Dark Days-New York by Gabriele Peters is featured in Erosion, a category for man's material existence as seen through the wear of time and repetition.

The construction of Islamic Patterns presented by Craig S. Kaplan of the Computer Graphics Lab at University of Waterloo has mathematical formula as well. The Islamic patterns included calligraphy, stylized floral designs, architecture and abstract geometric star patterns. Some of these patterns are seen on mosques and tombs. The de-construction and reconstruction is tough and development of the tools to do this is new.

As one might imagine, these new tools that show design and computation had to be sought out and found. Hence, the curated nature of the Design and Computation gallery. Dr. Nikolovska said, "It took a lot of work to get people in on this and convince participants to go to SIGGRAPH."

Slow Art
Chaired by Lina Yamaguchi from Stanford, there is no shortage of submissions for the Slow Art gallery, and as such, the Slow Art Gallery consists of juried selections. Slow Art has one primary theme: time. Ask yourself in today's digital world of super fast computers and optimized software, if you were to create a work with this technology that said, "I want to stop and smell the roses," what would it look like? The answer may be seen in the Slow Art Gallery for 2008 at SIGGRAPH.

RealSnailMail presented by Vicky Isley and Paul Smith of Bournemouth University is included in the Hybrids category, which shows combinations of objects that may be natural and artificial or nostalgic and innovative.

Yamaguchi said that because the gallery has been split into two separate showcases, "the Slow Art exhibit therefore is much smaller than past years' exhibits." The theme is more restrictive than in past themes. Submissions are presented in four categories, all of which tell the human story.

Erosion is the category for our material existence as seen through the wear of time and repetition. It is the visualization of entropy. Dark Days-New York, the visual of a man and his briefcase, walking alone at night, captures the repetition as imagined by Gabriele Peters from the University of Applied Sciences and Arts Dortmund, Dortmund Germany. Another work is the Life and Death of Energy Autonomous Devices by Anab Jain and Alex S. Taylor of Microsoft Research.

Hybrids are unique combinations. By definition, the hybrids are combinations of objects that may be natural and artificial or nostalgic and innovative. Through the contrasts, our understanding of the familiar is richened. Highlights include RealSnailMail presented Vicky Isley and Paul Smith of Bournemouth University, Poole, U.K. and Kevin Mack, the prominent vfx supervisor from Sony Pictures Imageworks (Speed Racer) with Neurosymphonic Self Reflection and Divine Instruments of Technology.