NORA GIBSON
INSTALLATION & INTERACTIVE WORK
NORA GIBSON CONTEMPORARY BALLET
Artist Statement/BIO/CV/Press
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Allure (2023) Allure refers to a relation between objects described by philosopher Graham Harman, where "beauty is part of a larger class of phenomena [called] “allure[,]” and “is the separation of an object from its qualities.” In Allure, the focus is on brain wave data as a material or object, and how its interaction with other objects, like light, color, and form, show a previously unknowable aspect of that data. In Allure, the data animates the patterns of the projected composition as well as the lights' luminosity.
Tree of Life (2023) is a fulldome work that celebrates the interconnectedness of being, intertwining the data from humans and nature to generate the visuals and sound. The tree imagery was programmed through scans and mathematical formulas, and the geometric structures and animation were generated by data from dance movement, volumetric point cloud dancers, physiological data, and electrical brain activity. The music was created specifically using the electrodermal activity of two people dancing. Importantly, this data demonstrated a moment of correlation or synchrony that occurred between the two people during the dance. In this sense, there are measurable moments where we connect or interconnect in life. The tree of life is a deeply symbolic image threaded through time and many cultures. For many, it is the symbol of the connection between all things. This work promotes the idea of connection as a profound aspect of being alive.
Self-Tuning (2023) Self-tuning is a vehicle for the merging of self with object and other. The EEG brain waves of two participants trigger and collapse imagery in unpredictable sequences. This real-time model tunes minds via an aesthetic object. * tuning is a term used by philosopher Timothy Morton
Aurora (2024): Video installation for volumetric point clouds, glitch, dance, blob tracking, and custom algorithm. Music was created via modular synthesis contolled by EEG brain sensor capturing electrical activity within the beta wave frequency. This work is called, "aurora" as reference to both the Northern Lights and the character in the ballet "Sleeping Beauty." Aurora means: new dawn, and this work was inspired by the idea of new beginnings that occur at different stages in life.
the dream @ Ars Electronica (2023) EEG brain wave animated particle system and sound design in real time. This installation allows participants wear brain sensors while relaxing, and create a calming environment for other viewers with their bodies.
Transplant (2022) Movement data and theta brainwave actvity of the artist were extracted to animate this installation for projection and sound, creating a "self portrait" of constantly moving attributes, and imagining a self that can be transplanted into an abstract form.
Non-Algorithmic (2023): Two-channel video installation for generative visuals and volumetric point cloud dancer with sound score created from EEG-recorded (gamma) brain waves. This installation captures the Penrose/Hameroff theory of consciousness as it relates to quantum physics.
SUSPEND_360 (2023): Volumetric point cloud dance and sound score created using the artist's physiological data. Designed for a rectangular/360 immersive presentation.
Parallax (2022) Dome installation piece shown at the Satosphere in Montreal, QC October 2022. This visuals were created from public data from the HYG star database, representing the most navigated stars, to create an immersive "jewelbox" overhead.
Waterfall (2020) LED wall installation presented by CADAF, Digital Art Month, NYC Audio-reactive visuals created from the "Waterfall" etude by Chopin.
A/V Installation - Lightbox NYC (2020) Sound design by Dave Buschemeyer Sound Design
Elemental (2021): This projection installation piece uses live brain activity to control the visuals, which portray images that suggest 'the self' exists simultaneously at micro and macro levels. The 30,000 particles that swirl throughout are individually made up of an image of a spinal column, which is, itself, made up of small heads, which is then seen as resting within that same universe, which is where the whole body is seen dancing. By controlling the visuals with the artist's brain activity, there is also a concentric relationship of mind/body within the space.
SUSPEND (2022): Installation and digital painting depicting dance captured by sensors and converted to point cloud imagery. This piece celebrates flow states of mind, where thinking is seemingly suspended and which many people associate with feelings of well-being.
Captured Moments of Sympathetic Nervous Response (2022) An example from a series of photographic stills that reflect the artist's atonomic nervous system responses via live electrodermal sensor data to various stimuli.
Water Helix (2022) This piece is an installation for projection and movement sensor. The participant may control the rotation of the water spirals via their own movement.
choreographic game (2022) This installation work is a game for 0-2 people, where one can create a choeographic experience via midi device.
Ionic Movement (2021): This digital painting is animated through electrical brain activity, and was inspired by research on ion channels, and the constant motion of their gating process.
Trio (2021): This digital painting is a danced cannon for two human figures and a circle, which is animated via the motion sensor data taken from the dance phrase performed by the human figures. The piece considers the significance of geometry as a reference point in many styles of dance training, and so it has been made a visible and present figure in the dance rather than remaining an abstraction.
unstilled (2022) This digital painting utilized movement captured by a webcam to cause the ripple-like effect in the water texture. The water monoliths float undisturbed. This piece is a metaphor for how our thoughts move like ripples across the stillness of consciousness.
Encoded (2022) This digital painting utilzed recorded sensor data from a dance phrase the artist performed. Depicted is a fantastical cell-like image. The piece was inspired by research related to stored memory in DNA.
INSTALLATION & INTERACTIVE WORK
NORA GIBSON CONTEMPORARY BALLET
Artist Statement/BIO/CV/Press