SETI Institute's Artist In Residence Charles Lindsay one of the Contributors to First Contact Exhibit
GALLERY PROJECT PRESENTS: FIRST CONTACT
Thursday, February 14 - Sunday, March 24, 2013 Reception: Friday, February 22, 6-9pm
Gallery Project presents First Contact, a multimedia exhibit in which 33 regional, national, and international artists explore our desire to encounter extraterrestrials, our preparedness for such an event, the event itself, and its possible consequences.
Technological development has brought us to the precipice of first contact, but has humanity kept pace? Is our search for extraterrestrial life simply a search for answers to our own existence? What makes us believe that we are prepared for a relationship with other worlds when we have difficulties on our own planet? Is it our innate curiosity or primal fear that motivates us? 'Artists," wrote Ezra Pound, "are the antennae of the race." Media analyst Marshall McLuhan expanded on that idea when he wrote, "Art as radar acts as an 'early alarm system,' as it were, enabling us to discover social and psychic targets in lots of time to prepare to cope with them." If art is an 'early warning system,' then what does art about First Contact foretell?
Contributors include Seder Burns, Thomas Carey, Ross Carlisle, John Causland, Debra Davis, Lynda Davis, Rocco DePietro, Zeek Earl, H.R. Giger, Brad Gieske, Clifton Harvey, Mayumi Haryoto, Dan Hernandez, Nicholas Kahn, Tanya Kavakoza, Charles Lindsay, Kevin Margo, Ian Moersen, Gloria Pritschet, Simon Ray, Michael Rea, Kris Rudolph, Richard Selesnick, Sara Schleicher, Douglas Scobel, Brian Spolans, Derek Stenning, Po-Wei Su, Mike Tarr, Jacob Tebbe, Brana Vojnovic, Lynn Whitney, and Barry Whittaker.
The exhibit is curated by Seder Burns, Lecturer of New Media, University of Toledo, and Gallery Project collaborator.
Image: Nicholas Kahn and Richard Selesnick, Elysium Planitia
Additional Information
About Charles Lindsay
The SETI Institute’s first Artist in Residence is Charles Lindsay. Lindsay has had a diverse career, working first as an exploration geologist in the arctic, and then as a photojournalist in the jungles of southeast Asia. In the last decade he has blended photography, video and sound art in an installation project he calls CARBON. Lindsay received a 2010 Guggenheim Fellowship to further develop this work.
At the heart of CARBON is a camera-less photographic process Lindsay invented. The process begins with a unique carbon-based emulsion on a transparent base, which he then freezes, electrifies and manipulates. The resulting negatives are scanned, digitally layered and printed in large scale or animated for video projection. "CARBON combines my interest in the aesthetics of space exploration, scientific imaging and the evolution of symbols." Lindsay's CARBON installations offer an immersive alternate world, where all the senses are engaged to consider fundamental questions about our place in the universe.
Adding another dimension to the installations, Lindsay creates sculptures from re-purposed scientific devices, introducing motion and touch sensors, audio response circuitry, small video screens and custom led lights. His works include focused soundscapes created by processing a number of sources, including archival recordings from NASA's space research experiments along with audio he records in remote environments.
While continuing his own work, Lindsay will reach out on behalf of the SETI Institute to foster relationships with organizations and individuals interested in shaping the framework for the SETI A.I.R. program as it moves forward.
1 - CARBON Installation 2010/2011 from charles lindsay on Vimeo.
Check out Charles Lindsay's websites: www.charleslindsay.com and www.charliesexperiment.com
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