Hello  everyone.  Good  evening. Oh,  that  was  so  quick. We'll  I'd  like  to  welcome everyone  here  to  the  Price  Gilbert  Library. We're  so  excited  to  have  you  this  evening. My  name  is  Katherine  Mancy. I'm  the  Public  Programming  Librarian here  at  Georgia  Tech. And  we're  honored  to  have this  exhibit  and  you  all  here  in  the  library  tonight. We  were  so  excited  when Bernie  came  to  us  with  her  first  exhibit, Extension  of  self  last  year. And  we're  equally  as pleased  to  host  the  second  installation, extension  of  community  this  year. Before  we  begin,  I  want  to  note hello  to  all  of  our  people  online. We're  both  online  and  we're  in  person  tonight. If  you  see  any  of  us  running  around, we're  just  fixing  cameras. The  other  thing  I'll  note  before  we begin  is  if  you  need  to  use  the  restroom, if  you  will  back  way  around  the  chairs. Because  if  you  walk  across  the  front, we'll  see  you  in  the  camera. The  rest  rooms  are  to  your  right, out  of  these  doors  to  your  right.  And  then  another  Right. Before  we  begin,  I  want  to  thank  Bernie,  Robert, and  also  our  library  colleagues  that  worked  tirelessly  to make  this  show  a  success  alongside our  curator  here  today,  Jason  Wright. Will  you  give  a  little  wave? Jason  Wright,  Kirk  Henderson,  and  Connor  Lynch. Thank  you  so  much  for  all  of  your  work. They  work  here  at  the  library  and  they  were  really instrumental  to  making  tonight  happen. With  that,  I'll  pass  the  mice  to Steve  Harmon.  Thank  you  for  being  here. Well,  thank  you.  It's  a  pleasure to  be  here.  My  name  is  Steve  Harmon. I'm  the  Executive  Director  of the  Center  for  21st  Century  Universities  here  at Georgia  Tech.  The  US. Senate  today  passed  a  law  instituting  an  address  code, but  apparently  I'm  the  only  one  that  saw  that. I  don't  know,  C  21  U is  a  catalyst  for  positive  transformation in  higher  education. We  really  study  everything  we  can  about it  and  do  what  we  can  to  really  move  things  along. Not  even  at  a  Stem  school, but  particularly  at  a  Stem  school. There  are  not  many  things  that  are more  a  catalyst  than  art. It  can  be  Bernie has  done  a  great  job  in  her  previous  exhibition, in  this  one  really  bringing  together  art  and technology  and  humanity  and showing  what  they  all  mean  together. My  congratulations  to  Bernie and  the  artists  who  are  here  today. We  were  able  to  help  sponsor  this through  our  corporate  partners, Microsoft,  who  gave  us  an  accessibility  grant. And  Bernie  won  an  award  of  that  grant  here, which  is  why  we're  here  today. Thanks  to  Microsoft.  Thank  you, Burn  and  the  artists  and  all  of  you  for  coming. I'm  going  to  pass  it  now  to  Brooks. Hello  everyone.  Thank  you  for  being  here  today. We  really  appreciate  it. My  name  is  Brook  Fakaski  and  I'm the  senior  facility  Manager  over  at  the  Candida  Building, which  is  where  the  other  half  of  the  exhibit  is, and  it's  also  where  we  are  hosting  our  reception  tonight. I  hope  to  see  you  all  there. The  Candida  building  is  actually  one  of the  most  sustainable  buildings  in  the  world,  truly. And  it's  located  here  on  Georgia Tech  Campus,  which  is  phenomenal. We  actually  do  sustainability  a little  bit  differently  over  there,  most  of  the  time. When  you  hear  about  sustainable  buildings, you  think  about  energy  savings, you  might  think  about  renewable  sources  of  energy, you  might  think  of  conserving  water. And  we  do  all  those  things  in  Candida  building, we  have  a  beautiful  solar  array. We  actually  generate  more  energy  than  we  use  in  a  year. We  conserve  water  specifically  through  composting. Toilets  is  a  great  way  we  conserve  water. So  we  have  a  lot  of different  sustainability  aspects  of  the  building, but  one  core  component  of  that  is  actually  beauty. It's  one  of  our  seven  performance  areas on  how  we  define  sustainability. When  Bernie  came  to  us  and  wanted to  host  a  art  exhibit  there, we  were  absolutely  pleased  and  I'm  excited  to  do  so. I  hope  to  see  you  all  at the  reception.  I'm  going  to  be  there. If  you  have  any  questions  about  the  building  as you're  exploring  and  looking  around, please  come  find  me  and  ask  me. I  love  talking  about  the  building. I  can  talk  for  hours  and  hours  about  it. But  I  was  only  given  2  minutes. Come  find  me  at  the  reception. And  with  that,  I'll  pass  it  to  Bernie  Robert. Thank  you.  All  right. Can  you  hear  me  that  good?  All  right. I'm  extremely  grateful  to  Microsoft  and  Georgia  Tech  C 21  for  giving  me  the  opportunity  to  make art  tech  and  science accessible  here  on  campus Through  this  accessibility  grant. Microsoft's  is  to  empower every  individual  organization  to  achieve  more. Georgia  Tech's  mission  is  to  develop  leaders  who advance  tech  and  improve  the  human  condition. Both  Microsoft  and  Georgia  Tech  understand  the  power. Art  at  the  intersection of  accessibility,  science,  and  technology. This  grant  illustrates  great  collaborations between  industry,  academia,  and  community. I  want  to  thank  all  the  artists  today for  bringing  their  creative  work  to  the  public. I  could  not  do  this  without the  library  and  the  Candida  building staff  resources  and  their  beautiful  ****** They  have  provided  so  generously.  