DEAR FRIENDS, ARTISTS, AND SUPPORTERS,
As you might have noticed, we’ve been silent for a while. We needed some time to reflect on our organization, our goals and the sustainability of REVERSE. After four incredible years providing a platform for the development of new ideas, interdisciplinary practices and artistic collaboration, REVERSE will be closing its doors.
As we reflect in REVERSE and take a look back at the exhibitions, workshops, performances, talks and other events that we hosted at our space, we want to thank all the artists, curators and collaborators who helped us make it all happen. We have loved every step of the journey, and are truly grateful for the support from our community these past few years.
Moving forward with our personal projects and art practices, we are proud of our achievements in our mission to cultivate groundbreaking projects at the intersection of art, science and technology, while promoting the work of emerging and mid-career artists and curators working with experimental forms of expression. Please feel free to browse our Internet archives and check out the diverse projects, exhibitions and events we hosted at our space throughout the years.
Onwards and Upwards,
REVERSE team
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OPENING SATURDAY, SEPTEMBER 17TH, 6 – 9PM @ BABYCASTLES
REVERSE and Babycastles are pleased to present their joint exhibition “Postdigital Ecosystems”, featuring works by art collectives Refrakt and Exonemo. The exhibition explores how the increasing digitalization of our everyday life, marked by the emergence of various new visual manifestations and the constant flow of data from and into our multiple screens like smartphones, computers, televisions, and billboards. These new dynamics have taken on their own lives becoming a seemingly autonomous ecosystems. We are connected even when we are offline, and whereas ubiquity used to be a quality of gods, it now seems to be a demand for mere humans in our networked society
The works in “Postdigital Ecosystems” look at the exchanges between the physical world and the digital world, questioning the boundaries between our biological reality and the technological virtuality. Exonemo and Refrakt examine how the lines between the physical world and the ether of the web are moving and blurring, while visualizing the overlaps between the digital and the analog. We might even wonder if the physical world is becoming an interface to the digital world.
The paradigm shift in technology has changed social values as well as every aspect of our ways of perception. Whereas there used to be an obvious difference between reality and virtual reality, these boundaries have started to blur and converging into eventually will make way to one big mixed reality. With smart technology and artificial intelligence having found its way into our homes and most intimate fields of our life, its overall role for society changed. In today’s world of constant connectedness, logging out has become an irregularity. We not only consume information and content but very actively participate, interact and generate more content. The user has become a participator. The exhibition puts the viewer in the spotlight while visualizing the ubiquitous digital space.
“Building Castles in the Cloud” is an augmented reality installation by Refrakt that explores the notion of constantly building castles in the cloud, always logged into digital space. The perfect world that contains our dreams and hopes is a romanticized version of the physical world we live in. Not only do we construct an artificial world, but also digital versions of ourselves inhabiting it.
“Refrakt”is an augmented reality app developed by the homonymous artists, enabling the viewer to perceive alternate realities in a virtual space by scanning real-life objects. He gets confronted with his own digital alter ego embedded into artifacts of a hyperreal paradise.
Exonemo will feature a selection of old and new work that reflects on how nowadays the Internet, networked 24/7 via smart phones, permeates our lives. Throughout our living space, the virtual screen and the actual space overlap indiscriminately. We are expected to function within this reality overlap, such as demonstrated so well by Pokemon Go. As the blurring continues, and it certainly will, we will come to question where our physical bodies lie, and where our hearts lie. For Exonemo screens are membranes between the actual and the information/ digital realms, and therefore, they explore the transference, intersections, and paradoxes between the informational and the material (including corporeal), through means including painting directly on screens.
ABOUT THE ARTISTS
Refrakt is formed by Carla Streckwall, Alexander Govoni and Michael Schröder. The digital space is ubiquitous, yet invisible to the naked human eye. Refrakt is a virtual museum revealing this increasingly relevant part of our daily lives and social interactions. By crossing the boundaries of physical space, various objects of all kinds of media play with the viewer’s perception of parallel realities. The devices used become an apparatus for this new world and lets the viewer interact with his immediate surroundings. While scanning real-life objects, the viewer will perceive alternate realities in a virtual space.
The artist unit e x o n e m o was formed in 1996 by AKAIWA Yae and SEMBO Kensuke. Their experimental projects are typically humorous and innovative explorations of the paradoxes of digital and analog computer networked and actual environments in our lives. Their The Road Movie won the Golden Nica for Net Vision category at Prix Ars Electronica 2006. They have been organizing the IDPW gatherings and “Internet Yami-Ichi” since 2012. They live and work in New York and are members of the first museum-led incubator NEW INC since 2015.
