Digital Lunch @ UNM - Starting Next Week!

Heads up!

ARTS Lab is working with community partners like Cinnafilm and UNM's Advanced Graphics Lab to present a Friday lunchtime series on topics in digital media -- our first session will be an introduction to Motion Capture with ARTS Lab's Jesus Valdez and Hue Walker on Friday, February 26th from noon to 1 PM.

Please join us in ARTS Lab's Black Box space to learn more about basic set up and use of our Vicon Motion Capture system.

WHEN:      Friday, February 26th 12:00 - 1:00 PM
WHERE:    ARTS Lab Garage, 131 Pine St., NE
COST:        (Currently) Free!
HOW:         Just show up!

More information on the rest of the series to follow.

Gale Memorial Lecture Series - TONIGHT!

 (Still from 'Reborn, 2009, 10 minute 3-channel video installation)

This afternoon at ARTS lab we're pleased to welcome back the Gale Memorial Lecture Series with interdisciplinary artist, Desirée Holman.

WHEN: Thursday, February 18th at 5pm
WHERE: ARTS Lab Garage,  131 Pine St. NE
Directions at: http://artslab.unm.edu/where.html

DESIREE HOLMAN
http://www.desireeholman.com

Desirée Holman is an Oakland, California-based interdisciplinary artist. Her process involves fabricating (or, less frequently, appropriating) figurative props, which are manipulated in role-playing games. The work questions what games of make-believe, like the ones created in her work or ones created in multi-user online games or elsewhere, can tell us about our behaviors in the ‘real’ world. Holman was recently awarded a San Francisco Modern Museum of Art SECA award and an 2007 Artadia: The Fund for Art and Dialogue award. Her work has been exhibited internationally at venues such as the Sao Paulo Museum of Modern Art, Hessel Museum, Yerba Buena Center for the Arts, Los Angeles Museum of Contemporary Art; Milan’s BnD, Toronto’s YYZ, The Hudson Valley Center for Contemporary Art; Berkeley Art Museum and Lisa Boyle Gallery in Chicago. In 1999, directly after completing her BFA in sculpture at CCA, Desirée attended the Skowhegan School of Painting and Sculpture. She graduated with her MFA from UC Berkeley in 2002. Her work has been reviewed in publications such as Artforum, Los Angeles Times, NY Arts, Artillery, San Francisco Chronicle, and Artweek. The Hammer Museum mounted the first solo museum exhibition of her work in November 2009. Holman is represented by San Francisco’s Silverman Gallery.

SIGGRAPH THIS SATURDAY @ ARTS LAB

We're especially glad to welcome SIGGRAPH's new chapter to ARTS Lab this Saturday -- when we'll connect with Las Cruces live to share and discuss experiences during the recent Global Game Jam.

I think we're all glad that SIGGRAPH we'll be helping bring New Mexico's Digital Media Community together.

From Chapter leader Rachel Nicoll:

February Meeting: IGDA presents Global Game Jam
Saturday, February 13th, 4pm

Hello!
I hope everyone had a good holiday.
Our first Siggraph event of the year will be a presentation by our local IGDA chapter showcasing the results of their Global Game Jam event.

What is Global Game Jam?
GGJ is a challenging worldwide event whose “biggest goal is to provide opportunities, help developers explore their creativity and allow everyone in our community to work together. “
It will be taking place January 29-31 at both the UNM ARTSLab under leadership of Eric Renz-Whitmore and down south under the direction of Barbara Chamberlin at the NMSU Learning Games Lab.
You can still register to take part in the actual Global Game Jam as well!

Links to sign up:
North: http://www.surveymonkey.com/s/GGJ_Abq
South: http://www.globalgamejam.org/sites/new-mexico-state-university-learning-games-lab-and-dacc

Links for further info:
http://www.globalgamejam.org/
http://groups.google.com/group/riogrande-igda?hl=en
http://aces.nmsu.edu/learninggamesinitiative/index.html

WHAT: Siggraph meeting – IGDA presents Global Game Jam
DATE: Saturday, February 13th (2nd Saturday of the month)
TIME: 4pm socializing, 4:30pm meeting & presentation starts
WHERE:
UNM ARTSLab
131 Pine St., NE
Albuquerque, NM 87106
or
NMSU DACC Campus
3400 South Espina St
Las Cruces, New Mexico 88003-8001

There will be video conferencing between the two locations as set up by our Connectivity Council.
The actual Global Game Jam is a test run of the system!

