Wednesday, March 21st, 2018

Edward Burtynsky Awarded Master of Photography

Cover Image: Phospor Tailings Pond #4. Polk County, Florida, 2012.

Edward Burtynsky was recently announced Master of Photography for 2018 by Photo London. The award is given annually to a leading contemporary photographer who is the subject of a special exhibition at the fair. As such, Burtynsky will present a specially curated display of new and rarely seen images exploring the complexities of modern existence. Drawn from across his portfolio and featuring a preview of his new body of work entitled Anthropocene, the images explore such diverse subjects as: Australian and Canadian mines, oil bunkering and sawmills in Nigeria, the salt pans of India, and sprawling cityscapes; at once conveying the sublime aesthetic qualities of industrialized landscapes and the unsettling reality of depleting resources on the planet.

The Art Gallery of Ontario (AGO) and Canadian Photography Institute (CPI) of the National Gallery of Canada will be co-presenting the exhibit co-produced by the MAST Foundation. The exhibit is a part of the multi-disciplinary Anthropocene Project consisting of photographer Edward Burtynsky and filmmakers Jennifer Baichwal and Nicholas de Pencier. Organized by the artists in partnership with the three organizations, Anthropocene will run at the AGO and NGC simultaneously from September 2018 through early 2019. Accompanying the exhibition, Burtynsky will be speaking as part of the Photo London 2018 talks program on Thursday 17 May at 5:30 P.M. Tickets will be available to the general public via the Photo London website.

Burtysnky will also be exhibitingWater Matters in London at Arup Phase 2, an exhibition in collaboration with Flowers Gallery. Water Matters will run until June 8, 2018.

Wednesday, March 14th, 2018

Luca Pozzi’s Hawking Series

This morning’s wake carried the news of the loss of a great…Stephen Hawking. Hawking was the Dennis Stanton Avery and Sally Tsui Wong-Avery director of research at the Department of Applied Mathematics and Theoretical Physics and founder of the Centre for Theoretical Cosmology at Cambridge. He was also former Lucasian Professor of Mathematics at the University of Cambridge and an author of numerous publications. He will be deeply missed by the world.

Former artist of Issue #2, Luca Pozzi reminds us though that Hawking’s departure date is shared with the birth of another former great, Albert Einstein. Studying quantum gravity, teleportation, time travel, cosmology, and particle physics, Luca Pozzi’s work reaches wide. Covering topics from relativity to string theory, he converts theoretical research into installations characterized by magnetized sculptures, levitating objects, light drawings, and performative use of photography. With investigations on the Higgs boson, extra dimensions, and dark matter his work may seem perplexing at first (or always) but emotionally, it evokes a strange feeling of being frozen time and may stir up a new curiosity for an otherwise abstract field.

In lieu of the world’s loss, let us continue to honor Hawking in many ways. Below is a statement from Luca Pozzi about his series which you can view here.

“Theoretical physicist and cosmologist Stephen Hawking’s portrait is reproduced on commercial PVC, and affixed to the wall with a magnetized ping-pong apparatus – his eyes seemingly fixed on the space between the balls. Much of Hawking’s theoretical writing about black holes has been instrumental to Pozzi’s work for the past several years. Stephen Hawking Series draws our attention to a set of asymmetries. Known for his radical, progressive and dynamic thinking, Hawking is nevertheless rendered virtually motionless and wheelchair bound due to neural disease. The mind that theorized some of the most energetic entities in the universe also occupies an immobile body.”

Friday, March 9th, 2018

Story of the Heavens with Sarah Sanford

E-Squared’s debut issue featured work by Santa Cruz artist Sarah Sanford. Intrigued by the scientific process in which intense investigation of minute subunits are integral to understanding the whole picture, her work transitions between the micro and macro cosmic worlds.

Sanford is currently showing her work in the exhibit Prinstallations at the San Jose Institute of Contemporary Art from February 24 – June 10, 2018. One of her pieces is a new series of prints called, Story of the Heavens. It consists of 60 screenprints suspended off of wooden ledges, measuring approximately 13 x 6 ft. Below she shares with E-Squared a little bit about her new work.

STORY OF THE HEAVENS (2018)

Aristotle said, “It is during our darkest moments, that we must focus to see the light.”

We are living in a time in which science and fact are doubted. The notion of an emergent truth is being debated. Our truth as accepted law is now coming under attack.

Under this pretense, my large-scale print series, Story of the Heavens, contemplates both the phenomena in nature and the achievements of human genius. This series of prints incorporates text from the astronomy textbook, The Story of the Heavens, (1897) with screenprints of light refractions I photograph. Printed with interference inks on Japanese kozo paper, each print is suspended off a wooden ledge- bringing dimension to a material that evokes fragility.

The documented text in combination with light’s glowing, ephemeral beauty within each print, collectively creates the illusion of celestial movements across the night sky. Using the contrast between light and darkness, I explore the veil of our understanding. In addition to our desire to seek truth, elements of time, space and chance are revealed.

Thursday, March 1st, 2018

Robot Mythologies with Geoffrey Drake-Brockman

As we round the corner into March, artist Geoffrey Drake-Brockman of Issue #3 will be showing his work, Parallax Dancer, Coppelia One, and Floribots in the show A Cache of Kinetic Art: Curious Characters at the Morris Museum NJ. The exhibit will be up from March 16, 2018 – June 20, 2018. If you are in New Jersey or surrounding areas, I highly encourage you attend to see his kinetic artwork – it is not to be missed!

