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Is there decision-making strength in numbers? Professor Ken Goldberg, of UC Berkeley, and his students are looking into questions raised by robots and social networks - and working on a new class of interfaces and games based on networked robots and cameras that quantify a measure of ‘leadership’ to bring about group discovery and decision-making based on the power of crowds.

Ken will report on experiments and questions raised by robots and social networks, ranging from Ouija boards to human ‘tele-actors,’and tell a true story about how invasions of privacy led him and his students to study how robots can assist in monitoring the natural environment. Ken will describe a robotic system they’ve deployed to assist the search for the Ivory Billed Woodpecker, a bird of extreme interest to birdwatchers, ornithologists, and conservationists whose last confirmed sighting was in 1944. Ken will also describe the Berkeley Center for New Media, a highly cross-disciplinary center with over 110 affiliated faculty from 30 Cal Departments.

Date & Time: Monday, August 18, 7:00pm-9:00pm

Location: Atlas Cafe
3049 20th St, San Francisco, CA 94110

Cost: Free.

About Down to a Science: Down to a Science is a casual forum where leading scientists discuss their research with the public at a local cafe. After a short presentation from a scientist, we have Q&A leading to a dialogue. Speakers come prepared to get you involved in the discussion. DtaS features a blog with information about each topic. All this in an fun and easy atmosphere. You have never experienced Science like this!

Expressions Gallery presents a personal appearance by distinguished video artist and electronic musician Sylvia Pengilly showing and talking about her abstract animations.

When: 7-9 pm, Saturday, August 16, 2008; Admission: Free
Where: Expressions Gallery
2035 Ashby Avenue, Berkeley, CA 94703 (near the Ashby BART Station)
Public Info: 510-644-4930, expressionsgallery@msn.com
www.expressionsgallery.org
Contact: Loren Means, lorenmea@pacbell.net

Sylvia Pengilly has always been fascinated by the correlation between what the ear hears and what the eye sees. Because of this, many of her works integrate both musical and visual elements. Mathematics and physics, including Chaos Theory, Quantum Mechanics, and Superstrings, are of particular interest, and frequently provide the basis for her works, which have been presented at several festivals, including many SEAMUS National Conferences, the “Not Still Art” Festival in New York, and ICMC. She is professor emeritus of the College of Music at Loyola University, New Orleans, where she taught theory and composition for many years, also founded and directed the electronic music composition studio.

Program:

1. Elemental Chaos (6:10, 1992) an experimental video inspired by the mathematics of Chaos theory.
2. DarkPlaces (7:00,1995) a video of a performance work in which the image of the performer/protagonist appears as a silhouette, sometimes stenciled from graphics, and at other times from videotape images.
3. Patterns of Organic Energy (5:46, 2004) a music/video work in which the sounds used for the music were derived directly from keyframes of the video, thus creating an intimate link between video and audio.
4. The Outer Edge of Possibility (11:10, 2005) a collaboration between Sylvia (video) and Michael Rhoades (music).
5. Unperceived Dimensions (6:55, 2006). Just beyond our perception lie unperceived realms of both sight and sound.
6. Release! (11:13, 2007). created by extracting visual segments of the waveforms, processing and animating them, then synchronizing them with the music they represent.

Robot Art: A New Kind of Art Leonel Moura
Chance in Robotic Painting: Max Chandler

Link past issues and pdf downloads

The YLEM Journal was reviewed in Leonardo’s on-line journal.
link to the review

EvoMUSART 2009 is the seventh workshop of the EvoNet working group on Evolutionary Music and Art. Following the success of previous events and the growth of interest in the field, the main goal of EvoMUSART 2009 is to bring together researchers who are using biologically inspired techniques for artistic tasks, providing the opportunity to promote, present and discuss ongoing work in this area.

The workshop will be held from 15-17 April, 2009 in Tubingen, Germany as part of the EvoStar event.

Accepted papers will be presented orally at the workshop and included in the EvoWorkshops proceedings, published by Springer Verlag in the Lecture Notes in Computer Science series.