I hope to see you there!
-Rachel

Global Game Jam -- Right Now!

One of the things we like to do from time to time is bring several creative types together to make some cool content, whether that's in the form of games, film, software or something else.

One of the more interesting examples is our participation in the second annual "Global Game Jam" -- a 48 hour game development event where game makers with various skills come together to form groups and make a game or two. It's a great way to get to work with and get to know others in our local game development community.

The event is already underway here at ARTS Lab with about 14 participants, five games in the making, and a little over 24 hours to go. If you'd like to check it out, visit:
http://www.ustream.tv/channel/global-game-jam-abq

Live Streaming by Ustream.TV

We're also happy to share that our friends in Las Cruces are playing too! Check them out at:
http://www.ustream.tv/channel/global-game-jam-2010-las-cruces-nm-usa

If you're *really* interested, we're planning to demo and talk about our projects tomorrow (Sunday) at 4PM.

IGDA Holiday Event this THURSDAY!

Quick reminder/announcement about the Rio Grande IGDA (that's the International Game Developers Association) annual fundraiser:

NEW VENUE!!!

Join us at the Downtown Flying Star Restaurant (723 Silver Avenue Southwest) for the Rio Grande IGDA's third annual Childsplay Charity Fundraiser!

For the third year, New Mexico's game development community gets together to meet, talk, play games and raise funds for Childsplay, the "gamers charity". All proceeds from the night go to benefit UNM Children's Hospital.

How does Child's Play work? From the site:

"With the help of hospital staff, we've set up gift wish lists full of video games, toys, and movies. You can go to each hospital's list and buy a toy, and that toy will be sent to the hospital. Some of these kids are in pretty bad shape. Imagine being stuck alone in a hospital over the holidays, getting something from a fellow gamer would really raise their spirits. Some of the stuff the hospital will give away for kids to keep, while other gifts (like consoles) will be kept by the hospital for patients to use throughout the year."

For more information about Child's Play, visit: http://www.childsplaycharity.org/

To contribute directly to UNM Children's Hospital, visit: http://www.amazon.com/gp/registry/registry.html/?_&id=21EIN5ZGOFY3U

For more details about the event... visit http://www.igda.org/albuquerque/3rd-annual-holiday-fundraiser

WHERE: Flying Star Restaurant, 723 Silver Ave., SW

WHEN: Thursday, December 17th 7:30 - 10:00 PM

COST: Minimum Suggested Donation: $10

Beverages (Coffee, Soda, Tea, Water) will be provided. Servers will be present to take food & alcohol orders.

AGL Video Game Showcase Thursday

From Pradeep Sen at UNM School of Engineering's Advanced Graphics Lab (AGL):

It's that time of the year again! On Thursday, Dec 10, students from the ECE/CS 412 "Intro to Graphics" course will be showing off their final project video games for everyone to play. Come check out their XBOX games!

The public playing session will be held from 9am - 5pm in the atrium of the ECE building (Bldg#46 on the campus map). Directions to the ECE building can be found here:

http://www.ece.unm.edu/visitors-center.htm

In addition, for the very first time we will also be showcasing three video games from my advanced video game class. You can check out the sample promotional videos for these games on our YouTube channel:

http://www.youtube.com/advancedgraphicslab

Hope to see you all on Thursday!

-Pradeep

Special End of Semester Event (12/12)

SPECIAL UNM EVENT

A parade of animated characters! Virtual worlds! Serious games! Interactive stories for the Web! These are some of the featured works that will be presented by students in UNM's IFDM (http://finearts.unm.edu/ifdm.htm) program on Saturday, Dec. 12.

We're very proud of what these students have accomplished, and we cordially invite you to see these working demonstrations of their projects. Please join us for the first public showing of their innovative creations!