ABOUT THE CURATORS
Helena Acosta is a Venezuelan New Media Art curator, based in New York. Her work investigates and promotes social projects that take place within digital cultures. As curator, producer and creative director, she navigates the lines between art and activism. Her curatorial projects have received awards from Tokyo Wonder Site in Japan and the Generalitat of Catalunya in Spain. Helena is Cofounder of “Dismantling The Simulation,” a collective for visual activism and guerrilla actions that seek to question and dismantle the different discourses, events and information distribution schemes operating within Venezuela.
Andrea Wolf is a Chilean-born interdisciplinary artist living and working in New York. She creates multimedia installations that explore the relationship between personal memory and cultural practices of remembering. Andrea is the founder of REVERSE, a non profit art platform for the development of new ideas and interdisciplinary practices, promoting peer to peer knowledge exchange. Run by artists, REVERSE’s mission is to support innovative and boundary breaking projects that foster dialogue and artistic collaboration at the intersection of art, science and technology.
Joe Salina is a New York based Video Games Art curator. One of the founders of BabyCastles a collective with roots in New York’s D.I.Y. culture dedicated to building platforms for diversity in video games culture at every level from creators to consumers, connecting the independent game developer community with the broader New York art community, identifying exciting new voices in game creation from around the world and providing them exposure to new audiences.
Postdigital Ecosystems will open on Saturday, September 17th, 6pm at Babycastles, located 137 West 14th St, 2nd Floor. For more information email: info@reversespace.org or meow@babycastles.com
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Digital Memory Prosthetics: all video, selfies, instagrams, tweets, Facebook posts, digital calendars, map directions, all instances recorded on our phones, computers, tablets, by ourselves or by others, which become deeply instrumental to us in a way that extends and/or stands in for the functionality of the mind.
On Sunday June 5th we hosted a conversation about autobiographical memory and its relationship to digital media with Taeyoon Choi, Jade Davis, Nathan Jurgenson, Luka Lucic, Lorie Novak, and Chris Romero.
The discussion was streamed and documented via a google doc edited live through out the event, noting in-the-moment seemingly relevant points made, and googling topics and references, which arose in the conversation. You can find the final version of this document here and watch the full conversation in the following video.
DIGITAL MEMORY (PROSTHETICS) is a collaboration between Artistic Research for Memory Prosthetics members neuroscientist Sonja Blum and VR maker/artist Sarah Rothberg, and REVERSE curator/artist Andrea Wolf.
ABOUT THE PARTICIPANTS
Taeyoon Choi is an artist, educator, and curator based in New York and Seoul. His art practice involves performance, electronics, drawings, and storytelling that often leads to intervention in public spaces. Recently, Taeyoon was an artist in residence at Eyebeam Art and Technology Center and Lower Manhattan Cultural Council. Taeyoon cofounded the School for poetic computation in 2013 where he continues to organize and teach, and he is currently working on a book of drawings about computation.
Jade E. Davis is the Associate Director of Digital Learning Projects in the Center for Teaching and Learning at LaGuardia Community College CUNY. Her research looks at how digital media affects how society makes, understands, and accepts knowledge and culture. More specifically, she is interested in spaces that make digital information into knowledge and culture and the ethics and ownership of the data traces that are left behind. You can find some of her work on her website and can follow her on twitter @jadedid.
Nathan Jurgenson is a sociologist and social media theorist. Nathan is co-founder and chair of the Theorizing the Web conference, a contributing editor of The New Inquiry, and a researcher at Snapchat.
Luka Lucić is Assistant Professor in the Department of Social Science and Cultural Studies at Pratt Institute. Luka is a developmental psychologist whose research explores socio-cognitive development among young people who experienced abrupt changes of context as a consequence of migration, war, and urban destruction. His most recent publication titled Changing Landscapes, Changing Narratives (Pedagogy, Culture & Society) describes the effects of new media technologies on the psychological development of today’s young migrants.
Lorie Novak is an artist and Professor of Photography and Imaging at New York University Tisch School of Arts and the founder and director of the department’s Future Imagemakers/Community Collaborations. Lorie uses various technologies of representation to explore issues of memory and transmission, identity and loss, presence and absence, shifting cultural meanings of photographs, and the relationship between the intimate and the public. Her Collected Visions project, 1996-present, exploring how family photographs shape our memory, was one of the earliest interactive storytelling websites.
Chris Romero is a curator interested in media art, photography, animation, the Internet, and digital culture. In September 2015 he organized the first Internet Yami-Ichi in New York with Japanese Internet art collective IDPW. His exhibitions have been featured throughout New York and highlighted in The New York Times, The Huffington Post, and Hyperallergic. His academic and professional experiences express a passion for the curation, research, and preservation of media art.
