Alt-w at Edinburgh College of Art: 31 July – 31 August 2014

https://www.eventbrite.com/e/alt-w-private-view-tickets-12351713307

Alt-w | Private View – Thursday, July 31, 2014 from 5:00 PM to 8:00 PM (BST)

Edinburgh College of Art
Evolution House
79 West Port
EH1 2LE Edinburgh
United Kingdom

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An exhibition of new work for the Edinburgh Art Festival by ~ in the fields, Chris Helson & Sarah Jackets, Hadi Mehrpouya & Robert Powell, Donna Leishman and Calum Stirling, all commissioned by New Media Scotland’s Alt-w Fund.

http://www.mediascot.org/sites/default/files/images/newmediascotlanddonnaleishman-front2.jpg

The Alt-w Fund is for practitioners based in Scotland to make and develop new artworks, devices and applications that challenge the notions of what new media creativity can be. The fund supports artists to explore experimental and interactive practice, make use of technology as both medium and message, and recognise the changing role that digital culture has in our society.

In Help Me Obi, Helson and Jackets have built a seemingly impossible machine, a 360º video hologram to investigate remote relationships, intimacy and dislocation. Mehrpouya & Powell have also created a vision of the world in miniature. By rearranging sculpted pieces on a board, game players can endlessly influence the microcosm contained within a wooden casket.

Stirling’s ceiling installation is an update of traditional Scottish cornicing. Social, political and economic data such as 4×4 depreciation values and red squirrel population are processed using bespoke data visualisation software and an artist-built CNC milling machine. Mongrel forms of moulding are outputted, distorting their original value as an indication of wealth and status.

As part of the new Ginsberg platform, Leishman’s fictitious cautionary tale is set within the world of social media. Predilections, thoughts and volumes of meticulously crafted selfies are not as they seem, and soon the ‘timeline’ edit begins to reveal warning signs of anxiety and insecurity. An installation by ~ in the fields is for children to feel relaxed and inspired in a space of wellbeing.

New Media Scotland’s Alt-w Fund receives investment from the Centre for Design Informatics, Creative Scotland and the Scottish Government.

Exhibition continues to 31st August 2014, Tue-Sat 10am-4pm. Free entry.

www.edinburghartfestival.com