The CACHe digital archiveof pioneering British computer art is now hosted at the Lansdown Centre for Electronic Arts.

The Computer Arts Society now has a Facebook page.

Past events from 2010

 

The next Computer Arts Society (BCS CAS SG) Meeting will be at Birkbeck on Wednesday 3rd November. Artist and researcher Joe Osmond will be talking about and demonstrating 'Digital Alchemy', his work on John Whitney's theory of Digital Harmony. The presentation is open to the public and admission is free.

Wednesday 3rd November
6:30pm for 7pm

Room 218, Birkbeck College, 43 Gordon Square, London WC1H 0PD

Nearest tubes - Euston Square, Warren Street & Russell Square.

Map

Digital Alchemy: challenging John Whitney's search for Digital Harmony, multi-sensory artist Joe Osmond questions why Whitney chose to use classical music as the preferred means of musical composition and the influence that this arguably narrow interpretation of compositional practice had on his search for digital harmony. Engaging in the debate of what is music and how harmony, improvisation, scale and tone translate into visual art, Joe explores the methodology and reasoning behind Whitney's desire to achieve a complementarity of music and visual art.

Informed by his work as an improvisational musician, performer and artist, Joe Osmond presents artist's view of creativity, composition and computer programing.

Joe Osmond: an interactive artist, animator, poet and musician, recognised as an expert in multi-sensory education by the EU in Brussels, Joe is currently completing postgraduate research into The Art of Sound at Birkbeck College, The University of London. Originally graduating in 1973, he has spent his life developing multi-sensory art installations, writing learning programs and providing creative solutions that emphasise the need to recognise the huge potential of sound, art and movement as a means of creative communication. He has worked throughout Europe, Kuwait and the USA sharing strategies that make art and learning accessible to all. He has regularly exhibited his work, most recently as part of The BodyTalk Exhibition (London: June-Aug 2010) and at The EVA Conference (London July 2010) and is currently developing original sound for a number of abstract animations based on his work as an abstract artist. An experienced international conference presenter Joe is proud to be a member of Equity, the actor's union.

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The Computer Arts Society presents artists from Unleashed Devices talking about their work: Patrick Tresset, Nanda Khaorapapong, Anna Dumitriu and Owen Bowden.

Wednesday 13th October
6:30pm for 7pm

At Watermans Gallery, 40 High Street, Brentford TW8 0DS

Map and contact info

UNLEASHED DEVICES is a playful exhibition in which artists have reconstructed, remixed and reinvented everyday electronic devices. Working in this way, the artists change our understanding of the possible use of data and purpose of technology. These exhibits not only challenge our conception of technology but also of music, art and design. The exhibition of 30 installations and exhibits by over 40artists is part of the NODE.LONDON Autumn season in conjunction with OpenLab DIY workshops at SPACE and DIY instrument performances at A10 Lab. and will form part of the London Design Festival Unleashed Devices is an exhibition of DIY, hacking and open source projects by artists who explore technologies critically and creatively. By reconstructing, remixing and reinventing everyday electronic devices, these take on a new life as they shift our vision of the use of data and purpose of technology. Playing with frontiers, such projects not only challenge our conception of technology but also music, art and design. Here, they reveal the power of DIY modes as tools to stimulate social reflection and participation. New ways of engaging with the spectator is a core concern. Unleashed Devices includes playful installations, interactive electronic-sculptures, movement tracking works and performances, as well as coding and hardware based artworks, creating innovative media installations and new experiences.

Unleashed Devices on the Watermans site.

Thursday 30th September

The Annual General Meeting of the Computer Arts Society BCS SG will be held at 6pm on Thursday 30th September 2010 in Room G12 at Birkbeck, 43 Gordon Square, London.

Agenda

   Apologies

   Minutes of previous AGM

   Chairman’s report

   Treasurer’s report

   Election of Branch Officers*

*There are vacancies for Membership Secretary and Communications Officer. If you would like to nominate someone, please use the form below.