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SUNDAY, JUNE 5TH, 5PM LIVESTREAMED FROM REVERSE
What were you doing on this day last year? Facebook can remind you. What was the name of that pizza place? Google can remind you. What are you doing Sunday 6/5 at 5pm? Mark it, so your device can remind you, DIGITAL MEMORY (PROSTHETICS): a conversation.
Join us virtually via 360 livestream, while we talk about autobiographical memory and its relationship to digital media with Taeyoon Choi, Jade Davis, Nathan Jurgenson, Luka Lucic, Lorie Novak, and Chris Romero.
*To have the full VR experience with your headset, download the youtube app and watch the live stream there.
**You can also participate in the conversation through this google doc that we will be updating through out the event.
Digital Memory Prosthetics: all video, selfies, instagrams, tweets, Facebook posts, digital calendars, map directions, all instances recorded on our phones, computers, tablets, by ourselves or by others, which become deeply instrumental to us in a way that extends and/or stands in for the functionality of the mind.
The conversation will converge on the following themes:
- Historical relationships between memory and media
- The role of the algorithm in mechanisms of remembering
- Vulnerability (as a consequence of digital prosthetics?)
- Sociopolitical implications in changing memory
- Imagining future memory
Hosted by Artistic Research for Memory Prosthetics members neuroscientist Sonja Blum and VR maker/artist Sarah Rothberg, and REVERSE curator/artist Andrea Wolf.
ABOUT THE PARTICIPANTS
Taeyoon Choi is an artist, educator, and curator based in New York and Seoul. His art practice involves performance, electronics, drawings, and storytelling that often leads to intervention in public spaces. Recently, Taeyoon was an artist in residence at Eyebeam Art and Technology Center and Lower Manhattan Cultural Council. Taeyoon cofounded the School for poetic computation in 2013 where he continues to organize and teach, and he is currently working on a book of drawings about computation.
Jade E. Davis is the Associate Director of Digital Learning Projects in the Center for Teaching and Learning at LaGuardia Community College CUNY. Her research looks at how digital media affects how society makes, understands, and accepts knowledge and culture. More specifically, she is interested in spaces that make digital information into knowledge and culture and the ethics and ownership of the data traces that are left behind. You can find some of her work on her website and can follow her on twitter @jadedid.
Nathan Jurgenson is a sociologist and social media theorist. Nathan is co-founder and chair of the Theorizing the Web conference, a contributing editor of The New Inquiry, and a researcher at Snapchat.
Luka Lucić is Assistant Professor in the Department of Social Science and Cultural Studies at Pratt Institute. Luka is a developmental psychologist whose research explores socio-cognitive development among young people who experienced abrupt changes of context as a consequence of migration, war, and urban destruction. His most recent publication titled Changing Landscapes, Changing Narratives (Pedagogy, Culture & Society) describes the effects of new media technologies on the psychological development of today’s young migrants.
Lorie Novak is an artist and Professor of Photography and Imaging at New York University Tisch School of Arts and the founder and director of the department’s Future Imagemakers/Community Collaborations. Lorie uses various technologies of representation to explore issues of memory and transmission, identity and loss, presence and absence, shifting cultural meanings of photographs, and the relationship between the intimate and the public. Her Collected Visions project, 1996-present, exploring how family photographs shape our memory, was one of the earliest interactive storytelling websites.
Chris Romero is a curator interested in media art, photography, animation, the Internet, and digital culture. In September 2015 he organized the first Internet Yami-Ichi in New York with Japanese Internet art collective IDPW. His exhibitions have been featured throughout New York and highlighted in The New York Times, The Huffington Post, and Hyperallergic. His academic and professional experiences express a passion for the curation, research, and preservation of media art.
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SATURDAY, JUNE 18TH, 1PM – 5PM
This workshop is perfect for artists, developers, educators or anyone interested in experimenting with the Raspberry Pi.
Learn how to setup and turn your Raspberry Pi into a standalone machine for installations from the ground up. Starting from a fresh Pi we’ll be learning how to install various flavors of linux, access basic networking and video playback. We’ll also dive into writing our first programs to wire LED’s, buttons and motors. Everything you need to know to get the Pi set up and running your own projects!
Some more things we’ll cover:
- The Pi is a cheaper alternative to a full computer setup; especially used in groups or in a network. How do we use one in an install?
- Learn about Raspberry Pi networking basics and getting it talking to the internet.
- Get down with some Linux to transfer files, run apps and navigate around the filesystem.