Since having completed a Bachelor of Science in Computer Science (’85) and a Masters in Visual Arts (’94), Geoffrey Drake-Brockman has helped sustain the cybernetics art movement in a technological time that seems much more fitting to respond to an artistic approach to communication and control. His work often involves a man/machine dialog that does not intend to create or resolve a conflict more than simply allow a passive expression glazed in subtle air, light, and graceful motion – beautiful, moving gestures made to move or move others – to come alive.

His interactive light sculpture Surface (permanent installation – Perth Children’s Hospital) is made up of 2,080 ceiling-hung pixel-tubes containing over 66,000 full-colour LEDs. It is best described as an inverted light pond. Sensors detect movement, which triggers a “virtual stone” to change the LEDs, causing a ripple effect. Drake-Brockman optimized Surface’s software to reflect a “sense of play” to enable both children and adults to equally interact and is considered to be a key part of the “healing environment” of the hospital. In sculptures such as Luminous and Solar Jayne, Drake-Brockman achieves a different effect in approach and response, providing the spectrum of cybernetic “art” intends to communicate no different that humans – one end being out of reach while the other is often well within our grasp (mentally as much as physically).

Some of the more interesting sciart devices/dialogs/concepts created by Drake-Brockman include “muons” and muon detectors, a water sculpture that utilizes microwave motion detectors and custom software, and robot origami flowers to name a few.

Wednesday, February 21st, 2018

Catalyst for Innovation

I have to say, I never thought I would be at a Venture Café meeting building a tower out of spaghetti and marshmallows, but sure enough, I found myself there doing just that. Most importantly though, I was building it with another person…through a process of collaboration that involved bringing multiple modes of thinking together in order to solve a problem. Suffice to say, we ran out of time and our tower did not hold up, but we certainly have a new blueprint if noodle and marshmallow construction take off in the near future.

In case you’re wondering what Venture Café is, it is a global movement working to build stronger and more inclusive innovation ecosystems and accelerate and enhance the innovation process, in cities around the world. It does this through its use of programming, space, storytelling, and broad innovation engagement. The target industries are Hi-Tech, Bioscience, Advanced Manufacturing, Social Equity, Art, Government, Education, Renewable Energy, among others.

Some notable moments from the evening showcased by Venture Café were an Art + Science exhibit showing science-inspired artwork and an Art of Science talk by Dr. Elizabeth Kellogg and Keith Duncan at the beautiful Danforth Plant Science Center.

Are you doing something innovative? Need to connect with similar folk? Check out what Venture Café is all about and where/when their next meeting is here.

Friday, February 2nd, 2018

Museum of the Moon

Multitalented artist Luke Jerram’s has an ever-diversifying and growing body of work. Formerly featured in Issue #2 with his glass microbiology series where he brought vision and beauty to the lifeless world of bacteria and viruses, his latest work, is a touring installation that sets before his audience an intimate view of the moon.

We can’t wait! Coming soon to Issue #4—Museum of the Moon by Luke Jerram! Follow him on Instagram @lukejerramartist to keep up to date with what he’s doing!

Installing #museumofthemoon in#Bangalore www.my-moon.org #britishcouncil #lunareclipse

A post shared by Luke Jerram (@lukejerramartist) on Jan 31, 2018 at 6:59pm PST

Monday, January 29th, 2018

E-Squared in Stanford Archives

Per request, E-Squared fulfilled an order for Stanford University’s archives. You can find Issue #1, #2, & #3 there! Congratulations artists!

Monday, January 1st, 2018

On the Move

Cover Image: Stephen Brunelli, Providence-based artist from Issue #3

E-Squared has been very busy packing & moving over 1200 miles – thank you for your patience and understanding during this time.

Please bear with us as we unpack and set up at our new location.

Looking forward to touching base with you all soon!

Thursday, December 14th, 2017

Steve Miller Makes Headlines

Congratulations to Steve Miller (Issue #1) with your solo exhibition at the National Academy of Sciences!

New York native Steve Miller is a forerunner of the sci-art movement with his works serving a dual perspective. To the contemporary viewer, Miller’s early work appeared abstract but to the scientist, were realized depictions of biological cells. Since this initial node of ancestry, Miller has continued down the sci-art path, ever-evolving his work.

Miller’s most recent work, The Health of the Planet, investigates and brings attention to the fragility of the Amazon. Depicted through an interdisciplinary approach, Miller makes use of media from X-ray photographs to laminated glass. With the Amazon representing half of the planet’s rainforests and being a biodiversity hotspot, he reminds us through his work how important the forests of the amazon are to our planet.

Steve Miller’s work does not attempt to answer any questions but instead, elicits questions within the viewer. Miller has been exploring the intersection of art and science for well over thirty years and has had over fifty solo exhibitions on display at places like the National Academy of Science and the SciArt Center in New York.

You can read a review of his most recent exhibit at The Washington Post.

Thursday, November 9th, 2017

Celebrating the Fall of the Berlin Wall

Issue #3 of E-Squared featured light artists WHITEvoid. We recently saw LICHTGRENZE, a project that celebrates “25 Years Fall of the Berlin Wall.” The light installation composed of 8000 lit balloons on poles temporarily separates the city for 3 days and nights. Millions of people came to see the helium filled balloons rise to the Berlin night sky at the end of Berlin’s largest outdoor art installation.

You can see their magnificent installation on video here: LICHTGRENZE