Thank  you. The  College  of  Computing  has  been  pivotal  in my  development  and  career  and  I thank  them  for  their  continued  support. I  would  also  like  to  give  an extra  big  thank  you  to  my  team. Ladonna  Cherry  who  did  all  the  graphics, Terrance  Russian  and  Kevin  Beazley  who you  might  see  on  the  photo  and  videography  today, and  Eric  Simbratt  who  did  all  the  web  design. Exhibits  like  this  bring  research outside  of  the  lab  or  classroom  and into  the  public  space  for  building community  and  having  conversations, which  is  a  shared  goal  between the  library  Candida  and  the  college  of  Computing. Now  I'll  play  a  video. What  does  it  mean  to  be  sustainable? And  how  can  we  build  community  around helping  the  planet  through the  technology  that  we  are  engineering? When  is  technology  too  much  and when  do  we  just  need  to  change  our  behaviors? My  name  is  Bernie  Robert. I'm  the  Curator  and principal  investigator  for this  exhibit  extension  of  Community, What  it  Means  to  be  sustainable  in  a  digital  world. There's  14  artists  and researchers  that  are  part  of  this  exhibit. And  this  exhibit  addresses  three  themes. One,  plastics  and  waste. Two,  social  and  environmental  justice, and  three,  imagined  futures. This  exhibit  is  really  about  how we  relate  to  the  environment. Is  thinking  through  how  technologies  can  help us  reflect  on  our  relationships  to  more  than  human. Others  specifically  to  plants. And  that  includes  how  our  bodies  connect  biologically, but  also  includes  what these  plants  embody  in terms  of  their  social  and  political  meanings. So  it's  very  important  that  my  audience understand  that  the  fluidity  of data  is  relative  and that  there's  so  much  room  for  interpretation. And  that's  why  I  chose  to  do a  more  abstracted  piece  that  represents the  disproportionate  amount  of  pollution in  areas  where  there  are high  populations  of  black  people. So  this  is  an  interactive  art  exhibit  that really  invites  the  visitor  to  come  in, interact  question  what  they're  doing  for  the  environment, what  we  as  a  community  are  doing  for  the  environment, and  how  the  technology  of  the  future  should  be designed  to  be  ethical  and  sustainable. So  a  lot  of  my  work  fits under  the  umbrella  of  the  Anthropocene,  right? Was  thinking  about  how  humans essentially  acted  as  an  ice  age. We've  permanently  impacted  the  Earth in  a  irreversible  way. The  idea  for  the  exhibition, I  think  my  work  fits  in  as  far  as  trying  to understand  sustainability,  understand  technology, and  the  technological  fixes  that  may  occur  in response  to  human  action  to  combat  climate  change. Whenever  I  hear  sustainability, my  imagination  goes  to  the  forest. When  I  think  of  community, I  think  of  people  working  together. And  I  often  think  of  people  working  together  in  a  group. An  analog  human,  flesh  and  blood  group. Our  idea  was  to  try  to  build awareness  through  a  story  telling  mechanism. We've  turned  the  bridge  and  to  a  window  or  a  **** into  a  sort  of  underlying  metaborus  that connects  our  physical  reality but  also  our  digital  realities. Our  installation  requires  you to  physically  be  at  the  bridge. We  use  geo  location  on your  phone  to  determine  where  you  are, and  you  are  only  able  to participate  when  you  are  actually  in  this  space. Use  that  to  allow participants  to  invite  people  to  join  them. It  requires  communities  to  come together  together  in  this  space. And  now  we're  using  the  bridge itself  to  connect  scholarship.  So  connect  the  audience. The  audience  that's  passing  by  the  bridge, that's  on  the  bridge, that's  passing  under  the  bridge to  other  sources  of  scholarship  and  thought, leadership  and  research  that  are  uncommon. So  the  media  bridge  itself  was an  attempt  to  try  to  have  the  library, which  is  at  the  crossroads  of  the  campus, a  community  of  people  from all  different  departments  and  background, students  and  faculty  to  collaborate. It  is  a  nexus  of  information. When  thinking  about  sustainability  and  community, no  one  individual  really has  the  power  to  make  a  huge  difference. Acting  alone,  it requires  conversation  and  accountability. It's  too  big  of  a  job  for  one  person.  And  second  of  all This  is  our  material  waste  and  this  is the  archaeology  of  the  community  of  humans  that have  grown  up  into  the  20th  and  21st  century. So  it  has  to  be  a  collective  effort. We  can't  be  independent  when  trying to  figure  out  these  answers  or these  solutions  to  how  to  live  more  sustainably and  become  regenerative  in our  practices  with  technology  and  the  environment. I  first  want  to  invite  Pam, Liga  Bardi,  up  to  the  stage. Pam  is  an  artist  activist  professor and  founder  of  the  Drifters  Project  working globally  at  the  intersection  of art  science  and  activism  in relocating  ocean  plastics  from wild  nature  to  social  space. She  is  Distinguished  University  Professor  and Regents  Professor  at  Georgia  State  University  in  Atlanta. For  the  last  17  years, you  have  excavated  and  documented  tens  of  thousands of  pounds  of  plastics  fished  out  from  the  world's  oceans. You  make  art  out  of  the  debris  to bring  awareness  to  the  over  use  of  plastics. Could  you  tell  us  more  about  the  Drifters  project  and  how it  feeds  into  your  work  on display  in  the  library  and  Candida? This  piece  is  in  Candida and  then  this  piece  is  here  in  the  library. Thank  you  Bernie  for  putting  this all  together.  