There is no provision for Any Other Business in the Rules, but any further items of business for the agenda should be notified to Nick Lambert (nick.lambert@gmail.com) by 28th September at the latest.

Following the AGM there will be an informal gathering at the Tavistock Hotel.

We are looking for enthusiastic people who can help to develop CAS in new ways. If you are interested in this opportunity, please get in touch with any of the Officers.

Nominations: Committee Members should be sent by e-mail, to Nick Lambert (nick.lambert@gmail.com) or the Secretary, Alan Sutcliffe (alansut@alanist.com) preferably by 26th Sept but nominations can be accepted from the floor at the AGM. Nominations should be submitted by the nominee to show their consent to nomination. Nominations for election as general Committee members should be BCS members or affiliates and do not require the support of other members.

Where there is more than one nominee for any position an election will be held at the AGM by show of hands. If there is only one nomination they will be declared elected at the AGM and so noted in the minutes.

A suitable form to nominate Officers/Committee Members is provided here:

===========================================================
Call for Committee Nominations

BCS SG Election of Officers and Committee Members

I,     [name]   BCS membership number,

consent to be nominated as CAS SG Committee member* at the election
to take place at: The Annual General Meeting on Wednesday 8th September 2010.

My nomination is supported by
Proposer     [name]    Mem number  

Seconder     [print name]    Mem number  

*Delete as appropriate; nominations only for general Committee member do not require a Proposer and Seconder.

Monday 26 July 2010

The Computer Arts Society presents a FREE evening of film from the 1970/80s and more recent performances that use computer-based generative systems.

Malcolm Le Grice, Mike Leggett, Ernest Edmonds and Mark Fell

Location: Birkbeck Cinema (map/directions)

Time: doors open 6.30 for 7.00 pm

Introduced by Ernest Edmonds

Programme

Part 1: Generative Film

Red+Green+Blue, Mike Leggett. 1972-76. 16mm film, 9 min.

Fragment, Ernest Edmonds. 1984-85. Computer Generated Video, excerpt, 10 min.

Digital Still Life, Malcolm Le Grice. 1984-86. Computer and video, colour, 8 min

Part 2: Generative Performance

Attack on Silence, Mark Fell. 2010

DC Release, Ernest Edmonds and Mark Fell. 2007

 

About the speaker

Ernest Edmonds was born in London and studied Mathematics and Philosophy at Leicester University. He has a PhD in logic from Nottingham University, is a Fellow of the British Comuter Society, a Fellow of the Institution of Engineering and Technology and a Charted Engineer. He is a practicing artist.

He lives and works in Sydney Australia. His art is in the constructivist tradition and he first used computers in his art practice in 1968. He first showed an interactive work with Stroud Cornock in 1970. He first showed a generative time-based computer work in London in 1985. He has exhibited throughout the world, from Moscow to LA.

He has over 200 refereed publications in the fields of human-computer interaction, creativity and art. Artists Bookworks (UK) has recently published his book "On New Constructs in Art". Ernest Edmonds is Professor of Computation and Creative Media at the University of Technology, Sydney where he runs a multi-disciplinary practice-based art and technology research group, the Creativity and Cognition Studios. In Sydney, he is represented by the Conny Dietzschold Gallery.

Ernest Edmonds has held the position of University Dean, has sat on many funding and conference committees and was a pioneer in the development of practice-based PhD programmes. He founded the ACM Creativity and Cognition Conference series and was part of the founding team for the ACM Intelligent User Interface conference series. He has been an invited speaker in, for example, the UK, France, the USA, Australia, Japan and Malaysia.

Director Creativity and Cognition Studios, UTS

Editor-in-Chief Leonardo Transactions

Founding Editor Knowledge-Based Systems

Visiting Professor Sussex University

Visiting Research Fellow Goldsmiths College

http://www.ernestedmonds.com/

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Past Events

Tuesday 4 May 2010

The BCS Computer Arts Society Specialist Group invite you to our May meeting at the London Knowledge Lab. This meeting is open to the public and is free.

