This month’s FLUX event is set to the theme of digital life forms, the ancient human quest to create alternate existences. From Pandora, to the Golem, from Lynn Hershman-Leeson’s Lorna to Stelarc’s first experiments with AI - to present day’s experiments with VR, AR, holographic projection - humankind is fascinated with the idea of the recreation of life. Ada Lovelace, René Descartes and Locke all wondered where technology ends and consciousness starts. Three Media artists will explain current strategies in simulating life forms, or in deed, (re-)creating a Simulacrum.
Andy Lomas is a digital artist, mathematician, Lumen Prize winner and Emmy award winning supervisor of computer generated effects. His art work explores how complex sculptural forms can be created emergently by simulating growth processes. Inspired by the work of Alan Turing, D'Arcy Thompson and Ernst Haeckel, it exists at the boundary between art and science. He has had work exhibited in over 50 joint and solo exhibitions, including at the Royal Society, SIGGRAPH, Japan Media Arts Festival, Ars Electronica Festival, Los Angeles Municipal Art Gallery, Los Angeles Center for Digital Art, Centro Andaluz de Arte Contemporaneo, Watermans and the ZKM. His work is in the collections at the V&A and the D'Arcy Thompson Art Fund Collection, and was selected by Saatchi Online to contribute to a special exhibition in the Zoo Art Fair at the Royal Academy of Arts.In 2014 his work Cellular Forms won The Lumen Prize Gold Award, as well as the Best Artwork Award from the A-Eye exhibition at AISB-50, and an Honorary Mention from the jury at the Ars Electronica Festival. He is a Visiting Lecturer at UCL, The Bartlett School of Architecture and a Visiting Research Fellow at Goldsmiths University of London. His production credits include Walking With Dinosaurs, Matrix: Revolutions, Matrix: Reloaded, Over the Hedge, The Tale of Despereaux, Avatar, and he received Emmys for his work on The Odyssey (1997) and Alice in Wonderland (1999).
Dave Farnham's art re-creates human life, human physiology and its intricacies through a mix of techniques Presenting his projects "3d printing Caroline" and "Caroline's Brain Blood Vessels", the artist Dave Farnham challenges traditional approaches to mark making and sculpture. In amalgamating art, medical technologies and new modes of printing, Dave Farnham is able to capture the internal make-up of his subjects by replicating their individual physiology. His works capture the unseen, internal physiology of the “sitter”, exposing the ultimate fragility of the subject, thereby creating an allegorical representation of life and it’s delicate nature.
Kira Zhigalina is an award winning multidisciplinary artist. After graduating from Central Saint Martins BA Fine Art, she created installations and projections for Secret Cinema, London Contemporary Orchestra, London Zoo, Musion Holographic Systems, Vivienne Westwood show, Leaf Label, LSO and the Rambert Dance Company. Her works have been shown at the Tanks, Tate Modern, Kinetica Art Fair, onedotzero, BFI, Digital Stages, and Yota Space Festival of New Technologies. Her work intends to create immersive and emotionally connecting experiences with a strong visual language. «Symbiosis» is an interactive immersive installation that visualises the participant's breathing in LED light. The experience instills beneficial diaphragm breathing, and creates another form of communication, beyond language and inhibitions. Symbiosis is a form of public intervention, it asks people to be present, in being, breathing. The installation becomes an organism of its own as it grows through symbiotic action of the participants.
Luise Steuckart is an artistic researcher working under the name lyve_forms, to create community experiences that foster connection to self, others and surroundings. In her research ✡ ΔURΔ ✡ she develops a ‘virtually physical’ mirror to enhance collective awareness around a performative proxy as focal point."
Jose Montemayor with his project "Virtual Awakening" https://creators.vice.com/…/death-is-only-the-beginning-of-… Jose Montemayor is an emerging young Mexican visual artist and photographic pioneer based in London whose work are transcending traditional media. While he received praised for pushing the aesthetic boundaries of fashion photography, Jose began a search for deeper meaning in his work and life. A self-discovery expedition to the mountains of Nara, Japan, transformed both. His first book. “Walking Series Vol. 1 Japan”, made him realize the true power that photography has push past aesthetics and evoke a deeper connection to emotions. Jose's passion for experimenting and pushing the boundaries of his work, lead him to his latest creation “Virtual Awakening” an emerging visionary platform that brings art and futuristic technology together providing immersive, therapeutic, mind expanding experiences, that gives access to transformational knowledge that empowers people to expand their boundaries, unleash their true potential and lead them to an awaken perception of life. Jose’s evocative work explores areas ranging from documentary photography, nudes, film, projection mapping, live visuals for music and virtual reality experiences.