Details at http://evostar.na.icar.cnr.it/EvoWorkshops/EvoMUSART/EvoMUSART.html

Frank Garvey opens up the OmniCircus to the public for an YLEM forum.

September 3rd, 7pm.

The OmniCircus is located at 550 Natoma Street, between Mission and Howard and 6th and 7th Streets, in San Francisco’s South of Market (SoMa) district.

The door is on Russ Street.

OmniCircus presents our NEXT EVENT-

Join Frank Garvey plus other OmniCircus collaborators

Friday August 15 @ 7pm @ OmniCircus

Over 20 years in the making, Frank Garvey and OmniCircus present the WALL of ASHES installation: open for public viewing!

Garvey will discuss his surreal anthem to the urban night- a multimedia installation with paintings, sculptures, robots, music, photography, and video.

This installation will be open to the public most Saturday afternoons 12noon - 4pm, with special evening events TBA. OmniCircus DVDs, CDs and publications will be available for sale.

$5 suggested donation
Call 415-701-0686 for more information.

The OmniCircus is located at 550 Natoma Street, between Mission and Howard and 6th and 7th Streets, in San Francisco’s South of Market (SoMa) district.

The door is on Russ Street.

Cochlea Surrounded by Waves, mixed media, 30″ x 36″

Journey into the Senses
An exhibition of prints and paintings by
Julie Newdoll

In the grand showrooms of
creativeliving@Petra Hellas
Opening reception Saturday, August 16, 2008 4:00 p.m.
The artist is flying in from California for this special event
Unit 7, Park Road Business Centre, Bacup, Lancashire, England
Tel. (+44) 01706 876102

The Crucible’s Fire Arts Festival (click for more info and to buy tickets online)
July 9-12, 2008
8PM - 12AM
Tickets range from $35 - $55 depending on day of show and time of ticket purchase.

Each July The Crucible’s Fire Arts Festival celebrates creativity through fire and light with a spectacular open-air exhibition of interactive fire art, performance and the largest collection of outdoor fire sculpture on the West Coast.

The 2007 Fire Arts Festival attracted over 10,000 people from as far as England and Australia and featured The Fire Odyssey, an innovative production that blended industrial fire theatre with ballet, opera, hip hop, aerial dance and fire performance.

With an eye-popping array of cutting edge interactive fire sculpture and art from the all over the country and incredible fire, music and dance performances, it’s the must-see event of the summer.

You’ll be dwarfed by gigantic sculptures by Dan Das Mann and Karen Cusolito, watch Nate Smith control his blazing Fire Vortex, or get hands-on with interactive installations like the Flamethrower Shooting Gallery. On the main stage each evening performers will awe and amaze the most discerning pyrophile – from the theatrics of the Copper Lantern Fire Theater to the urban dance beats of fLo-Ology. Enjoy a beverage and food as you stroll through nearly four acres of amazing fire art, listen to some great music, and explore the world of fire and light!

The Fire Arts Festival is the Crucible’s major fundraising event, and proceeds benefit The Crucible’s arts education programs for youth and adults.

Crucifixion 2050 by Michael Wittels

The art work depicted here, Crucifixion 2050, was taken at the close of a show in Napa. The person who took it claims he did so by mistake and then gave it to a friend because the friend “really liked it.” The friend admits he had it at one time but claims he not longer has it. Present whereabouts: Unknown.

It is a wall-mounted piece measuring about 20″ high including the cross. The figure is formed from a heated and manipulated plastic and metal robot toy called a Transformer. The cross is charred wood. The figure and the cross may have been separated.

Because stolen art has a way of traveling rather than remaining in the location near where it was taken, I am seeking your help in locating it. A reward is offered for information leading to its return. Please email me if you have any leads.

Thank you,

Mike Wittels
www.MichaelWittels.com

More images of piece

See also:
SFGate article
Vallejo Times article
Benica Herald article