TIME: 6.30 for 7.00pm

PLACE: London Knowledge Lab, 23-29 Emerald St, London, WC1N 3QS

Nearest tubes: Holborn (Central & Piccadilly Line), Russell Square (Piccadilly Line) and Chancery Lane (Central Line).
Buses: 19, 38, 55, 243.

Link to map

Speaker: Tina Gonsalves

Title: CHAMELEON

Tina Gonsalves is currently working with world-leaders in psychology, neuroscience and emotion computing in order to research and produce emotionally interactive installations. She is currently honorary artist in resident at the Institute of Neurology at UCL in London, visiting artist at the Media Lab at The Massachusetts Institute of Technology in Boston, USA and artist in resident at Nokia Research Labs, Finland as part of the Australia Council Connections Residency.

She will discuss the process of building about her latest project, CHAMELEON. The project uses facial emotion recognition software to build up an empathic relationship with the audience. The coding is built on research in social neuroscience. The project arises from cross-disciplinary research integrating emotion neuroscientist Prof Hugo Critchley, social neuroscientist Prof Chris Frith, computer scientists Prof Rosalind Picard and Dr Rana Kaliouby from the MIT Media Lab. She will also discuss her current works in development in mobile technology.

http://www.tinagonsalves.com

Tuesday 2 March, 2010

The BCS Computer Arts Society Specialist Group invite you to our March meeting at the London Knowledge Lab. This meeting is open to the public and is free.

TIME: 6.30 for 7.00pm
PLACE: London Knowledge Lab, 23-29 Emerald St, London, WC1N 3QS
Nearest tubes: Holborn (Central & Piccadilly Line), Russell Square (Piccadilly Line) and Chancery Lane (Central Line).
Buses: 19, 38, 55, 243.

Link to Map

EXPERIENCE THROUGH THE EYE OF THE ROBOT

Ron Chrisley and Joel Parthemore

The SEER-3 project is an attempt to explore new ways of specifying the non-conceptual content of experience, using an off-the-shelf robotic dog from Sony. Much of experience is not conceptually structured or, at least, not easily expressible in words. Alternate means of expressing the content of that experience are needed. We will offer our own perspective on that research, and relate it briefly to our own research interests in philosophy of mind.

Most importantly for this audience, we will talk about our conclusion that the program output had independent aesthetic merit, leading us to suggest that some samples of it be submitted to the CAS-sponsored art exhibition in Shrewsbury in 2007. After presenting samples of what was exhibited we will also discuss our experiences interacting with the audience there, interacting with the exhibit.

Lastly, we will talk about the coding process as an aesthetic experience and present examples of the program output from each stage in the program's development. If possible, the talk will conclude with output of some recent work on a light-avoidance routine.

Ron Chrisley is the Director of COGS, the Centre for Research in Cognitive Science at the University of Sussex, where he holds a Readership in Philosophy in the Department of Informatics. He has held various research positions in Artificial Intelligence, including a Leverhulme Research Fellowship at the University of Birmingham and a Fulbright Fellowship at the Helsinki University of Technology. He was awarded his doctorate by the University of Oxford in 1997.

Joel Parthemore is writing up his doctoral thesis on the intersection between enactive philosophy and theories of concepts. The former stresses the continuity between an agent and that agent's environment; the latter concerns the ways our thoughts are systematically and productively structured. He is a student in the School of Informatics at the University of Sussex and is spending the current year at the University of Lund in Sweden as a guest of Peter Gärdenfors, whose work on ‘conceptual spaces’ he is basing much of his own thesis on. In his spare time, he is interested in ways of bridging the art/science divide and in the occasional aesthetically pleasing products his work has quite unexpectedly produced.

3 - 5 February 2010

The BCS Computer Arts Society SG is pleased to announce a special
three-day event to launch our Spring 2010 programme. It begins on
3 February with a one-day symposium at the BCS including a free
public talk that evening by keynote speaker Brian Reffin Smith
and continues with a two-day conference at the Victoria & Albert
Museum. Note that the Kinetica Art Fair will also be on in
London from 4-7 February: http://www.kinetica-artfair.com/

3 February - Ideas Before Their Time – 9-6pm at BCS London HQ
followed by a CAS talk by Brian Reffin Smith at 7:00
4-5 February - Decoding the Digital - a 2 day conference at the V&A

The symposium and conference both need to be booked in advance.
The CAS evening talk is open to the public and free but an RSVP
is necessary.

