[SRL-INFO] Rhizome.LA - Sunday Feb 24, 2002

[anna balint]

The Art of Extreme Robotics

<http://srl.org/shows/events/rhizome/>

Showcases Limits of Human-Machine Interaction
presented by Maribeth Back and Karen Marcelo

Date:   February 24, 2002
Time:   5pm - 8pm
Location:       Rocco
6320 Santa Monica Blvd.
Hollywood, California
323.462.8500
No need to RSVP, but a $5-10 sliding-scale cover will be charged at the
door.

The Art of Extreme Robotics will feature Kevin Binkert, Mark Pauline,
Eric
Paulos, Simon Penny, and Christian Ristow. For bios on the artists,
please visit the events calendar at
http://rhizome.org/events/rhizome_la_feb.php3

The featured artists use and comment on technologies, such as augmented
reality, computer vision, artificial life, and virtual reality to
experiment with alternative scenarios for extreme human-machine
interaction, resulting in presentations and installations that are
thought-provoking and shocking.

"California has been the launch pad for the creation and innovation of
machine art and robot performance.  With talents from Silicon Valley and

Hollywood, the presence of de-commissioned military bases, access to
discarded equipment and the availability of a technically-skilled
volunteer
pool, the region has become a fertile breeding ground for a virulent
mechanical performance and art scene with a hacker ethic," said Karen
Marcelo, one of the moderators for the event.

Why stage The Art of Extreme Robotics?
Machines are, in theory, designed to be efficient, convenient,
non-intrusive. They blend into our environments seamlessly as
non-threatening and often even aesthetically pleasing tools. Machines
are
everywhere: a ubiquitous part of the enhanced environment. Some are
autonomous, while others are tightly coupled with the human body:
prosthetics, communication devices, even jewelry.  This gentle
encroachment, combined with ongoing research toward machine sentience,
forces us to consider machines outside the context of mere tools. They
are
part of our social, emotional, artistic, and even spiritual context.

About The Art of Extreme Robotics Moderators
Karen Marcelo codes for a living and hacks for fun. She worked with the
CSL
group at Xerox PARC in Silicon Valley developing mobile code for
simulated
ubiquitous computing environments and recombinant computing research.
Previous projects she has worked on include a VRML authoring tool, a
web-based multi-user 'world' Nerve Garden which received Honorable
Mention
in the .NET category at Ars Electronica 1998, and a parameterized 3D
visualization program (Tetrahedonism) which placed 3rd in the Science
and
Engineering category of the VRML Excellence Awards in 1997. In her spare

time she is Tele-obliteration Engineer for Survival Research Labs,
coding
Internet telerobotic systems for lethal robots.

Maribeth Back designs, builds, and writes about multisensory interfaces
and
environments. She is a dynamic systems designer and audio engineer whose

work includes experimental electronic books and reading devices, mixed
reality systems, sound design for professional theatre, radio, and
CD-ROM;
system design for virtual and computational environments; and
performance
installation pieces, both solo and collaborative. In 2001 she won the ID

Magazine Silver Award for her Listen Reader, an experimental Magic Book
that incorporated rich, controllable sound textures into each page of a
real paper-based childrens' book. At Xerox PARC (1996 - 2002) she worked

with the RED group exploring emerging genres and document types.

About Rhizome.LA
Rhizome.LA, an offshoot of Rhizome.org, is a new media art event series
produced in Los Angeles, California by Beverly Tang. Southern California
is
buzzing with artists using emerging technologies. Rhizome.LA serves as a

gathering point for new media artists, curators, students, academics,
critics, designers and others. It will also serve as a way to introduce
new
media art to a public that is still largely unaware of what is happening
at
the intersections of art and technology. These "show & tell" style
events
will provide a window into current movements involving art and
technology.
Rhizome.org is a nonprofit organization based in New York City. Its
programs support the creation, presentation, discussion and preservation
of
contemporary art that engages new technologies in significant ways.