Super  interesting. I  feel  like  I've  been  at the  triangulation  of  art  science  and  activism forever  and  now  it's  finally getting  some  help  to  make  that  happen. It's  pretty  cool,  yeah. I  was  at  the  south  point  of  the  big  island. I'd  been  going  to  Maui  for  many  years. Hawaiian  island  chain  has the  tip  of  it  is the  big  island  that  is the  southernmost  tip  of  the  United  States. I  went  there  because  I  was  on an  artist  residency.  I  don't  know. I  got  the  itch  to  just  go  down  and  see  the  place  where the  Pacific  Ocean  washes  up  into  its  first  landmass. This  was  in  2005. When  I  got  there,  there  was  mountains  of  color  plastic. It  was  a  shock. First,  I  thought  I  was  looking  at  art  installation. It  was  weirdly  beautiful. So  many  colors,  so  many  odd  shapes  and  things. Then  finally,  I  walk  up to  it  and  I  see  that  it's  our  garbage. And  the  ocean  is  literally  like  vomiting  it  out onto  the  beach  at  South  Point, which  is  a  lava  beach. It's  still  alive. It's  an  island  forming  right  now. Anyway,  it  was  hit  me  like  a  ton  of bricks  and  I  completely  changed  my  practice. I  went  back  there  for  several  years. I  knew  that  I  had  to  take  forensic  photographs  of  the. I  felt  like  I  was  witnessing  a  crime  against  nature. Then  after  that,  if there's  a  crime,  we  need  the  evidence. So  I  needed  to  bring  back  the  actual  objects. I  started  this  project  that many  years  ago  and have  been  collecting  all  over  the  world. It  is  now  a  global  collaborative  effort. There's  really  only  one  thing  that  you  need  to  do  to be  a  Drifters  member  in  the  Drifters  Project, which  is  to  pick  up at  least  one  piece  of  plastic that  is  vagrant  and  escaping and  going  somewhere  and  get  it  in  a  better  place  than  it is  off  the  ocean  edge,  off  the  beach. If  there  is  a  recycling, we  know  that's  not  really  an  answer  to  much, but  put  it  where  that  is. At  least  sequester  it  from hurting  creatures  in  the  world. Yeah.  And  then  you  have  to  tell  someone  about  it. I'm  hoping  it's  pretty  easy. Come  on  down  because  it  drifters  is  all  of  us.  Yeah. When  thinking  about  the  intersection  of  art, science  and  technology  and  how plastic  was  a  great  technology of  a  certain  time  and  now  it's not  so  great  with  Bounty  Pilfered. You  make  note  of  that  in  the  oil  spill?  Yeah.  Can  you  go? Yeah.  It's  a  culmination of  a  lot  of  things  that  I was  putting  together  over  time  in  my  life. My  dad  was  an  ocean  lifeguard. My  mother  was  a  diver  and  swimming  champion  of  Delaware. The  thing  that  was  really Crazy  about  it  was  that  he  was  working for  Union  Carbide  in the  '60s  when  they  were  developing  the  first  plastics. He  would  bring  home  experiments, we'd  make  like  two  chemicals  together  on the  kitchen  table  and  straw colored  foam  would  bubble  out. It  was  great  stuff. Not  so  great  stuff. Expansion  foam,  insulation,  I  found  whole  pieces  of that  which  has  got  the  can  gone  because  that's  natural, it's  going  to  dissolve  in  nature  and the  only  evidence  left  is that  you  know  what  it  looks  like. Right.  I  think  Did  you  use  some  in  your  Yeah, so  you  can  see  it  live  over  there  but  it  is  colored. Did  you  paint  it?  Okay.  Anyway,  yeah, this  was  on  an  expedition  in Alaska  where  we  collected  all  this  stuff. It  was  art,  science,  and policy  people  which  was  really  amazing. And  that  video  is  being  played  at  the  Candida  building, if  anyone's  interested  in  that. It  has  grizzly  bears, whales,  Carl  Safina,  if  you  know  him. He  is  a  major  naturalist. Mark  Dion  artist. Thank  you  so  much.  I  know  we  have  a  lot  of  artists. So  we'll  keep  moving. And  then  after  this  exhibit, I  hope  that  you  each  go  to the  pieces  and  talk  with  the  artist  more. Jeremy  Bolen  is  an  artist,  researcher,  organizer, filmmaker,  and  educator  interested in  speculative  planetary  futures. His  work  has  been  exhibited internationally  at  numerous  locations. And  Jeremy  is  an  assistant  professor of  art  at  Georgia  State  University. And  I'll  also  ask  Dr.  Juan  Pablo, I  feel  like  you  could  help  me  with  that  Ben, who  is  assistant  professor  and the  Goza  Junior  Faculty  Chair  in the  School  of  Materials  Science  and  Engineering here  at  Tech  Jeremy. Like  Pam's  work,  your  work calls  attention  to  the  Anthropocene, such  as  a  core  of  a  core  here  in  the  library. And  then  your  installation,  Sulfur  Skies, which  is  a  collaboration  with Dr.  the  in  the  Candida  building. Could  you  tell  us  a  little  bit  more  about  how these  pieces  blur  the  lines between  technology  and  nature? Sure.  Yeah.  Thanks  so  much  Bernie. For  everything  and  for  having  us. Yeah.  