Wednesday 3 February 9:00 - 6:00 & 7:00 - 8:30 pm

Ideas Before Their Time
Connecting the past and the present in Computer Art

BCS London HQ, First Floor, The Davidson Building, 5 Southampton
Street, London, WC2E 7HA

map jpeg file 128KB

In conjunction with the Computer Arts Society, the CAT Project
(Computer Art & Technocultures) is presenting a symposium at the
British Computer Society in Covent Garden.

Many intriguing concepts have emerged in Computer Art over the
past 50 years. Some have been brought to light in the archives
examined by the CAT and CACHe Projects. Speakers from all areas
of Computer Art, including practitioners, curators and
historians, will discuss the past, present and future of this
area.

Go to http://www.technocultures.org.uk/symposium.html to view the
programme and book a place.

6:00 Drinks Reception

6:30 for 7:00 - Public Talk
BCS London HQ - as above
Free but RSVP necessary to paul_brown@mac.com

Speaker: Brian Reffin Smith

Title: Post Computer Art — Ontological Undecidability and the Cat
with Paint on its Paws.

It is argued that an active re-visiting of computer based
artworks from the last 60 or so years is essential to any
progress of today’s work towards an activity that pushes at the
frontiers of contemporary art.

We need to open up the history, works, techniques and discourses
of computer based art to enable a revolution to occur – that of
rendering the art problematic and ‘difficult’: then new solutions
will emerge. It is suggested that whilst conceptual art was busy
doing just this, computer based art was rushing madly in the
opposite direction, trying in a reformist manner to make things
easier, simpler.

Derrida, ‘Pataphysics, Schrödinger’s cat and the living dead may
well be brought into play.

Brian Reffin Smith is a writer, artist, performer and teacher. He
was a pioneer of computer-based conceptual art, with the aim of
trying to resist technological determinism and ‘state of the art’
technology, which might merely produce ‘state of the technology’
art. He is a French civil servant, having been invited to work
for their Ministry of Culture.

Smith, who won the first-ever Prix Ars Electronica, the Golden
Nike, in Linz in 1987, is a Regent of the College of
'Pataphysics, Paris, holding the Chair of Catachemistry and
Speculative Metallurgy. He is Professeur, École Nationale
Supérieure d'Art, Bourges, France.

Areas of work, research, teaching and performance include the
idea of the philosophical Zombie in art and elsewhere, and the
détournement or ‘hijacking’ of systems, mechanisms, programs etc.
to make art.

He became a Zombie, after a short illness, in 1999.

http://www.zombiepataphysics.blogspot.com

Thursday 4 & Friday 5 February
10.00-17.30 each day
Decoding the Digital

Hochhauser Auditorium, Sackler Centre, Victoria & Albert Museum

A rare opportunity to hear a dialogue between contemporary
digital practice and historical collections within the world of
digital and computer generated art and design. Speakers include
artist Frieder Nake and writer Edward Shanken, with theorists
Charlie Gere and Beryl Graham. There will be an in-conversation
between Paul Brown and his son Daniel Brown. Other contributors
include the collector Michael Spalter, the writer and artist Anne
Morgan Spalter, plus Louise Shannon (V&A) and Shane Walter
(Director, onedotzero), co-curators of the V&A exhibition Decode,
and Douglas Dodds, one of the curators of the V&A display Digital
Pioneers.

£50, £40 concessions, £10 students for two days
£25, £20 concessions, £5 students for one day

Further details and bookings:
http://www.vam.ac.uk/activ_events/courses/conferences/index.html#decoding

In collaboration with Birkbeck College, with support from the
Arts and Humanities Research Council.

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Further Past Events

You can access past events here:

• 2009
• 2008
• 2007
• 2006
• 2005
• 2004