About the League's Process of Experimentation

 

By conflating imagined and real space, inventing characters and concocting science, the collaborative research by the League of Imaginary Scientists can be characterized as a series of dream experiments.  The League’s über project is a science and technology extravaganza based on engineering achieved through play, with genuine doctors running naked and artists donning lab coats, all in the hybridized name of science/art.  A team of uncertain experts doing what they don’t know best can achieve an unexpected ending that serves as a launching point for both collaborators and a project.  League projects borrow and lend ideas, own and earn nothing, develop science and create community.  The über project is left undefined.  It might involve genomic imaging via network transmissions, incorporate ecological data as sonar signals, or present collaborative performances among distinct animal species.  The League reinterprets established doctrine, inserts experiment as end product, and exercises play as process.

 

INTERACTIVITIES and MEGAMEDIA

• Seeing is Knowing: The Universe:  Reach Into a Black Hole at the Perlman Teaching Museum, Weitz Center for Creativity in Minnesota:  2011.
  
  
• Entropy and Earthquakes:  Residency at Bradley University in Engineering and Art, resulting in interactive exhibition at the Hartmann Center for the Performing Arts:  2011.
  
  
• Wormholes; The Automatoggler; The Zephyr Experiment: public experiments and interactions at the Museum of Contemporary Art, Los Angeles:  December, 2010 - March, 2011.
  
  
• Lovely Weather.  Climate Art installation, The Irish Rover: Looking for Mars off the Northern Coast of Ireland at the Letterkenny Regional Cultural Centre in Ireland (and on Mars):  November, 2010.
  
  
• Interactions with MIT.  Interactive exploration with synthetic biology (in the lab):  2010.
  
  
• The Grafting Parlour. Rainbow Generator and other creative science with The Grafting Parlour collective; exhibited at the Thessaloniki Bienalle in 2009.
  

• Esther is Crawling.  Interactive installation in collaboration with choreographer Emma Nordanfors at Arhus Kunstbygning in Denmark:  May, 2009.
  
  
• The Conversation Contraption .  Communication devices and mechanized interactions in collaboration with Pipp Stafford and featured interactive artists at Casula Powerhouse in Australia and at 6A ARI in Tasmania:  2008.
  
  
• Dream Assembly Line.  Dreams constructed by the city of Tábor in collaboration with the League of Imaginary Scientists, at the Cultural Exchange Station in Tábor (CESTA) in the Czech Republic:  2008.
  
  
• Really Real Estate™, showcasing the League’s campaign to vacate a warming planet and colonize space and sea, at Mutamorphosis in Prague and at the KIPP Gallery at Indiana University of Pennsylvania in 2007; at the Urbana Champaign Independent Media Center in May and Sea and Space in Los Angeles in 2008.
  
  
• Finding Aurora.  Interactivities developed with choreographer Emma Nordanfors and Carolina Bäckman, presented as a workshop at Tanz Fabric in Berlin in December, 2007; 2008 Milkbar Live International Film Festival in Oakland and Electrofringe in Australia in 2008.
  
  
• The Childhood Machine.  Bicycle-powered interactive installation providing Idea Therapy for an ailing Western Civilization; presented at Babel Art Space in Trondheim, Norway in August, 2007; Re.Sonance.007 festival; and at Prototipi Manzoni in Milan, Italy in 2008.
  
  
• thirty-seven isolated events.  Immersive video and movement with choreographer paige starling sorvillo and imaginationandmymother, presented at the San Francisco Asian Art Museum in January, 2007, and at CounterPULSE for the 2008 San Fransisco International Arts Festival in May, 2008.
  
  
• The Queen and the Gnome.  Animated, interactive rendering of class struggle, collective organizing, and horticulture, as drawn by leaf-cutting ants and the genome of the fungus they cultivate and consume: currently in development with League researchers and collaborating scientists at the Joint Genome Institute.
  
  
• The League of Imaginary Scientists: visualizing undone history for the world.  Interactive timeout machine and display of the League’s catalog of undone acts, as part of Command Z at the Torrance Art Museum in Torrance, California in 2007 and at Manifesta7, European biennial in Italy in 2008; cataloged in the newmacchina archive of Chronovisors in 2008.
  