I  guess  starting  with this  piece  up  here,  Sulfurkiesk. This  is  part  of  a  series  of work  we've  been  doing  for  a  while  thinking about  geo  engineering  because  we've entered  a  part  of  the  climate  crisis  where  it  seems  very likely  that  large  scale  geo  engineering  initiatives will  most  likely  take  place. U,  as  we  see  global  temperatures  rise. One  of  I  think most  likely  scenarios  is  something called  solar  radiation  management, where  they  want  to  inject sulphur  in  the  stratosphere,  right? So  that's  mimicking  volcanic  eruptions. They  know  this  from volcanic  eruptions  that  have  happened. There  was  the  last  very  large  scale  volcanic  eruption was  18,  15  Indonesia. And  that  was  the  year  with  no  summer,  right? Because  the  ash,  the  sulfur  went  into  the  stratosphere. It  cooled  down  the  whole  Earth. It  snowed  in  Virginia  in  July,  et  cetera. Anyways,  this  is  in  a  fix  where  they can  instantly  cool  down  the  Earth's  insulation. Large  panels  that  are  emulating  that  sulfur  sky. Juan  Pablo  and  I  work  together  to  make a  solar  powered  star  sky to  replace  the  stars  you  would  be able  to  see  because  the  problems with  solaration  management  is that  it  would  change  the  color  of  the  sky. It  would  most  likely  be  white  or  yellow. You  would  not  be  able  to  see  the  stars  anymore. Some  of  the  unintended  consequences  for  these  endeavors, there's  also  some  other  sculptures in  the  installation  talking  about  coral shielding  and  crop  albedo  management  as  well. Then  the  other  piece,  the  middle  part  of  this  work, is  a  CT  scan  of  a  sediment  core. It's  one  of  the  sediment  cores  that have  been  that's  being used  to  be  a  possible  site for  the  beginning  of  the  Anthropocene. Again,  the  Anthropocene  being where  humans  have  had  a  huge, acted  like  a  geologic  force, right,  and  left  a  permanent  record  in  the  Earth. It's  a  proposed  epoch, a  proposed  new  time  period. But  to  actually  have  this  go  on  record, they  need  to  have  a  time  in  a  place  where  it  began. This  is  a  core  sample  from Stanford  University  at  Searsville  Reservoir I  took  a  couple  of  years  ago. I  got  access  to  a  couple  of  years  ago. The  CT  scan  is  really  interesting. Scientists  can  learn  so  much  from  this, They  can  see  what  happened,  certain kinds  of  certain  years. What  chemicals  were  used  in  the  reservoir? It's  a  mirror  of  our  civilization, of  our  actions  that mirrors  the  technologies  we've  used  already. Thank  you.  Juan  Pablo, could  you  tell  us  more  about  your  research here  at  Tech  into  renewable  energy  and  why  you think  collaborations  between  artists and  scientists  is  important  to Georgia  Tech  and  the  community?  You  turn  on  the  mic. Okay,  the  reason  why  I'm  collaborating with  Jeremy  is  because I  feel  that  as  an  engineer  and  as  a  scientist, I  have  a  role  to  play  in  the  world. I  grew  up  in  a  country  in South  America  where  we  produce  a  lot  of  oil. I  always  grew  up  thinking  we  have also  so  much  sun  and  why  we're  not  using  that. It  was  a,  this  juxtaposition  of natural  resources  of  oil that  was  making  the  country  rich. Or  at  least  some  people  rich. All  these  natural  resources  that we're  not  really  taking  advantage of  be  hydropower  or  solar  power. All  of  that  shaped  my  passion  for  renewables. And  this  is  also  why  I'm  working  with  Jeremy, because  I  want  to  bring  awareness  to not  just  my  small  community  of  scientists  and researchers  around  solar  energy, but  also  to  the  community  overall, I  think  art  is  a  beautiful  way  to  do  that. I'm  not  an  artist.  I'm  here to  help  solve  the  problem  with  the  sulfur  skies. Hopefully,  I  think  that  is  my  role  as  a  human, as  a  scientist,  and  as an  engineer  to  try  to  bring  awareness  to  this. Thank  you.  You  can  see  this  piece  over  in the  Candida  building  after  the  exhibit.  Thank  you. All  right.  Next  we  have  Sylvia  Iniki, and  she  is  a  Phd  student at  Georgia  Tech  Digital  Media  Program. And  her  research  integrates  critical  theory  with tangible  embodied  interaction  design  to explore  more  than  human  relationships through  data  and  sensing  technologies. Her  work  draws  heavily  from  feminist  theory, disability  theory, and  lived  experiences  of  chronic  illness. Dr.  Nain  Parvin  was advisor  to  Sylvia  during  this  project. Name  was  an  associate  professor here  in  the  Digital  Media  Program  and  is  now at  the  University  of  Washington  High  School  as an  Associate  Dean  instead  of  plastics  and  waste. Sylvia  and  name  display  three Georgia  plantation  plants  on pedestals  titled  Sensing  bodies for  visitors  to  interact  with  and  view. Sylvia,  could  you  tell  us  about  these  three  plants  and their  socio  political  entanglements with  humans  and  the  land? Yeah.  Thanks  Bernie  for  putting  all  of  this  together. This  project  is  really  about unpacking  some  tensions  in  more  than  human  design. We  often  think  about  plants  as  innocent  or  we'll think  about  them  as  good  for  the  environment. But  we  don't  often  consider their  social  and  political  meanings  or  entanglements. In  this  project,  we  use  three  Georgia  plantation  plants. We  use  rice,  indigo,  and  tobacco. With  these  plants  thinking  through the  messy  and  ambivalent  and  nuanced  relationships that  we  can  have  with  plants. These  plants  represent  very  complex, more  than  human  entanglements as  commodities  of  everyday  life. We  use  them  in  different  ways or  have  attached  different  meanings  to  them, but  they  also  reflect the  system  of  extraction  and  violence. Historically  on  plantations  that  has  set  up  structures  of exploitation  that  is  continually embedded  in  our  landscape  and  our  systems  today. Yeah,  we  use  these  plants  as  a  way  to  think  through these  social  and  political  aspects of  plants,  through  them, also  thinking  in  a  more  nuanced  way  about  what environmental  problems  mean  and what  sustainability  can  mean. Thank  you.  