The geometry of shadows

Gabrielle Hoad: The Geometry of Air (2012)
Near Broadhembury, Devon 12.20.30 – 12.51.55 UTC 22/10/2011
Laser-sintered nylon mounted on Perspex (Installation view)

'Neoreplicants', the result of the Exeter Phoenix Digital Art Commission 2012, is now open. This project gave 30 artists the opportunity to work with the Centre for Additive Layer Manufacturing (CALM) at Exeter University.

I used the process to make a three-dimensional scale representation of a 30-minute glider flight. GPS readings of altitude, latitude and longitude taken during the flight were transcribed into a digital model, from which a 3D scale-model has been fabricated. The air above and below the flight path was represented as solids.

I decided to install the top part of my model and hang it from a Perspex shelf set slightly above eye height. This helps it to read as flight and has the unexpected benefit of casting a particularly beautiful shadow.

'Neoreplicants' - Exeter Phoenix, Gandy Street, Exeter EX4 3LS
Friday 16 November 2012 - Sat 19 January 2013
Featuring the work of 30 Southwest Artists including Catherine Cartwright, Mat Chivers, Sam Cook, Katy Connor, Maia Conran, Paul Channing, Susie David, Nick Davies, Robin Duttson, Gabrielle Hoad, Nicola Jaberi, Debbie Locke, Stephen Monger, Helen Snell, Michael Werbicki, Nicci Wonnacot.

Brain food

Ecoid data visualisation from The Confluence Project (2012) - iDAT

Art practice can get a bit solipsistic so it's good to stop and find out what other people (both artists and non artists) are thinking about. This week I've been able to attend Collider: Exploring Hybridity organised by Egenis at the University of Exeter and Data Ecologies organised by iDAT at Plymouth University.

Highlights of  Collider: Exploring Hybridity held at RAMM on 7th November as part of the ERSC Festival were Dr Susan Kelly on 'human chimerism' and Dr Robin Durie on the evolution of culture in robots. Dr Katharine Tyler on 'white ethnicity' was also extremely thought-provoking.  There were also great contributions from SW artists Susan Boafo and Paul Ramsay.

Slightly more related to current developments in my practice, Data Ecologies on 10th November was concerned with methods for 'making the invisible visible'. I especially liked the distinction drawn between dirty data and so-called clean data 'uncorrupted' by human subjectivity. Dirty data relates to qualitative research and 'citizen scientists'; clean data is usually quantitative information gathered via instruments.

There were fascinating contributions from Alice Sharp of Invisible Dust and Simon Blackmore from The Owl Project.  We also had an opportunity to visit the university's Immersive Vision Theatre where we experienced a giant digital model of a 3D fruit fly reassembled from electron-microscoped 'slices', and a visualisation of the constellations viewed from a non-earthcentric perspective (ie with depth).

I learned lots but, if I have one criticism, it's that many of the artists and works featured weren't really engaging with data as their material, they were simply using it as jumping off points for their ideas. Or (and I find this less forgivable) as something to pretty up for aesthetic results.  This is frustrating because data itself can be far more surprising and interesting than anything we can invent.  It just needs a little help to materialise in a form human senses can comprehend.