This year, C-LAB Technology Media Platform cooperated with The Society for Arts and Technology in Canada, presenting a selection of 7 works as a SAT Fest program. Since 2012, SAT Fest has been an important event in immersive works, and it provides a space for artsits to practice their creativities.
｜Program
◉ Sergey PROKOFYEV, LABYRINTH (German) ◉
A labyrinth is a space urging a person to constant movement. When viewed from above, we have an objectively distinguishable idea of a line, a pattern or an ornament. In a labyrinth, we fall under the visual impact of a particular configuration of space, which is impossible to get out of, being stuck in the disorientation effect. We switch to a subjective perception of life. As we move continuously, the perception of the labyrinth space changes every second. Squares, streets, passages, corridors, rooms form a dynamic structure of the urban labyrinth. The film represents an attempt to combine the architectural fantasy of a labyrinth and the visual experience of walking through time.
Sergey PROKOFYEV dipl. ing. architect and creative director of Studio Schwitalla. Currently lives and works in Berlin. Sergey received his Diploma in Architecture in 2007 from the Prydniprovska State Academy of Civil Engineering and Architecture, Ukraine. The main focus of his work is the exploration of new ways of architectural communication tools through immersive video. He tries to use a number of cinematic methods of incorporating the temporal dimension into the architectural presentation. Dividing the visual experience into spaces, movements and action, and then reorganizing them in a sequence, which in turn generate different stories. He believes the fulldome film format is the most intensive visual impression for architectural representation. His projects have been awarded at various architectural competitions and immersive film festivals.
◉ Frances Adair MCKENZIE, The Orchid and the Bee (Canada）◉
Nature is wondrous and clever. As Darwin taught us, those who improvise most effectively prevail. There are species who under threat revert to earlier forms, others who cultivate parasitic relationships with neighbouring beings, while the most inventive ones transform their bodies to mimic and seduce unsuspecting companions. The Orchid and the Bee is an expressionistic VR ode to life’s struggle for existence, explored through a chain of genetic love affairs.
Frances Adair MCKENZIE is an interdisciplinary artist who has exhibited in Canada and Europe. Her work negotiates speculative investigations into concepts of materiality, staging and form, always in deference to process as the hands-on manipulation of real materials and objects, most often through the interface of digital technology and sculpture. Frances’s augmented reality book, Glossed Over & Tucked Up, was published in 2016 by Montreal’s Anteism Press. Her association with the Nation Film Board of Canada began with the 10th edition of Hothouse, when she created the surrealist animated short A Little Craving. Her most recent NFB project, The Orchid and the Bee, is a VR stop-motion animation that speaks to the interconnectedness of all living things. Frances lives and works in Montreal.
◉ Maarten ISAÄK DE HEER, SWARM (German) ◉
Swarming is a behavioral phenomenon to survive, but more than often, it is a prelude for extinction. Fly with the flock as they travel from Germany, over the Alps, to the Mediterranean Sea. Small birds migrating over exhausted and exploited landscapes. Robins, tits and sparrows do not usually migrate this far, but in a near future, they might. Swarm offers a bird's eye's view over landscapes of three dimensional photo collages that show a part of Europe after climate change.
Maarten ISAÄK DE HEER is a Berlin-based animation artist. Besides his commissioned work, every 2-3 years he produces one piece of free animation. His works explore new forms such as installations of animated paintings, 360°, Fulldome, VR, lenticular print and animated wildlife documentary. In 2020 he started Menetekel Film; a production company with a focus on bad omens.
◉ David GARDENERV, GRANDMA’S HOUSE（Canada） ◉
A story of memory and dementia. Recalled memories of time spent at grandma’s house become ever more confused, as the film spirals into the depths of dementia. The memories become muddled and confused as the film progresses, matched with the ever increasing strangeness of the animated scenes depicting the memories.
Montreal Life Support (David GARDENER) is a musician and multimedia artist from the UK. Working with sound, projection, light and kinetic sculpture to create thought provoking and meaningful experiences.
◉ Weidi ZHANG, Weilu GE and Shaoyu SU, ASTRO（USA）◉
In Astro, our earth, the only astronomical object is known to harbor life, is unfolded through the lens of an intelligent being in outer space. As it rotates lens to zoom in and out, the journey of observation brings the multi-scale discoveries of ecological changes and machinic visions with an artistic imagination: from a vast forest where the flames roar into the wild creatures to the melting iceberg revealing hidden information, from the diagrams of ancient pseudoscience (astrology) to the latent walk of AI’s generation, from the data-driven landscape to the algorithmic generative visuals, from climate change to the creature’s migration. This audio-visual work poses a question: why explore space in the context of known and unknown as well as folding and unfolding.
