Inspired by cinema and painting, Jonathan Wilkinson uses the medium of interactive video to execute his art. Above is his work Natalie. © Jonathan Wilkinson.

Untitled 5 by Camille Utterback is a space with a projection system that turns viewers into creative participants. Unless otherwise indicated, all images courtesy of ACM SIGGRAPH 2005.

After many years as a http://vfxworld.com/?sa=adv&code=1e242f07&atype=articles&id= 2204">SIGGRAPH attendee, in 2001 artist/curator Linda Lauro-Lazin began volunteering in a number of different capacities. A true art enthusiast, she wanted to make a mark in the art community with technology-based work and, as 2005 Art Gallery chair, her chance has come. This year’s SIGGRAPH Art Gallery presents more than 100 pieces consisting of 2D, 3D and screen-based artwork by 52 juried artists and six invited artists, as well as 11 animation storyboards and 11short animations. The art is diverse — from digital prints to CD-ROM to interactive installations — and ranges from political to humorous. This exhibition represents a truly remarkable display of talent and cutting-edge creativity.

The criteria for selecting artists and works for the Gallery changes from year to year, decided upon by the program chair. Besides requiring that every piece be created using a computer in some capacity, as the 2005 Art Gallery chair Lauro-Lazin asked jurors to choose work that fit several criteria. First she wanted the work to be within the theme of the show, “Threading Time,” meaning she wanted images and data mapped over time and space. Second, the artists were asked to show a body of work so as to spotlight each individual artist’s depth of vision. She also wanted valid artistic pieces; work that was content driven with technology in the service of that content as opposed to showcasing the technology. And, finally, the work needed an inherent reason for being digital. “Otherwise, why bother doing it? If you can create with paint, then why don’t you paint?” expounds Lauro-Lazin.

An example of Perry Hoberman’s funny, wacky and political work is his piece at the entryway to the gallery, Art Under Contract.

The Gallery has been designed to steer the participant from one space to another. Each space contains loosely themed content. A space that is about landscape in the broad sense leads into another space that is about narrative. Then there’s the “re-contextualizing group” of artists who take ideas and completely change the context in which those ideas are expressed. One of those works is a billboard piece based on an overheard cell phone conversation — so text of this intimate conversation is on the billboard. Another turns a trace root command into traditional turn-of-the century cross-stitch. Continuing into another space, the viewer enters the political area. An intriguing piece shows black-and-white, de-saturated, Hollywood war footage projected onto the head of a pin — viewed through a magnifying glass — as a large pixilated poster of George Bush — taken in the kindergarten class on 9/11— squints down from the gallery wall.

Lauro-Lazin wanted to share work she really loved with the SIGGRAPH community, so she curated six significant, internationally recognized artists from the contemporary art world: Jim Campbell, Paul Kaiser and Shelly Eshkar, Perry Hoberman, John Gerrard and Camille Utterback. According to Lauro-Lazin, Campbell, who is an engineer as well as an artist, “is a perfect example of a technology savvy, poetic individual and his work shows that.” Two samples of the curated works illustrate why Lauro-Lazin was determined to include these artists in the exhibition.

Originally a painter, Utterback also holds technology patents. Described as beautiful and painterly, her installation, Untitled 5, is a space with a projection system that turns viewers into creative participants by allowing them to interactively craft a constantly changing painting on the wall based on the users’ gestures in space. “It is a really visceral experience,” explains Lauro-Lazin.