  
• Meta-physical.  Remote physical for the aphenphosmphobic and display of verbal narcotics, with video documentation of intitial clinical studies of verbal narcotics; presented by NewTown at the Armory Center for the Arts in Pasadena, California:  May, 2007; cataloged in the newmacchina archive of Chronovisors in 2008; at Manifesta7, European Biennial of Contemporary Art in Bolzano, Italy, with CandidaTV in Fall, 2008
  
  
• A Live Diagram of the Human Condition (an Imaginary Science experiment).  Interactive performance examining the connection between thought and action while figuring the digestion of the world: drawn with interactive media by the League, movement by dance company Blindsight, and sound by George Cremaschi; MilkBar 2007 International Live Film Festival at CounterPULSE in San Fransisco in 2007; Electrofringe 2007 and the hybrid arts symposium in Perth, Australia in October, 2008.
  
  
• Blazar.  Study on matter and meaning; presented as an interactive participatory performance utilizing the League of Imaginary Scientists’ dupliporter for teleporting objects into a black hole; also on display, the League’s collection of black hole artifacts at The Office in Huntington Beach, California in 2006, Manifesta7, the European Biennial of Contemporary Art in Bolzano, Italy, as part of The Shadow of Frequencies at ex-Alumix, for CandidaTV in Fall, 2008, and cataloged in the newmacchina archive of Chronovisors in 2008.
  
  
• Remote Tea Party.  Real-time data interaction at California Institute of the Arts, in collaboration with graduate students, Shane Hazleton, Miwa Matreyek, Jeremy Schwartz, and Jihyun Song, one of whom continues to work with the League as Professor William T. Madmann:  September, 2006.
  
  
• Dinner Party Series (N-Avatar; Avatar x; Alpha Zuppa).  Live, interactive, telematic performance feast in collaboration with Melissa Ramos, Jasper Streit, Rhys Turner, and Francesca Veronesi at the TAFE Gallery in Newcastle, Australia; simultaneously at the University of London and at Performance Space in Sydney, Australia:  May and September, 2006.
  

• Microdot.  Imaginary Science at the University of Newcastle in Australia:  May, 2006
  
  
• Una Ciencia de lo Imaginario (A Science of the Imaginary).  Works of Imaginary Science, curated by Camilo Sanchez and exhibited through the Asociacion Colombiana para el Avance de la Ciencia in celebration of the World Year of Physics, at Museión in Bogotá, Colombia:  October, 2005.
  

SELECTED SITE-SPECIFIC INSTALLATIONS and PUBLIC ART PROJECTS

• Los Angeles, California: Tom Bradley International Terminal Video Art Project (Dr. Stephan Schleidan), 90-foot video mural comprised of several composite screens:  June, 2010.
• Copenhagen, Denmark:  Waterways collaboration with Paul D. Miller on Human Glacier, performed outside the Museum of Contemporary Art in Copenhagen:  November, 2009.
• Brooklyn, NY:  Waterways, a laboratory integrating chemistry, movement and sound on board the Waterpod in Brooklyn Bay in New York:  August, 2009.
• Rome, Italy:  Rome’s Mobile Timeline, a bicycle tour and interactive audio archive for The Eternal Tour; created with Liz Kueneke and narrated by collaborators from places around the world named Rome, like Roma, Indonesia:  July, 2008.
• Oakland, California:  The MilkBar; an interactive research project into the benefits and dangers of the many varieties of milk:  created and performed in collaboration with Merlin Coleman for The Milk Bar #20 at The Biscuit Factory:  April, 2008.
• Newcastle, Australia:  Climate Change is Happening, collaborative urban video installation, created and presented in conjunction with Electrofringe’s Sight/Sound/Site workshop:  March, 2006.
• Lademoen Kunstnerverksteder in Norway:  H2O, video installation:  February, 2005.
• University of California, San Diego:  alteration/enhancement of an existing physical network – the outdoor lighting system – as a nervous system:  February, 2004.
• Centre Cívic in Barcelona:  public art installation in Spain:  September - October, 2003.
• Japanese American National Museum:  video installation in the Hirasaki Theater Gallery in Los Angeles:  August, 2002.
• La Panaderia Gallery in Mexico City:  video installation for Catastrophica, Mexico:  January, 2002.

