New York artist Demetrius Oliver is known for his elegant, site-specific installations using photography, sculpture and video. Often he explores celestial imagery, and his latest show at The Print Center in Philadelphia is no exception. Canicular is a unique installation that transforms the gallery space into a temporary observatory.

By Megan Guerber

Christopher Manzione is a New York City-based visual artist and sculptor who founded the Virtual Public Art Project (VPAP) in 2010. The organization focuses on the ways in which the digital world and our physical realities interact. His recent work, the ActivatAR app, animates NYC subway metro cards into fully realized aesthetic and spatial worlds. The app has featured the work of many artists, including Barnett Cohen and Michael Rees.

Manzione talks to SciArt in America about the history of VPAP, the ideas that inspire the artists he has collaborated with, and what is next for the ActivatAR app.

By Pamela Segura

The documentary Chasing Ice, directed by Jeff Orlowski, follows National Geographic photographer James Balog as he photographs the ominous arctic landscape. The film begins with the requisite montage of news clips heeding the contentious debate surrounding global warming and climate change. Balog, who is introduced shortly after the film begins, is a self-made photographer with an M.A. in geomorphology. Despite his adoration of science, he did not identify as a scientist by profession. Balog became a photographer and set off to capture the world’s most stunning untouched landscapes.

By Allison Palenske

Three artists from across with globe--Steven Kutcher, Aganetha Dyck and Hubert Duprat—collaborate with insects in order to create surprising and innovative art. By using art to explore scientific puzzles, they open up new understandings of the complex life forms and life systems around us.


By Megan Guerber

“I can’t recall the last time I was in a room of humans with such an acute awareness of our humanity.” – Weston Clay, Theater Is Easy

Jody Oberfelder’s immersive dance and theater piece 4 Chambers is playing at Arts@Renaissance in East Williamsburg, Brooklyn, through March 22. In the piece, a maximum of 12 audience members, guided by “dancer-docents,” explore the heart in all its aspects: medical, physical, and metaphorical. 

By Ashley P. Taylor

The Crossroads Project sponsored a multi-media performance at Armor Hall in Wave Hill, a cultural center located in the northwest section of the Bronx, on Feb. 16.

Dr. Robert Davies, the founder of Crossroads Project, is a physicist at Utah State University. His organization considers the ways in which societies interact with surrounding natural environments and then spearheads projects to qualify those interactions. The Crossroads Project is centered on what photographer and environmentalist Yann Arthus Bertrand describes as “the time for us to believe what we know.” Believing what we know, according to Dr. Davies and the rest of the Crossroads Project, ultimately means to grapple with issues of sustainability. These issues were tackled by the Fry Street Quartet, a performance group that has received critical acclaim both within and beyond the art music scene.

By Pamela Segura

Competition Brief Calls for Collaboration of Artists, Scientists, Engineers, and Designers

The Land Art Generator Initiative, founded in 2009 by architect Robert Ferry and artist Elizabeth Monoian, is a platform for collaboration and the exchange of knowledge between aesthetics-based disciplines and technology-driven industries. The goal of the organization is to intertwine elements of art into the science of renewable energy, ultimately creating viable solutions for the future. By taking art out of the confines of a gallery, and incorporating the utility of energy production, the organization hosts a unique niche for artists.

By Allison Palenske

Every era has a particular crisis that dominates the psyche of mankind. From plagues to the Cold War, we have always feared the end of the world as we know it.

At Westbeth Gallery, four artists examined the looming crisis of global warming. The exhibition’s colorful mix of sculpture, painting and photo-collage created a lively display about this ecological topic. Humor and abstraction shifted our perspective in order to help us rethink our planet’s future.

By Megan Guerber

It is my pleasure to announce the release of our first issue of 2014!

Featuring the words and works of artists: Brandon Ballengee, Suzanne Anker, Laura Splan, Jonathon Keats, Noah Hutton, and Heather Barnett.

We've also covered many amazing topics, projects and exhibits this issue including: the use of color in science, the world of scientific illustration, UCLA's ArtSci Center, "The Cosmos" show put on by ASCI at the New York Hall of Science, Julian-Voss-Andreae's recent installation at Rutgers, and we may be a little close to understanding what it is that that robots dream of (see Electric Sheep feature).

Click the cover above to view, and you may also download each issue as a PDF via "The Magazine" tab! Enjoy!

Sincerely,
Julia Buntaine
Founder & Editor in Chief

Daniel Fishkin's exhibition at Brooklyn non-profit Nothing Space is the latest installation of his "Composing the Tinnitus Suites" 

Daniel Fishkin, a Brooklyn-based sound artist, seeks a creative solution to tinnitus in lieu of a medical one. Tinnitus, a condition in which one perceives a continuous high-pitched ringing sound, has affected Fishkin since 2008. Physicians are unable to offer any effective treatment beyond "getting used to it," yet this solution treats the problem far too lightly. Fishkin explores this condition, and notions of loss and gain, through his musical sculpture installation and a series of related guest performances at Nothing Space in Bushwick. 

By Megan Guerber