Details:

WHEN: Saturday, December 12, 10 am

WHERE: UNM ARTS Lab, 131 Pine St., NE (One block west of University; half a block north of Central @ the wooden stairs) – plenty of parking behind the building in the CARC lot

COST: FREE

SPECTRE Series: THURSDAY NOVEMBER 19: SUN CIRCLE, OSKER MERRILL

---------- Forwarded message ----------
From: William Fowler Collins <williamfowlercollins@gmail.com>
Date: Wed, Nov 18, 2009 at 10:07 AM
Subject: THURSDAY NOVEMBER 19: SUN CIRCLE, OSKER MERRILL
To: William Fowler Collins <williamfowlercollins@gmail.com>


Last SPECTRE SERIES jams of the year tomorrow night, folks. If you missed Malcolm Goldstein on Monday you missed out BIG TIME. One of the biggest crowds we've had. Some are calling it the best show they've seen this year. Unbelievable power from a single violin.

But... there's another chance to catch some more excellent music this week. DO IT.


SUN CIRCLE, OSKER MERRILL
Thursday, November 19, 2009
7:30 PM
ARTS Lab Garage
131 Pine Street NE, Albuquerque
http://artslab.unm.edu/where.html
$5/10 donation requested


More info on tomorrow's show here:
http://artslabmusic.blogspot.com/



-WFC

--
Out now on Type: "Perdition Hill Radio" 2xLP/CD

http://www.williamfowlercollins.com

BarCamp Albuquerque this Saturday

Its all about the web -- Design (visual, experience, information architecture), Technology (infrastructure, programming), Social and New Media, and other stuff that is just plain cool.

Edit the Wiki at http://www.barcamp.org/BarCampAlbuquerque if you plan on attending, presenting, or can help in other ways (blog about it, tweet it, FaceBook it, etc.)

And a note from organizer Chris Kenworthy:

Just a quick update and some more information. The Wiki is working again if you want to sign-up to present, just create an account on the BarCamp Wiki and add your name to the list (edit the wiki to add your name):http://barcamp.org/BarCampAlbuquerque

For those new to BarCamp you can read some background info here:http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/BarCamp

The Albuquerque BarCamp doesn't require everyone to present and we don't stay overnight, but we do have lots of presentation time slots available and would love to hear about what you are passionate about.

BarCamp is run by the attendees (you) so if you'd like to help spread the word, bring a projector or screen, contribute some food/drinks, or just show up and present, it's all in the spirit of BarCamp.

Malcolm Goldstein TONIGHT @ ARTS Lab

TONIGHT (Monday) @ ARTS Lab: Malcolm Goldstein

Malcolm Goldstein (b. March 27, 1936, Brooklyn, New York). American composer, now resident in both Canada and the USA, of mostly chamber and electroacoustic works that have been performed throughout the world; he is also active as an improviser and violinist. Mr. Goldstein attended Columbia University from 1952-59, where he studied composition with Otto Luening for one year and where he earned his BA and MA.

More info at http://www.paristransatlantic.com/magazine/interviews/goldstein.html
And at: http://artslabmusic.blogspot.com/

Monday, November 16, 2009
7:30 PM - 9:00 PM
ARTS Lab Garage
131 Pine Street NE, Albuquerque
http://artslab.unm.edu/where.html

@ AniMotion this Tuesday: Little Mermaid 20th Anniversary event

From AniMotion NM: 

AniMotion NM: Little Mermaid 20th Anniversary

November 17th, 2009 marks the 20th anniversary of the release of Disney's The Little Mermaid. Join us for a celebration

Info:
The Little Mermaid is a 1989 American animated feature produced by Walt Disney Feature Animation and based on the Hans Christian Andersen fairy tale of the same name. Distributed by Walt Disney Pictures, the film was originally released to theaters on November 17, 1989 and is the twenty-eighth film in the Walt Disney Animated Classics series.

November 17, 2009 marks the 20th Anniversary of The Little Mermaid. AniMotion NM celebrates this anniversary with two of the Disney animators who worked on this feature: Dan Haskett, and Phil Young.

It's an evening of The Little Mermaid. Invite your friends and family! Children are welcomed.