I  think  it's  interesting. Just  tell  us  real  quickly, why  did  you  not  use  cotton? Yeah,  I  initially  wanted  to use  cotton  as  one  of  the  plants. It's  very  representative  of  Georgia and  plantation  crops  here.  But  you  actually Grow  cotton  without  a  permit  in  Georgia because  there's  an  invasive  vil, I  think  it  can  be  really  destructive. And  it's  in  its  own  way  representative of  another  multi  species  entanglement. Yeah,  I  swap  that  one  out  and  use  rice  instead. What's  the  importance  of  the  technology  in your  installation  and  how does  the  visitor  fit  into  the  displays? Yeah,  we  use  different  biosensors and  environmental  sensors  in  each  of  these  exhibits. We  use  the  sensors  to  capture  data  that  is essentially  co  created  by and  the  person  that's  interacting. Instead  of  using  these  sensors to  measure  individual  bodies, which  is  usually  what  they're  used  for, we  use  them  to  represent  a  relationship. That  data  is  then  displayed  in  the  LED  lights. We'll  change  the  colors and  patterns  and  brightness of  the  lights  based  on  the  interactions, creating  this  more  reflective  and interpretive  data  display  instead of  the  more  prescriptive  way  we  usually  think  about  data. Yeah,  we  invite  participants  or  visitors to  act  with  the  plants  in  embodied  ways. Through  movement,  through  touch,  or  through  breathing. Yeah,  the  embodied  interactions will  then  change  the  displays  and change  how  they  see  the  plants  through the  LED  lights  and  through  the  plexiglass  box. But  we  also  wanted  people  to experience  a  little  bit  of  tension  interaction. On  the  one  hand,  we  have  these  technologies  and  the  data displays  that  can  help visualize  a  embodied  connection  with  the  plants. That  might  help  people  feel  a  connection  or a  intimacy  Situating  the  histories of  the  plants  within  the  exhibit  can  bring a  different  dimension  and  different  kinds  of relationships  to  the  experience  of  the  exhibit. That  can  be  a  little  messy  or  a  little  uncomfortable. Yeah,  we  wanted  to  create a  space  where  people  can  feel  both. They  can  have  multiple  different  kinds  of feelings  and  relationships  to  these  plants. And  then  also  create  a  space  for  conversation  and  for reflection  and  to  process  these  weight  of  histories. But  also  process  like  the  complex  feelings. Thank  you  so  much.  And  you  can interact  with  Sylvia's  work outside  here  and  as  well  as in  the  ground  floor  of  the  Candida  building. Thank  you.  Next  we  have  a  Dera  Griffin, who  is  an  emerging  new  media  artist and  multidisciplinary  designer  based  in  Atlanta. And  she  recently  graduated  from the  Savannah  College  of  Art  and  Design  and received  a  BFA  in  Motion  Media  Design. And  she  uses  both  digital  and  traditional  media to  convey  her  narratives. Adia,  if  I  get  your  piece  up, your  data  visualization  on  the  media  bridge  titled The  Peach  Pit  showcases Environmental  Protection  Agency  data  of  the  air, soil  and  water  quality  in  the  state  of  Georgia. Could  you  tell  us  about the  data  you  researched  and  how  it  is mapped  and  explain  superfund  sites?  Of  course. Thanks.  Okay.  The  three  types  of  data that  I  did  most  of  my  research  on  where  technology, where  population  pollution  and  geographical  data. This  took  up  more  time than  like  the  actual  animation  of  this  because  I've  never worked  with  data  in  this  way before  I  derived  my  data  from  free  government  sites. Because  whenever  I  tried  to  look  at  other  sites with  more  accurate  data  of  like  2023  or  2022, I  was  always  met  with  like,  okay, you  need  to  pay  this  much  to  access  this. And  I  just  went  back  to the  free  data  because  this  is  the  data  that's being  shown  to  the  public and  the  media  is  using with  their  facts  and  stuff  like  that. When  I  was  creating  my  piece, I  wanted  to  make the  movement  throughout  the  piece  mirror  and correlate  with  the  natural  elements of  water,  land,  and  air. If  you  look  up,  it's  hard  to  see  it  small  up there,  the  water  pollution. Are  the  motion  with  it  is  very  fluid. And  it  follows  where the  most  concentration  of pollution  is  in  the  state  of  Georgia. And  I  did  the  same  concept  with  the  air  and  the  land. Bernie  was  talking  about  superfund  sites. There  are  17  active  superfund  sites in  the  state  of  Georgia. A  superfund  site  is  basically  a  place where  there  is  misuse of  the  way  we  spo  Yehpoes  of  waste. This  can  be  a  landfill  or  a  factory that's  letting  stuff  just get  into  the  water,  stuff  like  that. When  I  was  doing  my  research, what  I  found  is  that  near  these  superfund  sites, there  are  a  big  concentration  of  black  communities. On  the  visualization  up  there, you  can  see  like  these  airbrushed  blue  blobs. Those  are  where  like  44%  or  more  of that  population  is  our  black  people. Yeah.  