Jane Tingley–Foresta-Inclusive
Foresta-Inclusive is the research-creation infrastructure that proposes to make perceptible to the human senses, the slow and subtle movements of trees and the surrounding ecology of the forest in the creation of a number of interactive art installations designed to ask questions such as: What does it mean to be alive and have agency?; How can we re-train ourselves to slow down and listen to voices that have been marginalized for millennia?; What does it mean to be in dialogue with something that does not share the same language nor temporal reality?; and once we acknowledge the ‘aliveness’ of something, what are the ethical implications of that recognition? This project is geared towards listening and learning from these voices and finding ways to engage with the public with the intention of rethinking and re-situating our relationship with the natural world.
The Foresta-Inclusive infrastructure can be installed in any forest, but I have been installing it at the rare Charitable Reserve. With the collected data, I then created different artworks. For example – In collaboration with two other artists, I created an artwork entitled (ex)tending towards. This work consists of a visualization of 24hrs of a tree’s experience, a lidar scan of the tree being sensed, and a scent sculpture, which is also a touchless interface.
Project link: janetingley.com/foresta-inclusive
Grace Grothaus–Habitats
With my proposed doctoral research project Habitats, I hope to ignite the public imagination and instigate policy change regarding toxic exposures to carbon emissions. My research-creation project, Habitats, proposes to create environmental sensing and visualization wearables. These would create a second skin for the wearer, enabling individuals to bring their environmental data to life, suitable for educational workshops, public art performances, and other contexts intended for raising the alarm about environmental dangers. Through Habitats, I am researching what role “citizen sensing” can play in empowering communities to spearhead changes that result in lowering toxic exposures. Specifically, I am interested in fostering community participation in environmental monitoring and reporting, as part of the growing movement of “citizen sensing.”
Website: gracegrothaus.com
Wearable smart mask: BC sensor and critical art object displaying BC in the environment.
Amy Hillis, rehearsal inside the projection dome at Media Arts Futures research space, York University. 2022.
Ilze (Kavi) Briede–Reimagining Living Ontologies
Reimagining Living Ontologies is an innovative large-scale data art and immersive projection that uses scientific and artistic approaches in data visualization systems. This project utilizes biophysical data and computer-generated audio-visual scenery inside an immersive 360 video projection dome. The core research questions and objectives that drive this project are: 1) evaluate current data practices within artistic, scientific and economic realms, 2) identify the practices and challenges that are concerned with biophysical data harnessing, storage and use, 3) develop an artistically rich and innovative data art piece that builds on mutually agreeable data transactions and innovative technologies 4) propose, exhibit and perform creative knowledge building systems internationally that are embedded in artistic and research-creation domains.
Project link: slolab.ca/reimagining-living-ontologies
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