WHEN:  Tuesday, November 17th

6:30-7:50 The Little Mermaid
7:50-9:00 Q&A with Disney animators Dan Haskett and Phil Young

WHERE:  UNM's ARTS Lab, 131 Pine St., NE (one block west of University Blvd; half a block north of Central)

COST:  The event is free, but they can get pretty full so pre-register to save your seats:  http://groups.adobe.com/posts/5e1bf30130 

Open House this Saturday

UNM's ARTS Lab is participating in the School of Engineering Open House this Saturday (tomorrow!).

If you're interested in checking out ARTS Lab, we'll be open from 10 AM to noon, talking with students, parents and other interested folks about fulldome production, Motion Capture, game development, green screen production and more.

Where are we? We're relatively easy to find, at 131 Pine St., NE (one block west of University Blvd; half a block north os Central @ the wooden stairs.

View Larger Map

For more information about ARTS lab, visit us at: http://artslab.unm.edu

Coming Next Week @ ARTS Lab

We've got a crazy week coming up... and I think it'll only get crazier. Here's a quick run-down of the next week @ ARTS Lab:

Tuesday (11/10) @ 4:00 PM: Gale Memorial Lecture Series: Ed Osborn (FREE)

Ed OSBORN

http://www.roving.net/

Ed Osborn works with many forms of electronic media including installation, video, sound, and, performance. His pieces show a tactile sense of space, movement, image and aurality combined with a precise economy of materials. Osborn has received grants from the Guggenheim Foundation, the Creative Work Fund, and Arts International and been awarded residencies from the DAAD Artists-in-Berlin Program, the Banff Centre for the Arts, Het Apollohuis (Eindhoven, Netherlands), STEIM (Amsterdam), the Djerassi Resident Artist Program (Woodside, CA), and the Center for Research and Computing in the Arts at UC San Diego.

He has presented his work worldwide with exhibitions at the singuhr-hörgalerie (Berlin, Germany), the Berkeley Art Museum (Berkeley, CA), Yerba Buena Center for the Arts (San Francisco), Artspace (Sydney, Australia), the Institute of Modern Art (Brisbane, Australia), Sonambiente Festival (Berlin, Germany), the Kiasma Museum, (Helsinki, Finland), MassMOCA (North Adams, MA), the Auckland Art Gallery (Auckland, NZ), and the Sonic Arts Research Centre (Belfast, Northern Ireland) among many others. He has lectured and taught in numerous institutions and is currently Assistant Professor in the Visual Art Department at Brown University.

Wednesday (11/11) @ 6:00 PM: Rio Grande IGDA Meet & Greet (FREE)

Interested in game development here in New Mexico? Come meet the people who are making it happen in our (growing) local game industry.

More info at the NEW IGDA site: http://www.igda.org/albuquerque

Monday (11/9) @ 7:30 PM: SPECTRE Series: Malcolm Goldstein ($5/$10 Suggested Donation)

The penultimate show of William Collins' experimental music series features composer/violinist/improviser Malcolm Goldstein.

More info at: http://www.facebook.com/event.php?eid=184577108254

Bigger, Faster, Stronger, WOW! Digital Marketing the Right Way (11/4)

Our Friends at Webuquerque's next event is a must-see for those interested in digital marketing -- and likely to have many web pros in the house as well. Check it out:

Bigger, Faster, Stronger, WOW! Digital Marketing the Right Way

with Reid Givens

"Marketing" is often misunderstood as the department that creates advertising. Many things have been labeled as marketing, such as blogging, running TV commercials and even putting balloons in the parking lot. It is true that marketing can do many of these tactics, but they are not the whole story.

In Bigger, Faster, Stronger, WOW! Digital Marketing the Right Way, 15 year marketing professional Reid Givens will demystify what digital marketing really is and what it is not.

"The truth of the matter is that there are too many websites, advertising campaigns and companies that misunderstand marketing, and unfortunately, fail because of it."

This talk will take a holistic look at marketing, focusing on the role digital media plays. The session will cover common mistakes and some advice on how to get it right … along side talking about movies, celebrities, bands and more.

