Scholarly / Creative Research

Presence Interference

Presence Interference visualizes the energetic relationships between living entities through an abstract narrative of a water cycle within California’s coastal redwood forests. This installation illustrates a biophotonic and telematic system of communication between the human body and the biotic environment to investigate anthropocentric interferences with nature. Each participant becomes both a transmitter and receiver, thereby creating a feedback loop of biotic data. By wandering close to a geodesic structure animated by a 360° light painted images, viewers trigger various changes in the projected ecology.

Presence Interference was shown at Interstices, the D.A.N.M. MFA show at UCSC in April 2018 and at Felix Kulpa Gallery, downtown Santa Cruz from January – March 2019.

Multimedia installation using projections featuring an animation composed of long exposure photography, audio-scape and spatial depth map interfaced by a Kinect and a custom program written in MAX/MSP. Sculpture composed of custom geodesic dome skinned with see-through theater scrim. Accompanied by a series of light painted, photographic studies.

 
 

The Luminaire Bloom

The petals of the sculptural Luminaire Bloom glow with time-lapse imagery of nightly light pollution over Santa Cruz, California. The beauty of dark sky starlight is revealed in the viewer's refection in the bloom. The more people who gather close, the more change will be enacted on the bloom; emphasizing the concept that by working together, we can enact bigger change and reveal a different reality.

The Luminaire Bloom was shown at Glow Festival at the Museum of Art and History [MAH] in Santa Cruz, CA in October 2018.

Multimedia installation with metal, cheesecloth, projection, animation, audio, Kinect, and software written with MAX/MSP.

 
 

The Harrison Studio & The Center for the Study of the Force Majeure

One of my biggest influences has been the privilege to work with the late Newton Harrison at his studio and research center. Alongside his late wife Helen, the Harrisons are remembered as founders of the ecological art movement which took root in the early 1970s. While working as a studio and research assistant, I observed a master at work with highly conceptual and metaphorical ideas to demonstrate how to enact real change on environmental policy and co-create with nature. Among other recent work, I contributed at depth to the following:

My role in the documentation of the Harrison’s Future Gardens at Sagehen is to create 360° panoramic images at the fve selected sites at different elevations in the watershed. The purpose of a Future Garden is to assist the migration of local plant species which will resist affects of climate change. An equirectangular is a composite of multiple angles and exposures layered into a single image which can project a virtual environment in a complete 360° perspective – in every direction. Using a DSLR camera, a super wide 8mm lens and a special movable 90° tripod mount, a single equirectangular is composed of a composite of a minimum of six images (but typically more) which brings out quality optics and detail from a high dynamic range [HDR] exposure.

*** User Notice for 360° Panoramas: Scroll function may be limited depending on your device.
Hover your cursor on these interactive 360°s, then click to move the image up, down, and all around. However, your scroll action may initiate a zoom function on the image depending on the type of device you are currently using. If you become stuck, please move your cursor into the black on the right or left of the image to continue scrolling down.

Equirectangular composite of Sagehen Site #2 for 360° projection in virtual reality spaces.

Equirectangular composite of Sagehen Site #5 with Independence Lake.

 
 

Eco-Orbuculum

Developed as a part of a two-year Fellowship in collaboration with The Harrison Studio, Center for the Study of the Force Majeure, and the UCSC IDEA Hub. The Eco-Orbuculum has been manifested in two prototypes which explore how to map a projection of Sagehen's Future Gardens into a glass sphere while housing hardware in a custom laser cut box. Sensors are meant to track a user's touch with the objective of presenting virtual environments 3-dimensionally – without headsets or access through a 2D screen.

The Eco-Orbuculum gazes into changes of ecosystems through time in a 360° video time-lapse. An orbuculum, more commonly known as a crystal ball, is a divination tool for clairvoyance; the ability to acquire information through “clear vision” of events past, present, and future. To visualize how humans interact with the natural networks of our planet, the Eco-Orbuculum creates an ecocentric perspective and technological medium for humans to reflect upon environmental change over a period of time.

Eco-Orbuculum: Prototype #1 is an initial multimedia demonstration with a mini-projector, glass globe, and 3D printed bracket. A parabolic dish (seen in the background) displays a full 360° view of the environment while the projection map becomes aligned.

Eco-Orbuculum: Prototype #2 is a self-contained iteration housed with components housed inside a laser cut wood box. Design of the animated imagery reflect improved alignment for adding touch sensors in the next phase of the design.

 

Eco-Orbuculum: Prototype #3 on display at the College of the Sequoias Art Gallery for a faculty show in Fall 2024 semester. This iteration included an improved lens, projector, and fabric for a sculptural element to improve conceptual comparison to a traditional scrying orb or crystal ball.

 
 

Saqqara: Visualizing Uncertainty

A prototype from a group research project for Computational Media – CM290A: Data Visualization. In this project we explore how to visualize uncertainty by using the Unas pyramid at Saqqara, Egypt as a model. Utilizing a 3D and 360° environment constructed in Unity, this project imagines what this site may have looked like at different points in time based on speculative paradata of similar sites which existed during similar time periods with uncertainty depicted in various degrees.

Creative Team: Rehaf Aljammaz, Beth Oliver, Abdul Jawad, Carinne Knight and supervised by Angus Forbes. Advisor and research lab Principal Investigator [PI]: Dr. Elaine Sullivan.

Positional compass graphic, illustrative 3D environment and directional arrow graphic.