Authors:

 Brown-Simonns, Gloria.

Title:

 Smart Art

Keywords:

 scientific data visualization, technical data, Oceanet

Abstract:

 The high technology mediums now being used by artists indicate a fundamental transformation of the nature of art and the role of the artist in society. Traditional artists will tend to work as aesthetic engineers in genres of Smart Art. These genres include disciplines such as image processing and photo-realistic rendering; three dimensional modeling; time augmentations and cybernetic environments. Trends towards newer manifestations of a deeper involvement with systems are also beginning to emerge and can be categorized as Data and Intelligent Art.
Data Art explores new visual, aural, spatial and temporal relationships, interactions, processes, and structural definitions of scientific and technical data. As standing on the banks of the Hudson River, observing the scene before them, once inspired a generation of landscape artists, Earth system science data, the results of computer simulations, and other computational structures are now the primary sources of stimuli which are being transformed in the creation of Data Art.
Intelligent Art finds it's roots in artificial intelligence, systems and the fuzzy intersections of art, software and knowledge base engineering. New ways of communicating concepts will be enhanced by the use of "knowledge base entry points" and other learning constructs. The dissemination of Intelligent Art forms into museums, galleries and homes is being aided by new consumer information appliances. Examples of these themes are illustrated by projects at the Center for Advanced Visual Studies, MIT:
Creative Visualization of Ocean Data - Oceanet - This project was developed as part of the proposed CAVS large scale installation, Oceanet, and is devoted to collaborations on the oceans. Initial concepts are being refined by a core group of scientists, artists and engineers. CAVS is focusing on physical data to explore major themes through the use of interactive immersive environments. Intelligent Paintings, Interactive Calendar and Datariums - The prototypes exemplify experiential environmental scientific data visualization for futuristic devices that may be used at home.
Brown-Simmons, Gloria. gbrown@media.mit.edu Center for Advanced Visual Studies (CAVS) MIT Ms. Brown-Simmons is a Research Fellow at the Center for Advanced Visual Studies (CAVS), Massachusetts Institute of Technology. Her major focus is Earth and planetary visualization. Ms. Brown-Simmons was awarded the Bachelor of Art (BA) degree from Fisk University, Nashville, Tennessee; the Master of Fine Art (MFA) from the University of California at Los Angeles; and the Master of Science in Visual Studies (MSVS) from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology. Her current project is the Creative Visualization of Ocean Data - Oceanet. Ms. Brown-Simmons recently completed an Interagency Personnel Appointment to the GLOBE Program, the White House, as the Manager for Visualization and Presentation Programs. Her GLOBE assignment concluded with the completion of a large scale international systematic processing system for visualization and display of daily in situ and remotely sensed data. A portion of her work has been concentrated on the processing of planetary data from the Galileo, Voyager and Viking missions. In addition, she has contributed to the Galileo Earth Rotation animation, the Galileo Venus animation and the Solar System animation. The Earth science project, for which the videotape 'Visualization of Tectonic Features: The Colorado River Extension' was made, employs image processing and animation to depict the surface materials and subsurface seismic detail of the region for analysis. Her meteorological animation has appeared on the Weather Channel 1986 (cable TV); the National Meteorological Conference (1987, 1988); SIGGRAPH (1987, 1988); NCGA (1986); and animation produced under her direction at GLOBE appeared on CNN weekly in 1995.