Date, Time & Location
WHEN: Wednesday, November 4, 2009

6:30–7:30pm, with socializing following the presentation

WHERE: Uptown Sports Bar and Grill
6601 Uptown Blvd
Albuquerque, NM 87110

More info at: http://webuquerque.com/Events/Digital-Marketing.php

Tomorrow @ ARTS Lab: Artist Lecture: Michael Rees

ARTIST LECTURE : MICHAEL REES

organized by Professor Steve Barry

WHEN: Wednesday, October 21 at 3:00pm

WHERE: Arts Lab Garage, 131 Pine St. NE

(one block west of University Blvd.; half a block north of Central -- street parking nearby)

Michael Rees was featured in the 1995 Whitney Biennial. His work utilizes performance, animation, video, installation, sculptural objects, computer software programs and interactivity. He is the recipient of a Rockefeller Renew Media Grant, A Creative Capitol Grant, an National Endowment for the Arts Grant.

Sony Broadcast Equipment Event @ KNME 10/28

Sony Electronics will be presenting its XDCAM HD Workflow and info on HD acquisition during a special Broadcast Equipment event at KNME. If you're in the market for higher end Sony products, this might be the right event for you:

See the Newest Sony Products!

Please join us for a Demo Day event featuring a full line up of Sony broadcast and production products. Come see the latest in Sony’s world-class broadcast cameras, displays and switcher solutions.

ALBUQUERQUE, NM
When: Wednesday, October 28, 2009, 9:00am – 3:00pm (lunch to be provided)
Location: KNME-TV (PBS)
Address: 1130 University Blvd., N.E. Albuquerque

Presentations:

11:00am XDCAM HD Workflow / Blu-Ray
Presented by Mike DesRoches, Sony Optical Storage Engineer
1:00pm HD Acquisition
Presented by Keith Vidger, Sony HD Acquisition Engineer

The event is free, but RSVP is required. For more information, contact cheryl.arment@am.sony.com

SPECTRE SERIES RETURNS NOV2 W/ THE TRANSDUCERS

The ARTS Lab is excited to announce... the return of the SPECTRE SERIES this November:

The Transducers play The SPECTRE SERIES at ARTS Lab
(curated by William Fowler Collins)

DESCRIPTION:

The Transducers (featuring Martin Back, James Brody, Philip Mantione, Christian Pincock, and Frank Rolla)

The Transducers is a group of five composers and improvisers from diverse backgrounds spanning three generations of experience. They utilize laptops, custom software, sound sculptures, circuit bending and custom electronics to produce unique sonic worlds. Within the context of unstructured improvisation, they incorporate audience collaboration by means of the Photo-Instigator, a light-sensitive device suspended above the performers that picks up light beams originating from the audience.

These rays are transduced into MIDI controller data streams that are sent to the performers to use or ignore as they see fit. So in essence, audience members become
collaborators, instigators and possibly saboteurs.

http://www.philipmantione.com/transducers.html


DATE: Monday, November 2, 2009

TIME: 7:30 pm

COST: $5 suggested donation

LOCATION:
ARTS Lab
131 Pine Street NE
(One block west of University Blvd., half a block north of Central; plenty of parking at night)
Albuquerque, NM 87106
For more info, call: (505) 277-2253

SIGGRAPH Info Meeting this Saturday @ ARTS Lab

REMINDER: Siggraph meeting this Saturday, October 17th!

One of the organizations that's mentioned most often when people discuss getting our digital media production and research community together is SIGGRAPH ("The Association for Computing Machinery's Special Interest Group on Graphics and Interactive Techniques" to be more precise). As a few people on this list might mention, New Mexico once had one of SIGGRAPH's most active chapters.

Now with the arrival of Sony Pictures Imageworks, continued growth of film and other developments there's an desire to see whether there's enough active interest to restart a successful chapter, with an info session organized by Imageworks' Rachel Nicoll.

If you'd be interested in helping start and grow such a chapter, please attend. If you know of others who might be interested -- please pass this along. Timing of future meetings, video conferencing for people throughout the state and other questions are on the agenda.

When: Saturday, October 17th from 4-6pm
Where: UNM ARTS Lab, 131 Pine St., NE (1 block west of University; half a block north of Central; lots of parking)

Gale Memorial Lecture Series: Kristin Lucas

Kristin Lucas, the first speaker in the Department of Art & Art History Gale Memorial Lecture Series, appears TOMORROW at ARTS Lab!