Could  you  tell us  about  how  the  peach  pit is  an  alternative  path  to  displaying  data? What  you  hope  the  audience will  take  away  from  this  piece? Of  course,  I  went  more  of a  abstracted  route  because when  I  was  looking  at  this  data, I  found  so  many  inconsistencies and  from  different  sources. They  were  also  like  bias, You  didn't  really  know  who  it  was  coming  from  or who  was  out  there  taking  that  data. I  wanted  to  reflect  that in  my  visualization  and show  that  data  is  not  facts  like  it  is  bias, that  it  can  look  very different  from  what  you  see  on  a  map  or  on  a  grid. That  last  question,  the  fluidity  of  Yeah, it  you  said  one  more  question. I  forgot  the  last  part  of  that  question. What  do  you  hope  the  audience  will  take  away? Yes.  Okay.  I  hope  that  when  people  look  at  this, it  brings  attention  to the  other  communities  within  the  state  of  Georgia. Atlanta  is  45,  48%  of  a  black  community, but  even  Georgia  Tech, it's  not  really  reflected  in  the  people  who  attend  here. I  wanted  to,  I'm  excited  that  this  piece  is  here  to  bring attention  to  communities  we may  see  every  day  or  interact  with  every  day. And  in  general,  just  like  raising  awareness  of  what's happening  with  the  environment  to  students  here. Yeah,  thank  you  so  much  for  bringing  your  work  here. And  you  can  see  Adas  work  outside  on  the  media  bridge. We  hope  that  you  spend  a  little  time there  after  this  talk. Thank  you.  Thank  you. Second  to  last  work  is  by  Inspired  Action  Design  AD. They  are  a  network  of  physical and  digital  practitioners  with a  collective  passion  for  making lasting  impressions  by  weaving  together  technology, emotional  architecture, storytelling  and  beautiful  content. The  following  practitioners  collaborated to  create  diotic  Communico. Seen  up  here  on  the  screen, that  is  Hunter  Spence  who did  the  production  and  story  design, right  here  on  my  left. Who  is  a  lecturer  here  at  Tech  and alum  and  also  helped  design  the  media  bridge. Joel  Krieger  who's  the  experienced  designer, Matt  Lewis  who's  on  technology and  Mauricio  Telo  who  is  on  graphic  design. After  looking  at  Georgia's  dark  history  with  plantations, its  current  superfund  sites  and the  way  in  which  the  Anthropocene  has  evolved, we  need  some  hope  hunter. You  are  one  of  four  team  members  at  IAD  and Otic  communico  you  display an  abstracted  magic eight  ball  visitors  can  interact  with. And  so  could  you  tell  us  more about  this  piece  for  the  audience? Sure.  And  thank  you  for  having  us  Yeah. Problem. I'll  try  to  sound  hopeful  in  my  response to  that  question  if  I  get  too  dark  out. Okay,  I'll  start  with  the  title,  Otic  Communico. It's  meant  to  be  It, I  guess  uses  some  pantameter  there  to sound  like  a  dance  between  technology, nature,  and  our  community. Those  three  actors  which  I  guess  a  counterpoint, oftentimes  sad  reality  that you  have  things  like  social  media, technology,  Newsdia, things  you  hear  through  those  channels  are Whether  on  purpose  or  not, tend  to  divide  us  and  push  us into  adversarial  relationships  in  our  community. Like  two  different  political  parties, the  conversation  about  the  environment, which  is  actually  quite  complex, is  usually  narrowed  down  into  one  or  two  sound  bites. It's  good  TV.  If  it  makes people  angry  and  makes  them  yell  at  each  other, the  conversation  tends  to be  very  carbon  emission  focused. Where  we  see  that the  situation  is  actually  a  lot  more  complex  than  that. With  this  art  piece, we  tried  to  go  even  beyond  just  a  dance. This  is,  maybe  this  is  going  to  sound  like  spiritual, philosophical,  or  something  metaphysical, metaphysical,  maybe  a  better  word. What  if  these  three  actors,  nature,  our  community, and  technology  could  just  be three  actors  that  are  in a  symbiotic  relationship  or  a  dance. But  what  if  they  actually  became the  same  being  could  breathe  as  one  could  think, as  one,  could  respond  as  one. What  if  we  could  ask  that being  questions  and  get  answers  back? The  being  itself  wasn't  at  odds. Usually  what  we  hear  is that  our  community  is  at  odds  with  nature, and  technology  is  at  odds  with  our  community. These  three  actors  tend  to  be  at  odds  with  each  other. But  what  if  they  were  the  same  beings? We're  looking  at  the  bridge  as  a  metaverse  window, A  window  into  a  metaverse  where  this  being  is  possible, where  these  three  actors  could  actually  come together  and  communicate  with  us. It's  going  to  sound  funny, but  one  inspiration,  and  I  might  date  myself  up  here, the  movie  Poultry  Guys,  where  you have  the  little  girl  looking through  the  TV  and  looking  at  the  static. And  you  get  the  sense  that  there's this  other  higher  dimension  behind  the  TV. And  the  TV  is  like  a  window  into  this  higher  dimension. We  definitely  did  not  want  to  get  spooky  eyes  with  this, but  we're  looking  at  the  bridge as  a  window  into  this  higher  dimension. This  being  is  possible when  