Inspiration (See larger view and caption)

Art is a touchstone of civilization, and as we stand at the dawn of a new age, called by some the era of “cultural computing,” the possibilities for engaging the humanities with the fine and applied arts and with science and technology seem likely to surpass anything yet imagined. The burgeoning internet, which can transmute poetry, art, music, and theater into personal, cultural, social, and scientific experiences without geographical or political boundaries, is already linking up with other technologies which have profound artistic possibilities: telepresence, Smart technologies, and high resolution mass-data visualization. This is an extraordinary moment, rich with potential for the creation of new human experience through the arts.

The Seedbed Initiative invites participants from across the campus and the community to join us in a wide-ranging exploration of the intersection of art and technology. As we seek to extend and expand the possibilities, we will encourage scholarship and critical thinking and foster research in the creation and the experience of the arts. Three primary areas of exploration are:

• creation and performance
• cognition and perception
• dissemination and scholarship.

We hope to create new kinds of art and new ways of experiencing the arts. We seek to create an environment in which, for example, the philosopher, historian, educator, social scientist, legal scholar, professor of comparative literature, or communications researcher might collaborate with artists and scientists in new ways to examine such critical issues such as public cultural policy, artistic diversity, access, community-building, and cultural appropriation and exploitation. We will support cross-disciplinary research, performances, and exhibitions, and we will host speakers and symposia.

This campus, with its unique cluster of major arts and technology assets, has already seen extraordinary combinations of art, science, and technology. We have been able to portray colliding galaxies and complex global weather patterns. Local middle school girls, working with software created by a University of Illinois student, used a virtual palette to draw a version of the prairie they could step into. A dancer, linked to motion-capture equipment and morphed by computer into a butterfly, fluttered in real time on stage with a dancer on the West Coast. A virtual ensemble, requiring no live singers or musicians, responded to three-dimensional gestures from a conductor. A web-based poem, part conversation and part performance, has explored the boundary between machine intelligence and human consciousness. The possibilities for new forms seem limitless. We hope to hear your thoughts and proposals.

Learn more at:
http://www.test.uiuc.edu/initiatives/sb/sb001.htm

Steering committee (to be expanded):

Mike Ross, Krannert Center for the Performing Arts, Chair
Narendra Ahuja, Electrical and Computer Engineering, Computer Science
Liora Bresler, Campus Honors Program, Curriculum and Instruction
Bertram “Chip” Bruce, Library and Information Science
Ken Carls, School of Art and Design
Kathleen Conlin, College of Fine and Applied Arts
Noshir Contractor, Psychology, Speech Communication
Donna Cox, NCSA
Guy Garnett, School of Music
Richard Powers, English
Pierre Wiltzius, Beckman Institute
Allison Clark, NCSA
Varkki George, Urban Planning
Roy Campbell, Computer Science

Read a white paper on this Initiative

Campus Units:

College of Fine and Applied Arts
College of Liberal Arts and Sciences
College of Engineering
National Center for Supercomputing Applications
Beckman Institute