b i os o u n da r tt e x t
cubeLife at bioMatrix 1999 - view stills
"through recording an individual's heartbeat on computer then translating it into an image and an object
(Dave Everitt) has created art which is completely individual to the viewer." - Artists Newsletter, May 2000
cubeLife
cubeLife was undertaken in collaboration with Greg Turner at the Creativity & Cognition Research Studios (when at Loughborough University, UK) and the former Gallery of the Future, supported by Year of the Artist (YOTA) funding involving other artists working with technology.
When exhibited (photo, above), cubeLife exists only in response to audience input via a heartbeat monitor. Initially, the screen is blank. Each participant creates a new magic cube entity in virtual 3D space by putting a small heartbeat clip on their finger. This mathematical entity is thereby given a finite life and travels about the space leaving tracks and playing a sound that builds up a non-repeating audio presence in combination with the sounds of other cubes in the space. After a while each object dies, leaving only its tracks. At the end of a session, there is silence and the frozen image represents the collective heartbeats of each participating viewer.
Taking the lead offered by the earliest digital artists that programming languages as media offer a powerful future for digital art, Java serves as the foundation for cubeLife. The picture shows only one example of a huge possible range of images generated by the work. The sound allocated to each new object is based on digitally treated variations of a struck clay bowl filled with water. The heartbeat monitor and earthy sound of the clay bowl bridge the huge chasm between our four-million year old biological existence and the rapidly developing world of digital reality. CubeLife involves collaboration with interaction designer Greg Turner and musician Kate Rounding.
cubeLife stills : digital paintings taken from the code in progress
background : the artistic sources of cubeLife
magic cube applet : initial Java sketchpad for mapping magic cubes to a 3D grid
magic squares and cubes : information and history
image sequence : from allied mathematical work
test images 1 : early work in progress
test images 2 : a QuickTime stills sequence (about a 1 minute+ download)
Other major projects
With Mike Quantrill and (on one occasion) Matt Rogalsky and Pip Greasley, the Emergency Art Lab was formed to deliver performed and interactive pieces involving participants at specific events and locations outside gallery spaces. The ethos is one of art-technology work created on the spot in response to the event, and (wearing lab coats) with a tongue-in-cheek element concerning the status of art-technology.
64 samples : the commissioned work involving 64 delegates at the Wired & Dangerous conference (original site now gone).
Club Confessional : a commissioned work at The Junction, Cambridge and 013, Tilburg, Holland.
sensor grid : an interactive pilot project using an infra-red grid as an input device
Artist's statement
I'll soon have a dedicated site for my art practice and research. Until then, if you're interested enough you can read my current artist statment:
PDF version
Word version
If you'd like to know more about the history and current context of art-technology or media art, I'd recommend Olver Grau's Media Art Histories
, a well-considered collection of essays from Leonardo magazine. If you want to know more, a detailed outline of the book is available.
Other work
small web pieces
automatic drawing
There is more material (sometimes opening a new window) scattered throughout the site - if you find it, great, but - like the automatic drawing - it's not my main focus. If you want to know why I have a special interest in art and disability, go to my b i o for a personal view.
Send a message to me
"Specialisation is for insects"
I make
art
to express
what might
otherwise
remains
unknown
to connect
with
people
who
respond
or
participate
as a
group
activity to
progress
through
intelligent
co-operation