Barbara Layne, Ingrid Bachmann, Bill Vorn (Yves Bilodeau) and Lynn
Hughes, amid Vorn’s artwork in progress at Hexagram’s
Concordia studio space. Hexagram has improved the communication
between Concordia Fine Arts faculty, Hughes says. “We’re
identifying ways to help each other. I’m already going to somebody
in the performance and sound group for advice about actors.”
You watch a dancer leap onstage and into her routine. A larger figure
duplicates her movements precisely — but it can’t be her
shadow; the sequence is different. Her counterpart is actually a computerized
image
programmed with the dancer’s every possible motion.
Later, at a restaurant, you watch two virtual characters interact
spontaneously onscreen according to their preprogrammed dispositions.
When the meal is served, you notice the placemats change motif with
every course. You call home by talking into your shirt cuff.
Don’t pinch yourself. You’re not dreaming. You’ve just
entered the world of the fantastic ideas that artists from Concordia
and Université du Québec à Montréal (UQAM)
are beginning to turn into reality at Hexagram, the Institute for
Research and Creation in Media Arts and Technologies. Concordia and
UQAM jointly founded Hexagram to encourage artists to use modern technology
to push art to new limits, possibly affecting our everyday lives.
“Hexagram will help us work towards what’s coming instead
of what already is,” explains Lynn Hughes, Concordia studio arts
professor and a member of the interim committee responsible for Hexagram’s
core structure.
Hexagram opened for business officially in January (it has no office
space at this point), but months of planning have already laid the
foundation for projects that will involve more than 60 artists/professors
and 250 graduate students. The projects will evolve around eight broadly
defined themes that include virtual characters, robotic art and wearable
computers.
The name Hexagram was chosen because the overlapping geometric figure
symbolizes the joining of two universities to produce a larger artistic
entity. “We’re creating a powerhouse of creativity by bringing
together all these artists and possibilities in digital technologies,”
says Concordia dean of Fine Arts Christopher Jackson, the institute’s
interim director.
The institute will enable artists/professors from Concordia, UQAM
and other Montreal universities to collaborate and make better use
of existing facilities. More importantly, it is structured to obtain
much needed funding from government and private industry. University
artists have traditionally been frustrated by a lack of funding to
buy computers and other necessary equipment. As the institute for
art
involving new media and technologies in Quebec, Hexagram has already
received $7 million from provincial and federal agencies. And in February,
the Canada Foundation for Innovation awarded Hexagram a whopping $21.9
million grant.
“The Quebec government must be saluted for taking a leadership
role in funding university artists,” Jackson states. He reveals
that Hexagram would never have happened if the province hadn’t
insisted that Concordia and UQAM pool resources. “We each independently
approached the government for funds to establish a research institute
and were told to get it together or forget about getting any money.”
Hexagram has also garnered interest from companies willing to invest
in art with commercial promise. “You just have to look at most
commercial web sites to know a crisis in content exists,” Jackson
says, “because most of the investment until now has been in the
technology. In exchange for allowing us to make our art with all this
fantastic new technology, we’re willing to work with industry
to find applications.”
Jackson acknowledges the approach means adopting a new way of thinking
for most artists. A major part of Hexagram’s mandate focuses
on making it easier for the artists, with the help of an advisory
board of representatives from outside the university, to establish
links with government, industry and the museum world. A director (not
yet named) and small staff will help the artists run the maze often
attached to funding initiatives. Jackson concedes that some artists
are concerned that ties with outside enterprises might hinder creativity,
but he emphasizes Hexagram has been structured to protect the artists’
creativity. “They must be given an opportunity to work without
restrictions,” he says. “We’re not interested in having
artists make widgets.”
Barbara Layne, associate dean, research, at Concordia’s Faculty
of Fine Arts, says most of the artists feel comfortable with the structure
because they helped to develop it. “We’re required to be
productive and to have an influence in some way,” she says, “but
no one is dictating how that has to be done.” Layne is interested
in creating fabrics with fibre optics or other conductive materials
that change patterns in response to different environments. One possible
commercial outcome is motif-changing place mats.
