features 05

restless automata [melbourne]
randomSeed [online]
TORA [HTTP]
SIGGRAPH [los angeles]
new forest pavilion [venice]
micro-biome [cornerhouse]
dots & lines [BBC online]
TORA launch [aspex gallery]
interrogating interfaces [CAA]
transmediale [berlin]
VIDA 7.0 [madrid]
Transigence [bristol]

Vicky Isley & Paul Smith
Research Fellows in Computer Animation & Computer Art
NCCA, Bournemouth University
t: +44 (0) 1202 966699
e: info at boredomresearch dot net

boredomresearch is represented by [DAM] Berlin

Research Fellowship
We are delighted to have started a three year research fellowship at the National Centre for Computer Animation at Bournemouth University. To find out more about the NCCA visit http://ncca.bournemouth.ac.uk/

Going nuclear
Catch theatre of restless automata at New Greenham Arts, Newbury UK. Based on the site of the former nuclear air base, from the 8th to the 30th Nov 2005 (mon-fri 10am-5pm, sat 10am-4pm)

Going public
National Waterfront Museum, Swansea have awarded boredomresearch a commission for a temporary public artwork. boredomresearch are currently looking for business sector funding to boost the project that is set to break new ground in the use of flat screen technology.

micro-biome
boredomresearch have recently finished their first CD-ROM publication. Aspex Gallery, Portsmouth have published this CD which is on sale in boredomresearch's solo exhibition theatre of restless automata.

emergence & poetics in restless automata
boredomresearch present this paper at the Third Iteration Conference, Melbourne Dec 2005

a demonstration of the behaviour of Springtails modelled in boredomresearch's work

in this talk boredomresearch investigate the relationship between emergence and poetics in respect to generative computational artwork. Using works from their recent solo touring exhibition ''theatre of restless automata' they explore the notion that inherent mystification in emergent and computational abstraction takes on a poetic form. They discuss the possibilities and pecularities of emergence. In particular they point towards a possible link between emergence and poetics, questioning whether emergence can be understood as the poetics of digital space and time.

Also, boredomresearch exhibited a micro-biome and randomSeed in the Third Iteration Art Show 'Metacreation' an exhibition in honour of all the pioneers and current practitioners in the field.

related links
Third Iteration - http://www.csse.monash.edu.au/~iterate/TI/index.html
randomSeed info - www.boredomresearch.net/randomseed

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randomSeed
is launched online at HTTP, London in October 2005

detail of randomSeed in exhibition

randomSeed online is a live networked archive hosted by HTTP, London. From the 9th October one of the randomSeed's in the exhibition uploads an image every hour. Visit HTTP website to watch a slide show of images that run back in time from the most recent. This archive will be extended during the exhibition of the work at selected venues.

Visit our randomSeed essay to find out how we developed this project and follow our research into Cellular Automata and Turing Machines.This web page also contains an online version of the work written in the Processing programming language.

related links
HTTP - www.http.uk.net
randomSeed essay - www.boredomresearch.net/rsonline
randomSeed info - www.boredomresearch.net/randomseed

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TORA @ HTTP
theatre of restless automata tours to London in September 2005

biomes are exhibited on the wall for the first time with machines captured in keyrings

House of Technologically Termed Practice is a London based space dedicated to new media art practice. We are very pleased to have this as the second venue onour theatre of restless automata tour. Here we reversed the hang placing the biomes on the wall and the randomSeed works on the floor. This encouraged a more intimate experience of the biome machines. In addition to the works previously exhibited, we included a new exhibit consisting of 225 key-rings each containing a unique image of a biome machine captured after the show at Aspex Gallery, Portsmouth. There are 1000 in the series and visitors can buy them during the exhibition. Also during the show we will be giving a talk based on the presentation we gave at SIGGRAPH and launching a new online version of the work randomSeed.

related links
HTTP - www.http.uk.net
biome info - www.boredomresearch.net/biome
ornamental bug garden 001 info - www.boredomresearch.net/obg001
randomSeed info - www.boredomresearch.net/randomseed

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SIGGRAPH 2005
OBG001 goes to Los Angeles in August 2005 to take part in SIGGRAPH

detail of ornamental bug garden 001

OBG001 is part of a new series of wall hanging digital self-contained systems built by boredomresearch. This series of works combines gaming techniques and artificial life modelling to explore relationships between scientific modelling techniques and ornamental gardens. In a garden elements are composed and managed in a way that tries to be natural whilst often combining formal sculptural elements to create a place of tranquillity and relaxation. In artificial life modelling the purpose is normally to understand or predict how a natural system may behave in certain circumstances. Here we attempt to combine the two approaches by building a population of modelled life forms into a formally arranged space with a compositional and aesthetic agenda.

related links
SIGGRAPH 2005 - http://www.siggraph.org/s2005/index.php
ornamental bug garden 001 info - www.boredomresearch.net/obg001