SELECTED NETWORKED EVENTS

• ISEA2009 at MIT with global broadcast locations, GfP presentation on Open-Source Science,
  A Citizen’s Call to Synthesize:  November, 2008.
• Art is Good For You.  Conversation Starters included in ISEA 2009 bluetooth project on Thomas Street in Dublin, curated by Mike Stubbs:  November, 2008.
• TenderPixel Gallery in London, the League of Imaginary Scientists in collaboration with the Aether9collective:  August, 2008.
• El Festival Internacional de la Imagen (Aether9) in Manizales, Colombia:  April, 2008.
• 2008 Mapping Festival (Aether9) at Bâtiment d'Art Contemporain (BAC) in Geneva:  April, 2008.
• NetUser4 (Aether9) at the International Working Camp in Bulgaria:  July, 2007.
• Remote Fairytales (Aether9) at Maison d’Art Actuel des Chartreux (MAAC) in Brussels:  June, 2007.
• 2007 Mapping Festival (Aether9) at Bâtiment d'Art Contemporain (BAC) in Geneva:  May, 2007.
• N-Avatar.  Telematic work at the TAFE Gallery in Newcastle, Australia:  September, 2006.
• Avatar x.  Live, interactive performance located simultaneously at the University of London and at Performance Space in Sydney:  September, 2006.

CONFERENCES/ PRESENTATIONS/ WORKSHOPS

College Art Association / ARTspace.  On panel,Contemporary Collaboratives and Collectives:  March, 2012.
University of Rochester / Brain and Cognitive Sciences.  Imaginary Science: Interactions and Collaboration:  January, 2012.
Bradley University.  Collections, Contraptions and the Cosmos:  April, 2011.
Americans for the Arts Half-Century Summit on Public Art.  Waterways presented as one of the year’s 40 Best Public Art Projects by PAN:  June, 2010.
Lovely Weather Workshops. Collections, Contraptions and the Cosmos:  March, 2010.
UCLA Art|Sci.  Mapping in science and art at the Eli Broad Center at UCLA:  June, 2009.
Farmlab.   Participatory mapping in art for Farmlab’s public salon series:  June, 2009.
e-MobiLArt symposium:  Merging art and science; on the collaborative process:  May, 2009.
Trinity College Dublin:  Talk on art and science, Interacting with Research:  January, 2009.
Santa Monica College:  Visiting lecturer for arts program:  December, 2008.
ISEA2009 pre-symposium:  GfP at MIT and the University of Ulster, Belfast:  November, 2008.
Boston College:  Which Way is North?  Where Art and Science Intersect;  November, 2008.
Hybrid Arts Symposium:  Live Diagram in ElectroEtre at PICA in Perth, Australia: 2008.
Electrofringe:  Presentation on inter-media collaborations:  October, 2008.
Dorkbot Sydney:  On Blurriness with Carolina Bäckman in Sydney, Australia:  2008.
ISEA2008:  Video contributor for collaborative remote media performances:  July, 2008.
Electrosalon.  TEAS Intercontinental Media Arts and Performance Discussion presented online through the Escape Artists in Vancouver, Canada:  April, 2008.El Festival Internacional de la El Festival Internacional de la Imagen:  Remote participation in Realtime Jam Sessions Workshop presented with Aether9 at Manizales, Colombia and online:  April, 2008.
The Gerrit Rietveld Academie:  Remote participation in intercontinental Cym-directed workshop on real-time performance and Aether9 in Amsterdam:  March, 2008.
California State University, Northridge:  Interactivity and Public Art:  2008.
Mutamorphosis: Challenging Arts and Sciences:  Really Real Estate™ unveiled in Prague, Czech Republic; organized by CIANT, Leonardo, and the Hexagram Institute:  2007.
Samand Íslenskra Myndlistarmanna (SIM:  The Association of Icelandic Visual Artists):  presentation of works by The League of Imaginary Scientists:  2007.
VJ Theory:  Let’s Chat – What is Realtime Interaction?  Intercontintental networked discussion presented by The Escape Artists:  2007.
College Art Association:  Documentation from the League of Imaginary Scientists presented by Claremont Graduate University at the Asian Cultural Center's Asian Fusion Gallery in New York:  February, 2007.
University of Wisconsin, Madison:  Imaginary Science at TRANS Visual Culture Conference:  2006.
California Institute of the Arts:  Presentation of Imaginary Science art works/ Artist in Residence (Dr. Gomez):  2006.
Electrofringe (Newcastle, Australia):  Telematic presentation on networked media and streaming technologies at Electrofringe:  September, 2006.
University of London:  Presentation on network (mis)communication at (re)Actor: The First International Conference on Digital Live Art:  September, 2006.
Cultural Exchange Station (Tábor, Czech Republic):  Presentation of Imaginary Science videos and interactive works:  2006.
University of Newcastle (Ourimbah, Australia):  Presentation of Imaginary Science videos and interactive works:  2006.

