Tourists and Travelers
As many New Yorkers ready for the annual ritual of summer travel, Eyebeam presents Tourists and Travelers, an art exhibition resulting from Taeyoon Choi and Joseph DeLappeʼs 2007-08 residencies at Eyebeam. The show features an unlikely pair of projects that reflect the artistsʼ interests in journeys across real and virtual spaces: a Second Life avatar modeled on Mahatma Gandhi and a tourist-chasing, robotic duck. Choi, from Seoul, Korea, and DeLappe, from Reno, Nevada, both traveled to New York City for their residencies as recipients of Eyebeamʼs inaugural Commission for Resident Artists. The Tourists and Travelers exhibition is free and open to the public, and will be on view June 21 – July 19, 2008.
Taeyoon Choiʼs electro-mechanical bird Camerautomata Charlie: Image Digesting Robotic Duck is unleashed in tourist-heavy habitats, such as New York Cityʼs Central Park, to roam and snap—and then defecate—photos of its own. Born of a hacked digital camera, printer and vacuum cleaner, Camerautomata Charlie and its flock will be on display at Eyebeam alongside digital prints, drawings, and video documentation of interventions in public spaces.
Joseph DeLappe will present documentation, artifacts and new works derived from The Salt Satyagraha Online—Gandhiʼs Salt March in Second Life, his 240-mile reenactment of the walk in real life and in cyberspace. Over the course of 26 days in the spring of 2008, DeLappe walked the entire distance on a customized treadmill at Eyebeam, whichwas programmed to control his online Gandhi avatar in Second Life. A centerpiece of the Tourist and Travelers exhibition is a monumental cardboard replica—the same height, in fact, as Michelangeloʼs sculpture of David—created from a 3-D model of the Gandhi avatar. Large format prints, stop-action animations, and video from the performance piece will also be on view.
Eyebeamʼs programs for artists and technologists support the creative research, production and presentation of initiatives that query art, technology and culture. The Commission for Resident Artists is a period of concentration and immersion in artistic investigation, daring research or experimental production of visionary expression, applications and projects. The 2008 Commission, underwritten by Dewarʼs, was awarded to one American and one international artist; the award included a stipend as well as additional support for travel and accommodation.
Related events:
• Camerautomata Charlie Walking Tour, June 28, 3PM
• Tourist Photography Club Workshop, July 19, 3PM
Credits:
Eyebeamʼs 2008 Commission for Resident Artists is underwritten by Dewarʼs.
Joseph DeLappeʼs work is supported, in part, by grants from the University of Nevada, Reno, College of Liberal Arts and The School of the Arts.