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new forest pavilion
biomes exhibited during vernissage week at the venice biennale, 2005

three biomes in the pavilion

New Forest Pavilion was an exhibition presented during the vernissage period of the Venice Biennale 2005. It included work by nine artists based in England, who have all undertaken production residencies at Artsway. This selection of original new media, screen-based and lens-based work reflects the plurality of contemporary practice. Ranging from highly compelling and vivid video and projected installations to innovative sculptural computational landscapes, the works investigate a variety of current concerns.

related links
Artsway - www.artsway.org.uk
biome info - www.boredomresearch.net/biome

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micro-biome CD-ROM launch
boredomresearch select their favourite machines and publish them on CD

Here is your chance to own a biome of your own

At Aspex Gallery, Portsmouth we launched a CD publication to accompany our theatre of restless automata exhibition. micro-biome contains a carefully selected collection of our favourite machines from the biomes within the exhibition. Each machine has evolved its unique markings and colouration over several weeks - presented to you within a closed computational universe inspired by bioluminescent creatures of the deep. Also on the CD you can find out more about theatre of restless automata and our works in an essay by Rosemary Shirley.

related links
Aspex Gallery - www.aspex.org.uk
micro-biome CDs are for sale at Cornerhouse Publications

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dots & lines
is a BBC Online sound exhibition curated by Honor Harger

springtails is featured within the online exhibition

"As well as being a fascinating and compelling environment to interact with, Springtails also raises the issue of agency within the musical composition process. It is the insects which generate sounds by their movement. Users can cause the insects to move, but can not completely control their behaviour. So in this case, are the insects themselves the 'musicians'? Is the role of the user a 'conductor' perhaps, prompting the entomological musicians to 'play' by moving? In this case, the insect's visual environment could indeed be said to be the score." Honor Harger

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theatre of restless automata
boredomresearch's first national touring exhibition launches at Aspex in Portsmouth

exhibiting for the first time are three computational systems

“Like an infinitely complex snowdome every action or phenomenon we witness is happening live at that moment in a closed computational universe, out of the artist´s control. These systems offer a portal into the sublime, the microscopic and the gigantic, the familiar and the completely unknown. They act as trigger points for our imaginations, simultaneously feeding them with magical beasts yet teaching us to question whether or not we can believe our eyes.” Rosemary Shirley, Winchester UK

related links
Aspex Gallery - www.aspex.org.uk
biome info - www.boredomresearch.net/biome
ornamental bug garden 001 info - www.boredomresearch.net/obg001
randomSeed info - www.boredomresearch.net/randomseed

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interrogating interfaces panel discussion
boredomresearch present Confessions of a Fraudulent Pixel at CAA, Atlanta

Atlanta, Georgia is the venue for this years Collage Arts Association (CAA) conference and we will be presenting a paper titled Confessions of a Fraudulent Pixel. The paper will be part of the interrogating interfaces panel chaired by Alec MacLeod, California Institute of Integral Studies and Laurie Beth Clark, University of Wisconsin. The umbrella for this panel discussion was the New Media Caucus a non-profit, international membership organization formed to advance the conceptual and artistic use of digital media and represents a new strand at the CAA.

related links
The New Media Caucus - Alec MacLeod review on the panel discussion
The New Media Caucus - PDF version of interrogating interfaces papers

Transmediale is a platform for artistic presentation and critical reflection on the role of digital technologies in present-day society. This years festival in February 05 explores the BASICS of artistic practice with digital technologies.

For Ornamental Bug Garden 001 (exhibited in the 'creatures' section) to receive an honorary mention at a festival as prestigious as Transmediale is very exciting for us. This work represents a big change in the way we think about our practice and to have this validated in this way is hugely gratifying. After experiencing such a positive response to the work from those visiting the festival we will definitely be developing this work in the future.

We also exhibited MIDI Snakes and Ladders in the games section of this years Transmediale.

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VIDA 7th international festival of art and artificial intelligence
Ornamental Bug Garden 001 receives an honorary mention

VIDA is an international competition in Madrid, created to reward excellence in artistic creativity in the field of artificial life. In the words of the panel "occasionally we find a project that’s simply beautiful". We are proud to say that this work was Ornamental Bug Garden 001 which has been awarded an honorary mention by the panel. The world of artificial life has offered us much inspiration in the way we consider the creative potentials of computer technology and we are honored to be part of a festival devoted to this subject.

related links
VIDA - home page
VIDA - winners & honorary
VIDA - featuring OBG001
ornamental bug garden 001 info - www.boredomresearch.net/obg001

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Transigence
MIDI Snakes & Ladders is discussed in a Soundtoys presentation

As part of the latest Soundtoys exhibition we will be presenting our recent and current work at The Watershed Media Centre in Bristol in January 2005. Here we will share our understanding of the potentials of computer technology in relation to 'MIDI Snakes & Ladders' a piece of software we developed for the simple programming of complex MIDI algorithms. We will also preview work due to be part of our up coming solo touring exhibition 'theatre of restless automata'.