Research Institute for Arts and Technology

Gregor Tatschl — Tue, 15 Aug 2017 14:40:15 +0000

Research Institute for Arts and Technology (AT)

Production in the 21st century works with distributed authorship and identities-artists present their processes “coded” in the fragmentations of global networks. Contemporary artistic output is developed out of collective inquiries, research processes are results of distributed agency between humans, machines, and programs. There is nothing more than to leave ‘traces’, not to produce “final” products but “process artefacts”. RIAT – The Research Institute for Arts and Technology – welcomes and embraces the ephemeral nature of meatspace, as it only consists of collectively held and performed visions of desirable futures.

The blockchain (through Bitcoin) is unarguably the key invention of the 21st century. The accelerating forces of decentralization do not only change how we think about electronic cash, but also changed our perception of organizations, trust and non-human agency through the introduction of immutable and unstoppable code on the blockchain. RIAT examines the global crypto-economic condition and its effects on culture and society.

RIAT is an independent research cluster based in Vienna, Austria. RIAT investigates how technology and art relate and inform each other-the key fields being blockchain technologies, open (source) hardware, experimental publishing, and epistemic cultures. RIAT explores and actively stress-tests the role of art in the age of the network society through formats such as the Coded Cultures festival for fringe research and experimental arts, and Making Artistic Technology-a conceptual framework extending creative technology.

About the artists

RIAT – Research Institute for Arts and Technology (AT) emerged in 2015, collecting clans of experimental artists and researchers who were working critically with technology, especially those immersed in the blockchain and/or open hardware. The institute was formed from the crypto-art collective Artistic Bokeh, the artist group 5uper.net and the experimental Artistic Technology Lab that was previously situated at the University of Applied Arts in Vienna.

Scedule

THU 7. 9.

6 – 7 PM Crypto-Economics and Artistic Technology: An Introduction to RIAT

FRI 8. 9.

10 AM – 1 PM Crypto Cafe

2 -3 PM RIAT Academy: Blockchain 101

4-5 PM RIAT Academy: Blockchain 101

6-7 PM RIAT Academy: Blockchain 101

SAT 9. 9.

10 AM – 1 PM Crypto Cafe

2 – 3 PM RIAT Academy: Blockchain 101

4-7 PM Clash of Coins

SUN 10. 9.

10 AM – 1 PM Crypto Cafe

2 – 3 PM RIAT Academy: Blockchain 101

4 – 5 PM Terra0 – Presentation by Max Hampshire

5-6 PM Data Loam – Presentation by Martin Reinhart and Matthias Tarasiewicz

MON 12. 9.

10 AM- 1 PM Crypto Cafe

Read more: starts-prize.aec.at.

This project is presented in the framework of the STARTS Prize 2017. STARTS Prize received funding from the European Union’s Horizon 2020 research and innovation programme under grant agreement No 732019.

Interactive Diorama—Rembrandt, 1632, The Anatomy Lesson of Dr. Nicolaes Tulp

Gregor Tatschl — Tue, 08 Aug 2017 08:33:00 +0000

Aalto University, School of Arts, Design and Architecture, Helsinki

The Interactive Diorama—Rembrandt, 1632, The Anatomy Lesson of Dr. Nicolaes Tulp is a virtual-reality simulation of the original artwork by Rembrandt realized by professor Lily Díaz-Kommonen with the Department of Media Systems of Representation research group at Aalto University.

The seven doctors present at the original sitting have been re-created as 3D avatar placeholders with gestures, motion and speech. The setting of the lesson, which reputedly took place at the Amsterdam’s Barber’s Guild meeting space at Waag Society, has been rendered at the 1691 anatomical theatre (also at Waag), through the study of eighteenth-century paintings and by using photogrammetry.

The work celebrates and deconstructs this important moment when the history of art and science converged in spectacle. The experience of the representation-based pictorial space of the canvas can be compared with the dynamic relational space created through the technologically embodied and enhanced perception characteristic of virtual reality environments.

Rembrandt’s mastery rendered a moment in space and time pregnant with narratives. As an interactive diorama, The Anatomy Lesson is an artifact of expression that gathers myriad possible discourses and stories within itself. As an expressive artifact the diorama can also conjure up multiple realities for the spectator. But what lurks behind it? In deconstructing and reinterpreting the work once again in the 21st century, art assumes the role of an interface allowing for speculative and agonistic experimentation and thinking. The established order is subverted and the visitor enters the virtual space by assuming the role of the deceased inmate.

Created in 2010 as a merger of three institutions, the Helsinki School of Economics (HSE), Helsinki Institute of Technology (HUT) and University of Art and Design Helsinki (UIAH), Aalto University is a multidisciplinary community where art, science and business come together to identify grand societal challenges and build innovative futures.

Project director, concept design and production: Lily Díaz-Kommonen
Software development and interface design: Ling Chen
3D modeling characters and space, motion capture: Shareef Askar
3D modeling, characters: Juha Koppström
3D modeling, space: Alex Nikulin
3D animation, book: Andrei Rodríguez
Visual design and production: Cvijeta Miljak
Sound design: Can Uzer, Gabriela Juganaru
Veselius book re-design and production: Angela Hernández

VR consultant: Markku Reunanen
Software consultant: Hung-Han Chen
Costume design consultant: Sofia Pantouvaki
Motion capture: Max Mäkinen, Tony Tolien, Matias Kommonen
Photogrammetry: Judith van der Elst

Many thanks to:
Philip Dean, Aalto University
Lucas Evers, Waag Society
Helena Hyvönen, Aalto University
Anna Valtonen, Aalto University
Tuula Teeri, Aalto University

economics – Artificial Intelligence

Research Institute for Arts and Technology