Menu
By Jane Tingly in collaboration with Cindy Poremba and Marius Kintel. Presented by Artengine, Eastern Bloc (Montreal), Electric Perfume (Toronto).
‘anyWare’ is a distributed sculpture that includes three identical objects that can be located in three different locations, anywhere in the world. The ‘anyWare’ sculptures are connected to the Internet, and physically mirror each other (i.e. if a blue light lights up on one sculpture, that same blue will light up on all of the sculptures). The objects simultaneously respond to people who interact with them, and enable people in different locations to interact with each other through the objects. So, for example, if someone walks into the gallery in Montréal and begins to interact with ‘anyWare’ by turning off lights on the touch panels, someone in Toronto can see the results of those interactions on the identical Toronto sculpture. At this point, the person in Toronto is able to join the person in Montréal, and help them turn off the lights on the touch panel, resulting in a collaborative and playful telematic experience reinforced through light and sound. Each physical location is assigned a signature colour which makes it possible to identify which location is actively engaging with which sculpture. ‘anyWare’ uses a series of simple games to structure these interactions, which allows people in different locations to work together and collaborate on a joint goal.
The objects encourage playful interactions that are designed to inspire experimentation, exploration, and potential “conversations” with other interactors. As a reward for this interaction, the light, sound, and engagement states of the objects transform through the experience of exploration (either with one person or potentially with many people) and in so doing reveal different modes of interactivity as well as different levels of aesthetic experience, which we are calling Art States. These states include a ‘Minimal State’, a ‘Shadow State’, and a ‘Colour State’. Interactors must play/interact with the sculptures in order to transition them through the various Art States.
Project Credits:
Website: http://janetingley.com/anyware/
Jane Tingly is an artist, curator, and Assistant Professor atYork University in Toronto (CA). She is interested in how interactivity combined with art objects and installation can be used to explore contemporary experience. She received the Kenneth Finkelstein Prize in Sculpture and the first prize in the iNTERFACES – Interactive Art Competition in Porto (PT). She has participated in exhibitions and festivals in the Americas, Middle East, Asia, and Europe.
Cindy Poremba (she/her or they/them) is a digital media researcher, gamemaker and curator. They are an Associate Professor (Digital Entertainment) at OCAD University (Toronto, CA) and Co-Director (with Emma Westecott) of OCAD’s game:play Lab.
Cindy completed a PhD in interdisciplinary Humanities at Concordia University in Montreal, where they worked in association with the Centre for Technoculture, Art and Games (TAG). As an FQRSC Postdoctoral Fellow, they researched infrastructure for documentary videogames, at the Georgia Institute of Technology, and Ryerson University. They hold an MASc in Interactive Arts from Simon Fraser University, as well as a BA from the University of Waterloo in Rhetoric & Professional Writing.
Alain Thibault is a composer, sound designer and electronic music artist. His works has been presented in several contexts, contemporary music and digital arts festivals, in Canada, Europe (Chatelet Theater and Radio- France in Paris, etc.) and Asia (Yamaguchi YCAM Japan, South-Korea, Taïwan, etc.). With media artist Yan Breuleux, he formed the duo PurForm. They are presently touring their new AV performance, abcd_light, in Europe and Asia. With American artist Matthew Biederman, he created the duo RAY_XXXX, whose PULSE performance was presented in Italy, France and Brazil. Thibault is presently artistic director of Elektra, an international digital arts festival, presented every year in Montreal, Quebec, Canada.
Marius Kintel is a generalist software engineer with >20 years of professional experience. Driven by a passion for technology and good software design, I am looking for new challenges where I can apply and develop my skills.
Jen Akkermans is a Canadian artist who holds an MFA from the University of Waterloo and a BFA from the Alberta University of the Arts in Calgary, Alberta. She has exhibited extensively, at venues such as Pier 21, the Esker Foundation, the Niagara Artists Centre, Inter/Access, the Art Gallery of Calgary and Stride Gallery.
She has participated in residencies at the Banff Centre, the Living Arts Centre, Artscape Daniels Launchpad, the Gushul studio, and the Fluid Festival. In 2015, as a recipient of the Shantz Internship, she travelled to Cologne, Germany, to be a studio assistant to Alexandra Bircken. She has been the recipient of several grants, from the Ontario Arts Council, the Alberta Foundation of the Arts, and regional agencies. Her work is included in numerous private collections.
Jen lives and works in Toronto, Ontario, Canada.
Lauren Dagworthy is a “swiss army knife” creative packed full of problem-solving, enthusiasm, and energy. From brand design to UX/UI, to marketing and advertising campaigns; she thrives on bringing meaningful projects to life with whatever tools/mediums/means are necessary.
Her foundations in the principles of business, strategy, and project management, combined with her nature as a designer allows me to understand and work towards business/client goals and while still maintaining a positive visual and interactive brand experience.
Sunjay Varma is a skilled software developer with experience in a number of different areas including compilers, web development, game development, and much more. As an avid contributor to open source, he has spent much of his career creating free software and free online learning resources. In his spare time, he enjoys reading about interesting programming topics, watching comedy, playing board games, and hacking on projects online.
Boko Studio is designed to foster: fast, iterative design development and production. They have a wide range of tools to prototype, refine and fabricate final products in our studio workshop.