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Psychedelic musician Tom Jennings adjusted his prescription goggles before flipping the switch on his radioactive experiment.
A series of computer lights blinked at him, highlighting his dyed green hair, before the machine stoically said, “I am ready.”
Jennings turned a few dials, and within seconds his computer began reading aloud random numbers, generated from a scan of a radioactive rock.
“I wanted to get a few hundred pounds of radioactive uranium rocks, but that wouldn’t happen,” he said. “We settled for just one rock. As long as you don’t lick it, you’ll be fine.”
Jennings is one of hundreds of artists and speakers demonstrating their work at this year’s International Symposium on Electronic Arts. This year UNM, 516 ARTS and the Albuquerque Museum of Art and History are hosting the symposium. It’s the first time in six years that the symposium has taken place in the United States. The theme of the festival’s projects is related to the idea of “machine wilderness,” a concept that tries to find an intersection between technology, science and nature.
Artistic director and UNM associate professor Andrea Polli is in charge of accepting artists for the event. She said the event’s specific focus on electronic arts shines light on a less-known artistic medium.
“I don’t really see there being a strong difference between a painting that really touches your heart or your mind, and a piece of electronic art that touches your heart and your mind. I think it’s all the same,” she said.
Jennings’ project is part of a larger collaboration with filmmaker and protester Eve Andrée Laramée. Next to his radiation-reading device is a landscape portrait of Grants, N.M., an informative film about the uranium decay cycle, a series of magnifications of contaminated water and a sci-fi film featuring time travelers who explore the uranium plants and mines of Grants. The nuclear protest presentation, titled “Invisible Landscape,” is featured at the event’s 516 ARTS branch.
Laramée said that she often approaches her work through a medium of satire, pointing to her Doctor Who-esque sci-fi film.
“Part of what fuels me is my outrage, so I try to deal with that outrage either through education or through humor,” she said.
“This video stars all these fictional, weird time-traveler characters that are partially of the 19th century, partially of the 21st century. It’s like, how do you make this really dark subject matter accessible. They’ll see that there’s a lot of humor in it, sort of like looking at the folly.”
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Artist Stephanie Rothenberg will present an interactive piece at this year’s event. Viewers of the work will be handed a large joystick and asked to create a digital floating paradise. Her project allows the viewer to virtually extract basic essentials for their paradise, such as trees from Brazil and forced labor from Pakistan. Once the participants have finished building their island, they can download a free app that, when pointed toward the sky, will show their floating paradise.
Rothenberg said her piece is inspired by recent visits to China and Dubai, in which she investigated several incidents of forced labor.
“I’m really both fascinated and terrified by the acceleration, building these completely new cities out of nothing and all the resources it requires, especially in a place like Dubai, where everything is imported,” she said. “The whole fantastical way about it is how it’s all over-the-top, because if you go to Dubai or to these complexes in China, they are over-the-top.”
Featured predominantly in New Zealand, artist Ian Clothier’s display is “Te Iarere.” Pronounced tey-ee-awde-awde, it is a musical project based upon a tree in New Zealand hooked up to measure tree voltage. Tree voltage is the small electrical discharge made upon absorbing and carrying water throughout the tree. Each voltage is assigned a note, specifically made by a Maori and a Navajo musician, and is transmitted to the United States and played aloud through speakers. Clothier said he hopes his piece allows viewers to reflect on how they view water.
“For many people, water is just something that comes out of the tap or is filled in a bottle or if you need to make coffee, but when you start to view the indigenous viewpoint, you start to see there’s many kinds of layers,” he said.
Jennings said that art and science both attempt to reinvent themselves while answering questions.
“Art and science just really aren’t that different,” he said. “It’s not about finding truth; it’s about finding explanation.”