Fishnetstockings

FISHNETSTOCKINGS

University of Minnesota Duluth faculty Joellyn Rock (Art & Design), Alison Aune (Art & Design), and Pete Willemsen (Computer Science) travel to Bergen Norway in August 2015 to present their new collaborative work, FISH.NET.STOCKINGS at the international conference arts festival, ELO 2015 End(s) of Electronic Literature. The Duluth project team also includes Lisa Fitzpatrick (UMD Motion + Media Across Disciplines Lab), Logan Sales (Computer Science Graduate Student), Justin Anderson (Art & Design BFA Undergraduate Student) and several other collaborating artists. (see our crew here: http://fishnetstock.net/collaborative-team/)

Activities in Bergen include installation of the multimedia artwork for exhibit, workshop presentations, exhibition opening performance, and discussions of interdisciplinary collaboration with others at the international conference. The Arts Festival features original artworks of diverse media at 5 venues throughout the city of Bergen during the conference. FISH.NET.STOCKINGS was selected for the exhibit “Hybridity and Synesthesia” at Lydgalleriet in the heart of old Bergen. The exhibit will showcase multimedia artworks that push at the edges of literary art and engage the viewer with emerging interactive technologies.

The Electronic Literature Organization is a diverse, international network of creative writers and new media artists who are at the forefront of innovation in the field of digital narrative. An intermedial field of practice, between literature, computation, visual and performance art, ELO 2015 End(s) of Electronic Literature Conference explores the boundaries of academic disciplines and artistic practices. Joellyn Rock's research focus is this intersection between narrative disciplines, digital art and fairy tales. FISH.NET.STOCKINGS is inspired and informed by historical mermaid legends and their myriad variants, especially the tale by HC Andersen. UMD’s new Motion and Media Across Disciplines (MMAD lab) affords faculty access to new techniques and collaborative relationships. This new work is created in collaboration with computer science researcher Pete Willemsen and visual artist Alison Aune. Willemsen’s expertise brings a new level of interactivity into the multimedia installation by using a combination of code with Processing and Kinect to make elements of the projections motion activated. Aune's creative research on Scandinavian folk art and patterns plays an important role in the visual aesthetics of the work. Rock and Aune are also offering a pre-conference workshop "Digital Scherenschnitte: Video Compositing with Cut-ups and Collage" as part of the ELO 2015 research program, sharing hands-on pedagogical models and techniques for creating digital narratives. 

ELO 2015 in Bergen gives us the first international showcase for new collaborative work produced in UMD's Motion and Media Across Disciplines Lab for interdisciplinary research (MMAD Lab). The travel will build on established relationships with University of Bergen Norway and Digital Culture artists and researchers from around the world, expanding our commitment to internationalizing the curriculum at University of Minnesota Duluth. The international conference offers exposure to contemporary models of interdisciplinary art theory and practice, featuring the work of artists and scholars from over 39 different countries. This experience will provide new perspectives, and possibly new solutions for integrating cross-cultural and interdisciplinary arts education scholarship. The creative project, collaborative process, and travel experience will be shared in several public presentations at University of Minnesota Duluth during the 2015-16 school year.