R. Buckminster Fuller, the visionary American design scientist, is perhaps best known for his development of the geodesic dome. However, this was only a small part of his comprehensive design approach that incorporated aspects of mathematics, philosophy, engineering, and the arts. He strongly believed that human understanding is based on experiential learning. He viewed this as the only truly effective way for most people to understand complex and inter-related phenomena.
Today, innovative visualization tools and immersive media environments are increasingly being used to bring complex ideas to life. David McConville, co-founder of the Elumenati, will discuss the influence that Fuller's designs and philosophy have had on artists and scientists. From experiments in the 1950s with immersive projection to contemporary video game designs, McConville will explore how Fuller's visionary ideas are continuing to be brought to life.
Processing is an open source programming language and environment which is blurring the boundaries between programmer and artist and challenging current notions of art making practice. Initiated by Casey Reas and Ben Fry while students at MIT it won the prestigious Golden Nica award at Ars Electronica and will be presented there this fall.
Digital artist/designer Katya Moorman will give an overview of the history/ideology of open source code, Processing's history within it, and how the environment expands possibilities for artists through programming. There will also be interactive work on display from various artists using Processing including: Casey Reas, Sawako Kato, lab5769 and others.
