Reflections

Jen Seevinck (Queensland University of Technology, Brisbane, Australia)

jennifer.seevinck@qut.edu.au : http://www.smArtnoise.net

ABSTRACT:

In Reflections, the imagery is evocative of nature, yet also unexpected. Here the visitor’s gaze is the central activity: perception of the imagery leads to the discovery of new forms. This accompanies a shift in the eyes focal range, itself an activity that occurs when contemplating at the water’s edge. While the analogy of nature soothes, it also disrupts. The audience is returned to their body, to the physiological act of perception as the eye is manipulated to disconnect from the pull of the image. Rather than consume this object of nature, the audience is prompted to consider its paradoxical form in relation to their body and gaze. Through its manipulation of perception and return to our body, Reflections challenges the ego centric assumption of person as separate from environment, an assumption that precludes empathy for climatic catastrophe and those we deem ‘external’ to ourselves.

DESCRIPTION:

Computer generated video for installation. 25 second duration. See vimeo online for this work “Reflections”

AUTHOR BIOGRAPHIE

Jen Seevinck is an artist and researcher. She works to sculpt new and surprising experiences for audiences and to explore the creative process of seeing. She draws on science and art to play with our perception, creating visual rhythms and the opportunity to interpret forms. Jen’s practice and research interests include interactive and concrete art, emergence, experience design, creativity and tangible media. She has worked in electronic art, design, education, scientific research and computer graphics for virtual reality and has developed many interactive designs, mostly using state-of-the-art interaction technologies and applied to art as well as medicine, space, data visualisation and engineering. She has contributed to patents and has several publications in the interactive arts and interaction design fields as well as having won international awards for her work. Her forthcoming book “Emergence in Interactive Art” (Springer International) explores the potential of perception and interaction for new digital arts, drawing on theories of emergence as well as creative works. Her art has been exhibited at conferences and contemporary art galleries in Beijing, Tokyo, Australia and the U.S.A. Jen is currently lecturing at the Queensland University of Technology.