SIGGRAPH 2021, the world’s leading computer graphics and interactive techniques conference, will present the latest innovations in digital art as part of its online exhibit this summer. The Art Gallery will feature 14 virtual installations, including recent Academy Award nominee for Best Animated Short Film “Opera”, and reveals its Best in Show award winner. The virtual exhibit and corresponding sessions will run 9–13 August, with content available on-demand through 29 October.
“As we continue to navigate ways to present and showcase digital art virtually, I am thrilled to preview the important work that the jury has selected for the conference this summer,” shared SIGGRAPH 2021 Art Gallery Chair Angus Forbes, of University of California, Santa Cruz. “Creative exploration and contemplation is more important than ever, and SIGGRAPH will always be a place where creativity thrives.”
Chosen by an expert jury from more than 150 submissions, this year’s Art Gallery selections represent artists from seven countries — the U.S., Taiwan, Hong Kong, Israel, South Korea, China, and Switzerland. In addition to opportunities to engage with and review content on-demand, conference participants won’t want to miss live sessions with the artists that start the week of 9 August. Highlights from the virtual program include:
Opera
Erick Oh, BANA
Academy Award-nominee “Opera” is a massive, 8K-size animation installation project that portrays our society and its history, which is filled with beauty and absurdity. The ambitious piece can be simply defined as a contemporary animated edition of the Renaissance fresco mural paintings, driven by the spirits of Bosch, Michelangelo, Botticelli, and more. Learn more.
BEST IN SHOW
Cangjie’s Poetry
Weidi Zhang and Donghao Ren, University of California, Santa Barbara (UCSB)
“Cangjie’s Poetry” is an interactive art installation that provides a conceptual response to the semantic human-machine reality. In the installation, the intelligent system (Cangjie) constantly observes surroundings through the lens of a camera, writes poetry using its symbolic system based on its interpretation, and explains the evolving poem in natural language to audiences in real-time. Learn more.
Isle of Reflections
Chaeeun Lee, Myeongseong Kim, and Hyunjung Kim, KAIST
“Isle of Reflections” is an interactive lighting installation that can only be remotely explored via videotelephony. Viewers can visit the island filled with iridescent lights and colorful reflections through Zoom, a popular web-based video communication tool. Learn more.
Hexells: Self-Organising Textures
Alexander Mordvintsev, Google
“Hexells” is a self-organizing system of cells that was trained to build textures using neighbor communication only. This work exposes the relation between the life of an individual cell and the cell collective as a whole. Learn more.
“It was inspiring to be part of this year’s Art Gallery jury among such talented individuals. I learned a lot from other jurors’ perspectives and am truly impressed by the selection process,” added SIGGRAPH 2021 Art Gallery Juror Behnaz Farahi, of California State University, Long Beach and USC Annenberg. “I am happy that the chosen works each represent diversity of background and creative practice.”
Virtual access to the SIGGRAPH 2021 Art Gallery is open to the Enhanced and Ultimate registration levels. Register for the conference at s2021.SIGGRAPH.org/register.
