PLASMA Series Presents DAVE PAPE & JASON GEISTWEIDT

A very selective browse through some of Professor Pape’s old work, examining the role of the algorithm, numbers, and flashy high-tech in making new forms of media and drama.

David Pape has a PhD in Computer Science from the Electronic Visualization Lab at the University of Illinois, Chicago. He combines experience in both the technological and aesthetic sides of computer graphics. He has worked on numerous artistic and cultural VR applications (his own & those of others) that have shown worldwide in museums and at conferences, including the Ars Electronica Center (Linz, Austria), NTT’s InterCommunication Center (Tokyo), The Foundation of the Hellenic World (Athens), the Smithsonian, The International Society for Elextronic Arts Conferences, and SIGGRAPH. He has also worked on scientific visualization at NASA, for both research purposes and for education communication with the public.

He was a key member of the team that developed the CAVE and ImmersaDesk virtual reality technology at UIC, which in recent years have become perhaps the definitive systems for high-end VR research and applications. He has written and presented academic papers dealing with both technical and aesthetic/content issues of visualization and virtual reality.

When we speak of Digital Media, we are primarily describing how a work is encoded, transferred, stored, and retrieved. The digital media are static and finite -- metaphorically set in stone, they become objects. Computation, on the other hand, does not describe an object, but rather a process. It is a way of going about things, a methodology for thinking, testing, inquiring, and experimenting. Consequently, it is an approach in which the outcome may not be immediately apparent. In his talk, Professor Geistweidt will explore the experimental philosophy of John Cage and the connections he sees between his ideas and computational practice. He will present selections of his own work, revealing the internal processes and computational procedures that guide them.

Jason Geistweidt is an artist working across the fields of sound art, digital fabrication, installation, physical computing, creative coding, and real-time performance. In practice, he endeavors to build his own tools, incorporating various open source hardware and software solutions in an experimental [rpcess. As researcher, he is interested in the ways artists incorporate technologies into their practice and how these technologies mediate the creative act. He currently serves as Clinical Assistant Professor in the Department of Media Study at SUNY Buffalo where hw delivera courses in experimental audio, wearable computing, creative coding, and installation. He also directs the activities of the Extensible Media Lab, a collaborative space bringing media and architecture students together in coordination with the Center for Architecture and Situated Technologies. Jason holds a masters degree in music technology from the University of Limerick and PhD in electroacoustic composition from the Sonic Arts Reasearch Center, Queens University Belfast.