Weidi ZHANG is an LA-based new media artist/researcher/designer. Her current research and media art practices investigate A Speculative Assemblage - interactive image-data-based visualization of a human-machine reality in the context of experimental data visualization, speculative design, responsive Intelligence system, and immersive media. Her works are featured at international venues, such as the SIGGRAPH Art Gallery Best In Show, ISEA, Times Art Museum (CN), Japan Media Arts Festival, Lumen Prize (UK), SIGGRAPH ASIA, CVPR, IEEE VISAP, Planetarium 1 (RUS), Zeiss-Planetarium (GE), Society For Arts and Technology (CAN), and others. Currently, she is a Ph.D. candidate in the Media Arts and Technology Program and a graduate researcher in Experimental Visualization Lab. She lectures at UC Santa Barbara and The Ohio State University.
Sound Artist: Weilu GE
3D Artist: Shaoyu SU
◉ Sébastien LABRUNIE and Clément PUTEGNAT, JACINTHE.XYZ（France）◉
When was the last time you took a moment to really look at one small ordinary thing? We are exposed to massive amounts of pictures and signals every day, and we're trained to swipe and process large quantities of content. This piece is about taking a break from the continuous data flow. It’s about slowing down and contemplating the tiny ordinary beautiful things that we usually swipe away. JACINTHE.XYZ explores the full color palette of one single 3D photogrammetric scan of a group of hyacinths. Using real-time modulations and distortions, the visual characteristics of the subject derive into different pictorial rhythms. The soundtrack comes from a recording of a live clarinet/looper improvisation session by the talented french musician Clément PUTEGNAT, providing an added layer of acoustic poetry.
Sébastien LABRUNIE is a French visual artist, producing immersive installations pieces, 360 fulldome content, experimental VR experiences and A/V live performances. Using a multimedia approach, he crafts loops and glitches connections between analog and digital worlds to create sensory experiences, exploring human perceptions through organic textures and light. With a background in graphic design and VR industry he is now mainly focusing on experimental narrative forms, digital/analog glitch art and immersive installation art of all scales. He is also working on live performances with the Taiwanese sound artist Lu Yi since 2016 as the A/V Duo Sondes.
◉ Lydia YAKONOWSKY, INTRODUCTORY ECONOMETRICS（Canada） ◉
Introductory Econometrics is an exploration of generative visuals, representing creative imaging of diverse elements of economic modelization. In this film, the curves free themselves from the theory of economics as to move throughout a vibrant universe of data, in a vast autocorrelation choreography; the graphic grid interfaces evolve to create new spaces, immense walls, starry ceilings.
Lydia YAKONOWSKY is an economist with a background in visual arts. She seeks to represent various elements of economic modeling in innovative ways. The development of generative visuals reflects the process of optimization that is so common in economics: the efficiency of creation is maximized through programming. In her work, elements of theory are continually confronted with the complexity of the real world. Her highly mathematical visual style illustrates both organized structures and their deconstruction.
｜Date & Time
10/14（Sat.）17:00, 19:00
10/15（Sun.）17:00, 19:00
11/17（Fri.）19:00
11/18（Sat.）17:00
11/19（Sun.）17:00
｜Admission Information
▸ Ticket required for entry.
▸ Please arrive at least 10 minutes before the performance or screening. Latecomers will not be admitted. On-site queuing for entry is available depending on the vacancies.
▸ Throughout the event, tickets for each program will be available on the Monday two weeks before the event date. For detailed program registration information, please visit the "C-LAB Technology Media Platform" Facebook page or the event page of C-LAB on Accupass.
| Notice
▸ Some performances contain intense strobe lighting effects. Viewer discretion advised.
▸ The space is equipped with the mirror floor, viewer wearing pants is advised.
▸ Due to limited space inside the venue, picnic mats and chairs are not allowed. If you have other needs, please contact the front desk staff for assistance.
▸ Photography and social media stories recording are allowed during the screening, but the use of flash is prohibited.
▸ The organizers reserve the right to adjust and change the event.