- Learn how to optimize and run your already existing sketches, apps or video files on the Pi.
We will also discuss uses for some Raspberry Pi accessories; such as WiFi, cases, camera modules and sensor hookups. Pairing with your Phone or iPad and general installation debugging.
WHAT TO BRING
Please bring your desired Raspberry Pi components, cables and accessories… we’ll try to share if we can. If you have any ideas for something you’d like to build bring them too!
Raspberry Pi* (can be purchased with workshop fee)
Laptop*
4gb SD Card* (check if it’s on this list http://elinux.org/RPi_SD_cards)
5V Micro USB Power*
Ethernet Cable*
Keyboard, Mouse, External Monitor (not required, but makes things easier for starting up)
Your favorite circuitry components/tools, LED Strips (to make stuff)
*required
INSTRUCTOR
Bruno Kruse is a New York based digital artist and developer. His recent artwork focuses on creating tools to develop interactive installations. He utilizes technology to create meaningful experiences and is motivated by an ongoing curiosity of designing with code.
Twitter: @brunokruse
REGISTRATION
Early bird (register by June 11th): $50
Regular: $70
REGISTRATION CLOSED
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TUESDAY, JUNE 21ST, 6:30PM – 9:30PM
TUESDAY, JUNE 28TH, 6:30PM – 9:30PM
This workshop will be an introduction to Unity3d (a 3d game engine) for artists. Participants will learn the basics of creating digital spaces that can be exported as standalone apps, VR experiences, web experiences, etc. There will be an emphasis on creating handmade/handdrawn textures that will be scanned and used to wrap 3d models and terrains.
A portion of the class will focus on presenting students with techniques to get up and running, starting with the Unity3d interface and touching on some light scripting.
Participants will finish the workshop having made an interactive 3d world made of hand drawn textures. This will be an excellent way to bring non-digital art into digital space, as well as an introduction to a powerful tool for artists with technology backgrounds.
WHAT TO BRING
- Laptop running Unity 5
- 3 button mouse (recommended)
- Smartphone (to scan paper drawings to be brought into Unity)
- Art supplies for creating textures (pens, crayons, pastels, etc)
INSTRUCTOR
Sarah Rothberg spends her time making animations, virtual worlds, installations, websites, and wearing gopros while doing mundane activities. Her work has been shown at the Tribeca Film Institute, Silent Barn, Grand Central Station, on the internet, and other places.
twitter: @sarahrothberg
REGISTRATION
Early bird (register by June, 14th): $60
Regular: $80
REGISTRATION CLOSED
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TUESDAY, MAY 31ST, 6:30PM – 9:30PM
THURSDAY, JUNE 2ND, 6:30PM – 9:30PM
This 2-day workshop will provide artists with the necessary skills to create elements, mock-ups and complete pieces using 3D printing technology. Participants will become familiar with the concepts, vocabulary and techniques of this emerging creative medium and will explore the software and hardware involved in making a successful 3-dimensional piece.
CONTENT
DAY 1
- We will learn concepts of additive printing using layers of plastic filament to build 3D structures.
- Learn the mechanics of 3D printers.
- Preparation, operation, and troubleshooting of the basic 3D printer.
DAY 2
- We will discuss 3D printer control software, printing with alternative materials, print resolution, printing with multiple colors, and other relevant topics.
- Using freeware and trial versions of modeling software, each participant will design their own object, translate it into a 3D printable file, and print a small-scale version of it from a 3D printer.
REQUIREMENTS
- Each student should bring a laptop with wifi capability or a usb port
- Students will be provided with required software and will have access to a 3D printer for the workshop
INSTRUCTOR
Art Jones is an artist working with 3-dimensional installation, photography, the moving image and audio. His work makes extensive use of popular music and mainstream media culture as raw material is sampled and re-combined in order to examine implicit meanings or suggest new ones. Jones’ films and installations have been presented at the Museum of Modern Art, London’s Tate Gallery, and numerous media festivals and broadcast outlets internationally. He lives in the Bronx, New York City.
REGISTRATION
Early bird (register by May 24th): $60
Regular: $80
REGISTRATION CLOSED
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SESSION 1: TUESDAY, MAY 10TH, 6:30PM – 8:30PM
SESSION 2: TUESDAY, MAY 24TH, 6:30PM – 8:30PM
/MR/S/ ROBOT is a workshop for artists, hackers and educators designed to explore the world of computing, hacking and internet security.
Join us as we dive into and discuss linux, ssh, terminal, basic hacking techniques and internet security. How do I find my IP address? What is Unix and Tor and DDOS? What does it mean to have root access? We’ll answer these questions together and more. No previous programming experience required, script kiddies welcome.
