Here are drafts of my biography and artist statement. I had a very hard time writing the artist statement. I wasn’t exactly sure what the goal/purpose of it was, or what style of writing to employ. I was also confused about making statements or arguments that needed supporting arguments/citations, as per our discussion earlier.
Biography:
Daniel Roberts is a 21-year old new media artist learning and participating in the Computational Arts program at Concordia University in Montreal. By day, a student focused on educational theory, a freelance graphic designer, but by night, he moonlights creating electro-acoustic art, bizarre robots, mobile electronics, and conducts mad experiments in his basement using biological sensing. He is President and Founder of DATA, a student organization that assists in both technical training and organizes a discussion group combining critical new media theory and practice.
Project Summary:
Egg is a mobile, bio-generated, real time acoustic walking experience, focusing on the themes of walking meditation and experimental biofeedback. Consisting of a headset worn by commuters during their daily commute, real-time audio is generated by electroencephalography sensing. As the commuters move through space, the audio reinforces a state of concentration and meditation. The audio both reinforces and attempts to create a state of mediation and bliss, emphasizing certain frequencies in an attempt to modulate the emotional state of the user.
Artist Statement:
As we move through public space, we often create aural bubbles to modulate our environment. At times we use these bubbles to extend our social reach, connecting with people hundreds of miles away, or alternatively, we use soundtracks as a buffer zone to disconnect from and to control the spaces we temporarily inhabit as we move through them. Egg simultaneously creates a buffer zone around the user, and deeply connects them with their context and surroundings. By encouraging them to remove their focus from the distractions of their commute and turn it inwards towards themselves, Egg creates a meditative bubble around the user, while at the same time, this meditative state encourages the user to experience a deep connection and awareness of their context and surroundings.
By creating a system where a deep connection to context can thrive, and focus is rewarded, Egg calls attention to the lack of context and focus in modern lifestyle and culture. Similarly, Egg’s technical implementation calls attention to the growing problem of bio-sensing and feedback as tools of surveillance and control. By encountering these tools in Egg, users are confronted with the dilemma of the possibility of this technology being used for more controversial ends.