we  communicate  with  it  and  ask  questions. Maybe  these  answers  don't  divide  us. They  don't  have  an  alterator  motive other  than  just  to  give  us  truth. Joel  here  did  most  of  the  research  for the  questions  and  the  answers and  the  articles  that  come  up  to  the  bridge. I'm  going  to  let  him  talk  about  that, but  first  I'll  describe what  you  do  with  what  you  do  is  you  go  up  to  the  bridge, you  scan  the  QR  code, and  then  from  your  phone  you  can  pick a  question  to  ask  the  bridge and  you'll  get  back  and  answer. And  then  your  phone  will  also  direct  you to  articles  that  you  don't  normally  find with  that  first  Google  search  or certain  aspects  that  aren't mentioned  on  the  soundbite  that  you  hear  on  the  news. Joe,  you  want  talk  a  little  bit  about how  you  found  the  articles  and  Yeah. Yeah,  I  can  I  guess my  entry  point  into  being  interested in  all  things  environment  was  maybe  around  2011, 2012  when  I  learned about  that  we're  in  a  mass  species  extinction. My  entry  point  wasn't  climate. It  was  oh  wow. Everything  so  focused  on  humans  that  we're  not  even noticing  that  the  plants  and  the  animals  are  dying  off. It  was  so  astounding  to  me that  I  couldn't  believe  this  is  like the  biggest  story  of our  time  and  no  one's  talking  about  it. Then,  this  bizarre  creeping  of awareness  and  talk  in  the  media  about  climate  and  carbon. It  was  such  a  bizarre  experience  to  me. Why  are  we  only  talking  about  this  thing? This  is  happening  over  here  and  it's  so  easy  to  see. It  began,  I  don't  like  a  quest  of curiosity  where  I  just voraciously  dove  into  reading everything  I  could  get  my  hands  on. In  a  way,  this  process  was a  fun  reflection  of  digging  back into  some  of  the  most  powerful  essays that  I've  read  that  really  changed  my  world  view. That  took  a  question  or  an  assumption  about  how  we  think the  world  works  and  really  flip  it  on its  head  and  maybe  look  at  things  differently. So  that's  kind  of  what  we  did  with these  questions  as  we  tried to  come  up  with  a  lot  of common  questions  that  people  might  ask, But  the  way  that  they're  answered  is a  bit  provocative,  is  a  bit  sideways. And  hopefully  we'll  make  people  look  at some  things  that  they've  taken  for granted  in  a  bit  of  a  different  way. Yeah,  Well,  thank  you  so  much  for designing  this  piece  and bringing  it  to  Georgia  Tech  Campus. I  hope  you  all  go  out  and  interact with  this  piece  after  this  talk, we'll  have  some  time  to  do  that  before  we take  the  shuttle  to  the  Candida  building. Thank  you.  And  lastly. We  have  a  group  of four  artists  and  researchers,  and  architects. Stuart  Rom  is  a  professor  of the  practice  at  Georgia  Tech  College  of  Design. He  helped  design  and  execute the  Georgia  Tech  Library  Media bridge  where  some  of  the  exhibit  is  displayed. He  is  also  founding  principal  in the  Atlanta  Architectural  Firms  of  Practice and  and  Amy  Landsberg. I  know  all  can  sit  wherever  you  like  or  stand. Amy  Landsberg  is  an  Atlanta  based  artist  architect. She  has  participated  in the  design  of  a  wide  array  of  projects, many  of  which  focus  on  environmental  sustainability. She  has  taught  extensively  at schools  of  design  including  Tu  Lane, Ohio  State,  Princeton,  Georgia  State,  and  Georgia  Tech. Hudson  True  is  an  inter  disciplinary  artist,  designer, and  creative  technologist working  between  interactive  media, machine  learning,  and  computational  arts. And  Hudson  is  currently  completing  his  Master's  degree in  human  computer  interaction  here  at  Georgia  Tech. Lastly,  Jordan  Graves  is  an  Atlanta  based  artist, designer  and  educator  making art  with  code  in  a  variety  of  media. And  she  graduated  from the  Savannah  College  of  Art  and  Design  with a  BFA  and  Motion  Media  design  as  well. She  is  currently  pursuing a  Phd  in  Digital  Media  here  at  Georgia  Tech. Gather  the  Forest  was  created  by  Stewart, Amy,  Hudson,  and  Jordan. This  piece  centers  around  community  and  how networks  are  vital  to  growth  and  vitality. Could  you  four  tell  us  more  about your  piece  and  how  each  of  you  were  involved  in  it? I  will  start  with  you,  Stuart. Okay.  Yes.  Well,  thank  you, Bernie,  for  converging  all  of  us  here  today. Frankly,  not  just  us, we're  four  here,  but  all  of  the  artists  working  on  this. Because  as  an  architect  for  the  library  renovation, that  was  our  challenge  to  create  where there's  a  public  space  at that  crossroads  under  the  bridge. A  place  that  actually  reinvented  public  space  for our  new  era  when physical  books  are  leaving  and  virtually, information  is  far  more  experience in  addition  to  physical  space. How  could  we  create  something  that  was  new,  innovative, and  be  a  laboratory  for  just  these  kinds  of  experiments? Really,  our  mission  and  we're fulfilling  these  kinds  of  events  is  to  break  out  of the  silos  on  campus  and  have a  convergence  of  community  where  this  can be  an  ongoing  laboratory  of  experimentation  for these  ways  that  we  experience  togetherness, collaboration,  and  connectedness  in both  physical  and  virtual  ******. With  that  opportunity,  we  are  very excited  to  collaborate  on  this. Amy  