[4eyes] 595I seminar today

[Matthew Turk]

Scheduled for today's 595I seminar (Seminar on Interactive Digital Media)
[This is cross-listed with Media Arts and Technology 595M]:


Speakers: Lisa Jevbratt & Javier Villegas, UCSB Media Arts and Technology

Title: What Do You See? Zoomorph: Software Simulating How Non-Human Animals
See

5:30pm, 1132 Harold Frank Hall


In the presentation Jevbratt and Villegas will discuss the conceptual
foundation of the project and the technical aspects they are currently
working on.

*They are seeking collaborators interested in animal vision, image
processing, plug-in programming, iPhone development etc.*


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ZooMorph is a software-art project in development that consists of image
and video filters that create simulations of how a large selection of
non-human animals see; generating pictures that help us experience the
world through the eyes of another species. The filters will be used in
PhotoShop and video software such as Final Cut Pro, in an online Flickr
based interface, and as an augmented reality application in smart phones
such as the iPhone. When a ZooMorph filter is applied to an image it
changes its hue, sharpness, brightness, contrast and other aspects, to
provide an estimation of what the selected species see. Several aspects of
vision are simulated including color vision, light sensitivity and acuity.
The filters are currently being created with the assistance of scientists
in the field of animal vision as well as non-scientific experts on animal
vision such as shamans and animal communicators. The project wants to make
its users/audience acutely aware and respectful of the ever-presence of a
multitude of parallel experiences of the world (or Umwelten as described
by Jakob von Uexkuell). It intends to make us aware of, and if possible
facilitate, an intellectual, emotional and spiritual partnership with the
species around us in the quest for a sustainable environment for all of us
to thrive within.

http://zoomorph.org


Lisa Jevbratt is a Swedish born artist, currently an associate professor
in the Art Department and the Media Art Technology program at University
of California, Santa Barbara. Her work, ranging from internet
visualization software to interspecies collaboration, has been exhibited
extensively internationally in venues such as The Walker Art Center
(Minneapolis), Banff Centre for the Arts (Canada), The New Museum (New
York), The Swedish National Public Art Council (Stockholm, Sweden), and
the Biennial at the Whitney Museum of American Art (New York); and it is
discussed in numerous books, for example "Internet Art" by Rachel Greene
and "Digital Art" by Christiane Paul (Thames and Hudson). Jevbratt also
publishes texts on topics related to her projects and research, for
example in the anthology "Network Art - Practices and Positions" ed. Tom
Corby (Routledge). Last year her current project ZooMorph was awarded a
Creative Capital grant.

http://jevbratt.com


Javier Villegas is an electrical engineer from the Pontificia Universidad
Javeriana in Bogota Colombia and M.Sc in electrical and computer engineer
from Los Andes university also in Bogota Colombia. Currently He is a Ph.D
Candidate in Media Arts & Technology at the University of California Santa
Barbara. He is interested in multimedia signal processing and currently
working in analysis / synthesis approaches to video processing.

http://www.mat.ucsb.edu/jvillegas