WHAT TO BRING
Students should bring a laptop to the workshop.
INSTRUCTORS
Bruno Kruse is a New York based digital artist and developer. His recent artwork focuses on creating tools to develop interactive installations. He utilizes technology to create meaningful experiences and is motivated by an ongoing curiosity of designing with code.
Twitter: @brunokruse
Carrie Kengle is a New York based developer and designer. She is an active open-source contributor and can be found using the Raspberry Pi to create installations, web and data driven LED works.
Twitter: @kandizzy
REGISTRATION
Early bird (Session 1: register by May 3rd, Session 2: register by May 17th): $30
Regular: $40
*Registration fee includes an SD card with workshop materials
REGISTRATION CLOSED
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SATURDAY, MAY 21ST, 1PM – 7PM
This workshop will teach the basics of using sensors with Arduino and then interfacing with Processing to manipulate images in real time. The workshop will focus on one specific sensor to develop basic skills in both platform.
CONTENT
- Arduino: setup, sensors, connections, basic programming, libraries, interfacing with Processing
- Processing: setup, receiving data from Arduino, basic programming, how to use the values received, basic image manipulation
STUDENT PROFILE
Artists and anyone who would like to start developing interactive applications for their work using open source platforms.
WHAT STUDENTS WILL GET FROM WORKSHOP
Software knowledge and material to work with.
PREREQUISITES
No prerequisites; Students should bring:
– laptop with both applications (Arduino and Processing) installed prior to workshop
– 1 arduino Uno
– 1 arduino usb cable
– 1 breadboard
If you don’t have an arduino, we recommend Adafruit’s experimentation kit since it comes with all of the above plus lots of sensors, wires and a mini tutorial book: https://www.adafruit.com/products/170
Otherwise, individual parts can be found here:
Arduino: https://www.adafruit.com/products/50
Breadboard: https://www.adafruit.com/products/64
Cable: https://www.adafruit.com/products/62 (or if you have a printer, your printer cable is probably compatible. check it before buying)
INSTRUCTOR
Karolina Ziulkoski is new media artist from Porto Alegre, Brazil. She uses technological applications to create immersive experiences that allow for a deeper participatory exchange between stories and audiences. Ziulkoski holds an MPS from NYU’s Interactive Telecommunications program and two Bachelor’s degrees, in Architecture and Advertising. She previously worked at the American Museum of Natural History, where she developed immersive interactive installations for the institution’s exhibitions, and is a founding partner at Bolota, an interactive design company in Brazil. Ziulkoski recently finished a residency at the Laboratory for New Media at the Museum of Image and Sound in São Paulo and is currently a full-time member at New Inc., the New Museum’s incubator for art, technology and design.
REGISTRATION
Early bird (register by May, 14th): $60
Regular: $80
REGISTRATION CLOSED
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TUESDAY, MAY 17TH, 6:30PM – 9:30PM
Sketch Up is a free software that proves to be an excellent tool for artist’s proposals. In this workshop you’ll learn the basics to quickly prototype your project proposal and create different views and floorplans of your installations or how your work should be displayed.
CONTENT
- Introduction: project setup, basic tools, unit formats, styles
- 3D Drawing: shapes, pull, offset, groups, components, scale, warehouse, hide/show, edge styles
- Textures: default textures, custom textures, application
- Dimensions and annotations: best practices
- Scenes: point of view, create scenes, animations, floorpans
- Export: file formats and settings
STUDENT PROFILE
Artists and anyone who would like to learn Sketch Up to make work proposals.
WHAT STUDENTS WILL GET FROM WORKSHOP
Software knowledge and material to work with.
PREREQUISITES
No prerequisites; Students should bring a laptop with Sketch Up free version installed before the workshop.
INSTRUCTOR
Karolina Ziulkoski is new media artist from Porto Alegre, Brazil. She uses technological applications to create immersive experiences that allow for a deeper participatory exchange between stories and audiences. Ziulkoski holds an MPS from NYU’s Interactive Telecommunications program and two Bachelor’s degrees, in Architecture and Advertising. She previously worked at the American Museum of Natural History, where she developed immersive interactive installations for the institution’s exhibitions, and is a founding partner at Bolota, an interactive design company in Brazil. Ziulkoski recently finished a residency at the Laboratory for New Media at the Museum of Image and Sound in São Paulo and is currently a full-time member at New Inc., the New Museum’s incubator for art, technology and design.
REGISTRATION
Early bird (register by May 10th): $35
Regular: $45
REGISTRATION CLOSED
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