Embedded Systems and Kinetic Art: A Natural Collaboration

There is an explosion of interest currently in exploring arts and technology connections: new media, digital media, kinetic art, new frontiers, emergent media, interdisciplinary, multidisciplinary, and transdisciplinary are only some of the terms used to describe this fusion of disciplines. In this talk I will describe an ongoing collaborative course at the University of Utah called Embedded Systems and Kinetic Art. The course involves Computer Science / Computer Engineering students and Art students working together to design and create computer-controlled kinetic art. Students in the course explore interfacing of embedded computer systems with sensors and actuators of all sorts. They also explore physical and conceptual aspects of machine-making as a fine-art sculpture process. Our goal is to enhance the educational experience of both groups of students. We believe that both student groups gain significant and unusual benefits that they can apply in a variety of ways in their respective disciplines.

Speaker Details

Erik Brunvand is an Associate Professor of Computer Science, and Director of the Computer Engineering program at the University of Utah. His research and teaching interests include the design of application-specific computers, graphics processors, asynchronous circuits and systems, and digital integrated circuits. He and his students are currently designing a many-core computer architecture targeted at real-time graphics rendering using ray tracing.
As an artist he works with mixed media technology, and is also a printmaker. He is a co-founder of Saltgrass Printmakers, a non-profit printmaking studio in Salt Lake City, Utah. He is also exploring the connection between embedded computer systems and kinetic art in a series of collaborative CS/Art courses at the University of Utah, and collaborating with another artist to put fine-art images on the surface of integrated circuits at microscopic sizes. He is currently (Fall 2012) on sabbatical from the University of Utah spending time with the DXARTS (Digital Arts and Experimental Media) group at the University of Washington, Seattle.

Series:
Microsoft Research Talks
Date:
Speakers:
Erik Brunvand
Affiliation:
Univeristy of Utah

Series: Microsoft Research Talks