ARCHIVES/ CATALOGS/ PUBLICATIONS

• ElectroEtre. DVD compilation of interactive performance works, compiled by Cat Jones: 2008.
• Babel 2007.  Essay on the League’s collaborative installation, “The Childhood Machine,” in Norway.
• Resonance.Network.Mission.007.  (The Childhood Machine) Catalog and DVD of the third biennial re.sonance.007 festival, produced by sonance artistic.network:  2008.
• Four Degrees: Artistic Views on Climate Change.  Catalog, produced by the KIPP Gallery at Indiana University of Pennsylvania, edited by Robert Sweeny:  2008.
• (Untitled) u =_____.  Catalog essay by the League's Dr. L. Hernandez Gomez, produced by Fette’s Gallery:  2008.
• DVD collection of the National Museum in Wroclaw, Poland (in association with WRO 07, the 12th International Media Art Biennale).
• IMAF 2006.  Catalog and IMAF performance documentation archive (Reworld), the Multimedia Art Studio in Serbia and Montenegro:  2006.
• CESTA archive in Tábor, Czech Republic:  Imaginary Science and InterActivities DVDs included in collection.
• California Institute of the Arts library:  Imaginary Science and InterActivities in DVD collection.
• Archive at the Centre for Research and Documentation (CR+D), an arm of the Daniel Langlois Foundation.
• European Media Art Festival (EMAF 2006) Film, Video, and Interactive archive in Osnabrück.
• 2005 International Videofestival Bochum in Germany:  Works of Imaginary Science included in DVD archive.

FELLOWSHIPS, GRANTS, and HONORS

• FUSE stipend for the development of site-specific interactive art in Hong Kong:  2012.
• MOCA residency for collectives:  2011-2012.
• 2010 Public Art Year in Review:  Waterways honored as one of 40 Best Public Art Projects by Americans for the Arts:  2010.
• Leonardo/OLATS and Letterkenny Regional Cultural Centre commission for climate art in Donegal County, Ireland:  2010.
• Artist in residence at iLAB, iLAND, inc's interdisciplinary laboratory in NYC:  2009.
• Fellowship from e-MobILArt (European Mobile Lab for Interactive Media Artists):  2008-2009.
• Artist in residence at Lademoen Kunstnerverksteder in Trondheim, Norway:  2007.
• Danish Arts Council grants for presentation (Esther is Climbing):  2008.
• Meet the Composer commission for new music and multimedia:  2008..
• sitemaping.ch Swiss funding to Aether9 for new development in media arts:  2007 – 2008.
• Danish Arts Council grants for research (Finding Aurora):  2007.
• Royal Norwegian Consulate General grant for creative development and artistic exchange:  2007.
• Artist in residence at Lademoen Kunstnerverksteder in Norway:  2007.
• Artist in residence at California Institute of the Arts in Valencia, California:  2006.
• Artist in residence at the Cultural Exchange Station in Tabór, Czech Republic:  2006 and 2008.
• Artist in residence at the Gunnery Studios in Sydney, Australia:  2006.