Clarkson University Associate Professor of Communication, Media and Design Alex Lee will present his virtual reality-based projects, ‘Everything from Here to Infinity’ and ‘the Fold’, in Paris, France from June 8 to 11 at New Images XR Art Fair. These works will be shown to a panel of international curators alongside 40 or so other projects, with around 40 companies participating in the co-production and distribution market. The projects will be discussed regarding the topic of science and technology.
On June 13th, Alex will be presenting new findings from his research on machine learning for animation at the 27th International Symposium on Electronic Art in Barcelona, Spain. He will present new sentient character agents utilizing reinforcement learning (a form of machine learning) from his magnum opus ‘the Fold’ (episode II is currently in development). His research, titled ‘Possibilities of the Virtual in Digital Space; Rethinking Bodies, Cognition, and Values in the Metaverse’, will be presented to the panel alongside other experts in the field of art and technology at the Centre de Cultura Contemporània de Barcelona.
Lee says, “my work is an investigation on the possibilities of digital imagery in an increasingly technical and automated world. Originally born out of aesthetic theory, my practice focuses on the creative employ of artifice and immateriality within the digital image. I consider the digital image in relation to the phrase ‘technical image’ coined by philosopher Vilem Flusser in which photography and mechanical reproduction heralded new forms of perceptual experience and knowledge. We are living in a digital age of the ‘elite technical image’ where increasingly complex technical software and hardware apparatuses are being utilized for the acquisition and dissemination of knowledge and experience.”
He went on to say, “there is an additional phenomenological layer to some of my time-based works. The work utilizes the loop, slow pacing, and the relatively still to great effect. The temporal disjunction from the natural and endless repetition alludes to an abstraction of time and perception. The work’s connection to light is derived with algorithms within the computer, which I manipulate to great effect. I play with the possibilities found in data representation and physics simulation in order to arrive at a new formal possibility.”
Alex M. Lee is an artist who utilizes 3D animation, video game engines, virtual/augmented/immersive reality platforms, machine learning and the potential of simulation technologies in order to investigate contemporary modes of representation, artifice and technical images – culling from concepts within science, science fiction, physics, philosophy, and modernity. He received his BFA (2005) and MFA (2009) from the School of the Art Institute of Chicago in the USA.
https://www.clarkson.edu/news/clarkson-professor-feature-vr-artwork-and-new-research-paris-and-spain
