This year's Art Gallery, assembled under the banner "Data Materialities," represents a unique collection of 10 highly interactive installations created from 2003 to 2016. SIGGRAPH 2016 Art Gallery chair Jonah Brucker-Cohen says, "We have made a special effort to bring back large-scale, highly immersive displays for the Art Gallery. Our title, 'Data Materialities,' illustrates the fact that in 2016, we are all constantly surrounded by networks, information, and data. Whether these stimuli consist of electromagnetic frequencies or physical wired connections, networks are everywhere, consuming and permeating our offices, homes, schools, and public indoor and outdoor spaces. 'Data Materialities' exposes this plethora of data and transforms it to incarnations of tangibility that not only showcase their complexity, but also allow us to relate to them on a human scale. By injecting humor and kinetic energy to this year's exposition, the Art Gallery will make light of these data platforms and present them on a grand scale to reveal their ubiquity."
Artwork and artists for the SIGGRAPH 2016 Art Gallery are selected by the program chair and not by a jury. The following is a list of some of the planned highlights:
Submergence | Chris Bennewith, Liam Birtles, Oliver Brown, Gaz Bushell, and Anthony Rowe, Squidsoup
"Submergence" is a large, immersive, walkthrough experience that uses up to 8,064 individual points of suspended light to create feelings of presence and movement within physical space. This video from YouTube user Nick Hunter shows the installation at the Geneva Mapping Festival.
Pixelbots | Paul Beardsley, Disney Research Zürich
Disney Research Zürich created a new kind of display in which pixels, called "Pixelbots," are represented as small colorful mobile robots which create cartoon-like images or animations. Pixelbots can be seen on the Disney Research YouTube channel, where they present a "Story of the Universe" animation, including a fish, a dinosaur, and a human.
The Kinetic Story Teller | Tine Bech, Independent Artist
"The Kinetic Story Teller" installation investigates how art, technology, and playfulness can create new systems of communication by materializing data through kinetic interaction - and offer people new ways of connecting with each other in public spaces. Two beautiful swings light up and display people's social media messages on screens, encouraging participants to connect while they play.
Plinko Poetry | Peiqui Su and Deqing Sun, New York University
A playful, interactive installation, "Plinko Poetry" has its roots in both the famous TV game show "The Price Is Right" and experimental blackout poetry. Every player can be both a winner and a poet. Drawing source text from current @nytimes and @FoxNews tweets, players can absurdly re-contextualize news headlines that are often overloaded with meaning.
To register for SIGGRAPH 2016, visit s2016.siggraph.org/registration.