Introducing James George at The Window at 125
The Window at 125
A Roger Smith Hotel Special Project
James George
Introduced by Julia Kaganskiy
Spectacle of Change is a video installation composed of six “video portraits” of artists from Islington Mill, an artist community in Salford, UK. The area has recently become home to a multimillion dollar “media city” outfitted with cutting edge digital technology, which sits in stark contrast with the area’s historic waterfront and industrial heritage. Accompanying these portraits is audio of the artists discussing the role of digital culture in their work and daily lives, and the ways they are embracing or contending with these technological advancements.
George captures his subjects as 3D forms that resemble holograms using the Microsoft Kinect gaming console paired with a standard DSLR camera. Using the Kinect’s depth sensing camera, George is able to map the images he captures in three dimensional space, allowing the video to be viewed from different angles virtually and assume an almost sculptural quality.
Working in the tradition of early film pioneers like the Lumière brothers and Georges Méliès, as well as early video artists like Nam June Paik and Gary Hill, George’s work is located at the avant-garde of an emerging film practice representing a fusion of the disciplines of film, creative coding, and animation. He is developing both the tools and early artistic investigations into the creative potential offered by this new technology, and ushering in a new era of visual representation in the process.
Spectacle of Change was developed as part of the ScreenLab artist residency program at University of Salford, Manchester.
RGBD Toolkit is an ongoing body of research, open source tools, and artistic experiments supported by the STUDIO for Creative Inquiry at Carnegie Mellon University.
James George is a media artist and software developer using code to create images and interactions in physical space. His work seeks to create illusory and playful experiences by taking the form of permanent installations, experimental film and mobile applications. Inspired by emerging technology, he hacks cameras, screens and sensors to discover their unintended expressive potential. Through sharing his software and teaching workshops, he enables others to express themselves using the tools he develops. His projects have been exhibited at The Conflux Festival (New York 2009), Beall Center for Art and Technology (USA 2010), Enter5 (Czech Republic 2011) Interaction IOI (Spain 2011), and The Creators Project (New York 2011). He directed software development to create permanent installations for the University of Central Florida and the National Maritime Museum in Greenwich, England in 2011.
James is currently a fellow at the STUDIO for Creative Inquiry at Carnegie Mellon University where he is conducting ongoing interviews with the leading minds in art and technology; capturing them with a novel form of 3d scanning combining depth sensing cameras and DSLR video. He is also an adjunct faculty at NYU’s Interactive Telecommunication Program where he instructs on the appropriation of game engines towards interactive installations.http://jamesgeorge.org/
Julia Kaganskiy is a writer, editor, independent curator and community organizer whose work explores technology’s potential as an artistic medium, as well as its ability to increase access to and engagement with the arts. She is currently global editor of The Creators Project, an international arts initiative from VICE and Intel dedicated to showcasing the ways technology is enabling creativity in all its forms. Julia is also the founder of New York Times-acclaimed #ArtsTech meetup, a monthly event series exploring the intersection of art and technology and its impact on the cultural heritage space. She’s also co-founder of Blue Box Gallery, a pop-up gallery dedicated to bringing New Media Art to a rotating host of alternative urban spaces. In 2011, Julia was named one of Fast Company’s Most Influential Women in Technology and a finalist for the World Technology Network award in the Arts. ARTINFO recently named her as one of the art world’s most influential young figures. http://juliakaganskiy.tumblr.com/
Introducing… is an initiative that creates a platform for emerging artists to be formally introduced by an advocate of their art and future career. Twice a month a new artist will be presented by their champion and will have an exemplary piece of work exhibited at The Window at 125.
This piece will occupy The Window at 125 from July 1-14th 2012
For more information visit www.rogersmithlife.com or email Danika Druttman at danika@rogersmith.com.