WHEN: Wednesday, October 14th at noon

WHERE: ARTS Lab Garage, 131 Pine St. NE

Directions at: http://artslab.unm.edu/where.html

KRISTIN LUCAS

Kristin Lucas creates video, installation, intervention, digital photographs, sculpture, and Internet artworks. Positioning herself at the center of her projects, Lucas' work addresses the effects of rapid-spread technology on the human condition. Reversing a popular concept of infusing humanity into machines she instead applies familiar strategies of electronic media to her own life. Transformations, mutations, and portraiture are the focus of works set to the backdrop of empty and meaningful exchanges with automated tellers, television, shopping malls, healing arts therapists, police officers, and a judge.

Lucas' work has been exhibited in numerous group exhibitions, including the Art Gallery of Windsor; Images Festival, Toronto; ICA, London; ZKM, Karlsruhe; Cheekwood Museum, Nashville; The Museum of Modern Art, the Whitney Museum of American Art, the New Museum of Contemporary Art, and Artists Space, New York. She has had solo exhibitions at Postmasters Gallery, New York; And/Or Gallery, Dallas; Or Gallery, Vancouver; Plugin, Basel; Windows, Brussels; the New Museum of Contemporary Art, New York; O.K Center for Contemporary Arts, Linz, Austria; and FACT, Liverpool, England.

Lucas has been awarded numerous artist residencies including the Edith Russ Site for Media Art New Work Stipend, Oldenburg, Germany; the 13th International Studio Program of ACC Weimar and the City of Weimar, Germany; World Views, Experimental Television Center, Harvestworks, Marie Walsh Sharpe Space Program and P.S.1 National Studio Program, New York; and the ARCUS A.I.R. Program, Ibaraki, Japan.

DomeFest 2009 Starts Today!

In just a few hours, DomeFest 2009 arrives in Albuquerque with premieres, shows, talks and demos exploring the past and exciting future of the fulldome medium.

Info on schedules and more is at our DomeFest site, but meanwhile a few highlights from Today's schedule:

Friday Night @ the New Mexico Museum of Natural History and Science
9:00 - 11:30 AM

'Touching the Edge of the Universe'

US premiere screening and talk on the making of "Touching the Edge of the Universe," a new European fulldome film produced at the creative department of the "Mediendom" of the University of Applied Sciences Kiel (Germany). It involved up to 100 people and innovative techniques like 360° digital Red-One video camera filming.

Two Space 2009: The Dome Version
By Larry Cuba

In 1979, at the dawn of the computer-graphics age, Larry Cuba made a short, experimental film called Two Space. The film was released in the 16mm film format, a relatively inexpensive exhibition technology that (at the time) fell into a sweet-spot on the spectrum between the highest resolution available and the most affordable. Although accepting the limitations of 16mm, the artist imagined the film as a totally immersive experience, completely encompassing the audience's field of view, perhaps to be exhibited someday in a venue of the future --- a sci-fi speculation he thought of as The Ideal Theater.

As technology advances, wild speculations such as these turn into daily reality. In 2009, the artist was able to transfer the original film to digital form and then replicate each frame to fill the expanse of the Full Dome Master. This presentation will briefly review the processes involved in the film's original production in '79 and current rebirth as a full dome experience, finally realizing the artist's original vision, 30 years later. TRT ~6.5min.


Friday Night @ the New Mexico Museum of Natural History and Science
6:30 - 9:00 PM

'DomeFest Retrospective'
A 50-minute reel of the best of DomeFest from the first five years (2004-08). Includes some celebrated NM works and show some of the progress and directions in fulldome since 'the early years.' Produced in partnership with the Adelaide Film Festival with the support of the Australian Network for Art & Science.


'Celestial Mechanics'
Gabriel Dunne
Scott Hessels

Celestial Mechanics is a planetarium-based artwork installation that visualizes the statistics, data, and protocols of manmade aerial technologies -- a graphic display of the paths and functions of the machines hovering, flying, and drifting above our planet. The sky is filled with aircraft that transport people from place to place, perform utilitarian duties, assist in communications, enact military missions, or wander above us as debris. Celestial Mechanics combines science, statistical display, and contemporary art by presenting these mechanical patterns and behaviors as a dynamic visual experience. TRT ~10-min