Andy Lomas is a digital artist, mathematician, Lumen Prize winner and Emmy award winning supervisor of computer generated effects. His art work explores how complex sculptural forms can be created emergently by simulating growth processes. Inspired by the work of Alan Turing, D'Arcy Thompson and Ernst Haeckel, it exists at the boundary between art and science. He has had work exhibited in over 50 joint and solo exhibitions, including at the Royal Society, SIGGRAPH, Japan Media Arts Festival, Ars Electronica Festival, Los Angeles Municipal Art Gallery, Los Angeles Center for Digital Art, Centro Andaluz de Arte Contemporaneo, Watermans and the ZKM. His work is in the collections at the V&A and the D'Arcy Thompson Art Fund Collection, and was selected by Saatchi Online to contribute to a special exhibition in the Zoo Art Fair at the Royal Academy of Arts.In 2014 his work Cellular Forms won The Lumen Prize Gold Award, as well as the Best Artwork Award from the A-Eye exhibition at AISB-50, and an Honorary Mention from the jury at the Ars Electronica Festival. He is a Visiting Lecturer at UCL, The Bartlett School of Architecture and a Visiting Research Fellow at Goldsmiths University of London. His production credits include Walking With Dinosaurs, Matrix: Revolutions, Matrix: Reloaded, Over the Hedge, The Tale of Despereaux, Avatar, and he received Emmys for his work on The Odyssey (1997) and Alice in Wonderland (1999).
Dave Farnham's art re-creates human life, human physiology and its intricacies through a mix of techniques Presenting his projects "3d printing Caroline" and "Caroline's Brain Blood Vessels", the artist Dave Farnham challenges traditional approaches to mark making and sculpture. In amalgamating art, medical technologies and new modes of printing, Dave Farnham is able to capture the internal make-up of his subjects by replicating their individual physiology. His works capture the unseen, internal physiology of the “sitter”, exposing the ultimate fragility of the subject, thereby creating an allegorical representation of life and it’s delicate nature.
Kira Zhigalina is an award winning multidisciplinary artist. After graduating from Central Saint Martins BA Fine Art, she created installations and projections for Secret Cinema, London Contemporary Orchestra, London Zoo, Musion Holographic Systems, Vivienne Westwood show, Leaf Label, LSO and the Rambert Dance Company. Her works have been shown at the Tanks, Tate Modern, Kinetica Art Fair, onedotzero, BFI, Digital Stages, and Yota Space Festival of New Technologies. Her work intends to create immersive and emotionally connecting experiences with a strong visual language. «Symbiosis» is an interactive immersive installation that visualises the participant's breathing in LED light. The experience instills beneficial diaphragm breathing, and creates another form of communication, beyond language and inhibitions. Symbiosis is a form of public intervention, it asks people to be present, in being, breathing. The installation becomes an organism of its own as it grows through symbiotic action of the participants.
Luise Steuckart is an artistic researcher working under the name lyve_forms, to create community experiences that foster connection to self, others and surroundings. In her research ✡ ΔURΔ ✡ she develops a ‘virtually physical’ mirror to enhance collective awareness around a performative proxy as focal point."
Jose Montemayor with his project "Virtual Awakening" https://creators.vice.com/…/death-is-only-the-beginning-of-… Jose Montemayor is an emerging young Mexican visual artist and photographic pioneer based in London whose work are transcending traditional media. While he received praised for pushing the aesthetic boundaries of fashion photography, Jose began a search for deeper meaning in his work and life. A self-discovery expedition to the mountains of Nara, Japan, transformed both. His first book. “Walking Series Vol. 1 Japan”, made him realize the true power that photography has push past aesthetics and evoke a deeper connection to emotions. Jose's passion for experimenting and pushing the boundaries of his work, lead him to his latest creation “Virtual Awakening” an emerging visionary platform that brings art and futuristic technology together providing immersive, therapeutic, mind expanding experiences, that gives access to transformational knowledge that empowers people to expand their boundaries, unleash their true potential and lead them to an awaken perception of life. Jose’s evocative work explores areas ranging from documentary photography, nudes, film, projection mapping, live visuals for music and virtual reality experiences.