For example, Parallax Inc.'s "BASIC Stamp" microchip offers ease of programming and quick development times. It will be used as one of our common tools, allowing circuits and code to be shared and built upon by all group members. We have located sources, obtained documentation and a developer's system, and organized a group purchase of the chips; short lessons and demonstrations are held regularly at meetings. This process will continue with other technologies, including those custom-developed by the group itself; part of the research budget goes towards this.
Enhanced Production Facility: Several participants are currently enhancing an electronics design and fabrication facility at InterAccess. This includes several donated PC's, an oscilloscope and other necessary tools, and supplies of electronic components and materials. Equipment is provided by InterAccess through its own equipment budget; this production grant will help the SpaceProbe project supply additional materials necessary to the project. Access to the facility is now available on a 24-hour basis, free of charge to members of the project and of InterAccess. Group member Graham Smith has also graciously offered the use of his shop and tools.
Resource Materials and Knowledge Resources: A web site has been established for information distribution; this will become an important permanent resource available to all artists. It will include documentation of the results of our activities; as well, researchers will be paid to develop in-depth materials and pointers to other resources. The web site also includes an active and open discussion forum for participants to post information and discuss issues and plans.
An Intensive Production Workshop of several days' duration will take place in December or January. We have found that this period of intense work is invaluable in expanding the limits of knowledge and ability of the participants. An expert artist will be hired to facilitate the workshop.
A Public Presentation of works is to be held at InterAccess in February or March. This will provide an important focus and impetus for the production of completed works, an opportunity for outreach to the public and other artist communities, and the benefit of artists talks, critique, and further inspiration generated as a follow-up. During the presentation period, artists talks, critique, follow-up discussion, and on-line writing relating to the experience will be facilitated. Participants in the production intensive and presentation will be supported with artists' fees and additional materials.
Jeff Mann is a creator of artworks using new media technology. His work in the areas of video, sound, computer, and telecommunications media art addresses issues of community access, media control, and personal expression in an electrified world. He has received several grants and awards for his work, and spoken internationally in lectures, print, and on radio and television. He has also been employed recently as network-art specialist at both the Banff Centre and at Inter/Access, where he has also served on the board of directors. He now works as a freelance artist and consultant in digital media arts.
Jim Ruxton is a graduate of the Ontario College of Art New Media Program and the University of Ottawa's Electrical Engineering Department. After working for a few years as an engineer he went to OCA to explore more creative uses of electronics. He presently is the owner/operator of Cinematronics, a Toronto electronic film special effects business. As well as working in film, Jim uses electronics to create effects and devices for theatre, dance and installation.
This project is somewhat similar to Inter/Access' "MAX Workshop" held in 1995, which was very successful. A group of people interested in the "MAX" music and control programming language met regularly for a period of several months for workshops and knowledge-sharing. Then an intense one-week workshop with David Rokeby and Masahiro Miwa was organized where the participants developed software systems that could interact with each other using an agreed-upon protocol. This culminated in a concert at the Music Gallery. We feel this model is also very well-suited to work in electronic installation.
"Welcome to the Electric Skin", organized by Graham Smith and partially sponsored by InterAccess, also offered an opportunity for about a dozen artists to create interactive works according to a common requirement. In this case however, the artists worked mostly in isolation, coming together at the end for the exhibition. The works were mostly relatively simple technologically, and there was much less opportunity for the exchange of knowledge and skills.
The Ontario College of Art's Sumo Robot competition is open to students and faculty who design robots which interact in a "wrestling" competition; prizes are awarded to the winners.
The Jawa Collective is organizing a show as part of the 7a*11d performance festival this summer in Toronto. It will feature work by "artists making kinetic, robotic and electronic art which functions in real time and possibly alllows for audionce interaction. The curatorial bias is towards work that is low-tech and home-brew". Several SpaceProbe participants, including the coordinator of the Jawa show, will be contributing work to the exhibition.
SpaceProbe is a project of the Art & Robotics Group at InterAccess, founded by Jeff Mann in 1996. The group will continue its activities, in some form or another, after the SpaceProbe project is complete, with the assistance of InterAccess. We are beginning the process of developing plans for a large-scale exhibition, possibly to be held in the year 2000. InterAccess will continue to offer meeting space and access to services for the group. It will also continue to operate the group's web site, allowing reference materials and research developed by the project, as well as discussion forums, to be accessible to the public as a permanent resource.
© Jeff Mann 1997