and  others  are  going  to  speak  to  what  the  project  is about  when  faced  with these  questions  of  community  and  sustainability. We  thought  of  our  immediate  local  community and  our  sustainability  crisis. Therefore,  thought  of  people  gathering  together to  learn  more  about  protecting  our  canopy  here. Right  here,  Right  outside. Right  now  in  studying  old  growth, we  learned  so  much  about  how  trees  are interconnected  underground,  how  they  communicate, that  they  form  a  community  through  their  root  structure, the  way  they  share  air, the  way  they  share  nutrients. We  wanted  to  engage  people  in  that. We  wanted  to  do,  we  wanted  to  provide a  view  of  looking  up  through  the  trees, develop  that  frankly  as  engagement, a  seduction  to  want  to  plant. It  is  urgent  that  we  preserve  our  old  growth. That  is  the  most  important  thing and  that  we  plan  accordingly. But  where  there  are  no  trees  or  where trees  can  be  preserved, it's  really  important  to  plant  them. We  wanted  to  direct  people  to this  experience  of  virtually  planting  trees, then  link  them  to  trees  Atlanta, where  they  can  go  and  do  it. There  are  a  lot  of  Georgia  Tech  students  who volunteer  to  work  with  trees  Atlanta, we  want  more  and  it  is  a  very  gratifying, satisfying  thing  to  do.  It  really  does  help. Hello.  My  contribution  with  this  work  is mostly  around  working  with  the  AI  tools and  created  the  music  and  audio  effects. I'll  we  chose  to  work  with the  AI  tools  in  this  project  because  it  afforded  us this  degree  of  realism  we're  going for  that  we  really  weren't  quite able  to  get  to  with  the  three D  modeling  procedures  alone. But  I  think  the  choice  to work  with  AI  tools  in  this  project  and any  creative  work  or  arts  project really  requires  reflection  on  many  things. How  these  tools  impact  the  environment. The  cost  and  benefit  of  actually  working  with  them. Also  on  what  models  you're  actually  working  with. What  data  they  were  trained  on, where  that  data  came  from and  imparts  on  the  meaning  of  the  work. Then  also  what  you  as  the  artist  actually  trying  to achieve  by  implementing  these  models or  working  with  them. What  the  greater  creative  expression  you're trying  to  go  for  is  because  it's no  secret  that  anyone  now  can  generate pretty  much  anything  you  can  think  of  with the  click  of  a  button  and  it's  only  getting  better. But  with  that  being  able  to replicate  or  variations  of  previous  old  work. At  what  point  do  arts  ability  to  convey deep  and  complex  human  emotions  and  feelings  and experiences  start  to  wash  out  or  fade  With  that, the  ability  to  connect  people  across  time  and  space, just  through  shared  experiences  and  feelings. Yeah,  I  think  that  the  choice  to  work  with these  AI  tools  really requires  reflection  and  creative  work. There's  many  topics  on  AI that  are  very  important  right  now, but  I  think  those  are  some  points. In  regards  to  our  piece, my  role  was  primarily  making  the  work interactive  and  getting  it  to  display  on  the  bridge, which  I  won't  bore  you  with  the  details, but  it  basically  is  a  website  that  is  just running  on  the  bridge  that  you  can  see  on  the  LEDs. And  you  access  the  interactivity via  a  website  you  go  to  on  your  phone. The  thing  about  a  website  is  sure  anyone  can  access  it, but  we  are  just  limiting  or the  interactivity  to  people that  are  physically  here  at  the  bridge. With  that,  you  have  to  take  action, show  up,  and  be  here. With  that,  we're  hoping  that  individuals  will invite  people  to  actually  gather  with  them  in  the  space, because  not  one  person  can  make  change  alone. You  have  to  work  together  and  build  community. Thank  you  all  so  much and  gather  the  forest  is  right  outside and  take  your  cell  phones  and interact  with  it.  Thank  you  so  much. That's  our  last  piece  and  group  for  tonight  and  I  want  to thank  you  all  again  and  all  the artists  and  researchers  for  coming. Yeah.  For  supporting  this  exhibit.  Thank  you. Yeah.  There  are  many  students  that  have  volunteered  their time  as  art  ambassadors tonight  as  well  as  to  help  with  logistics. You  will  see  them  in  the  library  at the  Media  Bridge  in  Candida,  representing  the  pieces. If  you  have  any  questions,  please  feel  free  to  ask  them. After  looking  at  the  art  at the  library  and  at  the  media  bridge, please  go  down  the  hill  in the  back  on  Fourth  Street to  get  on  the  Georgia  Tech  shuttle, We'll  go,  or  you  can  walk  over  to the  Dita  building  where  there  will  be a  reception  with  food  and  drinks. And  you'll  see  all  the  other  great pieces  that  are  in  this  exhibit. Then  the  shuttle  will  pick  up  twice from  that  bottom  of  the  hill  on  Fourth  Street. And  then  it  will  run  continuously  until  745. I  think  it  will  drop  off  at Cherry  Street  if  you  parked  in  Visitor  One. If  the  artist  and  sponsors could  stand  back  for  a  group  photo, that'd  be  great  for  everyone  else. I  encourage  you  to  look  at  the  pieces  outside  and on  the  media  bridge  and  then  go  get  a  place  on the  shuttle  or  start  walking over  to  the  Candida  building  because there's  lots  more  happening.  Thank  you.