As part of the Interactive Textiles and Wearable Computers team, Layne
will often collaborate with Ingrid Bachmann, director of Concordia’s
graduate program in Fine Arts, and Charles Halary, a UQAM sociologist
interested in the cultural impact of wearable computers. “Industry
people are very excited about our team because we have two artists
pushing boundaries and a third expert interested in locating the outcome
in practical ways,” Layne says. She makes it clear her attention
centres on artistic possibilities rather than commercial spin-offs.
Lynn Hughes echoes the desire to focus on art for its own sake, but
adds that some artists might enjoy making new connections. “A
bit more contact with the outside world might be exciting and influence
what we do,” she says. Hughes wants to explore biofeedback interfaces
— different ways to allow bodily functions to control what happens
on a computer, video or movie screen. Her work has attracted the interest
of video game manufacturers — and is already helping children
with attention deficit disorder. A screen-based system that measures
levels of concentration teaches ADD children to learn intuitively
how to relax and focus in order to control the onscreen animation.
Concordia studio arts professor Yves Bilodeau (whose professional
name is Bill Vorn) is researching ways to convey the preprogrammed
behaviour of a virtual robot via the Internet. His goal is to create
a robotic installation that expands various borders and functions
simultaneously. While his motivation is artistic, Bilodeau foresees
his research making it easier for companies to transport capabilities
from one location to another. He’s also interested in transferring
the “personalities” of virtual robots to real ones.
Interaction
If there’s one word common to all the projects, it’s interactivity.
Every initiative calls for an artistic element to change when it comes
into contact with either people or technology. In this world, Mona
Lisa would never be left just to sit with a smile all day.
Interacting with another university is also part of the deal. French
is the operative language at Hexagram, with information translated
as needed within smaller groups. “Everyone’s second language
is improving,” says Hughes. Nevertheless, figuring out grant
and investment applications in two languages and dealing with two
distinct university cultures definitely complicates things. “Differences
arise all the time,” Hughes admits. “Even the way the two
universities pay an honorarium differs, but we’re working that
all out. The experience is also giving the two deans on the interim
committee a lot of things to reconsider at their respective universities.”
Goodwill abounds in working out differences because the rewards are
potentially so great. As Hexagram becomes known for artistic innovation,
Bilodeau expects it will attract major investment not only from North
American firms, but European and Asian ones. Hughes has no doubt that
Hexagram will bolster the resources and reputation of Concordia’s
Fine Arts faculty. “We’ll be able to hire graduates to do
research and attend conferences on our behalf,” she explains.
“They’ll meet people and talk about the work being done
in Montreal, which will generate excitement.” Jackson also believes
Hexagram will enhance the Faculty by providing access to new equipment
and possibly by setting up new chairs for art research.
As for Hexagram’s future, everyone describes its potential as
wonderfully intangible. “We really don’t know where all
of this will lead,” Jackson says. “That’s what’s
so exciting about it.”
Julia Matusky, BA 86, is a Montreal freelance writer.
For more information on Hexagram visit www.hexagram.org.
Hexagram’s research will evolve around eight themes:
1. Emerging cinema and virtual characters will explore new techniques
and content in 3D animation.
2. Adaptive data transmission and broadband video will develop new content
for mobile wireless reception/transmission systems.
3. Robotics and artificial life will investigate developing complex
behaviour in these entities.
4. Immersive environments, virtual reality and gaming will search
for new interfaces as well as generating the feeling of total immersion.
5. Interactive textiles and wearable computers will investigate how
technology can be woven into clothing.
6. Interactive performance and sound will explore how technology can
enhance the study of movement, imaging, sound and space.
7. Advanced digital imaging and rapid prototyping will look at
how computers can create and duplicate patterns and models.
8. Interactive television and virtual communities will look for new
ways for people to interact with their TV sets.
